Powered by Crunchyroll: Reflecting on Miku Expo 2024, and Crunchyroll’s Industry Dominance

• Author: Kennedy (Red Bard)

• Editor: Masha Zhdanova

It almost feels unnecessary to explain who Hatsune Miku is—famously, the world is, of course, hers. The virtual singing sensation and one-time Domino’s mascot has dominated the globe with innumerable iconic songs made by those utilizing her vocal software, and has been hosting “live” performances and tours (more on this shortly) across the world for several years. And the latest of these tours to come to North America, Miku Expo 2024, was being “powered by Crunchyroll.”

If you can recall hearing about Miku Expo despite not having been there nor being a particularly big Vocaloid fan, odds are you heard about the criticisms relating to both it and Coachella’s use of LED screens. Previous “live” Miku performances had Miku appear like a hologram on-stage (this is probably achieved by utilizing the Pepper’s Ghost technique, which is best known for its usage in Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride). Naturally, there was an assumption that this tour would be similar—after all, there was no evidence to the contrary, and a number of people would later report seeing phrasing that suggested the holographic look. So concertgoers were outraged when the tour started and Scarlett Johansson’s esteemed bestie was trapped in an LED screen. A petition to give people refunds—which, as of time of writing, boasts nearly 8,000 signatures—was quickly posted. While they didn’t drop this low across the board, ticket prices for at least one remaining show plummeted to as low as $5. One disgruntled fan would allege that they consulted a law firm about the possibility of launching a class action lawsuit on the grounds of false advertising.

The news left many fans wondering if Miku’s performance at Coachella—which was only days away when the news about the screen began to spread—would similarly utilize the screen. Coachella is, after all, one of the largest music festivals in the US. Surely, one would think, it would be a worthy enough stage for the holographic-looking Miku, even if the tour had a screen. But nope. Miku's Coachella show utilized the screen as well. And as though to add salt to the wound, Lana Del Rey utilized what appeared to be a hologram for her Coachella performance. Despite the number of fans wanting to know why both Coachella and (especially) the tour were utilizing the LED screens and why this wasn’t made clear sooner, Miku Expo’s social media remained silent on this matter.

Photo taken by the author at Miku Expo 2024’s Boston show

Another point of contention has been merchandise available at the Miku Expo shows—or to be more specific, the lack of light sticks. In the advent of Rightstuf’s assimilation into Crunchyroll (rest in peace), no other anime store is able to directly compete with Crunchyroll’s. Yet despite this, since the very first show in the tour, concertgoers have complained online about the limited stock of light sticks available at the shows themselves (and even online, the light sticks reportedly sold out very quickly). This was a problem not just because people wanted light sticks, but because the tour’s site said (as of time of writing, still says, actually!) that they wouldn’t be allowing for third party light sticks, “because they may interfere with the concert performance.” Naturally, many assumed that this meant that the third party light sticks might interfere with the technology allowing for Miku’s holographic look. So when it became apparent the tour had forwent this technology in favor of the LED screen, people didn’t understand why third party sticks weren’t allowed. Further adding to the confusion: a number of concertgoers reported that they were able to bring in third party light sticks. To quote a befuddled fan on reddit: “The official site says one thing, the experience of people at different venues says another. It seems it is not even consistent from venue to venue. This would have all been moot if they had just brought enough lightsticks to sell everyone.”

Anecdotally, I can vouch that organization and merchandise-related issues were present at the show I was at, too. I was in line just to get into the Boston show for over three hours, and then went straight to the merchandise table when I got in. Or at least, that’s what I tried to do; I’m guessing everyone else had the same idea (I don’t doubt many of them were trying to get light sticks before they sold out), because upon entering the venue, the line lost all semblance of its form as people crowded around, desperately trying to find where the merchandise table was. As it turns out, it was in a lower level of the building. So at some unidentifiable point around the stairwell, the mass of people trying to get to their seats ended, and the mass of people who wanted merchandise began. I couldn't tell you where, specifically, the line ended, just that it didn't actually start resembling a line again until it hit the stairwell—this was likely out of necessity, as the stairwell was housed in a thin hall. What any fans who couldn’t go down the stairs would’ve done—if they were even able to get any merchandise because of this—I have no idea. Despite how early I lined up, and despite the fact that I went as directly to the merchandise line as I could, by the time I got to the front of the line nearly an hour later (by the time I got to my seat, there were literally less than 30 seconds between the time I sat down and when the show started), light sticks, happi jackets, acrylic standees, buttons, patches, and enamel pins were already gone.

