Hatsune Miku: The Digital Diva Uncovered

“Miku-san maji tenshi!” People shout “Miku is truly an angel” again, even louder. “MIKU-SAN MAJI TENSHI!” It is the evening of July 2nd, 2011 at a packed and darkened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The anticipation of these people is as big as Mount Fuji. Glow sticks, some in the shape of leeks, are lit up and waving anxiously. What had amassed before my eyes was not just a special gathering. No, this assembly of people was much more than that a symbol of a phenomenon. A realization of a dream. At last, an endearing sixteen year old girl with aqua-colored hair pops onto the stage and the audience goes crazy. So many people’s enthusiasm, love, and dedication go to a girl who is not real. Her name is Ms. Miku Hatsune.

Background & History

Miku is a Vocaloid, a singing synthesizer program, born on August 31st, 2007. The Yamaha Corporation was the creator of the Vocaloid technology, but it is other studios or companies that are responsible for actually producing actual Vocaloids (so think of the Vocaloid tech as the equivalent to Unreal Engine in gaming). The studio that produced Hatsune Miku is the Sapporo, Japan-based Crypton Future Media, Inc. that has been in the sound product and audio software industry since 1995.

While she is the most popular, Hatsune Miku was not the first Vocaloid to be released. Actually she is the sixth commercially released Vocaloid and third Vocaloid produced by Crypton Future Media. How did Hatsune Miku become such a hit? A key answer lies in the final goal for Crypton Future Media’s project with Vocaloid: to turn a Vocaloid into a character.

With that goal in mind, Crypton Future Media decided to put their idea into action and created the Character Vocal Series (CV) in 2007 using the latest Vocaloid2 engine. Because Crypton wanted to create a character and singers were afraid of a virtual counterpart surpassing them, voice actors who could sing well were used for samples. Voice actress Saki Fujita was sampled to create Hatsune Miku, the Vocaloid that launched the CV series and third Vocaloid produced by Crypton. As the saying goes, “third time’s the charm.”

Impact on Music

Not even Crypton Future Media could have foreseen how big and how much of an impact on music that Hatsune Miku would have. She is the first popular Vocaloid, resulting in hundreds of people learning about the technology. Anyone with the creativity, will, patience, and a computer can instantly become a music producer, even a famous one. One success story is about composer and lyricist Ryo, the creator of two of Miku’s most popular songs: “Melt” and “The World is Mine.”

Originally it was only Ryo, then an illustrator under the name 119 who drew the art Ryo used in his “Melt” music video, teamed up to form Supercell in 2007. Although the band Supercell has almost a dozen members now, Ryo is the only member that is involved in producing the music. Melt was released on NicoNicoDouga, the Japan’s Youtube, and has since been viewed over five million times. The rest of the members that joined work on the design, animation, illustration, and other visual elements of the album insert booklets, covers, and animated music videos.

Supercell’s first album, the eponymous Supercell featuring vocals by Hatsune Miku, was first sold independently in 2008 at Comiket, the world’s largest self-published comic book fair and an anime convention. It became popular enough to attract the attention of Sony Music to pick up the group. Seven months later, the album Supercell was published by Sony Music and climbed to the #4 spot on Japan’s Oricon music charts and has hit certified Gold in Japan. Today, Supercell no longer uses Hatsune Miku as their vocalist but has found further success regardless. Their most recent album, titled “Today Is a Beautiful Day” peaked at the #3 Oricon music chart. Last month, the album Supercell was released in the US and within a week of its release was #1 on iTunes’ bestselling chart for world music and #2 on Amazon.com’s international category. The story of Ryo & Supercell is a tale of how a platform that allows user-generated content has made it more accessible for hidden talent to be exercised and recognized.

Miku & Gaming

Miku is even involved in the world of games! For the past several years, SEGA has created a rhythm game franchise for Miku and her Vocaloid friends titled Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA.The Project DIVA series got its start on the Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) in 2009. Both the first game and the sequel Project DIVA 2nd sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Japan, further boosting Hatsune Miku’s popularity and even helping boost PSP system sales. The PSP is still a very popular platform in Japan thanks to good 3rd party support like Project DIVA and has led some analysts to even believe Sony should consider waiting on releasing the PSP successor, the Vita, in Japan.

Project DIVA had PSP to PS3 gameplay in 2010 in the form of Dream Theater. Dream Theater has allowed owners of Project DIVA for PSP to hook up their PSP to the PS3 to play the game with completely re-done high-definition models and textures. This is all a over a year before Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima’s similar “Transfarring” system will be used to allow Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker to be played on both Sony systems. Project DIVA has spawned internet-equipped arcade machines, PlayStation 3 peripherals, and a 2.5 version coming this fall.

