Webcomic / NEXT!!! Sound of the Future

NEXT!!! Sound of the Future is a Vocaloid fancomic created by rice deity.

It's the year 2018, and Vocaloids have experienced a resurgence in popularity. In this world, they're more than just computer software: Vocaloids are androids with the ability to carve their own path in life, be it in the music industry or elsewhere. Our protagonist, 4N01 (or "Shine", as she's more often referred to) is a Miku V4X model who has a coveted reputation as a paparazzi specialising in feeding the public's desire to know about the best and brightest Vocaloid talent there is to offer. Unfortunately she's notoriously down on her luck: while trying to get snaps of the Vocaloid influencer Princess, she and her equipment end up going over a bridge, leaving her drenched and without the means to earn an income. A chance meeting with a Miku superfan, however, leaves her with ambitions of becoming more than just another prying eye into the world of Vocaloid stardom...

The comic can be read on WEBTOON. There is also a blog and a website for the comic that provides extra info about the characters and setting.

---

NEXT!!! Sound of the Future contains examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Past: The comic was started in 2022 but takes place in 2018. The date being set earlier makes certain Real Life Vocaloid events line up differently within the timeline of the story, such as 2018's Magical Mirai, which is one of Shine's goals to participate in as an idol.
• Accidental Celebrity:
  • Shine’s always dreamed of being famous, but she doesn’t expect it to happen by a popular Youtuber filming her falling off a bridge and posting it on social media, earning her the attention of celebrity talk show host O-Len.
  • O-Len’s job as a talk-show host was unintentionally prompted by a viral meme of a girl passing out in his lap with a huge nosebleed which earned him enough attention on social media to get hired.
• Acting Your Intellectual Age: Vocaloids' ages are generally based on their physical appearance (called "apparent age"), so young looking Vocaloids like Dr. Yuki or Roll may act older than their outward appearances suggest (Dr. Yuki is a licensed medical professional who avoids acting childish, and Roll is a celebrity informant mostly in contact with those several years older than her) but are still seen as children by others.
• Actually, I Am Him: In Bright's interlude, Shine fails to see through Idol Singer Bright's Paper-Thin Disguise and nearly shoplifts one of Bright's albums right in front of her, going as far as accusing Bright of not appreciating her own album and giving a lengthy speech about Bright's high points and how she believes she'll succeed one day. While starting out comedic, the moment ends on a heartwarming note where Shine's passion for her album makes Bright herself appreciate it again.
• Adaptation Expansion: Vocaloids have little in the way of canon backstories or personalities, which means almost every world building and character detail is completely original.
• Adorably Precocious Child: The doctor that treats Shine after her fall is a Kaai Yuki (a Vocaloid modelled after the appearance and mannerisms of a little girl), and she tries her hardest to be a stoic professional. She also happens to be a massive fan of Miku, with a scrapbook full of autographs and photos of her with some of the top Mikus in the industry, which moves her to waive Shine's medical bill and ask her to sign her book as well.
• Advice Backfire: In chapter 2, Tech tells Shine that people should try to achieve their dreams no matter what, and define those dreams for themselves. The problem is that Shine’s dream is to be an idol (which she lied to Tech about), an occupation that has traumatized Tech, making her not want Shine to be one. This makes the two of them come into conflict in chapter 7 when Shine tells her the truth.
• Age Cut: When Shine first meets Tech in person and realizes who she is, there’s a panel contrasting her younger appearance as an Idol Singer with her current self as a cashier, having cut her hair and lost the shine she used to have in her eyes.
• Alone in a Crowd: The debut announcement image has Shine standing in the middle of a crowd of all the other Mikus in the cast. Shine faces forward with an uncertain expression while the other Mikus are all walking in different directions, symbolizing Shine starting the story out of place among her fellow Miku units.
• Amalgamated Individual: Because of Miku androids having the same name and similar appearances, some humans will mistakenly view every Hatsune Miku as being the same person, and attribute every song sung by a Miku as belonging to a vague individual "Hatsune Miku" despite there being over a thousand different ones.
• Ambiguously Related: Discussed by a Rin and a Len in the afterword of chapter 4 in regards to counterpart Kagamines. They have the same last names, are the same age, and look similar, but the official description is that they are “two halves of the same soul” rather than twins. However, because they spend a lot of time together during training, many of them see each other as siblings.
• Amusing Injuries:
  • Downplayed when Shine is knocked off a bridge in the first chapter. Her being knocked over is played for comedy, but she is realistically shown to have gone to the doctor's afterwards and does face physical repercussions, like when she falls asleep later in the chapter due to her extreme fatigue. However, she is still better off than a real human would be.
  • One of Roll’s favourite tactics to try and convince Shine to do something is to beat her up until she agrees to it, which is usually played for comedy, never giving her any bruising or lasting pain.
• Anaphora: Tech repeats the first part of her sentence when explaining to Shine her former love for music.
  Tech: I used to love it. I used to love singing, I used to love music… I used to love it, being an idol.
• Androids Are People, Too: A major theme of the setting is the tension between humans and androids, as the humans are still trying to get used to not seeing androids as servile tools without any free will and the androids are grappling with their own identities. Tech struggled with not being treated as a person while she was an idol even though she feels emotions just like humans do, and fears Shine would be mistreated in the same way.
• Angry Cheek Puff: In chapter 10's footnote Shine puffs out her cheeks and frowns because she's annoyed at Gumiya's suggestion for her to become a Sakura Miku, since she'd rather have an active role as a performer over the Sakura Miku's modelling job.
• Apology Gift:
  • Idol Singer Tech gifts aspiring idol Shine with a song she wrote for her to apologize for harshly trying to stop Shine from being an idol.
  • When Shine meets up with her Old Friend Hasami for an interview in chapter 10 she brings a gift for her to apologize for how she treated her back when they were in training. Hasami accepts the gift and ends up apologizing to Shine herself for how she had No Sympathy to Shine's voice bug.
• Arc Number: The number 4. There were four first press Mikus, Shine's serial code contains the number 4 (which is the basis for her codename), Shine used to carry four umbrellas in her coat (which resulted in Gumiya nicknaming her "4-umbrella-chan"), and updates are usually released on days ending in 4.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Shine's apology for how she used to treat Hasami includes how her friends used to gossip about her when she wasn't around, how they regularly excluded her from hanging out with them, and that one time she accidently spilled a drink on her pants.
• Art Shift:
  • In chapter 5, there's a panel where Hatsupress are drawn as silhouettes inside of golden frames with 39FS getting a full body shot where she's drawn in a different art style to show how revered she is as a Miku.
  • The idol photocard interlude uses different art styles for some of the idols. Null's is more painterly and horror themed, Candy's uses pastels to demonstrate her cutesy idol persona, and Bright's and Beat's uses neon colours.
• Astronomic Zoom: When Shine finds out how many views the video of her falling off the bridge got, the camera zooms out to her apartment building then to the entire country of Japan, a comedic moment showing how much she’s freaking out and symbolizing how many people are suddenly aware of her existence.
• Bait-and-Switch: Gumiya is amazed that Shine would give him her umbrella and let herself get soaked by the rain instead of him... Until she pulls another umbrella out from her coat.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment:
  • In chapter 7, when Hakase tells Shine that the solution for her faulty voicebox will cause her voice to stop working entirely in six years, Shine starts out seeming disturbed... Until she finishes her sentence by saying how she's not worried about it at all.
  Shine: "In other words, I won't be able to sing anymore after 6 years? That's... what, 2024???? That's like, basically forever!"
  • Upon meeting her Old Friend Hasami, Shine figures that Hasami probably isn't happy to see her again because of how Shine used to exclude her from their friend group when they were younger. In the middle of having a fairly awkward conversation, Hasami seems to comfirm Shine's fears by saying she didn't want to meet with her, before pivoting into an apology for how she feels like she wasn't sympathetic towards Shine's struggles when they were in idol training and how she wishes she could've built up more courage before seeing her again.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: As seen in the footnote of chapter 5 where android body modification is explained and an android's bare breasts are shown, they do not appear to have nipples (and likely do not have genitals).
