Even by the standards of franchise anime that caters to the faithful and drops newcomers in blind, this is particularly incomprehensible. Based on the mobile game Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage!, it features a barely characterised blur of wannabe musicians and actors who ascribe Manhattan Project importance to writing syrupy J-pop. One of the virtual pop stars, a rogue version of Hatsune Miku (voiced by Saki Fuijta), keeps invading high-school kids’ mobile phones and flatscreens, begging for help. Amid interchangeably candy-haired popsters screaming hysterically, the opening to Colorful Stage! The lollipop-headed, tendril-headed popsters are lushly drawn, and director Hiroyuki Hata is particularly gifted at using light to lift scenes with an Elysian glow.