Nowadays, most people know “Miku” as a virtual popstar with concert after concert and collaboration after collaboration, but that’s not how she started out. Initially, she was just a product meant for musicians to use, but she’s grown to be much more than that because of the love she gets from the people who use their musical talent and creativity to make fresh and show-stopping songs with her. Now, some of this might sound unimportant to people who only know about Miku in passing, or not at all, but to truly understand “who” she is, it’s important to know “what” she is exactly.  

Origin 

    Hatsune Miku is a vocal synthesizer originally made for Yamaha’s Vocaloid2 software. A vocal synthesizer “generates and combines basic elements of sound to produce simulated speech that are used in computer systems” (Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition 2010).  

   She was developed by Crypton Future Media (CFM) and was released on the 31st of August 2007. Her voice provider is currently active voice actress Saki Fujita. The Hatsune Miku voicebank is available for use on Vocaloid 3 and 4, as well as CFM’s Piapro Studio. 

Design 

    Unlike most typical vocal synthesizers, Vocaloid’s almost always come with a mascot for the sake of marketability. Miku’s mascot was designed and illustrated by artist Kei Garo. The reason why her design is so recognizable, iconic, and malleable is because Kei Garo took into account what the Nashville Film Institute considers the three key elements of character design: silhouette, palette, and exaggeration. She is comprised of mostly triangular shapes, from her skirt to her giant, ankle length twin-tails while still keeping her silhouette free of clutter. She is also composed of a few under-utilized, complimentary colors that have now become almost synonymous with her.  

   Miku is supposed to be a futuristic teenage idol and that is made clear with the exaggerated way this is communicated through her appearance. She wears a modified “Seifuku”, a common style of female school uniform in Japan. Even on her skirt and detached sleeves, she has digital screens to show that she is a digital idol. Her name, Hatsune Miku, even means “First Sound of the Future”.   

    Depending on what the artist wants to do with her, however ,none of this has to matter. If you remove her twin-tails, you can still tell who she is from her color palette, and if you change her clothing, you can still recognize her from her twin-tails, and if you change the color of her hair, you can still tell who she is from everything else about her. She can be anything and everything you want, and that’s why she’s so fun to use. You don’t have to stick to one thing with her, but at the end of the day, she’s still Miku.  

General Opinions 

   Most of Miku’s popularity comes from online or overseas, so you don’t really hear about her in real life. Despite that, she still has quite a few fans in America. I got the opinions of a few students at Miami High, and all of them, despite not being very familiar with her, thought she was cute. Sophomore Marissa Reyes stated, “She’s very cool, [and] very poppy.” One Miku fan,10th grader Rosemary Perez, even owns a Miku game, Project Diva.  

   Jorge Canales, a recent high school graduate and current college student, said, “Whenever I see something teal and black, I usually think of her.”  

   Miami High sophomore Dariela Matamoros says, “Miku is really cool, especially the music videos people make with her and so are her collaborations with other people.”  

   Even a student from Gables, 11th grader Ethan Nuñez admits, “I’ve been a huge Miku fan for a while, and I even have a few figures of her.” Clearly, age and gender don’t matter when it comes to being her fan.  

Explosive Popularity  

   According to the Vocaloid Fan-Wiki, the most viewed song featuring Miku is “DUNE”, the official theme song for Magical Mirai 2017, a concert for Miku. Over the course of six years, “DUNE” has amassed 79 million views on YouTube. Ironically enough, the song was about how the community surrounding Miku was getting stale and dying out, and yet this song led to a sort-of renaissance for her. In fact, the momentum from “DUNE’s” release led to the community being more alive than ever. But even before that, Miku was still a crucial part of the internet, whether people realize it or not. The original version of the song used in the famous Nyan Cat video is called “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” by Daniwell, and the vocalist for that song is none-other than Miku herself. Hatsune Miku isn’t a slouch when it comes to games either, with SEGA reporting that the Project Diva series had sold six million units by 2018. 

First Concert 

   The official website for Magical Mirai states that it is “a combined event of 3DCG live concert of virtual singers such as Hatsune Miku, and an exhibition where you will be able to experience the creative culture surrounding Hatsune Miku.”  

   Originally, Magical Mirai was made to celebrate Miku’s 6th anniversary, and since then, it rolls around every year for her. It has the main concert itself and an exhibition to show off art made by dedicated and adoring fans. On August 30th, 2013, 15,000 people went to Yokohama Arena in Japan simply because they loved Miku. A hologram of Miku was displayed with a live band singing along to the most popular Miku songs of the time made by and for people who love her.   

     Magical Mirai is, first and foremost, a declaration of love to Miku and everyone who makes her “her”. The playlist for that concert contained 24 songs in total, with tickets costing 58.07 US dollars (accounting for inflation).  

16th Anniversary  

     As this is being written, a lot is still happening for her sweet sixteen even though it was already months ago. As usual, there have been many concerts such as SNOW MIKU 2023 and Magical Mirai 2023. The official design for her 16th anniversary was made by Rella, a Chinese illustrator who is highly regarded in the community for her Miku Symphony artwork. In her concept art posted in high quality on GoodSmileCompany’s Hatsune Miku 16th Birthday Figure Project page, you can see that Rella added certain accessories in reference to past voicebank releases.  

    On top of that, she has wings made of various instruments and art supplies, showing that she’s been carried to where she is now by the talent and skill from masterful creators, giving her a look akin to an angel.  

    Even outside of the community surrounding her, she’s had collaborations with Sanrio and Pokémon, with the Pokémon collaboration still currently active. The Pokémon event had her drawn by official Pokémon artists as a trainer for the 18 different types in the game, with each design releasing almost every day from September 4th of 2023 to September 28th .
    When all the designs were released, the first song for the event, Volt Tackle by Vocaloid producer Deco*27 was uploaded. Now, for the next several weeks, a song pertaining to a certain Pokémon type featuring Miku will be uploaded by a popular Vocaloid producer, with Serebii.Net helpfully compiling all the collaboration’s art and music. 

   Even in the West, Miku’s special day is being celebrated with a bang. MIKU EXPO is returning to North America in 2024 for its tenth anniversary. A real-life MIKU EXPO hasn’t been held since 2020 when Covid first hit. For MIKU EXPO’s tenth anniversary a song contest is being held to decide which original song made by a fan will be performed during the concert. 

Miku Fun Facts 

• March 9th is considered “Miku Day” because in Japanese 3 can be read as “Mi” and 9 as “Ku”  

• Miku was supposed to appear in Coachella 2020, but the concert was cancelled due to Covid-19 

• Hatsune Miku appears as deluxe content in the game Persona 4: Dancing All Night 

• Multiple Miku songs have been featured in Just Dance 2016-2018 

Source: VocaloidFanwiki