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • The text where Tech asks Shine if her name is pronounced the same as the Japanese word for "die" is written in Japanese and left untranslated to English, unlike the rest of the comic's Translation Convention.
  • Some of the text on Hakase’s business card is in Japanese instead of English.
  • Roll’s nickname of “Die-chan” for Shine in chapter 10 only makes sense if one is familiar with the Japanese word for die being romanized as “shine” (pronounced sheen-eh rather than like Shine’s name).
  • Some of the idol's signatures in their photocards (even those who have unrevealed codenames and serial codes like Dormouse) are written in Japanese.
• Bishie Sparkle:
  • In chapter 5, Shine has sparkles around her from Gumiya's point of view, showing how he's falling in love with her.
  • Shine's adoration towards Tech makes her see her with sparkles around her head when they meet again in chapter 7.
  • Gumiya gets a sparkle effect after he trusts Shine with his phone for the day because of how thankful Shine is for his kindness.
• Blank White Eyes:
  • Shine's eyes go blank after she blurts out that she wants to be an idol to Roll and Gumiya and they discuss whether that's even possible.
  • Bell’s eyes go white when she gets irritated by O-Len’s insinuation that she isn’t feminine during her appearance on an episode of his talk show.
  • Played for Drama in chapter 9. When Tech wakes up from her nightmare, her normally black eyes are pure white instead, representing her shock and contrasting with Shine’s Dull Eyes of Unhappiness in her dream.
• Blatant Lies: Shine gives Tech the excuse that the reason why she was still near the store where Tech works several hours after Tech gave her directions to the station was because she got lost again and came back for further directions, which Shine herself then realizes makes no sense because if she did get lost, she probably wouldn't have even been able to find her way back in the first place, plus she had no reason to come back instead of just asking any other passerby. Despite this, Tech somehow believes her.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Hasami and O-Len have a comedic dynamic where O-Len says something ridiculous and the serious Hasami corrects him. Hasami even has an In-Universe Nickname of "Tsukkomiku".
• Boob-Based Gag: The afterword of chapter 5 has a joke where a Meiko got a breast mod so large that she can't tie her own shoelaces.
• Born as an Adult: Vocaloids are created based on whatever age their canon self is supposed to be, including adult Vocaloids like Kiyoterus.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Shine’s admiration of and newfound friendship with Tech is tested at the end of chapter 7 when Tech gets angry at her for wanting to pursue her lifelong dream of being an idol. Tech’s unintentionally insensitive remark about Shine being worthless for not singing, which she said without knowing about Shine’s voice bug, makes Shine avoid Tech and worry that everything she knew about her was wrong. Then, in chapter 9 (the final chapter of the prologue), Tech meets up with Shine again and clarifies that she was going too far trying to warn Shine about how harsh the industry is because of how they treated her when she became unable to sing. Shine accepts the apology and the two get along well in the following chapters, with Tech even directly supporting Shine’s future career.
• Broken Pedestal: Shine always admired Tech and used her music for comfort whenever she was feeling down. In her attempt to express her thanks for how much Tech helped her, she tells her that she wants to be an idol just like her. This finally makes Tech reveal how jaded she is from her experiences in the industry, culminating in her yelling at Shine that being unable to sing makes a Miku worthless. Though she couldn't have known about Shine's singing bug, this still damages Shine's opinion of her and makes her wonder how much of the Tech she knew was real.
• Brutal Honesty: Roll's response to Shine being knocked off a bridge and losing her equipment is to say that she wishes her equipment had survived the fall instead because it's worth more money.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Roll considers Shine's big boobs to be her only physical trait that would make her stand out as an idol, and Shine gives Princess' large breasts as a reason why her pictures will sell for a lot, showing how larger chests are more desirable in the idol world. It's no wonder breast mods are so popular.
• Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: Tech's unintentional disparaging comment towards Shine in chapter 7 sticks in her mind enough that she has a nightmare about it, so the moment she spots Shine again she runs up to her and grabs her sleeve, hoping that Shine will hear her out and accept her apology.
• Celebrity Lie: In chapter 6, Shine pretends to be idol influencer Princess' friend so she can confirm whether Roll's tip that she frequently visits a specific coffee shop is true.
• Celebrity Resemblance: Even though individual Vocaloids have unique appearances, they still have a similar general look to each other, which means most non-celebrity Vocaloids resemble famous Vocaloids of the same type as them. This leads to Shine getting mistaken for the famous Miku who sang "Melt" and a possibly different Miku who sang "Love is War" when she forgets to hide her twintails in chapter 2.
• Censor Box: A black scratchy effect covers the eyes of the celebrities surrounding Shine on chapter 8's title card, reminiscent of censor bars that hide people's identities to symbolize how idols do not necessarily present their true selves to their fans.
• Character Title: The title is a reference to the meaning of Hatsune Miku's name, which is "first sound from the future".
• Color-Coded Characters: Characters' shading and dialogue boxes are in each character’s signature colour. Every Vocaloid model is associated with a specific colour and the characters of that model have a unique shade. Among the main cast, Hatsune Miku androids like Shine and Tech are teal, Kagamine Rin androids like Roll are orange, and Megpoid androids like Gumiya and Hakase are green.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The colour of the character profiles are used to indicate whether they're an idol (pink), an influencer (yellow), or a non-celebrity (blue).
• Colour Coded Speech:
  • Each character gets their own unique colour based on their Vocaloid model for their text boxes to be in.
  • Shine’s textbox turns black in Tech’s nightmare to represent how devastated she is by Tech Implying she’s worthless for being unable to sing and how much her expression and tone are unnerving Tech.
• Compliment Backfire: In chapter 7.2, Shine tells Tech that she was so inspired by Tech's encouragement that she's going to try becoming an idol. Tech then launches into a rant about how much she hates the idol industry and doesn't think Shine should try to be one.
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: It takes Tech a few days, but after having a Guilt-Induced Nightmare about how her telling Shine that "a Miku who can't sing is less than worthless" emotionally affected her Tech rushes towards her when she sees her again and apologizes.
• Crazy-Prepared: Shine hates rain so much that she used to carry multiple umbrellas around with her just in case of it. This ended up proving useful on the day she and Gumiya first met, where she noticed him outside in a rainstorm without an umbrella and gave him one.
• Creepy Long Fingers: In Null's idol photocard, she's surrounded by hands with long, thin fingers. Combined with the relatively desaturated colour palette and her spiral eyes it immediately conveys that her music style is darker and more horror adjacent than the average idol.
• Crush Filter: It's clear that Gumiya is starting to fall in love with Shine when he sees her with an added sparkle effect after she gives him her umbrella in a flashback in chapter 5.
• Crying Wolf: When she was in training, Shine would pretend to sing badly to make her classmates laugh. Eventually, when she genuinely couldn't sing properly, her teacher and classmates didn’t believe her and assumed she was causing trouble as always.
• D-Cup Distress: Discussed in the afterword of chapter 5, where Gumiya and Roll remark that although breast mods are popular, only rich Vocaloids can get huge boobs due to being inconvenient and stressful for an average body, which means a Vocaloid would have to fork over a lot of cash for other body mods to make having them practical.
• Death Glare:
  • In chapter 6, Shine's suggestion that Roll leaves her tablet behind with Shine is followed with a shot of Roll's face mostly covered in shadow with her eyes wide open as she gives Shine a murderous stare.
  • In chapter 7, there's a panel where Hakase's face is in shadow besides the glimmer of her goggles when she tells Shine not to go in one of the rooms in her laboratory.
• Debut Queue: Of the main cast, Shine and Tech are introduced in chapter 1, Hakase is introduced in chapter 2, and Roll and Gumiya are introduced in chapter 4.
• Decomposite Character: Vocaloids in Real Life typically take on different images and sounds based on how their producer wishes to use them, but different takes on a Vocaloid are still viewed as being that Vocaloid. In the comic, the Vocaloids are instead split off into thousands of individual androids that embody different traits unique to them, some of which resembles common portrayals of that Vocaloid in the community.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The comic is entirely in black and white besides characters' shading and dialogue boxes, which puts the focus on them over the backgrounds.
