Hatsune Miku
Encyclopedia
is a singing synthesizer application with a female persona, developed by Crypton Future Media
. It uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2
synthesizing technology. The name of the character comes from a fusion of the Japanese for , and future ( sounds like a nanori
reading of future, , normally read as "mirai"), referring to her position as the first of Crypton's "Character Vocal Series". She was the second Vocaloid to be sold using the Vocaloid 2 engine
and the first Japanese Vocaloid to use the Japanese version of the Vocaloid 2 engine. Her voice is sampled from Japanese voice actress
, Saki Fujita
. Hatsune Miku has performed at her concerts onstage as a projection.
Crypton released the first of their "Character Vocal Series", Hatsune Miku, on August 31, 2007. Crypton had the idea to release Miku as "An android diva in the near-future world where songs are lost."
model HRP-4C
was set up to react to three Vocaloids—Hatsune Miku, Megpoid and Crypton's noncommercial Vocaloid software "CV-4Cβ"—as part of promotions for both Yamaha and HRP-4C at CEATEC
in 2009. Japanese magazines such as DTM magazine are responsible for the promotion and introduction for many of the Japanese Vocaloids to Japanese Vocaloid fans. It has featured Vocaloids such as Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, and Megurine Luka, printing some of the sketches by artist Kei and reporting the latest news on the Vocaloids.
Crypton has been involved with the marketing of their Character Vocal Series, particularly Hatsune Miku, which has been actively involved in the GT300 class of the Super GT
since 2008
with the support of Good Smile Racing (a branch of Good Smile Company
, mainly in charge of car-related products, especially itasha
(cars featuring illustrations of anime-styled characters) stickers. Although Good Smile Company was not the first to bring the anime and manga culture to Super GT, it departs from others by featuring itasha directly rather than colorings onto vehicles.
Since the 2008 season, three different teams received their sponsorship under Good Smile Racing, and turned their cars to Vocaloid-related artwork:
As well as involvements with the GT series, Crypton also established the website Piapro. Crypton has also started to star Miku in Toyota Corolla
commercials.
stated on September 12, 2007 that they had sales of Hatsune Miku totaling 57,500,000 yen, making her the number one selling software of that time.
To aid in the production of 3D animations, the program MikuMikuDance
was developed as an independent program. The freeware software allowed a boom in fan-made and derivative characters to be developed, as well as acted as a boost for the promoting of the Vocaloid songs themselves. Another Vocaloid tool that was developed was VocaListener, a software package that allows for realistic Vocaloid songs to be produced.
, a Japanese website very similar to YouTube
, played a fundamental role in the recognition and popularity of the software. Soon after the release of Miku, users of Nico Nico Douga started posting videos with songs created using her sound bank. According to Crypton, a popular video with "Hachune Miku", a super deformed
Miku, holding a leek
and singing "Ievan Polkka
" (which led to Miku also being commonly associated with leeks/spring onions), presented the varied potential of applying the software in multimedia content creation. As the recognition and popularity of Miku grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborative content creation. Popular original songs written by a user would inspire illustrations, animations in 2D
and 3D
, and remixes by other users. Some creators would show their unfinished work and ask for ideas.
In September 2009, three figurines based on the derivative character "Hachune Miku" were launched in a rocket from the United States
state of Nevada
's Black Rock Desert
, though it did not reach outer space
. In late November 2009, a petition was launched in order to get a custom made Hatsune Miku aluminum plate (8 cm x 12 cm, 3.1" x 4.7") made that would be used as a balancing weight for the Japanese Venus
spacecraft explorer Akatsuki. Started by Hatsune Miku fan Sumio Morioka (also known as "chodenzi-P"), this project has received the backing of Dr. Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
. On December 22, 2009, the petition exceeded the needed 10,000 signatures necessary to have the plates made. An original deadline of December 20, 2009 had been set to send in the petition, but due to a couple of delays in the Akatsuki project, a new deadline of January 6, 2010 was set; by this deadline, over 14,000 signatures had been received. On May 21, 2010 at 06:58:22 (JST
), Akatsuki was launched, having three plates depicting Hatsune Miku and Hachune Miku in several monochrome images, composed of the miniature letters of the messages from the petition form etched in the plates. The UK 59th issue of the music and fashion magazine Clash
featured Hatsune Miku as their cover star (using a real-life photo model), with a full feature on her.