Photo taken by the author at Miku Expo 2024’s Boston show. This was the state of the sign at the merchandise table showing what was and wasn’t available once I got to the front.

These were far from the only criticisms that the tour attracted (e. g. there was a sizable dead pixel in Phoenix), but those were, at least, the more widespread ones. Yet despite the chaos surrounding it, the show itself was—in my opinion—a blast. The band members were kept in cages (which, I promise, didn’t look nearly as sinister as it sounds) so Miku’s being confined to a screen didn’t stand out as much. This is to say nothing of how, at least from what I could see from my just-barely-not-in-the-nosebleeds seat, the graphics on the screen looked great. My only criticism of the show itself was that, as a Vocaloid boomer, I would've liked to have heard at least a few of the more classic hits—Magnet, Love is War, or Meltdown for example, which have been performed at Miku Expos past.

In any case, I left Miku Expo with mixed feelings. On one hand, the show itself was a great time. The “performance” was fun, the band was great, and the energy from the crowd was electrifying. But on the other, I couldn’t help but think about the criticism that this tour was steeped in; I couldn’t help but feel reminded that Sony/Crunchyroll is the only entity left that can afford to put on events like these on an even somewhat recurring basis. So when their organizational skills—while they could be much worse—still leave much to be desired, it means something.

Photo taken by the author at Miku Expo 2024’s Boston show. Fans leaving the Miku Expo Boston show

When fans tried reaching out to Crypton Future Media and Crunchyroll, both companies responded with what amounts to little more than them saying, “Thanks for sending us an email. We’ve received it.” When Kotaku ran a story about the criticisms surrounding Miku Expo on April 8, they reached out to Crunchyroll and Crypton Future Media for comment. A few days after the story was posted, on April 12, Crypton Future Media responded with the following:

“We appreciate the fan feedback regarding MIKU EXPO's North America tour and will continue to refine our show experience with our audience in mind.

To celebrate MIKU EXPO's 10th anniversary, fans across North America and Europe can continue to expect the same high-energy concert experience featuring the LED screen technology that fans have enjoyed across other MIKU-related events.

For future updates to MIKU EXPO, fans can keep an eye on our SNS Channels or can share feedback with us directly via https://www.crypton.co.jp/cfm/inquiry-aboutus_en

We thank everyone for their continued support of Hatsune Miku and MIKU EXPO.”

This is very transparently a non-answer—a long-winded way of saying “Shrug emoji” which very much mirrors the aforementioned lack of a direct response on Miku Expo’s social media and fan emails. It’s also the exact same statement they would give Anime News Network when they ran a story about the situation a few days later.

Crunchyroll didn’t make that written eye-roll of a public statement, and admittedly, they aren’t to blame for each and every one of the tour’s shortcomings. But for a tour being “powered by” them, this whole episode suggests that Crunchyroll didn’t seem terribly interested in the tour’s goings-on, let alone responding to (justified) criticism of it. And this is far from the first time, even in just the past few years, that a Crunchyroll-powered event has faced widespread criticism only to get waved off by Crunchyroll—just ask the attendees of Crunchyroll Expo Australia 2022, where badges were massively oversold, leaving several people waiting in line outside in the rain for several hours. Settling for addressing the situation as vaguely as possible (“capacity issues and long delays”), they offered refunds “for those who no longer wish to attend.” While the event has yet to return (whether this is due to the difficulties in 2022, Crunchyroll’s 2023 announcement that they were pausing Crunchyroll Expo, “to focus on attending a growing roster of expos and festivals around the world,” and/or something else is unclear), they never responded to the criticisms about the event directly, nor did they apologize. And in an anime industry landscape where every other company can only exist in Crunchyroll’s long, orange shadow, Crunchyroll’s continued apathy is worth putting under the microscope.

