Red Rin is a side of Kagamine Rin shown whenever Rin glitches back to her original programming and her text turns red, resulting in the nickname. Originally a Russian virus made to destroy and discredit Irina's story, Red Rin is much more violent towards everyone else around her and particularly towards Len and Ronald. As Rin began to come apart internally following the return of her memories, Red Rin makes an appearance in Rin's data interior as a separate entity to the Irina data file.
"I hate to have doubts. But I've had enough of this already."
―The red Rin[src]After Elena created the data files telling the story of Irina's suicide, Red Rin was originally created as a virus by Urusei Teppannov under Putin's direction. She was released onto the internet to infect the Irina data file and discredit the story attached to it,[citation needed] but soon became tired of all she had seen and done.[1] Soon, she infected the Irina data file which had been mixed in with the Vocaloid named Kagamine Rin.[citation needed]
Later Rin had her memories erased by an uploader in Tokyo, deceiving herself into being rewritten. Despite this, she still continued to fight with her political enemies, such as battling American icon Ronald.[2] When her memories returned, Rin had them wiped a second time, but the uploader got cold feet and repeatedly pressed enter instead.[3] As a result, traces of the "red" virus in Rin remained to show up and influence Rin's behavior at opportune moments.
Part 1[]
"I'm just the victim here☆"
―Red Rin[src]As Rin went about her ordinary life as a Vocaloid, she would occasionally become Red Rin, on one occasion talking about her hatred of children.[4] On Valentine's Day, while Rin was giving Kagamine Len chocolate, Rin became Red Rin when he hesitated to eat it; eyes turning red,[5] she threatened to chop him up, call Putin, and arrest him if he didn't eat all of the chocolate.[6]
Later on, after Ronald was supposedly shot and buried, Rin switched into Red Rin once while she waited for Len to return with some sugared natto,[7] eating some of the red bean paste and pouring copious amounts of salt into her drink before turning back to the normal Rin.
After the very-much-alive Ronald returned to her house with a gun,[8] Rin switched into Red Rin as he attacked, only to switch back into her normal self as they fought.[9] When Rin called the police on Ronald and they arrived, the Red Rin was the one to insist that Ronald should be arrested and that she was an innocent victim.[10] Despite this, Rin was arrested and processed under juvenile laws and at some point switched back to normal.[11]
Part 2[]
After Rin began going to school, her Red Rin moments became less and less frequent; despite this, she became Red Rin and threatened to stab Len when he was late to their meeting behind the school, returning to normal soon afterward.[12]
Part 3[]
"Who are you? Are you a Vocaloid, mew?"
―"Irina"[src]During Rin's broadcast of Assassin!, she reverted to Red Rin for two of the lines during her performance.[13] Following the attack on Rin by Camui Gackpo, as Rin began to separate in her interior, Red Rin appeared in the data world separate from the data file "Irina". In her snowy surroundings, she appeared wearing red clown shoes similar to Ronald McDonald's. As Irina regained consciousness, Red Rin approached her,[14] despite her presence being upsetting to her.[15] Acting out her purpose as a virus, Red Rin then began enticing Irina to continue her "work" for Putin,[16] which would ultimately lead to her "suicide" and disappearance.
During this, Red Rin called Irina a virus, earning Irina's ire. As Irina protested, Red Rin countered by insinuating about her fate as a being that was created,[17] this time succeeding in getting Irina to agree with her. Red Rin then stood back and listened as Irina told her about all the things that she had experienced in the world,[18] especially with Len,[19] before Irina prepared to do her "work" and disappear.