The Vocaloid software has also had a great influence on the character Black Rock Shooter
, who looks like Hatsune Miku but is not linked to her by design. The character was made famous by the song "Black Rock Shooter", and a number of figurines have been made. An original video animation
made by Ordet
has been streamed for free as part of a promotional campaign running from June 25 to August 31, 2010.
written by her graphical designer Kei Garō. The manga explores the many possiblities of story telling and has featured numerous adventures ranging from giant-sized battles with Hachune Miku to home exploits. There is therefore no single storyline and the entire setting within the manga is unofficial. During an episode of Zoku Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei, Miku is seen auditioning for the voice of Meru Otonashi (Kagamine Rin and Len are referenced in the same episode). Miku's voice is used in one of the ending themes for the anime series Akikan!
. In the Lucky Star OVA
, Kagami Hiiragi gets magically transformed into Miku cosplay
. A character in the anime Kämpfer appears dressed as Miku in episode seven.
A series of rhythm games starting from Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA
were produced by Sega
under license using Hatsune Miku and other Crypton Vocaloids, as well as "fan made" Vocaloids like Akita Neru. TinierMe also made attire that looks like Miku's for their services, allowing users to make their avatar resemble her. Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai is being developed for the Nintendo 3DS
. Miku's appearance in this game is based on the Nendoroid
series of figures. Hatsune Miku is also briefly referenced in the game Recettear, where a young man stargazing sees "The Green Onion Girl" constellation.
Miku's clothes also appears as a costume for a playable character in the Japanese version of PangYa
and was the back-up vocal for the game's season four trailer, as a downloadable costume for Sophie in Tales of Graces
and is seen during a stage in the game 13-sai no Hellowork DS. Miku's clothes also appears in Phantasy Star Portable 2
as a costume for the player's female character, as well as her hairstyle and leek
-themed weapons. Miku will also appear in the PlayStation 3 version of The Idolm@ster 2
as downloadable content.
One of the Vocaloid compilations, Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku, debuted at number-one on the Japanese weekly Oricon
album charts dated May 31, 2010, becoming the first Vocaloid album ever to top the charts. Another album, Supercell
, by the group Supercell also features a number of songs using Vocaloids. Other albums, such as 19's Sound Factory's First Sound Story and Livetune
's Re:package, and Re:Mikus also feature Miku's voice. Other uses of Miku include the albums by Absorb and by OSTER-project. Kagamine Len and Rin's songs were covered
by Asami Shimoda
in the album Prism credited to "Kagamine Rin/Len feat. Asami Shimoda".
As a virtual idol, Hatsune Miku performed her first "live" concert during Animelo Summer Live
at the Saitama Super Arena
on August 22, 2009. Miku also performed her first overseas live concert on November 21, 2009, during Anime Festival Asia
(AFA) in Singapore
. On March 9, 2010, Miku's first solo live performance titled "Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39's Giving Day" was opened at the Zepp
Tokyo in Odaiba
, Tokyo
. Miku performed in the United States on July 2, 2011 at the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live during the 2011 Anime Expo
in Los Angeles. The concert followed the same format as the previous "39's Giving Day" concert.
A young male prototype used for the "project if..." series was used in Sound Horizon
's musical work "Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido", labeled as the "prologue maxi". The prototype sang alongside Miku for their music and is known only by the name "Junger März_Prototype β".
Crypton Future Media
, or Crypton, is a media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and sound effect and background music libraries...