Photo taken by the author at Miku Expo 2024’s Boston show

Looking at Crunchyroll’s early history shows us that they’ve always had a habit of what you could generously call throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Less generously, however, you’d call it stretching themselves too thin. Among plenty of other things, in their first few years they tried having their own anime encyclopedia/wiki, creating a Gaia Online-ish browser game, and (bafflingly) adding a car section to their site. Most of these side projects failed to get off the ground, but their significance lies less in their success (or rather, their lack thereof) as much as it does in what their very existence signals about what Crunchyroll wanted: consolidation.

Knowing that Crunchyroll was pursuing this goal even before they had much in the way of money or resources, it's completely unsurprising that they’re still doing this today. The only difference is that now that they actually have money and resources, they can do this on a much grander scale—and oh dear lord, do they ever.

Photo taken by the author at Miku Expo 2024’s Boston show

Because of all the anime and anime-adjacent companies they’ve Kirby-absorbed, Crunchyroll has successfully become the one stop shop they’ve always dreamed of being, all whilst simultaneously eliminating their competition—two birds with one stone. And because of this, they’re now free to raise their prices and lower their quality to their heart’s content. After all, who are they competing with? And sure enough, in 2024 alone we’ve already seen them raise the prices for their Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan tiers, and announce to widespread boos that they’re experimenting with AI usage in their subtitles. But if events like Crunchyroll Expo Australia and Miku Expo have told us anything, it’s that Crunchyroll doesn’t care what their customers say—they’ll do whatever they want to do. And it’s this lack of direct competition that, I think, about 75% explains Crunchyroll’s seeming lack of concern about criticism.

The remaining 25% is best summed up by Kim Morrissy, who posted earlier this year that Crunchyroll, “position[s] themselves as a tech and lifestyle brand, as if they created the anime themselves.” And I can’t help but think about this post every time I've seen Crunchyroll make unpopular decision after unpopular decision in the time since. Because if you view those poor choices through the lens of Crunchyroll fancying itself as a lifestyle brand—the lifestyle being, in this case, anime fan—rather than a streaming service, suddenly you can see a road that easily leads to these questionable destinations. But as much as I want to laugh at the idea of Crunchyroll envisioning itself as a lifestyle brand, I can’t because they’re honestly well on their way to achieving this. They have their own anime news hub. Their own anime store. Their own mobile game division. Their own anime awards ceremony, complete with major celebrities. And soon, their own chain of movie theaters. This is only scratching the surface of the many things they have—of their vast, anime-themed empire. And when you think about it, the next logical step above being a one-stop shop, is being a lifestyle brand.

This is all to say that I don’t have any hope that Sony will stop acquiring other companies for Crunchyroll any time soon—if anything, I expect it’ll continue for some time, as this has always been Crunchyroll’s intent. Lately, Sony/Crunchyroll seems to have more interest in events that are wide-reaching, but still less expensive, committal, and organization-heavy than a fully-fledged convention—although admittedly I also wouldn’t be at all shocked if I heard that Sony/Crunchyroll bought [insert large, pre-established anime con here] with hopes of transforming it into a new Crunchyroll Expo. In any case, I expect we’ll soon start seeing Sonymationroll pour more resources into events like these, as they probably see them as their next frontier—stuff like concert tours and movie screenings. Furthermore, I also don’t expect them to take criticism of any of their existing projects—whether it's Crunchyroll itself, events that are powered by Crunchyroll, or otherwise—terribly seriously any time soon, either. As ever, they’re just going to keep on rolling.