Why is Miku popular in Japan?

Hatsune Miku is everywhere in Japan: heard in the streets of Tokyo, on professional racing cars, and even on three plates of the Japanese spaceship Akatsuki that launched a year ago. Although there is the common stereotype that the large majority of Miku’s fans are male, that is untrue: a large percentage is female. Sony Music anticipated only 10% of the final preorder sales of Supercell’s first album. In reality, about 45% were actually female. A similar trend was seen with sales of the Project DIVA. So what exactly makes Miku so appealing? Well, she’s “perfect.”

Hatsune Miku captures so many desired elements of Japanese popular culture that make her so charming. Sure it helps her voice is the high-pitched level of cute that is popular in the Japanese pop music scene and Japanese teen idols. You will never have a controversial statement said by her or a leaked photo or video. She will never age or die. Miku is adorable and more importantly loyal – she sings for you and whatever you want her to sing. Being a digital character, her personality or mood can be whatever the user wants it to be. Perfection, loved so deeply, could cause trouble if disrupted. Last year, Hatsune Miku received an update expansion pack in the form of Append, which featured six new voicebanks for even more technical applications. Nonetheless, Miku Append was not a big seller due to the cover’s more scandalous and sexy character and costume design.

However a huge draw of Miku is that “realization of a dream” I brought up at the beginning: a successful virtual idol. It has a science-fiction element with Miku being something out of an anime coming into real life (in fact, virtual idols are nothing new to Japanese fiction). There’s a Japanese affinity to personify technology, even if it is a program or website like Wikipedia. Perhaps this is part of why there is such openness and love for technology in Japan. So while in the rest of the world, Hatsune Miku is marketed as a virtual singer, she is marketed as a virtual instrument in Japan without avail. After thousands of CDs sold and sold-out live concerts, it is clear: Miku is a victorious digital diva.

Can Miku be popular in America?

To a small extent, if the sold-out concert at the Nokia Theatre over 4th of July weekend is any indication. A large majority of Miku’s fans in the US are going to be fans of anime or Japanese popular culture. Vocaloid technology in general lends itself better to the Japanese language due its phonetic structure being more unambiguous and simpler than English. Regardless, Hatsune Miku is being marketed in the US by Toyota, as well as Crypton Future Media working on an English version of Miku.

Me & Miku: My personal experience with Ms. Hatsune

A year ago if you asked me if I liked Hatsune Miku, I would have responded, “No, not really.” Then I may proceed to explain that, “I don’t really get it” but comment that, “I find the Vocaloid technology interesting.” In fact, several years ago I had hands on experience with Vocaloid from playing around on a copy of Miriam, an English-language Vocaloid. Today, I can admit I am fond of Miku and the Vocaloid dream, yet not without my criticisms.

As “real” as she has become as a phenomenon and on-stage at live concerts, Miku is still far from ideal. She isn’t even a physical robot or true hologram you can walk around. The Miku on stage at concerts is a damn-good 3-D hologram effect utilizing a few powerful rear-projection projectors on a transparent screen. An illusion, nonetheless. Miku cannot feel your appreciation or love as she isn’t a sapient artificial intelligence. Yes, there is room to further the virtual idol dream after all.

Despite those complaints, it’s still hard to really hate Hatsune Miku – she hasn’t done anything wrong. My appreciation for her started with the Project DIVA PSP games last summer. I love rhythm games and Project DIVA had an interesting setup and soundtrack. Many of Miku and her songs honestly grow on you and get better over time. Sure, there is that slightly noticeable artificialness in her voice. That is part of her charm! The technology is still a child – Miku is a child with skilled, imperfect singing that you just want to hear succeed someday. Miku will probably mature in her singing skills with the release of the Vocaloid3 engine this fall and future updates. Possibly within my lifetime I will meet a true hologram display,robotic or android form of Hatsune Miku. And maybe, just maybe, a self-aware Hatsune Miku that we can interact with will be in our lifetimes.

As I think back to experiencing Miku live in the City of Angeles, it brings up memories of how real the illusion looked. I know it’s my imagination filling in and making her feel so authentic. I wonder where she’ll go and how many more people will enjoy listening or producing her music. It doesn’t matter if she isn’t a real person. She’s eternal. She’s a symbol of man’s fascination of technology and to create something like himself.

Miku-san maji tenshi.