. It uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2
Vocaloid
is a singing synthesizer application, with its signal processing part developed through a joint research project between the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain and Japan's Yamaha Corporation, who backed the development financially—and later developed the software into the commercial product...
synthesizing technology. The name of the character comes from a fusion of the Japanese for , and future ( sounds like a nanori
Nanori
are kanji character readings found almost exclusively in Japanese names.In the Japanese language many names are constructed from common kanji characters with standard pronunciations. However, some characters occur only in names, and some standard characters have special pronunciations in names...
reading of future, , normally read as "mirai"), referring to her position as the first of Crypton's "Character Vocal Series". She was the second Vocaloid to be sold using the Vocaloid 2 engine
Software engine
In computer science, a software engine refers to the core of a computer program. Software engines drive the functionality of the program, and are distinct from peripheral aspects of the program, such as look and feel.- Elucidation :...
and the first Japanese Vocaloid to use the Japanese version of the Vocaloid 2 engine. Her voice is sampled from Japanese voice actress
Seiyu
Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...
, Saki Fujita
Saki Fujita
is a female Japanese voice actress from Tokyo, Japan, represented by Arts Vision. She sang the ending theme to the anime Tokimeki Memorial Only Love, "Kiseki no Kakera", along with Yuki Makishima and Yukako Yoshikawa as well as the opening of Working!!, Coolish Walk, with Kana Asumi and Eri Kitamura...
. Hatsune Miku has performed at her concerts onstage as a projection.
Development
After acquiring the Vocaloid 2 speech synthesis engine from Yamaha, Crypton Future Media began to develop their third Vocaloid. Miku Hatsune's voice was created by taking vocal samples from the voice actress Saki Fujita at a controlled pitch and tone. These different samples all contained a single Japanese phonic which when strung together would create full words and eventually phrases. The pitch of the samples was to be altered by the synthesizer engine itself and was constructed into a keyboard style instrument within the Vocaloid 2 program.Crypton released the first of their "Character Vocal Series", Hatsune Miku, on August 31, 2007. Crypton had the idea to release Miku as "An android diva in the near-future world where songs are lost."
Marketing
Though developed by Yamaha, the marketing of each Vocaloid is left to the respective studios. Yamaha themselves do maintain a degree of promotional efforts in the actual Vocaloid software, as seen when the humanoid robotHumanoid robot
A humanoid robot or an anthropomorphic robot is a robot with its overall appearance, based on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots...
model HRP-4C
HRP-4C
The HRP-4C is a female humanoid robot, created by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology - a Japanese research facility. An in-public demonstration was put on March 16, 2009. It measures 158 centimetres tall, and weighs 43 kilos - including a battery pack...
was set up to react to three Vocaloids—Hatsune Miku, Megpoid and Crypton's noncommercial Vocaloid software "CV-4Cβ"—as part of promotions for both Yamaha and HRP-4C at CEATEC
CEATEC
Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies is an annual trade show in Japan. It is regarded as the Japanese equivalent of Consumer Electronics Show...
in 2009. Japanese magazines such as DTM magazine are responsible for the promotion and introduction for many of the Japanese Vocaloids to Japanese Vocaloid fans. It has featured Vocaloids such as Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, and Megurine Luka, printing some of the sketches by artist Kei and reporting the latest news on the Vocaloids.
Crypton has been involved with the marketing of their Character Vocal Series, particularly Hatsune Miku, which has been actively involved in the GT300 class of the Super GT
Super GT
The Super GT series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC , is a grand touring car race series promoted by the GT-Association...
since 2008
2008 Super GT season
The 2008 Autobacs Super GT Series was the 15th season of the GT Championship in Japan including the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the 4th season as the Super GT series. It is a series for Grand Touring race cars divided into two categories: GT500 and GT300...
with the support of Good Smile Racing (a branch of Good Smile Company
Good Smile Company
Good Smile Company is a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products, such as scale figures and the Nendoroid and figma product lines. In addition to manufacturing, its business includes figure design and marketing...
, mainly in charge of car-related products, especially itasha
Itasha
, literally "painmobile", is a Japanese term for an otaku fad of individuals decorating the bodies of their cars with fictional characters of anime, manga, or video games . These characters are predominately "cute" female. The decorations usually involve paint schemes and stickers...
