'Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing' film review: Hyper-focused Miku flick fumbles chance to grow her fanbase

Global superstar Hatsune Miku makes her feature film debut in 'Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing' (in select theaters nationwide April 17.)

In short: Various versions of Hatsune Miku exist as virtual idols adored by their fans across Japan - but a new unseen version of Miku has lost her ability to sing ... threatening the existence of all versions of Miku.

Simply put: 'Colorful Stage!' is squarely aimed at only the most die-hard of Miku fans who enjoy one very specific video game.

Quick aside: Hatsune Miku is incredibly popular - and she's basically a video game character. How popular is Miku? She performed on stage at Coachella in 2024 - the same year as Sabrina Carpenter, No Doubt and Doja Cat. Despite being a completely virtual character, Miku also opened for Lady Gaga's U.S. tour in 2014. Louis Vuitton designed Miku's look for her own world tour. She is featured in the popular video game Fortnite as a Festival icon - a distinction only held by 7 musical acts (including Metallica, Billie Eilish and Snoop Dogg).

This is all to say that Miku isn't merely big in Japan or big among anime fans or popular among video game fans. It's fair to call Hatsune Miku a global phenomenon.

So it is incredibly discouraging and frustrating that the first feature film to feature Hatsune Miku is effectively only for fans of 'Colorful Stage' ... the mobile rhythm game. 'A Miku Who Can't Sing' almost makes no sense - in terms of either plot or characters - without a complete familiarity with the 'Colorful Stage' video game. Nevermind the fact that Miku has almost a dozen games in her own 'Project DIVA' video game series - the filmmakers decided that Miku's big screen debut would be completely entrenched in the deep lore ... of a mobile game. This would be like making a Super Mario Bros movie - but rather than generally adapting the character and story broadly from a pantheon of games ... just making a sequel to 'Super Mario Bros. 2,' and disregarding any other Mario game.

'A Miku Who Can't Sing' is basically a continuation of the 'Colorful Stage!' video game - and it just throws the audience into the deep end while making almost no attempt to explain anything to those uninitiated with the video game. And the movie goes maximum esoteric from the jump. For starters - the film and video game features 20 characters spread across 5 parallel plot structures. These small groups of 4 human musicians and performers have their own unique version of Miku - so now the movie is juggling 5 different Mikus, 20 different humans across 5 different intertwined but disparate plot threads. Oh, the humans live normal lives in the real world, but they also enter Sekai, a virtual dimension - made from the group members' emotions - where their unique versions of Miku live.

I'm impossible to recommend 'A Miku Who Can't Sing' to casual moviegoers or even Miku fans. The film's plot is restricted only to those intimately familiar with the 'Colorful Stage!' video game specifically. Any movie that fundamentally relies on outside material just to understand basic aspects of the plot or world is inherently weaker than a standalone film wherein even the most seemingly arcane information is still built into the film. Being able to track what is happening is the core to being able to enjoy any movie - and this script demands the audience have a Ph.D in one super specific video game just to keep up with what's going on.

Now, anyone who has an advanced degree in all things ''Colorful Stage!,' then yeah - this movie is actually pretty entertaining. This is a strong master class in editing as the film flips between 5 different groups of characters - none of whom interact in any meaningful capacity - as they unintentionally all work toward the same goal: helping one Miku regain her ability to sing. And everything builds toward a third act string of musical performances of some fun songs - but none of which are as catchy as Miku's signature songs like 'Anamanaguchi' or 'M@GICAL☆CURE! LOVE ♥ SHOT.'

Final verdict: Hatsune Miku's feature film debut is an inaccessible missed opportunity to grow Miku's fanbase. It seemingly caters only to fans of one specific video game - which makes this a difficult movie to recommend to anyone outside of devoted fans of this one specific game.

Score: 2/5

'Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing' opens in select theaters nationwide April 17. The video game adventure has a runtime of 115 minutes and is rated PG for thematic elements, brief action/peril and language.