Colorful Stage the Movie: A Miku That Can't Sing

Well here’s a review I’m terrified to write. Having returned from the cinema I thought I’d see how general reaction was going, so I popped onto IMDB, where reviews with even the slightest criticism were being massively downvoted. This doesn’t bode well for me.

That’s not to say that Colorful Stage the Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing is by any means a bad film, but it’s not flawless either. Let’s discuss.

Firstly, it’s film is based on the Colorful Stage game and the film clearly assumes its audience will have some first hand knowledge of the characters and the world this film is set in. To whit, we have five bands - Leo/need, More More Jump!, Vivid Bad Squad, Wonderlands x Showtime and Nightcord at 25:00. I got those from wikipedia as the film makes no attempt to tell you who anyone is, they're just on screen and going about their lives. Each use a virtual Sekai, a realm made of their emotions, populated by variants of the vocaloid (virtual singer) characters - Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin & Len, Megurine Luka, Meiko and Kaito. Most of those I knew already.

We’re never really introduced to these groups, even in dialogue with a “here’s X who does Y - hi X!” but instead just has them appear in what feel like random scenes and then bounces between each group without any indication to the casual viewer that we’re actually shifting between dimensions and not just locations, so that was a bit of a curveball when it was explicitly stated an hour in. This is visually shown when, as they are finally brought together in the troubled Miku's realm, none of the bands can see each other outside their immediate members.

This is idol group More More Jump!, one of 5 groups in the film

Now I get it, this is a Colorful Stage movie, it’s like going to a Digimon movie and not knowing what a Digimon is, but honestly I’ve played plenty of other Hatsune Miku games and I had expected at least some form of introduction to the cast. I know this is for the fans, but any film owes it to an audience to invite them in and not just assume everyone is up to speed. It can be done via dialogue, narration or even via an introductory scrolling text (a'la Star Wars) but it would have been an inviting nod to add something.

Anyway, as the mob outside grows with pitchforks and torches at the ready, let’s discuss some of the positives.

Firstly, my interest was held by the quality of the animation, which is really rather good. Not great, but generally bright, attractive and fairly imaginative. Direction is solid, especially with the concerts and the way in which the Sekai are brought to life on the big screen. The characters are likeable, but unfortunately few really get a chance to shine as they’re really all having the same arc - a strange Miku appears, things are odd, the threat emerges and they all, separately, come up with the idea to have a concert to help out. So you’re telling the same story several times over and honestly all the groups react in very similar ways - it would have been nice to use this narrative device to show us how each of the bands came to conclusions in wildly different ways, but they don't - it’s all so broad and similar that it doesn’t have the bandwidth to make any of the characters particularly deep. 

Sorry, positives, back on track...

That said, there were some laughs from the audience I was with, a packed cinema in York with plenty of cosplayers and teenage fans (some with their very confused looking parents) and I heard lots of positive comments on my way out. The fans really seemed to love it, so the more invested you are in the Colorful Stage universe, the more you’re going to take from this film.

It ends with a bang too, the final act of the movie really shines with a mix of musical styles, concerts and Miku’s big comeback song easily the soundtrack highlight, accompanied by some excellent animation and visual flourish. It had some emotional depth too thanks to the voice acting and visual direction, even if nothing in the film itself really ties us to any single character.

So obviously for hardcore fans it’s a great watch - you’ll see characters you love on the big screen, even if they’re mostly just “there” as opposed to driving the plot forward. There are plenty of Easter Eggs in the visuals for Miku fans and if nothing else it’ll make you want to visit Japan as it’s portrayed lovingly on screen as a clean and vibrant city. 

As a film from a purely critical standpoint, it’s not a great start for new fans, it explains very little about its world or the people in it. The first hour of the film is particularly slow and potentially confusing if you don’t already know that we’re dealing with multiple dimensions from the off. There are no visual cues when we move from one to the other aside from characters changing - even a subtitle stating “world 1” or "Leo/need dimension" when seeing each for the first time would have been helpful.

Lastly, and this is more an observation - the problem at the heart of the story isn’t very well explained. People are giving up on things and feeling sad, which somehow causes a crisis in one particular Sekai that then causes problems across dimensions. It just feels a bit wishy-washy and vague as threats go, removing any form of antagonist. Again, I was genuinely moved when they all came together and defeated it because the film shows a lot of visual and audio emotion, even if it wasn't entirely earned. The power of cinema right there.

All of which makes this hard to judge with a simple number. Fans will likely love it, so 10/10 for them. They have certainly been vocal, insisting anyone not well-versed in Colorful Stage should do their research before watching the movie. As much as I don't want to give the movie a pass for not writing a script that brings new people in, as it stands these fans aren't wrong, you absolutely should look into the setup before you watch this particular film, but that's still the film's fault. I didn't know anything about Kpop Demon Hunters before watching it, but 5 minutes in I knew who the band were, why they were formed, the history, the members and their personalities. That's an efficient and inviting script.

So as an introductory movie, it’s not very open to new fans, so 5/10 for story, with a point or two added for the quality of the animation and engaging direction. Whichever way I jump I’ll get lynched, either by fans who love it or by non-fans who like Miku and have a bad time, but as someone with a passing knowledge of the game I have to go with the latter approach for my own experience, and just wait for the villagers to come and get me.