Ann Oren
Israel
2017 | 1:08:00

Hatsune Miku is a musical phenomenon that inspires the masses. Her lyrics hit the fans right in the heart, her style inspires the multitudes and her merchandising is out of this world. What makes her so special? She’s not a human being but a synthesizer software incorporated in an animated character whose music is always fan art. M, the protagonist of this film and a cosplayer incorporating Hatsune Miku, delves into a fairytale world – and fairytales, they say here, “are full of fraud”. M meets sworn members of the Miku cult, encounters a generous helping of Japanese popular culture, and herself.

"Talented fans constantly re-create her that's why she never dies. She is a creative instigator. A collective fantasy. A social glue. Hatsune Miku is the future."¬ Hiro San In cosplay of the Japanese cyber diva Hatsune Miku, the director moves to Tokyo, seeking an identity in the world of Miku fanatics, where she is drawn into a love affair with one of the fans. Miku is a Vocaloid, a vocal synthesizer software personified by a cute animated character. Her entire persona: lyrics, music and animation – is fan created, and that's her charm. She even performs sold out concerts as a hologram. By transforming herself into a Miku character through cosplay, Oren enters a world of real hardcore fans where fantasy is more real than reality and the differentiation between the two becomes obsolete. The film examines the performative nature of cosplaying – dressing up and playing the role of fictional characters – as a hybrid space where reality blurs into fetishistic fantasies and pop culture clichés. Combining fan-made lyrics and songs, Oren's trials and tribulations in the fictional Miku world unfolds through vague erotic episodes and encounters with characters whose ontological status remains mysterious, bringing to mind the adventures of a modern Alice in a virtual Wonderland. “I sleep inside the display that depicts the end. And in that end, I will sing a song that only you wanted to hear.“ - Hatsune Miku PRE ASIA