Hatsune Miku

Character Overview

ミクだよ！by彩季なお

Miku is designed to be "an android diva in the near-future world where songs are lost". KEI at that time had a hard time designing Miku since he did not have an idea of an image on how a "singing computer" is like (Well, he did not even know what a "synthesizer" is like at that time), so the design took more than a month to finish. The digital design on Miku's skirt and boots are based off synthesizer program colours and the bars represent the actual bars within the program.

KEI decided to stick with the twintails after trying them out initially, whereas Crypton had a different hairstyle in mind that time.

The First Vocaloid "Diva"

Vocaloid was originally an obscure software package, but shortly after the release of Vocaloid2, uploads of Miku Hatsune songs produced using the software showed up on Nico Nico Douga and brought the software into the mainstream. Because to the large amount of Vocaloid content, Nico Nico Douga had played a fundamental role in the recognition and popularity of the software today. A popular video with a super-deformed Miku holding a spring onion, singing Ievan Polkka, started a large trend of applying Vocaloid2 to create animated videos. As recognition and popularity grew, Nico Nico Douga became a venue for creative user-generated art. Popular original songs would generate a lot of fan content from other users, animation in 2D and 3D and remixes by other users and other creators would collaborate and critique their works.

As of September 2007, VOCALOID 2 Hatsune Miku sold many copies totaling 57,500,001 yen, making it the top-selling program on Amazon.

Impact on pixiv

As of November 21, 2010, there are about 154,000 Hatsune Miku-related illustrations. Her tag ranking was #1, with the second being Kiku Honda from Hetalia.

As of May 11 2011, 182,804 Hatsune Miku illustrations have been uploaded so far.

Many illustrations that have been posted in pixiv are sold in self-published "doujins" in Comiket. pixiv has also published their own Vocaloid illustration books under the name "FIRST NUMBER, PIXIV HATSUNE MIKU ILLUSTRATIONS", with features 47 pages of illustrations done by various professional artists.

Cultural Impact

As Miku's popularity grew, she appeared in many different media:

• A manga called Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix began serialization in the Japanese manga magazine Comic Rush on November 26, 2007, published by Jive. The manga is drawn by Kei, the original character designer for Miku.
• A second manga called "Hachune Miku no Nichijō Roipara!" drawn by Ontama began serialization in the manga magazine Comp Ace on December 26, 2007, published by Kadokawa Shoten.
• "Chibi Miku-san", a very popular 4-koma manga can be found in pixiv as well as his own webpage
• At CEATEC Japan 2009, Boffin, in joint with Yamaha had the robot model HRP-4C react to the Vocaloid software for demonstrational purposes. She was dressed up to look like Miku Hatsune for the demo. Miku was one of 3 voicebanks HRP-4C was set up to react to, the other two were Gumi and Crypton's CV-4Cβ.
• Miku's first appearance in an anime is in episode 5 and 13 of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei in which she (and other Vocaloids) auditioned to dub Otonashi Meru's voice.

Miku also had her appearances in games as well.

• The Japanese version of PangYa started a campaign with Hatsune Miku on May 22, 2008 in which she is included as one of the characters.
• She also appeared in 13-sai no Hellowork DS (Job Placement for the Age of 13) for the Nintendo DS where she is included as one of the characters.
• Miku Hatsune also stars in a video game of her own, Hatsune Miku - Project Diva on the Playstation Portable (PSP), and Arcade (known as "Hatsune Miku - Project Diva Arcade") in Japan.
• In Tales of Graces (Wii), she is a downloadable costume for one of the characters, Sophie.
• In Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP), her hairstyle is available for female characters, and her costume as well as multiple weapons themed after leeks are unlockable by inputting certain passwords.

Aside from her appearances in the form of Anime, Manga and Games, she also had her appearances in many concerts. One of them is the ever famous "Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39's Giving Day", a solo live performance concert took place in Zepp Tokyo in Odaiba, Tokyo.

Towards the International Market

On September 18, 2010, the first North American Miku Hatsune concert was hosted in San Francisco with the CEO of Crypton Future Media, and featured music created by Vocaloid2 and 3DCG. A second screening of the concert was hosted October 11, 2010 at the San Francisco Viz Cinema. A theater screening of the concert was also shown in New York City during New York Anime Festival. Videos of her performance are due to be released worldwide.

On October 8, 2010, at the New York Comic-Con, Ito Hiroyuki (Crypton's CEO) announced that if Miku's Facebook page hits 39,390 "likes", an English-language release will be developed. The project was termed "Project Mikucash". As a result, Miku's page has reached more than 39,390 "likes" on her Facebook page, which was run by Crypton Staff. It has been confirmed that there will be more NA Vocaloid releases. Samples have already been made and demos are said to be in the preparation. A Tweet from Crypton on Twitter announced that it is unconfirmed whether English Miku will be Vocaloid2 or Vocaloid3.

Recently in May 2011, Toyota used Hatsune Miku to for two online adverts to promote their car the Corolla. She is also displayed on the official Toyota page.

On the May 7th, USAmazon placed a preview of Supercell's hit song "World is Mine" as a single. The entry was presented as "The World is Mine Feat. Hatsune Miku".

Ievan Polkka

Koi Wa Sensou

Black★Rock Shooter

The Corolla Commercial of Miku Hatsune

Google Chrome Commercial of Miku Hatsune