(cars featuring illustrations of anime-styled characters) stickers. Although Good Smile Company was not the first to bring the anime and manga culture to Super GT, it departs from others by featuring itasha directly rather than colorings onto vehicles.
- StudieStudieStudie is a Japanese tuning company of BMW and a Super GT racing team which participates in GT300 class.-History:Studie was established in 1995 in Yokohama as a BMW parts dealer and developer.They currently having 4 branches in Japan...
, which participated in the 20082008 Super GT seasonThe 2008 Autobacs Super GT Series was the 15th season of the GT Championship in Japan including the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the 4th season as the Super GT series. It is a series for Grand Touring race cars divided into two categories: GT500 and GT300...
and 2009 seasons2009 Super GT seasonThe 2009 Super GT season was the 16th season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship. The season opener on March 22, was moved to Okayama, due to the continued renovation of Suzuka in preparation for the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix...
using a BMW Z4 E86BMW E85The first-generation of BMW Z4 was designed by Danish BMW-designer Anders Warming for Silas Acosta by request. The Z4 was introduced at the Paris Auto Show in 2002, and went on sale in November of the same year for the 2003 model year. It is a physically larger, completely redesigned successor to...
. Their car was painted in official Hatsune Miku art, and fan-derivative versions of Hatsune Miku in some races in the 2009 season. - Team COX, participating in the 2010 season2010 Super GT seasonThe 2010 Super GT season was the 17th season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship....
, which uses a Porsche 996 GT3 RSRPorsche 911 GT3The Porsche 911 GT3 is a higher performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is the latest in a line of high performance models, beginning with the 1973 911 RS...
(and will use a Porsche 997 GT3-R). Their car uses Racing Miku (an official Hatsune Miku derivative, wearing an orange race queenRace queenis a Japanese term for a type of promotional model found as part of a pit crew in certain kinds of motor racing, such as F1 races. The equivalent British term is "Pit babe".-History:...
suit) as their image.
As well as involvements with the GT series, Crypton also established the website Piapro. Crypton has also started to star Miku in Toyota Corolla
Toyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million...
commercials.
Sales
The initial sales of Hatsune Miku were so high that Crypton could not keep up with the demand. In the first 12 days of sale, nearly 3,000 sales reservations were made. This was around one sale in 250 in the music software industry, quoted as "an impossible number" by Wataru Sasaki—the person in charge of the planning and production company 'surprise'. Amazon.co.jpAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
stated on September 12, 2007 that they had sales of Hatsune Miku totaling 57,500,000 yen, making her the number one selling software of that time.
Additional software
On April 30, 2010, an updated version of Miku called Hatsune Miku Append was released containing a package of six different tones of Miku's voice: Soft (gentle, delicate voice), Sweet (young, chibi voice), Dark (mature, heartbroken-like voice), Vivid (bright, cheerful voice), Solid (loud, clear voice), and Light (innocent, heavenly voice). Miku Append was created to expand Miku's voice library and as such requires the original Miku Hatsune program to be installed on the user's computer first. This was the first time a Vocaloid had such a release, and more Append versions were reported from Crypton Future Media at later dates.To aid in the production of 3D animations, the program MikuMikuDance
MikuMikuDance
, commonly abbreviated to MMD, is a freeware animation program that lets users animate and create 3D animation movies, originally produced for the movies of Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. The MikuMikuDance program itself was programmed by Yu Higuchi and has gone through significant upgrades since its...
was developed as an independent program. The freeware software allowed a boom in fan-made and derivative characters to be developed, as well as acted as a boost for the promoting of the Vocaloid songs themselves. Another Vocaloid tool that was developed was VocaListener, a software package that allows for realistic Vocaloid songs to be produced.