• Despair Event Horizon: In the past, Shine gave up on being an idol when her classmates turned on her because they didn’t believe that she genuinely had difficulty singing and blamed her for her own failure.
• Determined Expression: When Shine tells Roll that she wants to be an idol for herself and not due to the social pressure she faces as a Miku, she looks straight forward with a confident expression.
• Devastating Remark: Shine, an aspiring Idol Singer who struggles with feelings of inferiority because of having a disability that prevents her from singing, gets told by her favourite idol Tech that being unable to sing makes her worthless. Shine spends the rest of the day in a haze and can't stop thinking about what she said, no longer admiring her the way she used to. Even though Shine doesn't think Tech meant to hurt her that badly since she couldn't have possibly known that she can't sing, she can't figure out what else Tech could've meant by saying that.
• Disapproving Look: When Gumiya “coincidentally” makes extra of Shine's favourite kind of curry, Roll narrows her eyes at him and frowns in the background.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: In chapter 2, Shine remarks that it’s common for humans to credit Vocaloid songs to "Hatsune Miku" generally instead of the one who actually sang it, similar to the Fandom-Enraging Misconception of people crediting Vocaloids instead of actual music producers.
• Don't Try This at Home: After mentioning in chapter 5 that he used to bind his chest with bandages, Gumiya addresses the audience in the afterword and tells them that it's dangerous and they shouldn't do it.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: During Shine and Tech’s second meeting in chapter 7, Shine is so focused on Tech implying that she’s worthless for being unable to sing that she barely remembers the rest of what she said, which the audience only finds out in a flashback sequence from Tech’s perspective in chapter 9. Tech was trying to convince Shine that the idol industry is harmful and won’t value her as a person, while her current job (which Tech believes is photography because of Shine lying to her previously) allows her to take credit for her own work and not be controlled by other people.
• Dramatic Spotlight: The title card for the first arc is of Shine looking panicked under the light of a spotlight while the other characters watch her while shrouded in darkness.
• Dream Intro: Chapter 9 opens with Tech having a Flashback Nightmare about her version of her conversation with Shine from chapter 7.
• Dysfunction Junction: The main cast include Shine, a Vocaloid with a faulty voicebox who was ostracized by her classmates and has chronic self esteem issues as a result; Roll, a cynical 14 year old Little Miss Snarker who regularly breaks the law; Tech, a retired Idol Singer with perpetual Dull Eyes of Unhappiness who used to love music but can’t sing anymore after an unspecified traumatic experience; and Hakase, a Mad Scientist with questionable ethics whose main priority is convincing people to let her install body mods on them. Even Gumiya, easily the most well adjusted main character by the comic’s present, has a Dark and Troubled Past where he was treated poorly for trying to be an accountant as an android created to perform music.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • During the afterword of chapter 2, Gumiya and Roll are used as examples of how naming conventions work for Vocaloids before the two are fully introduced in chapter 4.
  • Before Bright’s Day in the Limelight interlude chapter, her only appearances were on an album in Shine’s room and an idol photocard, neither of which gave her any dialogue.
  • The idols that Shine meets at First Sound Entertainment in chapter 12 were previously seen in Dr. Yuki's signature collection, in merch on Shine's shelf, and in the idol photocard interlude before their speaking appearances.
• Elite Four: Hatsupress, the iconic first four Miku units who were responsible for putting Hatsune Miku in the cultural consciousness and for thousands more to be created due to their popularity.
• Emotional Maturity Is Physical Maturity: Zig-Zagged. Androids' ages are not generally determined by chronology but rather by how old they look (since they can just get a mod if they want to be a different age), but some Vocaloids who have apparent ages of children display maturity beyond what a human that old would (for example, Dr. Yuki is a 9 year old medical doctor and O-Len is a 14-year old talk-variety show host who manages the rest of the cast). However, these young-looking Vocaloids frequently have moments where they display childish behaviour, such as Dr. Yuki's obsession with Mikus and admiration of Shine, and Roll's childish fashion sense and bossiness towards adults.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Rinrin's and Siren's idol photocards are full of sparkles, fitting for two popular Idol Singers.
• Extreme Close-Up: Shine’s face takes up the entire panel showing her reaction to Roll doubting if she can be an idol in chapter 4.
• Eyed Screen: There are quite a few panels that just show a closeup of a character’s eyes to emphasize their reaction to something without using dialogue, such as Tech’s displeased reaction to Shine mentioning she’s a first generation Miku showing only her Dull Eyes of Unhappiness.
• Failure Montage: After Shine's voice box starts malfunctioning, there's a montage of her screwing up her singing classes and trying to practice more during the night, only to get berated for her fatigue induced mistakes during her dancing classes.
• Fanboy: Dr. Yuki and Nurse Kiyoteru are this for Mikus, even waiving Shine's medical bills due to how starstruck they are by a Miku visiting their clinic.
• Fan of Underdog: Despite Bright's unimpressive overall sales number for her first album, she has a few dedicated fans who admire her hard work and vow to purchase every album she releases, which only makes Bright feel like people are ignoring the quality of her actual music.
• Fantastic Ableism: Vocaloids who have problems with their voiceboxes not only face a significant barrier to fulfilling their intended purpose as singing idols, but are also barred from legally being able to fix them due to their voiceboxes being copyrighted. During her idol training, Shine was ostracized by her classmates because they thought that she was disrupting the class by singing badly on purpose and refused to believe her when she told them she was physically unable to stay on pitch.
• Fantastic Angst:
  • Shine is insecure and full of self-doubt because she was unable to get her dream job of being an idol, which was caused by her voice box being buggy.
  • Gumiya's mental and physical health suffered when he was repeatedly rejected during job interviews because of people not wanting to hire a singing robot trying to get a human STEM job.
• Fate Drives Us Together: By the 7th chapter, Shine has already ran into Tech by coincidence three times: Once after meeting her at the convenience store she works at after having a conversation where she called Tech her favorite idol, again after Shine falls asleep and wakes up just as Tech is leaving the store, and again when she runs into her at a crosswalk after thinking about going to see her. While not romantically involved as of chapter 7, Tech is an important part of Shine's motivation to be an idol.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: When talking about how different Lucky was before he transitioned, Shine says that it's scary how idols can hide their feelings so well. Though she's making a general point about fans not being able to know what their idols are really like behind the scenes, she realizes after she says it that it sounds like she’s calling being trans deceptive right in front of her trans neighbour Gumiya.
• Fell Asleep Standing Up: Shine is so exhausted after falling into the water in chapter 1 that she falls asleep while still in position to spy on Tech.
• Fictional Disability: Sometimes Vocaloid voice boxes have loose components, which can make it difficult for them to stay on pitch (which is a big deal for beings in which singing is a major selling point). Shine has this problem, which is why she believes she can’t be an idol.
• First-Episode Twist: Shine being physically unable to sing is revealed at the end of chapter 2 and was not shown in any pre-release material.
• First-Name Basis: Gumiya always calls Shine by her given name “Miku” without an honorific over using her codename, signifying both his disconnect from Vocaloid culture where using codenames is more common and his closeness with her in spite of Shine claiming she has no friends.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: In chapter 2, during Shine’s flashback sequence right before she’s revealed to be unable to sing, there’s a shot of her gripping her neck looking upset.
• Flashback Cut:
  • During Tech’s explanation about why she’s no longer an idol there’s two panels showing her past self, one where she’s wearing her idol outfit standing normally and another where she’s on the ground looking up in despair with her face covered in shadow, before the scene returns to Tech and Shine in the present.
  • Gumiya’s explanation to Shine about how he struggled to convince himself that he could be a salaryman instead of an idol like he was manufactured to be is accompanied by a panel briefly showing his past self wearing an idol costume.
  • As Shine puts on the CLEF and sings successfully for the first time in 2 years she has brief flashbacks to when she was in training, remembering all the times people doubted and mistreated her because of her singing bug.
• Flashback Echo: When Tech asks Shine if she would be satisfied with a life where she's just an observer to the idols she admires, Shine has a flashback to her teacher asking her the same thing.
