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Who is: Hatsune Miku?

By MisledYouth 1 month, 2 weeks ago

As I write this article, thousands of TinierMe.com users (including myself) are experiencing 初音ミク(Hatsune Miku’s) strange, yet wonderful music. Tuesday July 20th marked her introduction to the website; where she will be performing songs from her new album at the Outdoor Stage in Selfy Town until the end of November. Though you and I may know who Hatsune Miku is, there are still many people out there who don’t!

During my time at AX a few weeks ago, I encountered many girls (and guys) cosplaying as Hatsune Miku. It came as no surprise to see people dressed as her because she is quite and idol in Japan. However, it did blow my mind when my friend (also a very big otaku who’s lucky enough to have a Japanese girlfriend) asked me the following question at the end of our first day at AX: Who is this girl I keep seeing with blue hair that everyone is cosplaying as? I looked at him with a bit of disbelief and resentment in my eyes (I almost slapped him). So I began telling my friend the very basics of her, and went ahead and slapped him when I was done.

Hatsune Miku is a fictional sixteen year-old girl with turquoise colored pigtails and a voice that even the best singer could hardly match. She was created as part of a voice synthesizer program that allowed users to create music using her specific voice. Her vocal range can go as low as E5 and as high as A3 (which means she could pretty much be a soprano and sing those really high notes without braking a sweat). Her voice, her music, and her image have appeared in vast forms of media including the Internet, television, ads, billboards, anime and even video games. But to further understand who Hatsune Miku is, we have to first look at where she came from: the Vocaloid software.

Vocaloid is a program that was developed by the Yamaha Corporation and was released January 2004 in both English and Japanese. The program allows users to synthesize specially recorded vocals, modeled from various voice actors and singers, by typing in lyrics and melodies that are controlled and further manipulated within the program. Only a few months after it’s release, the program saw 5 ‘Vocaloids’ emerge thanks to studios Zero-G and Crypton Future Media: Leon, Lola, Miriam, Meiko and Kaito. The second iteration of the Vocaloid program came in 2007 with Vocaloid2 and the music world was in for a big surprise.

Crypton Future Media released Vocaloid2 Hatsune Miku on August 31st, 2007 for ¥15,750 (roughly $180.60). The name, Hatsune Miku (*初音未来*), originated from the kanji for ‘first’ (初 Hatsu), the kanji for ‘sound’ (音 Ne) and the kanji for ‘future’ (未来 Miku); her name translated to English means ‘the first sound of the future’. The packaging of the program featured a picture of Hatsune Miku that was designed by the artist, ‘KEI’. Her voice was modeled around the seiyū Saki Fujita. For those of you that recently watched the anime ‘Working!!’, she voiced the character Mahiru Inami. Nearly 40,000 copies of the program have been sold since its release. But the program alone didn’t bring about the virtual idol; rather, it was the people who played with the program that shaped the life and fame of Hatsune Miku.

Thanks to the Internet, and the website Nico Nico Douga, people began posting videos of songs they created using the program. Crypton pinpoints her stardom with the video titled “levan Polkka” which featured a chibi version of Ms. Hatsune waving around a leek (which I never understood why she carried one, but now the leek has even become a trademark staple with her figures and cosplayers). To take things further, people began collaborating and making amazing videos that not only featured Hatsune Miku’s voice, but also the virtual diva herself. One of these collaborative groups was Supercell. The songwriter, who goes by the name ‘Ryo’, formed the group Supercell along with illustrators Shirou Miwa, ‘redjuice’ and ‘Huke’ (who later went on to create the character Black«RockShooter which is based off one of the songs that Ryo wrote for the group). While Ryo was in charge of writing and creating the songs, the illustrators would draw, animate and bring Hatsune Miku to life for millions of online users to see. Two of the most popular songs created by Supercell include Melt (メルト) and Black«RockShooter (ブラック★ロックシューター). People around the world began paying attention to the blue haired girl; including the record industry.

Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) was one, among many other record labels, to recognize the capabilities and potential success of bringing the virtual diva to the masses. Both large and independent record labels began putting out full length Hatsune Miku albums that were created by the different collaborative groups; and on August 27, 2008, Sony released Supercell’s self-titled debut, a.k.a. Supercell feat. 初音ミク(Hatsune Miku). And thus began the popularity and impact of the virtual diva.

Over the course of almost three years, Hatsune Miku went from being a simple computer program to an international idol. In Japan, you can find her in all forms: from key-chains to plush dolls, juices bottles to Sony PSPs, doujinshi and even adult toys (just check out JList.com). She appeared in the anime Zoku Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei for about 2 seconds; while in the Lucky Star OVA, we see Kagami Hiiragi get dressed as Hatsune Miku for a dream sequence (leeks included). Clearly we must not underestimate the power of this girl, for if she can tell the Japanese to drink their vegetable juice, imagine what horrors she could do to us if we don’t listen to her!

“Hatsune Miku trying out for Zoku Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei.”