Controversy Concerns

This article is on the contraversal issues of Vocaloid design.

Influence of Miku's design
The design was common place in early Vocaloid days and owes its birth from the numerous derivatives of Hatsune Miku and other Crypton Future Media Vocaloids; it is not found prior to Miku's release. The design became so familiar that in 2008, when other studios such as Internet Co., Ltd started producing their own Vocaloids, there was some uncertainity if they were offical Vocaloids or not. Furthermore, Meiko and Kaito were not always identified as offical Vocaloids by overseas fans in the early days due to the lack of common knowledge on them and their different designs to the Character Vocal series. The design itself was more easily accepted between 2007 and 2009 because there were so few Vocaloids producers often attempted to fill the gaps by creating variations on Miku's design to create "new" characters, as well as use the new creation as a form of self promotion.

Since the design was so common, it was owed to the success of the April Fools' joke behind Kasane Teto's origins, in which her creators attempted to pass her off as a upcoming Crypton Future Media Vocaloid. Teto's success to pass as a vocaloid came from the fact she borrowed some of Miku's design aspects and applied them to herself. This was repeated with other Vipperloid releases although with decreasing amounts of success over time. The impact of Mikju's design increased the chances of similair designs in the same field appearing.

By 2010, the design of Miku's mascot itself is the subject of controversial outcry in all areas of the fandom. Since Hatsune Miku borrowed her design aspect from Japanese culture and character design, it is fairly common for Vocaloids to share some design aspects both intentionally and unintentionally with her. She herself had become the most famous Vocaloid and was already seeing natural cultural references to her design in Japan outside of the Vocaloid circle. Furthermore, mascots of other music related software and hardware had been created based on the popularity of Miku's own design, such as FL Chan who owes her character creation to Hatsune Miku's popularity. However, some designs that share too many similairites to Miku's overall design often get accused of copying her design, ususally (but not always) as a source of negativity towards a new Vocaloid. In these cases the design aspects which make it unique may be ignored and focus remains souly on the fact the Vocaloid shares too many familairities with Hatsune Miku.

Yet, while it remains a controversial issue amongst Vocaloid fans, it cannot be denied that borrowing popular design aspects of Hatsune Miku and the other Crypton Future Media Vocaloids has occured already. Cyber-style clothes, as seen on the Crypton Future Media Vocaloids were implimented onto Gakupo's design in accordance with their belief as this was a popular element of the current Vocaloid design. Similar behaviour already occurs in popular culture from other character designs in other media based areas, so the subject of the design controversy is not unique to Vocaloid. For example, the One Piece character Emporio Ivankov's design is based on Tim Curry's Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. KEI himself has been fully aware of Miku's popularity to the point he has parodied his own artwork of Miku from time to time.

Since Miku's design took influnece from particular aspects of Japanese otaku culture that were popular, its easy for characters resemble Miku even when the characters might not have any influence from Miku at all. Imaichi-tan, whose origin came from a badly drawn random magazine ad character, became a Internet Meme success when fans of the her noticed the biazzare ad. Since the advertisment asked why this character was not "Moe", fans of her even went so far to improve her design in an attempt to make her moe, the result was a demostration of what otaku define "moe" as with many familair traits share by Miku being applied to some of the artwork. Black★Rock Shooter, whose design was developed at about the same time as Miku's release and is often mistaken for Miku or a derivative of hers, is yet another example similair designs to Miku. Despite this, fans often do not like seeing characters that resemble Miku and it can often invite unwanted attention from them. In 2012, a chinese virtual singer concert hit a particular point by Miku fans for a "Miku-esque" appearance of the main singer. The reaction from fans of Hatsune Miku were negative and videos of the singer recieved several thousand "dislikes", proving that even virtual singers who may suggest any essence of Miku can be met with controversial outcry.

This is not to say that Vocaloids do not get subjected to accusations of copying other Vocaloids besides Hatsune Miku. In a bizarre twist Cul not only shares the same release date as Big Al, but as fans have noted, a sense of familairity with his design and hers. Cul and Big Al are not alone; Sonika/Gumi as well as SF-A2 miki/Utatane Piko have also been noted by fans to bare similarities. In such cases, the designs may become a subject of jokes.

As Vocaloid becomes increasingly more popular and more Vocaloids are made, finding new and unique designs will become more difficult for studios. Therefore, the creation of Vocaloids whose designs resemble other Vocaloids will occur more often.

Details


There is considered a "formula" which varies per interpretation nthat are considered to show signs of borrowing influence from Crypton Future Media Vocaloids.