• Flashback Nightmare: In chapter 9, Tech has a nightmare about her conversation with Shine from chapter 7, allowing the reader to see the second half of what happened.
• Flashy Protagonists, Bland Extras: One-off human characters like the high school girls from chapter 2 and the barista from chapter 6 don’t get a signature colour (their shading and dialogue boxes are grey instead) and have blank, featureless faces. The Vocaloids, meanwhile, have distinct eye shapes and unique colours.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The reveal that Tech ghostwrote for FSE in chapter 9.2 was hinted at on her character profile, where Shine has a note listing possible ghost writing within FSE as something Tech might be responsible for.
  • Shine’s singing bug is hinted at during a flashback where Shine’s teacher says the only class she’s going to pass is dance.
• Freudian Slip: In chapter 7, Hakase calls her clients her "projects" before quickly correcting herself to "patients", revealing her true feelings about the people she treats.
• Friendlessness Insult: Shine directs an insult towards herself where she mentions her lack of close friends as a character flaw alongside her bad luck, clumsiness, and social media addiction. Her insecurity about this trait is part of why she worries that no one will like her enough to support her if she becomes an idol.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Tech has nice things to say about all her old coworkers except for Kusa, who Tech admits is hard to get along with. Given that Kusa is currently in jail for stalking and killing a pet among other things Tech had good reasons to be wary of her.
• Friendship Denial: Shine is shown hanging out with Gumiya and Roll fairly often, gets advice from them even though Roll likes to insult her, and Gumiya tells her he appreciates having her in his life and even uses First-Name Basis to refer to her, but in chapter 2 Shine tells Tech she has “no real friends”. While many of these interactions happen after her conversation with Tech, in chapter 4 the moment she gets back to her apartment Gumiya and Roll are waiting for her and grateful to see she’s back (Gumiya more openly). Because of her past experiences with social rejection Shine sees herself as uncharismatic and unsuited to pursue her dream of being an idol, which is why she’s reluctant to consider them her friends.
• Friendship Trinket: The umbrella that Shine gave Gumiya when they first met, which Gumiya kept for several years and considers to be a symbol of the way Shine helped motivate him to keep trying to achieve his dreams.
• Funny Background Event: A panel in chapter 8 has the O-Len show running on Gumiya's tv in the background showing Bell falling forward and the audience laughing at her.
• Fun with Acronyms: The device Hakase creates that allows Shine to sing is called the Corrective Larynxial External Fastener or CLEF.
• Gendered Insult: When Lucky refuses to do one of O-Len's talk show tasks because it's "unladylike" O-Len suggests that Bell do it instead, which pisses her off because he's implying that she isn't feminine.
• Gender Rarity Value: When the first male Hatsune Miku model was manufactured he ended up being popular enough that they kept manufacturing more. However, in the present day of the comic in spite of how custom-made male Miku variants exist far fewer in number than female ones they're not particularly desired for idol work.
• Gilligan Cut: When Shine realizes that her meeting with Tech on the weekend will be interrupted by the interview Roll wants her to do with Hasami, the scene immediately cuts to Shine all dressed up waiting outside after Roll forced her to do the interview right away instead.
• Girlish Pigtails: One of the features of Hatsune Miku's default design is a pair of twintails that add to her youthful, innocent image. Each individual Miku android is created with this hairstyle with the intention of invoking this trope for the sake of them being marketable idols, but not all of them end up keeping the style or matching the personality type.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Tech points at Shine while shouting at her that she absolutely should not become an idol, before she switches to Offering a Hand instead in her hope that Shine will take her advice.
• Goggles Do Nothing: The signature outfit for Megpoid units features a pair of goggles that are there for style rather than function.
• Gold Makes Everything Shiny: Rinrin's idol outfit is gold and has a prominent sparkly sheen to match.
• Goroawase Number:
  • The basis for most of the Vocaloids’ codenames are Japanese number puns based on the last 4 digits of their serial codes.
  • 3/9 is dubbed Miku day because 39 can be pronounced as Miku in Japanese.
• Gray Rain of Depression: Subverted. During Gumiya's first meeting with Shine, the rain seems to be used to set the mood of the difficult time Gumiya was going through. However, the rain ends up being the reason why Shine offered him her umbrella, which leads to him falling in love with her. "Rainy days" are even listed as one of Gumiya's likes on his character profile, showing how they took on a positive association for him.
• Grin of Rage: When Shine tells Tech that she’s going to try and be an idol because of Tech’s influence on her life, Tech gives a foreboding smile before her rage at Shine’s desire to be part of the industry that hurt her so badly comes out.
• Grouped for Your Convenience: There are three major agencies that the idol characters are grouped into: Hidden Gems Agency (a small agency founded by Lucky), First Sound Entertainment (an average sized agency founded by Tech) and 246pro (a large agency founded by Bell). Other agencies exist, but they are left unnamed (like the ones that Momo and Mimi are signed to).
• Group-Identifying Feature: The teal twintails are the main feature that identifies someone as a Hatsune Miku android at a glance, which is why Shine changes her hairstyle when she's trying not to get recognized.
• Guilt-Induced Nightmare: Tech's Flashback Nightmare in chapter 9 is caused by her guilt towards Shine, whose dreams she tried to crush in a previous chapter, which is why she apologizes to her at the end of the chapter.
• Half-Identical Twins: Counterpart Kagamine Lens and Rins are a boy and a girl who are made in pairs, each with similar facial features to the point where many could pass for the other with a different hairstyle. Only qualifies if they see each other as twins, though.
• Hallucinations: After Shine regains her singing ability she realizes she’s still anxious about becoming an idol, causing her to hallucinate a version of herself wearing idol clothes that confronts her about her insecurity and doubt.
• Harsh Word Impact: Roll’s insult towards Shine where she calls her an “idiotic, die-hard otaku type” for being disturbed by idols lying to their fans is accompanied by an arrow coming out from Roll’s speech bubble that pokes Shine in the head and makes her bleed.
• Hidden Eyes: In Shine and Tech's argument about whether Shine should be an idol in chapter 7.2, both characters are shown with their eyes in shadows or cut off by the frame at points to highlight their intense feelings.
• Hiding the Handicap: Shine hides her singing bug from Gumiya and Roll when explaining to them her sudden desire to become an idol since she's planning on going to an illegal doctor to fix it.
• Hope Is Scary: After spending so long believing her dream of becoming an idol was impossible because of her singing bug, Shine receiving the CLEF from Hakase that allows her to sing should have finally given her hope. Instead, she starts to fear that she’s still not good enough to be an idol, worrying both that it won’t make her happy and that pursuing her dream and failing once more would truly confirm that she’s worthless.
• Horrible Hollywood: In Tech's view, behind the glittering stage of idols lies overworked talents who can't express their feelings or individuality due to the pressure from their agencies and fans, who are then immediately discarded when they're no longer seen as having value.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Kiyoteru and Yuki androids are made in pairs. Yukis are small schoolgirls whereas Kiyoterus are adult men, meant to resemble a student and teacher.
• Hypocritical Humor: Shine refuses to search for money under a vending machine to afford a train ticket because it would be shameful right as the narration points out she does plenty of shameful things.
  Shine: I'm a Miku! I can't do something so shameful!
  Narrator: The girl is unaware that her day-to-day actions are already shameful.
• Identically Named Group: Vocaloids of the same model are all given the same name, and in cases of Vocaloids whose names match their models like Mikus they're referred to as a group by their names. The social system of giving each other codenames was created to be able to refer to each other more easily, though this is more common among androids who were in training with each other.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The chapter titles are consistently named after songs featuring Vocaloids.
• The Idol's Blessing: Double Subverted. When Shine meets her favorite Idol Singer Tech in chapter 2, she tells her that while she admires idols she feels like she could never be one. Tech responds that she should always pursue her dreams and chase happiness, which makes Shine regain her desire to become an idol. In chapter 7, Tech is shocked Shine took her speech that way when Shine reveals to her that she's seriously planning to be an idol. She actually hates the industry and doesn't think Shine should be a part of it, telling her that her dream is impractical, but after having a Guilt-Induced Nightmare about how Shine reacted to her disapproval Tech apologizes to Shine and gives her a song she wrote as an Apology Gift, exchanging contact info with her and encouraging her to be an idol.
