Hatsune Miku
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Hatsune Miku |
| Occupation: | Vocaloid |
| Relationships: | |
| Fandom: | Vocaloid |
| Other: | .png) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Hatsune Miku is a popular Vocaloid. She is the human avatar of a vocal synthesizer whose voicebank (vocal database) was provided by Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita. Her name in Japanese means "the first sound from the future."[1] (初 (hatsu)= "first", 音 (ne)= "sound", ミク (miku) = future.) She has a large fandom following and is the most well-known Vocaloid.
Her first voicebank was released in 2007, and Miku was originally popular in her native Japan before reaching an international audience. Today, she is jokingly credited as the inventor of Minecraft[2] (as well as some other media) by the internet at large, meaning that many internet users can recognize the name and appearance of Hatsune Miku without necessarily being aware of what a Vocaloid is.
"Miku Monday" is a recurring art event associated with the character that dates back to her original release, and which is observed across a number of platforms. Miku is the girlfriend of the Crunchyroll mascot Crunchyroll-Hime, and the two frequently feature in artwork posted by the official Crunchyroll account, as well as some fanart.[3]
Rise in Popularity
Hatsune Miku originally became popular due to Nico Nico Douga(link), a Japanese website similar to YouTube. Users would post animated videos featuring her voice, often composing original songs specifically for Miku's voicebank. A particularly famous video is her singing Ievan Polkka while holding a leek, which has led the vegetable to become a popular motif connected with her character.[4] Since then Miku has starred in many animated videos and songs.
Miku has been featured in magazines, been referenced in multiple anime, appeared on David Letterman,[5] had holographic performances at concerts[6] and starred in a manga. She has also had multiple voicebank updates, including voicebanks in English and Chinese.
On August 31, 2020, fans of Hatsune Miku celebrated the 13th anniversary of her first voicebank.[7] To show the range of music made using Miku in those 13 years, several YouTubers made compilation videos of Miku songs released between 2007 and 2020, with this video featuring 139 different producers and a variety of languages and musical styles.
In 2020, Miku was supposed to perform at Coachella,[8] but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In 2021, two questions on Ireland's high school exit exam asked about Hatsune Miku, with students describing one question as a "fic prompt".[9][10][11]
Fandom
Miku is not a character in a "canon" in the traditional sense, but a character designed to be a face for a digital vocal synthesizer. There is no canon storyline or consistent personality or backstory, and the role she plays and how she sounds varies depending on how producers and fanartists interpret her. Therefore, all of the works using Miku created by users outside the Crypton Media corporation are fanworks. Popular Miku songs sometimes ascend to canon status when they are performed at official concerts.
Shipping
Hatsune Miku is usually shipped with other Vocaloids. Popular ships include Hatsune Miku/Megurine Luka, Hatsune Miku/Kagamine Len and Rin, and Hatsune Miku/Kaito. Reader inserts are also very popular, especially on Wattpad and Deviantart. She also appears in fanart with Crunchyroll-hime, who is her 'official' girlfriend as per Crunchyroll's social media account and blog.[3] She is also shipped with 15-year-old rapper AMU Henry Smalls.
Miku Made This
"Hatsune Miku created Minecraft" is a meme that originated in March 2019 after the creator of Minecraft made transphobic comments. In response, Minecraft players declared the game to have had no creator at all. The parody Hatsune Miku Twitter account @mikumiku_ebooks tweeted that she created Minecraft, and it took off, with people making fanart and jokes that spread the phrase "Hatsune miku invented Minecraft" across the internet.[12]
The meme was later repurposed for other bigoted creators of beloved media, such as Graham Linehan, co-creator of Father Ted, who is also a transphobe; and JK Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, when she increasingly made her own transphobic views known on social media. Particularly in the case of JK Rowling, this joke sparked pushback from fans who believed that people were attempting to avoid engaging with the issues inherent in their favourite media by simply pretending it had been created by someone unproblematic. In June 2020, @mikumiku_ebooks responded to the trend of people saying Miku made Harry Potter with a piece of fanart highlighting this issue.
Miku Monday
Miku Monday is an event in which fans will post (traditionally explicit) fanart of Miku on a Monday. The event began on forums and image boards like 4chan, where weekly image threads would be created, before spreading to sites like Twitter and Tumblr, where the images posted tend to be SFW. Due to the role of the Twitter account @mikumiku_ebooks in popularising the #MikuMonday hashtag on Twitter, they are sometimes mistakenly credited as its creator, but the event dates back as far as 2007.[13]
There is also a Miku Day, which has been celebrated on March 9 since 2008, due to Japanese wordplay that allows the numbers 3 and 9 to be read as Mi and Ku.[14] Fans will also celebrate Miku's birthday (initial release date) of August 31, which sometimes coincides with Miku Monday, prompting extra celebration.