The base of this formula is usually these common traits that are identified in most versions most of which came from Hatsune Miku:
 * Pigtails/twintails
 * Unusually long hair also fits in with this formula too as an alternative to pigtails; but only when supported by other aspects of the formula (alone it is not part of the formula).
 * Detached/semi-detached sleeves with sleevless shirts
 * Usually the detached sleeves are black or dark grey
 * Depending on the shape of the shirt, sleeveless shirts can also fit in with the formula alone without needing to be partnered with detached sleeves
 * Equally, the shape of the sleeve itself, even if not detached, can comply with the formula if it is much wider at the opening where the hand comes out like Miku's.
 * Long Stockings (or boots) in proportion with the skirt, similar or the same as Miku's. This means with a stocking's length is over the knee, and depending on the length, will expose the thighs. The terminology for this is called Zettai Ryōiki (絶対領域)
 * These are usually black or grey.

The formula will also use one or more of these traits shared by Miku;
 * Tie/Bow around the neck.
 * Writing on the left arm near the shoulder
 * Addition of electronic devices and synthesizer-like patterns, specially in the area of the sleeves or arms.
 * May also use the same pose as Miku's boxart or a similair pose on their own.
 * Hanging belts around the waist, or similar accessories.
 * A bichrome color scheme is quite often present.
 * In line with this, the dominance of black or grey in the scheme

In addition, the name of the Vocaloid follows Crypton Future Media's style with a description of the voice as the surname of the Vocaloid. The name itself often has a hidden second meaning such as "Hatsune Miku" meaning "first sound of the future". Commonly the surname contains the 音(Ne, 'sound') kanji, copying further more the style of Crypton's Vocaloids.

The design itself is considered the basis for the "generic" Vocaloid appearance and can be considered a sign of laziness or lack of creativity and generally, the more the design fits in with this scheme the more "generic" it becomes. In the most extreme cases seen in UTAU and fanmade designs, the Vocaloids in question will also go so far as to copy KEI's art style. Likewise, Miku's own vocal may be repitched for a fanmade to give it a "voice" or in the case of Vocaloids and UTAU, may have a voice intended to have the same vocal type as Miku. Furthermore, the formula is not just confined to female designs but also may appear in and be applied to male designs with adjustments made to suit the male gender (shorts instead of skirt for example). However, more commonly Kaito and Kagamine Len (the latter being also from the Character Vocal series and therefore sharing design traits with Miku) have been seen to have influenced male designs.

Copyright Concerns
The potential conflict with Crypton Future Media's copyright license on Miku and the Character Vocal series is also why the design is more closely followed by fanmades and derivatives then offical Vocaloids produced by other studios. At the most the Vocaloids said to be following the design of their Vocaloids will take basic parts of them and then proceed to build a unqiue design on top of those basic elements. Witht he exception of Zero'g's sonika and Internet Co., Ltd's "Gakupo" mascot, no studio has admitted any influence from Miku.

Some developers use it for its familiarity, based on Miku's own success, but fans may lose interest in a particular design out of boredom feeling there is a lack of originality. In the opposite direction, going against the formula and creating a design that does not use any of the elements of the formula is said to create a product that stands out and becomes more easily distinguished from others. However, doing this can have the disadvantage of alienating fans from what they are familair with or have a product that does not fit in with the other Vocaloid designs, as seen with Sweet Ann and Big Al's original designs. Thus there is some grounds for borrowing aspects of the formula, so long as the developer does not create a literal clone of any existing design.

Crypton Future Media, is content with derivatives based on their Vocaloids and have even published works featuring Kasane Teto at Karen-T. Crypton Future Media believe is these help develope and increase the demand for synethised vocals in turn expanding the market as well as demostrate producer creativity. This is also why Neru, Haku, Teto and several other characters regularly appear along side the legit Vocaloids in Crypton future Media products. Therefore while there is copyright concerns, Cryption future Media give a some leyway on how close others can come to their own Vocaloids, although have been known to defend direct copyright violations.

UTAU borrowing aspects of the design need to also be aware of the potential copyright infringement they could face, even if the UTAU is not being made for profitable reasons.

Design Contests Issues
In contests to design upcoming Vocaloids, a strong percentage of designs will remarkably copy the formula directly. This makes the contest more difficult to pick a wining design from while dodging the potential legal issues surrounding the design between the hosts of the contest and Crypton Future Media. This issue arose with the winning entry of Vocaloid:China Yayin Gongyu who was the only one of the top 5 entries who followed the Miku formula, even using the Crypton Future Media name design which was problematic for a Chinese Vocaloid. It was also witnessed even in Sonika's design contest, where a few entries had clear Crypton influences.

In the case of Ring and Lui, their designs were chosen from many different designs in the contest by Japanese fans themselves via voting. The fact that Japanese fans choose these character despite their contraversary designs does indicate that fans themselves find designs similar to Miku's own appealing.

Fan Claims
The following Vocaloids are said to have been inspired by Hatsune Miku's design and at the moment there is no explaination as to why these similiarities exist.


 * Note; this is all done from fan observations based on variations of the formula as interpretated by Vocaloid fans, so there will be explainations on what led fans to believe they borrowed elements from Miku and the CV series. Not all fans will feel that these characters borrow elements from Miku as it is entirely up to personal opinion ; even those that acknowledge a common formula will not always have the same opinion on what the formula is.