• Idol Singer: Vocaloids are manufactured to become singing idols; they are put through mandatory idol training with dancing and singing classes for the purpose of getting scouted by an agency. The series revolves around examining what it means to be an idol and the challenges that come with being one, using Ridiculously Human Robots as a metaphor to show how idols are essentially marketable products who aren't seen as real people by their agencies or fans.
• I Have This Friend: When Shine contacts Dr. Yuki’s clinic about her voice bug, she pretends that it’s her friend who has the problem because she’s afraid she could get in trouble for searching around for ways to mess around with her voice since it’s illegal. Nurse Kiyoteru tells Shine that Yuki might be willing to do it for a Miku (which Shine is) but that he’d never let her risk losing her medical licence.
• I'm Your Biggest Fan: Once Shine confirms that the V2 Miku she met at the convenience store was her favourite idol Tech, she wastes no time in gushing to her about how much she loves her music and finds her inspiring, even though Shine hadn't been born yet when Tech retired. Tech is surprised but grateful that someone so young would admire her.
• Inevitably Broken Rule: The only reason that Vocaloids being legally unable to modify their voice boxes comes up in the story is because Shine will have to break or circumvent this law if she wants to fix her singing bug to achieve her goal of being an idol.
• Info Drop:
  • The character profiles have miscellaneous information about the characters like their serial codes, likes, specialties, graduation dates, etc. Tech’s also has a bunch of sticky notes written by Shine with some theories about her retirement and rumors about her career, including Foreshadowing for her ghost writing songs for her idol agency.
  • Hakase’s serial code is omitted from their character profile, but is briefly visible on the business card they give Shine.
  • The scene in chapter 5 where Shine thinks about what makes other famous Mikus special has a few briefly visible previously unseen details about them, like 53’s serial code and codename being in a news article about her and some of the other top Mikus' codenames being on their social media profiles.
• Instant Humiliation Just Add Youtube: The video of Shine falling off a bridge that was taken without her consent is uploaded on Twitter, which causes jokes about what happened to her to get thousands of likes.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Tech and Shine appear to be around the same age- 20 and 18 respectively- but chronologically Tech is 11 and Shine is only 2. This difference is made most obvious with Tech and Shine’s differing views of the state of the idol industry. Tech doesn’t even recognize any of the idols currently employed at First Sound Entertainment, while Shine wasn’t even alive when Tech and all her coworkers were active performers.
• Internal Reveal: A panel at the end of chapter 4 showing retired idol Tech using the synthesizer in her room after meeting Shine reveals to the reader that she's considering returning to music in some capacity, but Shine doesn't find this out until Tech tells her she wrote her a song in chapter 9.
• I Resemble That Remark!: When O-Len implies that Bell is unladylike she denies it while saying that she’ll beat him up for saying it, which doesn't exactly disprove his point.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Roll tells Shine that she shouldn't be an idol with her usual Brutal Honesty, pointing out that she has no useful connections to any idols, is notoriously unlucky, and doesn't have any way to stand out from the hundreds of other Mikus in the industry. Although Shine initially argues against her, she does agree with Roll's suggestion for her to try and get a famous Miku's contact information, and later confesses to Gumiya that she feels like Roll was right about her not being suited to being an idol.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Shine's singing bug was kept hidden in all prerelease material and was only revealed in the comic in chapter 2. After The Reveal it was included in the official series description, so any new readers will know from the beginning.
• Lonely Together:
  • When Gumiya first met Shine, he’d been thrust into the workforce away from the fellow Megpoid units that he considered family which left him lonely and doubting himself, and Shine was a newly created android who’d been ostracized from her classmates because of her singing bug. Though they only had a brief interaction where Shine gave Gumiya her umbrella, a single stranger offering him kindness and making him laugh gave Gumiya the drive to keep trying to get hired as an accountant. Shine still has no close friends in the present, so Gumiya tries to be there for her and give her the same drive to pursue her dream of being an idol so that she doesn’t feel lonely and rejected the way he used to.
  • Implied to be the case between Gumiya and his roommate Roll. Roll is a Kagamine Rin android with a conspicuously absent counterpart who mostly interacts with fellow informants, paparazzi, and idol enthusiasts for her job, and though Gumiya has a positive relationship with many people through his work he’s still away from his family, making their relationship seem more familial than mere roommates through their shared lack of the sibling bonds they once had or could’ve had.
• Magical Accessory: Hakase’s device that allows Shine to sing takes the form of a fashionable choker designed like a music sheet that she can wear around her neck.
• Meet Cute: Gumiya and Shine's first meeting. Gumiya was alone outside while it was pouring down rain, then Shine approached him to offer him her umbrella. Initially, Gumiya thought she was nice enough to give up her umbrella for a stranger, until she pulled out another umbrella from her coat and told him she always carries a bunch of umbrellas on her. The ridiculousness of her actions cheered him up, and he treasured the memory of that day ever since, even though Shine finds it embarrassing.
• Metaphorically True: Shine describes herself as a "freelance photographer" to Tech when she first meets her, leaving out the details of her true employment as a Paparazzi.
• Mischievous Body Language: Shine narrows her eyes and grins mischievously when she stalks and secretly takes pictures of Princess with the intention of selling them to the press.
• Misattributed Song: In-Universe example. A human girl mistakes “Melt” and “Love is War” as being sung by Shine because she’s a Miku android, not realizing that there are over a thousand different Mikus with individual personalities and appearances.
• Mistaken Identity:
  • Some humans are unaware that there are multiples of each Vocaloid and assume that every Vocaloid of the same type is the same person. This happens to Shine in chapter 2.2 where a human girl treats her like a celebrity because she thinks that Shine is the one and only Hatsune Miku.
  • In chapter 5, when Gumiya shows Shine an old photo of himself from when he was still living as a female idol, she doesn't realize it's him in the photo and thinks it's a picture of one his sisters.
  • Roll puts on her cutesy young girl persona in front of Shine and pretends to need directions to the station because Shine's different outfit makes Roll mistake her for a celebrity (this is despite Roll and Shine being neighbours who've spent a fair amount of time together).
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Shine has a heartwarming moment with Tech in the 2nd chapter when Tech tells her she really enjoyed talking to her. Being complimented by her favourite idol makes Shine say that that was one of her best days ever... Until the mood immediately shifts when she says she was just kidding since she still lost all her stuff in the harbor earlier that day.
  • Played for Drama in chapter 7.2. Shine and Tech's conversation starts out pleasant, with Shine gushing to Tech about how much she loves her music, and Tech seeming happy to have run into Shine again. Until Shine says that Tech made her want to become an idol, which immediately makes Tech act much colder towards her. This rapidly leads to Tech launching into a full-on angry rant about how much she hates the idol industry and how foolish Shine is for wanting to be one, emotionally devastating her. The sudden shift in mood highlights how traumatized Tech is from her former career.
• More Insulting than Intended: In the context of the rest of what she's saying, Tech's statement that "a Miku who can’t sing is less than worthless" is about how a Vocaloid's value to society is determined by how well they can perform as idols and appease the public. Though she's saying this because she thinks Shine is foolish for wanting to be an idol, she doesn't realize that Shine has a bug that literally prevents her from singing which is the main source of Shine's insecurity, making her statement come across a lot worse than intended.
• Moving Right Through: When Shine reunites with Roll and Gumiya in chapter 4, Gumiya gets on the ground and sticks his arms out to hug her as Shine moves passed him to beg Roll to unlock her door.
• Multiple Reference Pun: "Hatsupress", the nickname for the first Hatsune Miku units, comes both from "hatsu" meaning first, and from the "Hatsu" from "Hatsune Miku".
• Mutual Envy:
  • In the afterword of chapter 8, a Miku, Rin, and Len are jealous of Luka because she was programmed to be bilingual, but she's also jealous of them because they get to hang out with their English counterparts when they go overseas.
  • Shine has always dreamed of being an idol and getting to sing on stage just like Tech used to. Tech herself wishes she had the drive and passion for performing music that Shine does, feeling inferior because of her trauma preventing her from singing.