Characteristics
During Miku's development Crypton Future Media decided to take a different approach to that used by the other Vocaloid sound bank publishers. It was decided that to make the product successful not only would a highly appealing voice need to be developed but that voice needed an image. In this way the target focus for Crypton's Vocaloids changed from high end music studios to the general public, specifically teenagers. The task of coming up with Miku's image went to the manga artist Kei Garō. When Kei designed Miku, his only direction was that she was an android and what her color scheme (based on Yamaha's synthesizer's signature cyan color) was. The design on Miku's skirt and boots are based on synthesizer software colors and the bars represent the actual bars within the program's user interface. Miku was originally intended to have a different hairstyle, but Kei stuck to pigtails after trying them out. Crypton then officially created and posted Miku's personal data sheet. However this only contained her 'physical' and technical traits; Crypton did not provide much info in the way of Miku's personality which has allowed song/music video creators and fans to associate the traits that they think suit her best.| Name | Hatsune Miku |
| Birthday | August 31 |
| Age | 16 years |
| Height | 158 cm / 5.2 ft |
| Weight | 42 kg / 93 lbs |
| Suggested Genre | Pop/Dance |
| Suggested Tempo Range | 70–150bpm |
| Suggested Vocal Range | A3–E5 |
Cultural impact
Nico Nico DougaNico Nico Douga
is a popular video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango, a subsidiary of Dwango. Its nickname is "Niconico" or "Nico-dō", where "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. Nico Nico Douga is the thirteenth most visited website in Japan...
, a Japanese website very similar to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, played a fundamental role in the recognition and popularity of the software. Soon after the release of Miku, users of Nico Nico Douga started posting videos with songs created using her sound bank. According to Crypton, a popular video with "Hachune Miku", a super deformed
Super deformed
Super deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...
Miku, holding a leek
Loituma Girl
Loituma Girl is a Flash animation set to a scat singing section of the traditional Finnish folk song "Ievan Polkka," sung by the Finnish quartet Loituma on their 1996 debut album Things of Beauty. It appeared on the Internet in late April 2006 and quickly became popular...
and singing "Ievan Polkka
Ievan Polkka
"Ievan Polkka" or "Ievan Polokka" is a popular Finnish song with lyrics written in the early 1930s by Eino Kettunen to a traditional Finnish polka tune. The name is commonly misspelled Levan polkka, due to the similarity of lower-case L and upper-case i in sans-serif fonts...
" (which led to Miku also being commonly associated with leeks/spring onions), presented the varied potential of applying the software in multimedia content creation. As the recognition and popularity of Miku grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborative content creation. Popular original songs written by a user would inspire illustrations, animations in 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
and 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
, and remixes by other users. Some creators would show their unfinished work and ask for ideas.
In September 2009, three figurines based on the derivative character "Hachune Miku" were launched in a rocket from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
state of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
's Black Rock Desert
Black Rock Desert
The Black Rock Desert is an arid region in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan...
, though it did not reach outer space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
. In late November 2009, a petition was launched in order to get a custom made Hatsune Miku aluminum plate (8 cm x 12 cm, 3.1" x 4.7") made that would be used as a balancing weight for the Japanese Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
spacecraft explorer Akatsuki. Started by Hatsune Miku fan Sumio Morioka (also known as "chodenzi-P"), this project has received the backing of Dr. Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The , or JAXA, is Japan's national aerospace agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on October 1, 2003, as an Independent Administrative Institution administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the...
. On December 22, 2009, the petition exceeded the needed 10,000 signatures necessary to have the plates made. An original deadline of December 20, 2009 had been set to send in the petition, but due to a couple of delays in the Akatsuki project, a new deadline of January 6, 2010 was set; by this deadline, over 14,000 signatures had been received. On May 21, 2010 at 06:58:22 (JST
Japan Standard Time
Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
), Akatsuki was launched, having three plates depicting Hatsune Miku and Hachune Miku in several monochrome images, composed of the miniature letters of the messages from the petition form etched in the plates. The UK 59th issue of the music and fashion magazine Clash
Clash (magazine)
Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
featured Hatsune Miku as their cover star (using a real-life photo model), with a full feature on her.