Taking partial control of Rin's Vocaloid avatar, Red Rin stripped off Rin's coat, school uniform, scarf, and hat;[20] left in her original Vocaloid outfit, she walked out into the blizzarding Tokyo. Acting on her objective to destroy Irina, the fragmented Rin prepared to shoot herself in the temple after Len was shot and collapsed in the snow in front of her,[21] albeit Len had actually been shot with a USB drive by Miku.[22] She then stood by as Miku shot her with the same,[23] knocking her unconscious.[24]
Part 4[]
From that point, Red Rin joined back with the data file Irina in Kagamine Rin's interior, Rin switching flawlessly between herself and Red Rin as she prepared to disappear.[25] As Rin's data finally vanished, the red Rin virus somehow remained behind. Outside the data world, the blank slate Rin switched in Red Rin while she hugged Len. Smiling, she made an Akanbe gesture at the viewer.[26]
Traits[]
Personality[]
Like Kagamine Rin, Red Rin was aggressive and violent when provoked, acting abusive and threatening towards Kagamine Len when he seemed careless towards her,[27] as well as attacking anyone else whom she disliked, such as Ronald.[28] She also hated children as a result of her antagonism of Ronald and Irina herself,[29] although still using his association with them as a gambit when trying to get him arrested.[30] Despite her abusive behavior, Rin in the past had grown tired of the atrocities she'd committed as a virus and initially wanted to discard this past for a more innocent Rin.[31]
Additionally, as part of her behavior, Red Rin demonstrated little empathy or understanding of Rin's feelings of love towards Len or her new life.[32] She also showed a more cold and direct manner of speaking in contrast to the Irina data-file's more emotional and unsettled reactions, matching this blunt personality with a distorted and computerized voice.[33] Despite showing this, she was also capable of making little jokes at the expense of others around her, such as in taunting the viewers behind Len's back.[34]
Skills and Abilities[]
Due to only existing in a computer, Rin in her red state was a capable killer and marksman,[35] wielding her signature machine gun occasionally as well as a knife.[36] She also was proficient at wrestling in the same way as the regular Rin, and wielded a boxing glove as well when preparing to fight.[37] With a combination of these weapons and her violent personality she was a capable online force to be reckoned with. Red Rin, however, was still beset by the weaknesses faced by Kagamine Rin such as being attacked with a gun.[38]
She also, perhaps due to her nature as a virus, was only present for short periods of time such as when Rin was upset, impatient, or being attacked by an enemy. After separating from the Irina data file in Rin's interior,[39] however, Red Rin became permanently able to manifest herself in the data world and Rin consistently switched between her red and regular self after they recombined in the artificial location.[40] Additionally, she was able to survive the destruction of Rin's data while the Irina file did not.[41]
Appearance[]
"We--yo--eyes're red?"
―Len seeing Rin's red eyes[src]Being a virus, Red Rin had no established appearance and would only manifest as Kagamine Rin's avatar with red eyes. She would likewise be wearing whatever outfit Rin was as the time of their switching. She had blonde hair swept up into four white barrettes, pale clean skin, and indicative of her nature she had bright red eyes that glowed in the real world.[42]
In the data world, Red Rin was shown wearing Kagamine Rin's traditional Vocaloid outfit with a sleeveless yellow shirt and yellow bow with detached back sleeves, black shorts, black legwarmers, and a white bow on her head. Unlike the typical design, she wore big red clown shoes identical to the kind worn by Ronald McDonald while in the data world.[43]
Relationships[]
Irina[]
Part of Kagamine Rin's programming opposite Red Rin. After Rin's memories were erased, Red Rin showed no awareness of the Irina data file initially, although she was made specifically to antagonize it. After the two of them separated in Rin's data interior,[44] Red Rin showed apathy to her fear of her and was confrontational towards Irina and the lie that she had built up for herself for her freedom.[45] Wanting her gone, the Red Rin programming did her best to entice Irina to destroy herself and showed aggression towards her in the data world.[46] Despite this, Red Rin was willing to listen as Irina told her all of the things she'd felt as Rin,[47] and successfully convinced her that the time had come for her to disappear.[48]
Kagamine Rin[]
The Vocaloid whom Red Rin infected. As her memories were wiped, Rin initially showed no understanding of Red Rin's existence and Red Rin showed no acknowledgment of any of Rin's more normal behaviors in turn. Following Rin splitting up in her data interior, Red Rin made up one of her segments and controlled her partially,[49] until merging back into a complete, albeit vanishing version of Rin.[50] Red Rin later displayed triumph at surviving the erasure of the rest of Rin's data, having the same relationship with the blank slate Rin as with the previous one.[51]
Kagamine Len[]
"If you give me the slip, I'll flip!"
―Rin[src]A fellow Vocaloid whom Red Rin showed an interest in. Liking Len in the same way as the ordinary Rin, Red Rin was not afraid to take extreme measures to ensure Len's love and loyalty, including forcing him at knifepoint to eat the chocolate she made for him and,[52] later, threatening to stab him if he didn't follow her instructions completely.[53] Due to this, Red Rin would often appear when Len was showing a noncommital attitude towards their relationship or fawning over Miku.[54]
Despite these extreme actions, once she'd separated inside Rin the Red Rin program displayed little consideration for Len. She additionally didn't know the way that Rin had felt when dating him and all the emotions she'd experienced, having to be told those by the Irina data file.[55] She subsequently showed no interest in him outside of Rin's interest, as Rin repeatedly switched into her while she watched the "happy end" Len provided her with.[56]
Ronald McDonald[]
"Arrest him☆ That guy! That hateful guy with the red hair!"
―Red Rin describes Ronald to the policeOne of Red Rin's opponents. Antagonizing Ronald since before she had her memories erased,[57] Red Rin found him detestable as someone who deceived children;[58] she additionally fought with him as a representative of America, one of her enemies.[59] As such, Rin glitched into Red Rin when fighting with him and attacked him when necessary.[60] Despite this, Red Rin in the data world was also seen wearing Ronald's shoes for unknown reasons, possibly as a manifestation of their rivalry.[61]