- #MikuMonday hashtag on Twitter
- mikumonday tag on Tumblr
- Internet Theme Days (including Miku Monday) on Know Your Meme
There is also a fanzine called Miku Monday Zine.
World Miku Trend
See: Every Country's Miku
On August 17, 2024, Twitter user @thecat_mitsu (Doodly) posted a fanart of Miku wearing a t-shirt of the Brazilian national football team, shorts, sandals, and holding a Guaraná Antarctica soda can. Doodly was inspired by a song posted on Tiktok by Tuzera&ミク called "Himitsu Dayo" in a funk carioca style with Hatsune Miku's vocals[15] which had previously started the Brazilian Miku trend on TikTok[16] on June 2024. Doodly's tweet reached 380k likes as of August 26. This artwork led to others creating similar illustrations of Miku dressed in traditional outfits from various countries, holding cans of soft drinks or beer from their home nations or representing urban tribes from different countries and embodying their distinctive attitudes.[17][18]
Miku has also been depicted wearing local outfits from a wide range of countries, and some Twitter users have created compilation threads by country, showcasing artwork from places as varied as Ecuador to Kazakhstan. In addition, Miku has been featured in illustrations to express support for political causes, such as the 2024 election in Venezuela, which has sparked some controversy among users[19]. Artists have also portrayed the lifestyle of the poorest members of society, highlighting social and economic issues in various countries.[20][21]
A meme has also emerged from this trend, often captioned with "there are two genders of [name of country] Miku," accompanied by two pictures underneath. Typically, one image shows women in a traditional outfit representative of the country, while the other depicts people in an everyday outfit associated with urban working-class youth.[22]
- #world_miku hashtag on Twitter
- miku.earth website and Tumblr blog
- Compilation thread of Miku with map of confirmed countries to have done local Miku posted on August 26 by Martin_052909
- Compilation thread of Miku wearing Spanish traditional dresses of different regions
Fanworks
Hatsune Miku is a popular cosplay choice at conventions and a frequent subject of fanart, but as she is a vocal synthesizer, she is most often used to create music.
Popular songs featuring Hatsune Miku include:
- Rolling Girl by wowaka
- World is Mine by Supercell
- Hibikase by Giga x Reol
Songs featuring Hatsune Miku are often accompanied by illustrated PVs (Promotional Videos) featuring animation and artwork created by visual artists in collaboration with the producers of the song, or by the producers themselves. As NicoNicoDouga (and now YouTube) are the first places new Vocaloid songs are usually shared, the video is considered an important part of the musical experience. Examples of Miku songs with animated and illustrated PVs include:
- Dune by Hachi
- What's Inside by Pinocchio-P
- Propaganda by Crusher-P
In addition to illustrated PVs, MMDs or MikuMikuDance videos are 3D animated videos made using the free MikuMikuDance software that typically feature characters dancing to songs. The software was originally created for Hatsune Miku,[23] so MMDs featuring Hatsune Miku are common.
Popular MMDs include:
- Romeo and Cinderella (Romeo and Cinderella ロミオとシンデレラ) by Doriko
- Bad Apple by Haruchii25
- The Snow White Princess is (白い雪のプリンセスは ) by のぼる↑-noboru- and googoo88
Fanart
- Mikus based off different genres of music by onebadnoodle
- 初音ミク×ロリータです。 by kokoharuka
- miku by rellakinoko
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY + PRIDE CRUNCHYROLL HIME! by Sunnymatsu: art of Crunchyroll-hime with her girlfriend Hatsune Miku
- That makes my Miku Movie Marathon for this year’s #MikuAllWeeku!, Archived version by corrputimles, 2022 -- fanart of Miku based on several famous movie posters
- Houndsune Miku by ushimooshi, 2022
- “Everyone can be Miku!” by daitsaisan, 2022
- NEXT!!! Sound of the Future, Archived version by rice deity -- a fancomic on WEBTOON
The popular Twitter tag #mikusonamonday was started to encourage different interpretations and designs of Miku, preserving some elements of her existing design like the color palette or hairstyle while changing others to reflect the artist's personal cultural heritage, race, and general presentation. Examples of #mikusonamonday art include:
- Slavic Miku by wormbzie
- Black Miku by niisanberg
- Lakota Miku by MapleWozapi
- gyaru Miku by katloid
#mikusonamonday is not to be confused with Miku Monday, which is a separate event in which fans post Miku-related art of any kind. (See Miku Monday).
