Creepy Vocaloid Songs I:
Childhood Edition
What better way
to christen the darker and edgier TM section of my site than with a good
old-fashioned 'creepy stuff I watched as a kid' list? Peak content,
honestly. Doesn't get any better than this.
I'm a big fan of Vocaloid, and I have been for ten years now, maybe
longer. And as anyone who listens to Vocaloid can tell you, it's a
hotbed for some darker content than you would expect. Some of it is
campy, or just plain laughable in its execution, but there are some
genuine songs that give me chills to this day. It's all a matter of
personal opinion.
This will just be a beginner's list of some of the 'creepy' songs I used to listen to as a kid, with a blurb and a rating for each. NOTE: The videos provided may not be the original intended by the producer, but they are the versions that I grew up watching.
Fear Garden
Chaa ft. Kagamine Rin
I liked this one a lot. I found it fairly
early on into my Vocaloid experience, before I knew anything about
producers or crediting songs. (I actually just now found out who
produced it, after ten years, lol.)
In this song, Rin gives the listener the lowdown about her secret hobby
- killing people and cutting off their arms, which she then plants in
her 'garden' like flowers. I don't remember ever being scared of this
one as a kid. I thought it was edgy and fun. Weirdly enough, though,
ever since I've revisited it lately, the bit in the middle where she
drones tonelessly freaks me out. At the end, it's implied that
everything we saw happening during the video was just a fantasy of Rin
during her day at school, but a single 'flower' shows that she might be
getting ready to put her plans into action soon.
Rin's voice is really lovely here. I'm a sucker for the tonal quality
that the early Kagamines had. Not very scary on re-watch, but that's
perfectly fine. I think the art in the video holds up really well, and
the censored Len getting shanked at the beginning is both unsettling and
kind of funny. At the end of the day, it's not as much of an easy listen
as it used to be, since the instrumental (and Rin herself, honestly) are
a little grating. Still, it's a classic.
Nostalgia Factor: 8/10
Creepiness: 3/10
Art/Video: 7/10
Listenability: 5/10
Rotten Girl, Grotesque Romance
Machigerita-P ft. Hatsune Miku
Another one of my
favorites. Just to put a timestamp on when I was listening to this sort
of music, I once wrote a (long since deleted, don't look for it) Hetalia
fanfic based on this song. This is a fairly straight forward story of a
yandere Miku who pines after KAITO and kills his girlfriend Luka, and
some kittens just for good measure. KAITO gets his revenge in the end,
and everything gets wrapped up in a nice little bow.
This is the video I always used to watch, but there's another version
with a very striking illustration by SRB-GENk (link)
that actually used to bother me quite a bit, haha. It's the eyes, I
think. As for the song and the video, they're servicable enough. The
song isn't really exciting enough to listen to without the video
accompanying it.
As a bonus, have an original illustration by Machigerita-P himself that
I had never seen before writing this! Thanks, Vocaloid wiki. (link)
Nostalgia Factor: 7/10
Creepiness: 1/10
Art/Video: 5/10
Listenability: 4/10
Evil Food Eater Conchita
mothy ft. MEIKO, Kagamine Rin and Len
I'll love this song until the day I die. I don't know what it is that keeps
me coming back, but I'll never get tired of it. This song is part of the
Evillious Chronicles by mothy, which is a series I'm actually not too
familiar with besides this song and Daughter/Servant of Evil.
In this song, MEIKO plays the role of Banika Conchita, a woman obsessed
with consuming the world's most exotic foods. When these meals can no
longer satisfy her, she gorges herself on her servants, and then takes
things one step further.
Honestly, the vocals in this song are kind of atrocious. It's nearly
impossible to understand anything MEIKO says, even with the lyrics
onscreen. But I'm extremely biased, and I love it to death just the way
it is. I'm still obsessed with the bits of the video with Conchita
holding up her skirts and the food patterns scrolling by. This is a
personal 10/10, but not even close to that in an impartial ranking.
Nostalgia Factor: 10/10
Creepiness: 1/10
Art/Video: 4.5/10
Listenability: 10/10
Kakome, Kakome
Zawazawa-P ft. Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka
Alright, this one got to me a little bit upon rewatch. I haven't heard
it in years, and Miku and Luka's voices sound amazing considering this
song is from 2009. Kakome, Kakome is based upon a children's game, as
well as a creepypasta (not one that I've read), and I've heard it thrown
around that it's also based on a true story. Anything that claims to be
based on true events immediately wigs me out, so I haven't done any
further digging into those claims.
Deep in a forest, the ghosts of children in a forgotten orphanage invite
you to play a game with them. A long, long time ago, they were used for
medical experimentation. Their bodies are broken, but they can still
play.
A few tiny things creep me out about the video, but I wouldn't say it's
"scary." The medical diagrams on the wall, as well as the illustration
of the doctor holding the child's brain and spinal cord, give me a chill
- probably because it's a drastic shift in art style from the rest of
the video. There's also a split second at 3:43 with an image of a bloody
Miku. It's only because of its blink-and-you'll-miss-it presentation
that it made me jump a little. This song is more plaintive than anything
else, but I still feel a little shudder after listening.
Nostalgia Factor: 7/10
Creepiness: 4/10
Art/Video: 4/10
Listenability: 6/10