• My Card:
  • Hakase gives Shine their business card when offering to fix her voicebox. Shine does end up using it later to contact them.
  • When Shine tells Hasami she wants to be an idol but hasn't been signed to an agency yet, Hasami postpones the interview they had planned until Shine actually gets hired and gives Shine her business card so that she can contact her later.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: The classic Miku look consists of twintails, a short skirt, thigh-high boots, and a tie. Most of the top Mikus wear variations that show off their personalities. Conversely, some Mikus who are alienated from fulfilling their purpose like Shine and Tech forego the uniform.
• "No Peeking!" Request: Inverted in chapter 5. Shine covers her eyes while Gumiya is going through his phone to respect his privacy, even though he tells her she can look.
• Nosebleed: O-Len, a famous talk-variety show host, got his career from a viral meme of a girl getting a comedically large nosebleed from her crush on him and falling unconscious in his lap.
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: In-Universe example. In chapter 10, Shine doesn’t want to go on O-Len’s show based on the viral video of her falling off a bridge, but Roll urges her to do it anyway since she’ll still be put in the public eye even if it’s not for the reason she wants.
  Roll: "Any publicity is good publicity! You think you’re in a position to choose?"
• No Sympathy: Shine’s classmates, including her friends, offer her no pity when she becomes unable to sing well because of her laziness and joking around.
• Numerological Motif:
  • Shine's serial code is "4N01". The 4N part composes her codename "Shine", and the 01 is the same as the numbers in Hatsune Miku's real life codename, CV01.
  • V2's serial code is "39FS", with the 39 being associated with Hatsune Miku in real life due to being pronounced as "Miku" in Japanese.
• Obviously Not Fine: When Gumiya goes to Shine's apartment in chapter 5, she greets him with a blank stare, eyebags, and a shadow over her face, which makes Gumiya ask her if she's ok. She responds that she's fine, but Gumiya doesn't believe her and enters her apartment to find out what's bothering her.
• Oddly Visible Eyebrows: Most characters have their eyebrows visible through their bangs to better show their facial expressions. Hakase, who doesn't have eyebrows, and Roll, who usually only has one eyebrow showing due to her hair covering half her face, are aversions.
• Offering a Hand: Tech offers Shine her hand while trying to convince her that she should be satisfied being a photographer.
• Older Than They Look: Vocaloids are created to be a specific age and don't physically age naturally even if they mentally do, meaning that androids can be mentally older than they look while being chronologically Younger Than They Look. Dr. Yuki looks like a little girl but is mentally old enough to work as a doctor, with her childish appearance making it difficult for her to be taken seriously.
• Old Friend: Hasami, Shine’s roommate from when she was in idol training two years ago, ends up requesting a meeting with her in chapter 10 to get her on the O-Len show where she works as a correspondent. Shine is nervous about meeting up with her again because Shine and her friends used to hang out without her and goof off in contrast with Hasami’s perpetual seriousness, making her unsure if Hasami will actually be happy to see her.
• Old Shame: Shine is embarrassed by how she used to behave, to the point where she requests that Gumiya forgets the memory of how they first met (in which she gave him her umbrella then casually pulled another one out of her coat since she carried multiple ones on her).
• One-Steve Limit: Downplayed. Every Vocaloid of the same type has the same given name (so every Hatsune Miku android is given the name Miku, for example) but many have code names based off of their serial number to be able to tell each other apart. Within the story characters are interchangeably referred to with their codenames or given names depending on who’s speaking. There are also Vocaloids who have regular nicknames instead of code names (such as V2), and others who changed their given names (such as Gumiya).
• Opening Monologue: The first chapter begins with a narration explaining how Hatsune Miku androids came to be.
• Out of Job, into the Plot: Shine losing her paparazzi equipment in the first chapter requires her to find a new way to make money, which is the catalyst for her deciding to try and become an idol again after she gave up on it years ago. The rest of the series focuses on Shine's aspiring idol career and the challenges she faces in her pursuit of it.
• Paying It Forward: Kiyoteru tells Shine that she can ask him for anything else she needs because of Gumiya having helped him before.
• Pietà Plagiarism: A comedic reference to the famous Italian sculpture occurs when O-Len cradles the body of a girl who just got a Nosebleed from being a big fan of his, resulting in an In-Universe Memetic Mutation.
• Poor Communication Kills: Tech’s attempt to convince Shine to abandon her goal of being an idol by being Cruel to Be Kind in chapter 7 ends up backfiring on her. The harshness of her delivery and More Insulting than Intended word choice ends with the recipient of her message having a negative impression of her and focusing solely on her unintentional insult. Tech tries to remedy this in chapter 9 by apologizing and explaining what she meant.
• Popularity Cycle: Even though Vocaloids can stay the same age forever, they still face the threat of being replaced if their idol agencies don't believe they're performing adequately. One of Shine's theories for Tech's retirement is that she was replaced by a newer model, and Tech herself believes that no matter how hard a Vocaloid works they’ll inevitably be discarded.
• Poster-Gallery Bedroom: Hatsune Miku superfan Shine's apartment is filled with Miku merch, including expensive albums, posters, and a life-sized standee of a Miku behind her TV.
• Prolonged Prologue: The first 9 chapters of the story make up the prologue, which also took a year in real world time to get released.
• Pronouncing My Name for You: Shine clarifies her name is pronounced like the English word and not like the Japanese word for “die” to Tech in chapter 7 when they're writing her an autograph.
• Pursue the Dream Job: Shine regains her motivation to become an idol like she used to dream of instead of a paparazzi after she finds out her faulty voice box can actually be fixed, although she still doubts herself.
• Rays from Heaven:
  • Shine imagines Gumiya with beams of light coming from him after comparing him to a "saint sent from heaven" because he let her borrow his phone.
  • In chapter 5, 39FS is portrayed in front of a cracked sky with beams of light coming out behind her, evoking celestial imagery to convey her existence as one of the beloved first Miku units who set the standard for all following Mikus.
• Reaction Shot: In chapter 4, when Shine suggests the idea of her becoming an idol to Roll and Gumiya, the next two panels show the three of them looking shocked by what she just said.
• Real Event, Fictional Cause: The Real Life “damn you len” meme (a text post of a girl fainting from a nosebleed after seeing Kagamine Len) happened In-Universe to the specific Kagamine Len android O-Len, making people spread it around as an image and eventually nabbing him a career as a talk show host.
• Real-Place Background: The background images are based off of real locations in Japan, such as the convenience store Tech works at.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: After Shine's longtime favourite Idol Singer Tech disapproves of her dream of being an idol and tells her not being able to sing makes a Miku worthless (a particularly harsh statement because of Shine's voice bug that Tech isn't aware of), Shine feels like the hopeful and inspiring idol she knew might've all been a ruse. However, Tech eventually runs into Shine again and apologizes to her, revealing that she also can't sing (due to psychological issues rather than physical ones) and that the industry's unsympathetic treatment of her following a traumatic experience made her so bitter and jaded that she pushed those values onto Shine. Tech gives Shine a song she wrote as an Apology Gift and agrees to support Shine's idol career, which restores Shine's admiration of Tech and makes her overjoyed to get Tech's contact info.
• Reflective Eyes: Shine is reflected from Hakase’s goggles in chapter 7.1's title card.
• Repeated for Emphasis:
  • After being asked to sing by a stranger, Shine runs away and repeats in her mind how pathetic she feels for being unable to.
    Shine: How much more pathetic can I get today? Seriously… Seriously, seriously… how much more pathetic can I get…
  • While lamenting her inability to be an idol, Shine repeats the words “it’s painful” at the beginning and end of her internal monologue.
• Reveal Shot: A Megpoid that appears to be a friendly stranger offering comfort in the middle of the night to Shine offers her their scarf. Once they remove it, Shine stumbles back in shock as the Megpoid lowers their goggles and shows off the staples on their neck, revealing themself to be Hakase.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: The all-android cast eat, sleep, drink, and look similar to humans.
