In irony, Sweet Ann was used at Mirai no Neiro at AX to SING Happy Birthday.

Woah. I'm all over it Sam. Give me 20 minutes.

They need to pace themselves or there won't be anything to announce at AX.

Giggle gas? They just plain knocked me out for mine.

I'm calling it right now, with no doubt in my mind, that the secret projects are English ports of PD1 and PD2. Bring your tape recorders and cameras to AX folks, because we are going to hear some more news for sure. I know I'll be bringing mine. Yes, I'm going to AX. I figured it would be a good graduation/birthday present to myself to go, so here I go. Yay.

Gotta say, it's one hell of a pricy trip. I've been doing the math, and even with discount hotels, flights, and tickets, it's a $2000 trip for me. X_X I need a better job with a signing bonus.

I think we're also missing a major element to this statement. SEGA IS HANDLING THE EVENT! No more of that gigantic black box and minimalistic stage design from MikuPa 2011! We're going to get what all the fans deserve, and it's going to be EPIC! E-PIC! I don't care if I don't get to fly out there and see it, I'll wait until the tour comes to New York or DC, it'll be worth the wait if SEGA is the one doing it.

Why would you? Other than the website and the commercial, there's no link between the two at all, not even a "special Miku edition" package with Vocaloid stylings or bonus features. Seriously, that makes absolutely no sense to buy it just on the fact that a CGI Miku was sitting in it unless there's a bonus package.

Allen, do you know what channel this aired on and when? Because I think the demographic says a lot to gauge the success or failure of this commercial. If we look at the demographic, most of those people that got into DTM and Vocaloid are right at that prime age between 16 and 25, the ideal introductory driving age, and as Allen stated, the Corolla starts at 15.6k, and adds a lot of media accouterments, putting it in direct competition with the new VW Jetta. Depending on what channel it aired, and when, they may have maximized their core audience, and succeeded. I'm sure the technology blogs will be scratching their heads and more articles will follow in the news media with the topic line "Who is Hatusne Miku?" as they've done in the past.

As for the commercial itself, I think it gives out some major hints as to what to expect for the US debut of Miku. We're getting the concert tour, and with Sega running the show, which is why they showed the original concert footage, and not the new one. Also, there was no hint of an english Miku, or else they would have translated World is Mine. The graphics are a bit half-assed, but they're still using that whole Dreamy Theater engine to do it. I would prefer to have seen some "Miku Edition" stylings within the car itself, but maybe I'm asking too much on that.

I think this commercial is just the beginning. We're going to be getting a LOT of new information in the next few weeks as to what this all means, so we'll have to keep on our toes and update as fast as possible. Good on you for finding it, Walker.

In my defense, with the Vocaran switching hands and being modified so often recently, I thought that it was a new sweeping change. Can't blame me for being happy they added things that I was waiting for for a long time. Also, I don't read Japanese, which is why I didn't translate any of the video names, so how could I have known if it all starts out the same?