#sinsekai

This is the song of a young man with a voice as beautiful as the heavens, and a heart as delicate as a feather.

Happy birthday, Alchemist ZETHIEL! Tags are for the songs featured in this album.

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VALIS doodles.... can you tell who my favorite is

In Hanakotoba, the language of flowers, freesias are said to symbolize among other meanings, "gracefulness", "gratitude", "friendship" and "deep affection". Yellow freesias in particular symbolize "innocence".

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"AruAsu Theater" • Aru and Asu Comic Anthology Vol. 1 is now available on Kindle, Honto, Rakuten, Comic Cmoa, Sukima, and Apple books

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Shouji: @ syooo_gd4 on Twitter

Aru and Asu will always be remembered as the Virtual Singer unit Albemuth:

Aru: @ ARU_virtual on Twitter and Youtube.

On November of 2022, I discovered Albemuth for the first time. While listening to Yunosuke’s song Hana to Nare on YouTube, a new music video, 3 days old, with an attractive illustration was recommended. My impulsive decision to watch this video might have changed my life forever. I was blown away. The music was theatrical, full of compelling pianos and strings. The illustration, drawn by Yoneyama Mai was gorgeous. The two singers drawn in white clothes, adorned with blue roses was something I had never seen in character design before. Their singing redefined my opinion of all the singers I had ever listened to before. Their combined harmony and call and response gave me goosebumps. I was entranced by the concept, their simultaneous elegance and harmony. I became interested in these singers instantly. After failing at google translating the kanji in Asu’s name, I’d learn they were Albemuth, a duo that contained the talkative and passionate Asu, and the quiet but mature Aru.

At this time, my biggest interest was Project Sekai, a rhythm game dedicated to Hatsune Miku and various original characters. I was just starting to acknowledge how Vocaloid had changed since I was thirteen. Along with discovering new favorite Vocaloid producers such as Yunosuke, I was beginning to fall in love with Vocaloid-style music again. I had no idea this interest would lead me to discovering Albemuth. During the first month of trying to learn more about Albemuth, I struggled to understand machine translations of their YouTube descriptions and struggled to find anyone else who knew about them. I’d come to understand that they belonged to an independent label called Sinsekai, which was attached to a sister label named Kamitsubaki.

Although I was apprehensive, I learned more about the different artists Sinsekai and Kamitsubaki had signed. There was VWP, the group of 5 singers, all having unique singing styles and drawn in unique art styles. Originally, I had mistaken Kaf as Kafu. I thought they were the same person, but one was a human singer and the other was a vocal synth like Hatsune Miku. There was Tobia, the man with the guitar. Ciel, who had the sky-blue hair. Then I also discovered that I had heard some of these artists before! There was Dustcell, who’s music I had listened to once before. Harusaruhi, who I recognized from her song Terra that I had discovered on Spotify. Isekaijoucho, who I recognized from illustrations posted by Reoenl on Twitter. Kanzaki Iori, who everyone knows from the song Hated by Life Itself. I also discovered that the influences of Kamitsubaki were all around me, in the illustrations of artists on Twitter and in the newest popular Vocaloid songs.

Kamitsubaki is something different. They proclaim themselves as an culmination of art, music, story, and experience. It’s true. Kamitsubaki’s character designers each have their own unique art style and use them to bring out each singer’s worldview through their illustrations. Kamitsubaki’s music is produced by some of the most skilled Vocaloid producers, including both producers who have been in the industry for over and decade and new, upcoming producers. They write the lyrics and give the worldviews a genre. The Phenomenon artists and the Sinsekai artists also have their own lore that is slowly being crafted behind the scenes. Kamitsubaki have also created interactive projects and video games where their art, music, and story come together. Kamitsubaki is truly an innovative experience that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.

Originally, I didn’t like the concept of Vtubers. They seemed too bright and too loud, things that didn’t align with my personality or interests at all. I can say that Albemuth and Kamitsubaki have changed my view on Vtubers forever. I’ve completely fallen in love with them. From how dignified and skilled they are in their singing, to how humble and kind they are as people, to how much they have gone through to become what they are today.

These dedicated illustrators, managers, music producers, singers, musicians, and graphic designers have given me so much life. They’re not just the anime personas that represent them. There are real people behind their voices and real stories behind their music. Many of them are the same age as me or in my age range. They don’t just love music and art, for many of them it was a hope that they clung onto throughout their lives. Many of them struggled in their past careers and through Kamitsubaki they were able to change themselves as people and try again. They are all such passionate people dedicated to making quality art, rare in a world full of capitalistic noise, social media arguments and artificial intelligence scares.

It’s now December 2023, and it’s been an entire year since I discovered Albemuth and Kamitsubaki. I’ve watched them release albums, sing covers, hold concerts, start new projects, and laugh in livestreams. Next month in January, they’ll hold a concert named Yoyogi Wars at Yoyogi National Gymnasium. It’s at a venue with a capacity of around 13.5k, almost as big as the famous Budokan. Day 1 of the concert will be VWP’s 2nd one man live, but they’ll be inviting multiple Kamitsubaki artists. PIEDPIPER, the general producer of Kamitsubaki’s artists, says it will be their biggest battle yet. I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to what Kamitsubaki has planned and where they will go in the future.

As mentioned on a previous release, Nina was originally on hiatus since September 2023 due to health-related complications. Ultimately, it was decided that she would be graduating from VALIS and Sinsekai/Kamitsubaki studio in March 2024 in order to prioritize her recovery, as per her final statement.

"[...] After discussing it with management and the other members, and as i thought of what to do going forward, I have concluded that currently, i must give myself the time to rest."

Chapter 40 was released a day after their 5th Live Concert, "Mirai Kaleidoscope". As of the time of this release (06/23), the stream archive is still available for viewing.

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Satou Uzura: @ uzrtmgo on Twitter

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