• Romantic Rain: Played for Laughs in chapter 5. When Shine gives Gumiya her umbrella during a rainy day, he sees her with a Crush Filter while imagining her getting soaked by the rain due to her generosity, at least until he realizes that she had multiple umbrellas on her. The comedy of the situation is exactly what makes him fall in love with her.
• Running Gag: Both chapter 6 and chapter 11 have a gag where Roll doesn't recognize Shine after she puts on a different outfit and Shine gets mad at her for it.
• Samaritan Relationship Starter: Shine offering her umbrella to Gumiya is what made him fall in love with her.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Hakase's goggles are illuminated in contrast with her shadowed face when she tells Shine to not go in the room next to the bathroom at her lab, which is unnerving enough to Shine that she makes sure to listen.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Shine is able to bypass a lot of the difficulty with getting to contact idols and idol agencies while pursuing her career from her friendship with retired idol Tech. This connection allows her a meeting with the idols at First Sound Entertainment, something pretty much impossible for the average person as Shine would know from being a paparazzi. Many characters praise Shine for being so resourceful.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: Despite not even going to school, one of Roll's outfits is a school uniform. She wears it to give herself the appearance of a sweet and innocent child to hide her occupation as a celebrity informant.
• Second Episode Introduction: The only main characters who have appearances in the first chapter are Shine and Tech. Hakase, despite being an important part of Shine’s narrative because of helping her fix her voicebox, doesn’t show up until the end of chapter 2.
• Shared Identity: Vocaloids of the same model do not merely share the same name, they also all contribute to a shared image. While this can be a benefit for popular models like Mikus who can get clout off of association with famous idols, it can also stifle their individuality.
• Short Teens, Tall Adults: Characters around the age of 14 like Roll are usually shorter than characters in the age range of 16-18 like Shine and Gumiya to emphasize their difference in age. Tech, the oldest character in the main cast with a confirmed age (20), is also the tallest at 171cm (above average height for a Japanese woman).
• Shout-Out: In chapter 11, the producer that Shine imagines meeting by chance is identical to the producer from THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls
• Show Within a Show: "OMAKASE!!! Len-kun no Jikan!!!" Is a fictional talk show that Gumiya is a fan of and that Roll uses for her information gathering. A specific episode of the show featuring Hatsupress is shown to give exposition about some of their history.
• Sibling Seniority Squabble: In the afterword of chapter 4, a Rin and a Len argue about which of them is older. They're androids who were made at the same time, so they use reasoning like Rin's design process starting first or Len being taller.
• Significant Birth Date: Invoked; the first generation of Hatsune Miku V4X units (including Shine) were created on August 31st to match up with the anniversary of Hatsune Miku V2’s first press. Rushing this release date is what caused Shine to be created with a manufacturing error that made her voicebox malfunction.
• Skipping School: While in training, Shine would pretend to be sick to skip her lessons.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Retired Idol Singer Tech, who is one of oldest Vocaloids currently in existence, believes that becoming an idol is an impractical fool’s errand that will only end with being torn apart by idol agencies and fans, a view informed by their own experiences in the industry. They desperately try to convince the younger and more naive Shine that it’s only her lack of knowledge about the industry that’s making her think that she should be one, refusing to support her dream. Unfortunately for Tech, her unfortunate choice of words just amplifies Shine’s insecurity and makes her gloss over Tech’s points about how awful the idol industry is.
• Sleep Deprivation: In the past, the stress of trying to find a job led to Gumiya losing sleep.
• Sobriquet Sex Switch: The male variant of Hatsune Miku android units are called "Mikuos".
• Social Media Is Bad: The video of Shine’s bridge incident that goes viral on twitter causes her quite a few problems. People online openly mock her for what happened, and she becomes so well known among the masses that she has to wear an over the top disguise just to go outside. In chapter 2, Shine also lists her social media addiction as one of her character flaws to Tech.
  Hakase: "Social media is a poison on society!"
• Speech Bubbles:
  • Hakase has differently shaped speech bubbles than the other characters, being boxy rather than round. According to Word of God, this is because Hakase is speaking Japanese with an English voicebank. This can also be seen with Luka in the afterword of chapter 8 when she's speaking in English, along with her text being in a different font.
  • Shine's speech bubble turns into a heart when Roll tells her that she mistook her for a celebrity and Shine excitedly asks if she really means it.
• Speech-Bubbles Interruption:
  • In chapter 4, the speech bubble where Gumiya expresses his relief that Shine is okay after being gone for a long time is slightly cut off by Shine begging Roll to unlock her door.
  • In chapter 6, the speech bubble where Shine asks Roll why she's in her room is cut off by Roll's hand dangling Shine's apartment key.
• Stepford Smiler: Discussed by Tech in chapter 7, where she tells Shine that as an idol she’ll be expected to smile no matter how she feels and could get fired if she doesn’t comply.
• Stern Teacher: Shine’s teacher from training, who often admonished her for not taking things seriously. She sincerely wanted Shine to succeed and was only harsh towards her because of Shine's poor work ethic.
• Story Arc: The first nine chapters of the story make up the prologue, consisting largely of character introductions and setting up Shine's motivation to become an idol. The following chapters are part of the "First Snow" arc, where Shine is going to try and get hired to an idol agency and potentially audition for Snow Miku.
• Suddenly Shouting: In chapter 5, Gumiya and Shine were speaking at normal volume until Gumiya shows Shine the umbrella that she gave him when they met. Shine's recollection of the significance of the umbrella makes her shout out loud enough to startle Gumiya.
• Sure, Let's Go with That:
  • After Shine tells Tech she’s a photographer, Tech asks if she takes pictures of "landscapes and stuff" which Shine hesitantly agrees to upon seeing how excited Tech is.
  • In chapter 8, Shine goes along with Roll’s assumption that her disappointment at the true character of someone she knows is about an online friend, even though she’s actually talking about Tech.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: In chapter 2, when Shine realizes she can't afford an idol magazine, she justifies her decision to not purchase it by going on a tangent about how she definitely doesn't want to be an idol or anything, she's just curious about them like all Mikus are! Her desire to be an idol is part of the premise.
• Switching P.O.V.:
  • While most of the story is told from Shine's perspective, there are sometimes glimpses into other characters' points of view. At the end of chapter 4, there is a scene showing Tech thinking about her interaction with Shine and taking the sheet off her synthesizer.
  • In chapter 5, there are some insights into Gumiya's thoughts both during his flashback to his first meeting with Shine and at the end of the chapter. This is used to show to the audience that he has a crush on her, since Shine is Oblivious to Love.
  • Roll's thoughts are delved into in chapter 6, showing her evaluation of Shine and her hidden desire to see her succeed.
  • The end of chapter 8 has a small section from O-Len's point of view where his boyfriend shows him the video of Shine that went viral, which makes him consider using it as material for his show. This reveals to the reader but not Shine that a path to fame has just opened up to her.
  • Chapter 9 opens with Tech’s perspective of her conversation with Shine from chapter 7, allowing the reader to see the parts that Shine missed.
• Symbolic Distance: Shine’s doubt over whether she can be an idol is represented by a Fantasy Sequence where another version of herself wears an idol outfit and talks to her from the other side of a railroad crossing. The distance between them symbolizes how far she still feels from achieving her dream.
• Talk Show Appearance:
  • Hatsupress (sans 39FS) appearing on an episode of O-Len's talk show is what launched them into their height of fame and made them be thought of as a group in the public consciousness.
  • The first arc’s opening plot line is Shine being invited on the O-Len show after a video of her falling off a bridge goes viral, with Shine being unsure if she wants to go on his show and be famous for such an embarrassing reason.
• Taste the Rainbow: Instead of all being identical, Vocaloid androids of the same type have different personalities and slight differences in body type, hairstyle, and hair colour, appealing to different fans’ and producers' tastes.
• The Talk Show with Host Name: O-Len's talk show is named “OMAKASE!!! Len-kun no Jikan!!!” (Leave it to Len!).
• Tears of Joy: Shine bursts into tears because of the relief she feels when Hakase tells her that her difficulty with singing was caused by a manufacturing error and wasn’t her own fault.
• Technology Porn: In chapter 9, Hakase goes on a lengthy and detailed explanation of how a device that will allow Shine to sing works.