- Sample Fanart Gallery
Miku Hatsune by dyearwood, September 4, 2017
WORLD IS MINE - HATSUNE MIKU by DarkShadowArtworks, November 2, 2009
Lego Hatsune Miku by Pascal, August 23, 2014
Hatsune Miku Dollfie by Danny Choo, December 11, 2010
Figma - Miku Hatsune by ayauesca, October 25, 2010
Miku in Spore - by Emnide, Nov 27, 2019
Zines
Cosplay
- Hatsune Miku by angie 0-0
- Miku Hatsune Love Ward by kirawinter
- Hatsune Miku - Love is War by kirawinter
- "@seeu_cosplay as Hatsune Miku". Archived from the original on 2020-03-02.
- Bow before your queen by Alexia-Muller
- Tiktok vid by notyourabg
Fanfiction
- metadata by Katadenza
- Asleep in Her Arms by NanakiBH
- cellphones by Fliers
Tumblr
- Mikufigureoftheday - a tumblr blog with the goal of posting "A new figure of our queen every day to hopefully make you smile!"
Resources and Archives
- "Vocaloid Otaku Forum".
- "Hatsune Miku - Vocaloid Wiki". Archived from the original on 2019-01-13.
- "Mikufan - Fan Site". Archived from the original on 2022-06-20.
- "Vocaloid Fanon Wiki".
References
- ^ https://ec.crypton.co.jp/pages/prod/virtualsinger/cv01_us
- ^ "Miku Created Minecraft: How Queer Vocaloid Fandom Brought a Parody Account to Infamy". Archived from the original on 2022-04-28.
- ^ a b "Happy #NationalGirlfriendDay to my one and only". Archived from the original on 2022-06-09.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmf9JkedPR8 Hatsune Miku ievan polkka - Youtube
- ^ "Hatsune Miku on David Letterman - Polygon". Archived from the original on 2021-05-02.
- ^ "World is Mine - Youtube".
- ^ "Miku 13th Anniversary". Archived from the original on 2021-05-06.
- ^ "Miku at Coachella". Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
- ^ "Hatsune Miku sneaks into Ireland's high school exit exam". Archived from the original on 2022-05-22.
- ^ Why is there a Hatsune Miku fanfiction writing prompt on an official, government sanctioned, mandatory exam that determines University acceptance?, Tumblr post by nithringthekobold, June 10, 2021
- ^ Twitter user vxlks shares TikTok edit reacting to Miku exam question, June 9, 2021.
- ^ Hatsune Miku created Minecraft on KnowYourMeme.
- ^ Tweet by mikumiku_ebooks: #MikuMonday wasn't invented by adri/mikumiku_ebooks. Miku Monday is as old as Hatsune Miku herself with weekly image threads on 4chan since 2007. Posted March 31, 2021 (Accessed September 4, 2021).
- ^ Miku Day, Know Your Meme. Accessed September 4, 2021.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhaNGuh599k Tuzera&ミク - (Himitsu Da Yo) 秘密だよfeat.Hatsune Miku (Audio)
- ^ Tuzera on X: "they... they don't know the brazilian miku trend started on tiktok cuz my song blew up... https://x.com/tuzeraoficial/status/1827779396817600543 / X
- ^ https://twitter.com/miurp_/status/1827707439493656843 Miku Maranza by miurp_
- ^ https://twitter.com/AletMaxwell/status/1828116367901434008 Miku choni by AletMaxwell
- ^ - ̗̀ gabe ̖́- 🇻🇪 on X: "miku venezolana #VenezuelaLibre https://x.com/saaroSaaros/status/1827931253175206174
- ^ Repuls | commissions open on X: "Brazilian Miku in Rio de Janeiro https://x.com/TRepuls/status/1827725028777160783 / X
- ^ https://twitter.com/LiterallyMiguel/status/1827562715654570441 by Literally Miguel
- ^ https://x.com/lazyims/status/1827866050530033996 2 genders of every country miku
- ^ "MikuMikuDance - Wikipedia". Archived from the original on 2022-05-31.
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