Why? Because they could
March 28, 2014 7:01 AM Subscribe
This MikuMikuDance video (original uploaded here) is what you get if you take the 1955 Tom and Jerry cartoon Down Beat Bear and replace Tom, Jerry and the titular bear with Reimu Hakurei, Remilia Scarlet and Hong Meiling from the Team Shanghai Alice Touhou Project bullet hell shooter games. There's also a nifty side by side comparison of the original and remake you can check out how faithful it's been done. MikuMikuDance (previously) is a free download for those wanting to create similar videos, as is the slightly more ambitious offshoot MikuMikuMoving.
MMD is a thoroughly fascinating tool, and just what it is and what it can do could probably fill an entire novel-length FPP. I absolutely love it. People have cooked up some really impressive animations and amazing recreations, and the culture is full of its own bizarre little memes, famous and oft-referenced classics, and lots of really astonishing projects, from the deceptively simple to the painstakingly accurate to the terrifyingly involved.
Also, did you know you can drive an entire chatroom to vomit with a single link?
posted by kafziel at 10:17 AM on March 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
Also, did you know you can drive an entire chatroom to vomit with a single link?
posted by kafziel at 10:17 AM on March 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
This is the best argument for fair use I have ever seen.
posted by egypturnash at 10:22 AM on March 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by egypturnash at 10:22 AM on March 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
MMD is so wonderful. Minor addition to kafziel's links: there's also a version of the "bizarre little memes" video alongside the video it was based on. Never fails to crack me up, and it highlights how impressive (to me at least) the ability to change expressions is.
My absolute favorite, though, is the "terrifyingly involved" Carlito video. It's just so absurd.
posted by ashirys at 11:55 AM on March 28, 2014
My absolute favorite, though, is the "terrifyingly involved" Carlito video. It's just so absurd.
posted by ashirys at 11:55 AM on March 28, 2014
Some times I really miss being so immersed in anime fandom.
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 12:21 PM on March 28, 2014
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 12:21 PM on March 28, 2014
This is a lot more WTF than many other WTF things.
Despite certain signs, I'm not really much of a fandom guy. But I like that people take things they love and remix them into new forms. This is one of those cases where tool capabilities, the drive towards randomness, and fan obsession all merged to produce something... interesting. Sometimes it seems like Touhou is a foreign country, I mean, even beyond the Japaneseness of it. It's not huge like PONY, but there's some of the same vibe there. I don't pretend to understand it though.
Still, to anyone born before the year 1995 or so, you have to admit, this looks very odd. I have to wonder what William Hanna or old Joe Barbera would have said if confronted with this.
posted by JHarris at 1:17 PM on March 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
Despite certain signs, I'm not really much of a fandom guy. But I like that people take things they love and remix them into new forms. This is one of those cases where tool capabilities, the drive towards randomness, and fan obsession all merged to produce something... interesting. Sometimes it seems like Touhou is a foreign country, I mean, even beyond the Japaneseness of it. It's not huge like PONY, but there's some of the same vibe there. I don't pretend to understand it though.
Still, to anyone born before the year 1995 or so, you have to admit, this looks very odd. I have to wonder what William Hanna or old Joe Barbera would have said if confronted with this.
posted by JHarris at 1:17 PM on March 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
What I find interesting is why it is these Touhou characters have caught on so big in the MMD scene, rather than more mainstream anime ones.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:34 AM on March 29, 2014
posted by MartinWisse at 2:34 AM on March 29, 2014
Maybe they just happened to already have compatible 3D models made? Pretty much the same reason there's a lot of Pony stuff in Source Filmmaker, some obsessed fan made good 3D modeled versions and everyone uses them. That can also happen with random anime, but it's most likely to happen if the fanbase is large, connected and tech-savvy, since that increases the available pool of possible modellers.
posted by JHarris at 4:21 AM on March 29, 2014
posted by JHarris at 4:21 AM on March 29, 2014
What I find interesting is why it is these Touhou characters have caught on so big in the MMD scene, rather than more mainstream anime ones.
Most of this stuff originates in Japan and on Niconico. And Touhou, as a franchise, is massive in Japan. To the point of having a twice-a-year massive Comiket-style convention devoted exclusively to Touhou stuff, which still isn't enough to keep it from dwarfing everything else at Comiket proper.
posted by kafziel at 1:25 PM on March 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
Most of this stuff originates in Japan and on Niconico. And Touhou, as a franchise, is massive in Japan. To the point of having a twice-a-year massive Comiket-style convention devoted exclusively to Touhou stuff, which still isn't enough to keep it from dwarfing everything else at Comiket proper.
posted by kafziel at 1:25 PM on March 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
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posted by ymgve at 7:35 AM on March 28, 2014 [1 favorite]