• Teen Idol: Invoked by android production companies who design their Vocaloids as teenagers (such CFM's Mikus, Rins, and Lens), since the goal is for them to be scouted as idols mere months after their creation.
• Tempting Apple: Lenkyun and Kaikun are both holding a bit-into apple in their photocard.
• Tempting Fate:
  • At the end of Chapter 1.1, after Shine's equipment falls in the harbor, she outwardly exclaims that there's no way things can get any worse, just as she herself gets knocked over the side of the bridge.
  • Shine tells herself that there’s no way the video of her falling off a bridge that was posted on social media has that many views. Cue a panel revealing that the Twitter user who posted it has 200k followers.
  • After Shine’s second run-in with Tech where they have an argument she muses that it’s possible but unlikely that she’ll run into her again while she’s in the area, though her luck would have to be really bad for that to happen. They do, indeed, run into each other again while she's in the area, although they end up resolving their conflict with each other.
• Themed Tattoos: One of the shared physical traits of Hatsune Miku androids is the “01” tattoo on their upper arms, which some even incorporate into their fashion (such as Beat wearing 01 earrings and Beast having an 01 on her collar).
• Through Her Stomach: Gumiya has a crush on Shine and also just so happens to make extra curry with corn the day she's coming over.
• Thunder Shock: Gumiya, Roll and Shine’s incredulous reaction to Shine suggesting she wants to be an idol is emphasized by a lightning effect in the background of the panel.
• Titled After the Song:
  • Every chapter is titled after a different Vocaloid song. A playlist of each song used for a chapter title can be found here.
  • Chapter 1 is titled after "The First Sound" by malo, which conveys that it's the first chapter both through the title and it being one of Hatsune Miku's first hit songs.
  • Chapter 2 is titled after "White Letter" by GonGoss, another early Miku song for the chapter where Shine meets one of the first Miku units, Tech.
  • Chapter 3 is titled after "Alkali Underachiever" by Kairiki Bear, a Miku song representing Shine's feelings of inferiority caused by her troubled past.
  • Chapter 4 is titled after "Flight Girl" by NayutalieN, which conveys the lighter tone of the chapter where Shine is starting to commit herself to becoming an idol.
  • Chapter 5 is titled after "I Want To Be Your Heart" by YurryCanon, the first song featuring Gumi for a chapter focused on Megpoid unit Gumiya. The lyrics of the song connect to Gumiya's desire to be there for Shine after she helped him in the past, with the lyrics about holding an umbrella for someone connecting to their first meeting.
  • Chapter 6 is titled after "Roki" by Mikito-P, a song featuring Kagamine Rin for a Roll focused chapter. The upbeat lyrics match the chapter's relative lack of drama.
  • Chapter 7 is titled after "Two-Faced Lovers" by Wowaka, a song featuring Miku for a chapter that ends with Miku units Shine and Tech meeting again and having a dispute over whether Shine should pursue her dream to be an idol.
  • Chapter 8 is titled after "The Secret About That Girl" by Eve, representing how the chapter is thematically about celebrities hiding their true selves behind their public personas but still receiving admiration from their fans, and how Shine hides her singing bug and encounter with Tech from Roll and Gumiya.
• Translation Convention: The story takes place in Japan, so all the characters are really speaking Japanese even though their dialogue is written in English. This is why characters will use Japanese honorifics like -chan and -san and use goroawase numbers for their codenames.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Downplayed. Tech’s Devastating Remark where she sounds like she's implying Shine is worthless and shouldn't be an idol makes Shine barely remember anything else that happened that day.
• Troubled Backstory Flashback: Chapter 3's flashback to Shine's backstory starts out with her goofing around with her classmates and expecting to become an idol famous enough to be hired for Magical Mirai. She then develops a fault in her voicebox that causes her singing ability to slowly worsen, until she's failing her classes and annoying everyone around her. The rejection she receives from her teacher and former friends makes her decide to give up on being an idol, which is why she works as a paparazzi in the present.
• Two Girls and a Guy: Shine, Roll, and Gumiya are the main trio of the cast, with Shine as The Protagonist who's feminine style contrasts with the more tomboyish Roll. Gumiya, meanwhile, is a Nice Guy who is Just Friends with Shine even though he secretly harbors a crush on her.
• Vehicle Vanish: In chapter 9, Shine has a hallucination of herself in her Miku outfit that appears before her at the other side of a railroad crossing, exposes her fears and insecurities, then disappears as the train passes in front of her.
• Wham Line: At the end of chapter 2, Shine encounters a kind stranger who sits down with her for what seems like will be a nice chat... until they casually reveal that they know that Shine can't sing, which leads to a flashback sequence revealing the real reason why Shine isn't an idol.
  Hakase: “After all, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be... to be a Miku who can’t sing.”
• White Void Room: 53's idol photocard has her standing in front of a plain white background, putting the focus on her and her shadow behind her.
• Wingding Eyes:
  • In chapter 5.1, Shine has spirals in her her eyes when she panics about how she has no idea how to be an idol.
  • At the end of chapter 5.2, Gumiya's embarrassment at how he complimented Shine so much in their previous conversation that it came just short of being a Love Confession is demonstrated by the spirals in his eyes.
• When She Smiles: In chapter 2, Tech gives a rare smile when telling Shine how happy she was to get to talk to another Miku, which makes Shine overjoyed and remark that Tech's comment made that day one of the best of her life.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: At the end of chapter 3, there's a brief description of what Shine's classmates did after training (Momo became a gravure idol, Mimi became a solo idol, and Hasami became a TV correspondent).
• Whole Episode Flashback: The first half of chapter 3 is a flashback exploring Shine’s training days and why she gave up on being an idol.
• World of Technicolor Hair: The Vocaloid characters have hair colours spanning all across the rainbow, distinguishing them from human idols who mostly have normal hair colours.
• Worst Wedding Ever: One of Roll’s examples of context making a story go viral more quickly is of a bride finding out her fiancé used the money for their honeymoon on a gacha game and promptly beating him up on their wedding day.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • When Shine doubts her ability to become an idol in chapter 5, Gumiya challenges her insecurity by revealing to her that he used to be one, and that when he quit to become an accountant it was Shine's act of kindness towards him when she gave him her umbrella on a rainy day that encouraged him to not give up on his dreams. He reassures to her that she had a profound influence on his life whether she realized it or not, which is all she needs to be good enough.
  • In Bright's interlude, she internally narrates that she's disappointed in her debut album's failure and wishes people actually liked her for her music and not just her hardworking idol image. Then, while wearing a disguise, she notices Shine trying to steal her album which causes Shine to justify it by explaining how much she loves Bright's music and wants her to keep making more, not realizing how her words give Bright the reassurance that her album really is worth promoting.
• You Are Not Alone: In chapter 5, Shine doubts if she can be idol because she feels like she's not likeable enough, using her lack of close personal relationships as proof. Gumiya vows that he would be her first fan if she does become an idol.
• You Are Number 6: Due to being androids, the Vocaloids all have unique serial codes to differentiate each other from their fellow units. Usually when characters get called by their serial codes it's alongside their codenames, such as the members of Hatsupress in the afterword of chapter 6 (X0T9 "Tech", 777G "Lucky", and BE4S "Bell") and on the character profiles (4N01 "Shine", 1M4Y "Princess", 6RU9-R "Roll", etc.).
• You Are the Translated Foreign Word:
  • In chapter 1, Shine says "of course I know about Hatsupress, the first press of Miku units", which is redundant since "hatsu" is Japanese for "first".
  • O-Len’s talk show title is displayed as "OMAKASE!!! Len-kun no Jikan!!!" with the (inexact) English translation in parentheses, "leave it to Len!".
• You Must Be Cold: A Megpoid offers Shine their scarf due to the cold in chapter 2. When they take their scarf off stitches are revealed to be on their neck, and they use Shine lowering her guard as an opportunity to confront her about her inability to sing.
• Your Favourite: Gumiya knows Shine well enough to put corn in the curry he made for when she was coming to his apartment, which Shine excitedly exclaims that she loves.

---