The Vocaloid software has also had a great influence on the character Black Rock Shooter
Black Rock Shooter
is a 2010 Japanese original video animation produced by Yutaka Yamamoto's studio Ordet, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and Shinobu Yoshioka, and directed by Shinobu Yoshioka. The 50-minute OVA is based on the song of the same name by Supercell and its accompanying music video with illustrations by...
, who looks like Hatsune Miku but is not linked to her by design. The character was made famous by the song "Black Rock Shooter", and a number of figurines have been made. An original video animation
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
made by Ordet
Ordet (company)
is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 2007 by ex-Kyoto Animation director Yutaka Yamamoto and other staff. The company initially served as a subcontractor before producing their first hit television series, Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens in collaboration with A-1 Pictures in 2008...
has been streamed for free as part of a promotional campaign running from June 25 to August 31, 2010.
Appearances in other media
Miku's popularity has seen various references to her in anime. Miku is the protagonist of a manga series named Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune MixMaker Hikoshiki Hatsune Mix
is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Japanese artist Kei. The manga was originally based on the Vocaloid 2 character Hatsune Miku, but came to feature other Vocaloid 1 and 2 characters as the series progressed. The manga was serialized in Jive's shōnen manga magazine Comic Rush between...
written by her graphical designer Kei Garō. The manga explores the many possiblities of story telling and has featured numerous adventures ranging from giant-sized battles with Hachune Miku to home exploits. There is therefore no single storyline and the entire setting within the manga is unofficial. During an episode of Zoku Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei, Miku is seen auditioning for the voice of Meru Otonashi (Kagamine Rin and Len are referenced in the same episode). Miku's voice is used in one of the ending themes for the anime series Akikan!
Akikan!
is a Japanese light novel series about a group of anthropomorphic drink cans who do battle. It was created by Riku Ranjō, with illustrations by Hiro Suzuhira, known for her artistry in Shuffle!. The first novel was released on May 24, 2007, and as of April 24, 2009, eight volumes have been...
. In the Lucky Star OVA
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
, Kagami Hiiragi gets magically transformed into Miku cosplay
Cosplay
, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...
. A character in the anime Kämpfer appears dressed as Miku in episode seven.
A series of rhythm games starting from Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA
is a rhythm game created by Sega and Crypton Future Media for the PlayStation Portable featuring the virtual-diva vocaloid Hatsune Miku.-Gameplay:...
were produced by Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
under license using Hatsune Miku and other Crypton Vocaloids, as well as "fan made" Vocaloids like Akita Neru. TinierMe also made attire that looks like Miku's for their services, allowing users to make their avatar resemble her. Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai is being developed for the Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
. Miku's appearance in this game is based on the Nendoroid
Nendoroid
is a brand of small plastic figures, created by the Japanese Good Smile Company. Nendoroid figures are usually replicas of an anime or manga character and are commonly used as collectors items or toys. They are roughly 10 cm in height, depending on the character they were made to look like...
series of figures. Hatsune Miku is also briefly referenced in the game Recettear, where a young man stargazing sees "The Green Onion Girl" constellation.
Miku's clothes also appears as a costume for a playable character in the Japanese version of PangYa
PangYa
PangYa , is an online multiplayer casual golf simulation game designed by Korean development company, Ntreev Soft....
and was the back-up vocal for the game's season four trailer, as a downloadable costume for Sophie in Tales of Graces
Tales of Graces
is the 12th mothership title and the newest generation in the Tales series for the Wii and PlayStation 3. It follows lead character Asbel Lhant, who desires to obtain greater strength. Its characteristic genre name is . The opening theme is by BoA...
and is seen during a stage in the game 13-sai no Hellowork DS. Miku's clothes also appears in Phantasy Star Portable 2
Phantasy Star Portable 2
is a video game for the PlayStation Portable, produced by Alfa System and published by Sega. It is the sequel to Phantasy Star Portable and was released for the PlayStation Portable in Japan on December 3, 2009...
as a costume for the player's female character, as well as her hairstyle and leek
Leek
The leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum , also sometimes known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Allioideae...
-themed weapons. Miku will also appear in the PlayStation 3 version of The Idolm@ster 2
The Idolmaster 2
is a console raising simulation game released exclusively in Japan by Namco Bandai Games on February 24, 2011. The game is a sequel to The Idolmaster, and follows the career of a producer who works for the fictional integrated 765 Production and 961 Production idol agencies and has to work with a...
as downloadable content.
Featured music
In August 2010, over 22,000 original songs had been written for Hatsune Miku. Later reports confirmed that she had 10,000 songs in 2011 to her name.One of the Vocaloid compilations, Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku, debuted at number-one on the Japanese weekly Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
album charts dated May 31, 2010, becoming the first Vocaloid album ever to top the charts. Another album, Supercell
Supercell (album)
Supercell is the eponymous debut studio album of Japanese J-pop band Supercell, released on March 4, 2009, by Sony Music. Supercell had originally released a dōjin version at Comiket 74 on August 16, 2008, before the band signed a record deal with Sony Music...
, by the group Supercell also features a number of songs using Vocaloids. Other albums, such as 19's Sound Factory's First Sound Story and Livetune
Livetune
Livetune is a Japanese music group which formed in 2007 as a dōjin music group. The band originally consisted of two members, Kz and Kajuki P, but Kajuki P left the group in March 2009. Livetune started out by making use of the Hatsune Miku singing synthesizer to produce vocals for songs submitted...
's Re:package, and Re:Mikus also feature Miku's voice. Other uses of Miku include the albums by Absorb and by OSTER-project. Kagamine Len and Rin's songs were covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by Asami Shimoda
Asami Shimoda
is a Japanese voice actress and actor, born on 30 January 1986 in Tottori Prefecture. Her better known roles include the Futami twins in The Idolmaster, and the Kagamine twins Rin and Len in the Vocaloid 2 Crypton Future Media's Character Vocal Series. She is also known as "Asapon" by her fans...
in the album Prism credited to "Kagamine Rin/Len feat. Asami Shimoda".
As a virtual idol, Hatsune Miku performed her first "live" concert during Animelo Summer Live
Animelo Summer Live
Animelo Summer Live is the biggest annual anime songs concert in Japan managed by Animelo Mix. Animelo Summer Live has been held every summer since 2005.-Description:...
at the Saitama Super Arena
Saitama Super Arena
is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama City, Saitama, Japan. Its spectator capacity is 37,000 at maximum settings.This main arena capacity is between 19,000-22,500 when events such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, ice hockey, gymnastics, boxing, mixed martial arts and...
on August 22, 2009. Miku also performed her first overseas live concert on November 21, 2009, during Anime Festival Asia
Anime Festival Asia
Anime Festival Asia is an anime convention that is organized by Sozo and Dentsu. It was first organized in 2008, during which singers Ichirou Mizuki and May'n were invited as the star highlights...
(AFA) in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. On March 9, 2010, Miku's first solo live performance titled "Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39's Giving Day" was opened at the Zepp
Zepp
The Zepp music halls are a group of Japanese music halls covering every area of the country. The Zepp halls play host to many international tours and are a popular stop among Japanese musicians. Each venue takes the Zepp name, along with the city in which it is located...
Tokyo in Odaiba
Odaiba
is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. It was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s, dramatically expanded during the late 20th century as a seaport district, and has developed since the 1990s as a major commercial, residential...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. Miku performed in the United States on July 2, 2011 at the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live during the 2011 Anime Expo
Anime Expo
Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation . With rare exceptions, the convention is traditionally held on the July 4th weekend and lasts for four days...
in Los Angeles. The concert followed the same format as the previous "39's Giving Day" concert.
A young male prototype used for the "project if..." series was used in Sound Horizon
Sound Horizon
Sound Horizon, abbreviated by fans as Sanhora , is a Japanese musical group with composer Revo as the leader. They call themselves the "fantasy band" and have released their works that closely resemble suites.-History:...
's musical work "Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido", labeled as the "prologue maxi". The prototype sang alongside Miku for their music and is known only by the name "Junger März_Prototype β".