Sonika
[[file:Ofclboxart zrog Sonika1.jpg|right|thumb|Sonika'[s original boxart showing her original design]] Sonika was the first non-Crypton Future Media Vocaloid to borrow elements of the formula. Her first image was a basic CGI with a bichrome colour scheme. On her left arm was her name written in Japanese text and although she did not have detached sleeves she still wore a sleeveless top. Her winning entry of the art contest had many traits of the formula, despite that only a few entries used the formula including detached sleeves, a bow around her neck and long stockings. However, the final CGI art used for the package only had one detail borrowed from the formula, being her name in Japanese on her arm. This was also the only thing borrowed from the formula in her Taiwan design as well.

These minor details are well known and was explained by the fact Sonika was the first English Vocaloid to attempt to establish links between the fandom and English Vocaloids. At the time of her release her design was established to have been made in the style of Japanese Vocaloids on purpose and is one of the few confirmed instances of fans being proven correct in their presumptions. However, fans were more concerned with her similarites with Gumi, though this turned out to be a coincidence, but was not without its jokes and accusations at the time of its unveiling.

Utatane Piko
His name means "sound of singer Piko" and makes use of the characteristic kanji "音" (ne 'sound') that the Character Vocal series Vocaloids use on their family names and has long detached sleeves. However, more fans have accused him of being like SF-A2 miki than any of the Crypton Vocaloids owed to their similar designs and that the design does not borrow any further elements from the formula.

Ring Suzune
Ring was the most notable Vocaloid to be accused by fans of using the formula. Her original design by submitter Murachi did not concern Vocaloid fans and in fact had been chosen by Japanese Vocaloid fans as the winning entry "Everyone's Vocaloid project" (みんなのボカロ計画 Min-na no Vocalo Keikaku) contest in 2011. Despite this, elements of the formula are notable in the original design but this was overlooked because her hair color was different than Miku's. However, the redesign by illustrator 119 was labelled as a "Miku clone". Her hair is long white-blue and while a different shade of blue than Miku was also accompanied by two large square headphone decorations that echoed Miku's square ribbons that adorned her pigtails. And while her outfit gives the impression of a maid uniform, it still overall had many design restraints that fit in with Miku's. In addition, she has a bow around her neck instead of a tie. She also possesses detached sleeves and long stockings and favours the colours grey and blue. Hibiki Lui, the other winning entry, took much inspiration from Kagamine Rin \ Len and shared their L and R naming scheme.

Illustrator 119 was a part of the doujin group Supercell, much of his work was Vocaloid related, which would explain the similarities between Ring's and Lui's design.

SeeU


SeeU possesses long hair, a short skirt, and long stockings. She was also labelled "SV01", referencing how Miku was labelled "CV01". In early concepts, at least one of SeeU's designs copied Hatsune Miku's boxart pose. Her outfit is almost identical to Miku's. Instead of her top having a slit in the front and back, hers are on the side. She wears knee-high socks like Miku, as well as having a necktie instead of a tie. She also has writing on her arm, although not in the normal place (on the shoulder) where most Vocaloids following the formula place it.

Unlike Ring, her design has not recieved much criticism even though her outfit layout is more similar to Miku's, most likely because the appearance is a lot less noticable at first glance and is only apparent as you examine her design further.

Yuzuki Yukari


Yuzuki Yukari uses the basic form of the formula as the basis for her design. Yukari has twin sidelocks (though short), waist belts and long stockings. Concept art also shows under her coat she has long detached sleeves. There has been no criticism because despite using the bare basic aspects of the design, Yukari's design has many unique features only found on her and most do not consider her design to be "generic". However, without her coat some consider her design as having a feel like Miku's Append design.

Luo Tianyi
Yayin Gongyu, the original name of the Vocaloid: China entry was accused of following the formula when she won the contest and was the only one in the top 5 entries considered to be said to follow the formula more closely. Her main colours were blue and grey, and she had long pony tails and stockings--although only one stocking is above the knee. On her arm is a picture print in red. Yayin also wears a short skirt.

The final refined design still has elements of Miku design. Some noticable traits include long twintails, detached sleeves with sleevless shirts, high heeled boots with long stockings, and a tie around her neck

Exclusions
The following are Vocaloids who were accused of once following the formula but plausible explanatons were later found that proved they were referencing other cultural sources. They are included here as a note that fans often jump to conclusions when accusing a Vocaloid of borrowing aspects of Miku's design, but sometimes the designs are already or later established as being from elsewhere.

Gumi
Gumi - In Gumi's case she was referencing another cultural reference rather than Miku's design. Gumi's design is inspired by a retro-futuristic design, her boots do not pass the knee, which was a common length prior to the raise of the popularity of the Zettai Ryouiki length boot/stocking.

Lily
Lily - Though drawn by KEI, Lily's design was already in use prior to becoming a Vocaloid, her design is a another cultural reference. Lily, does however, borrow traits that KEI has used in other works besides Vocaloid such as the parting of the fringe with 3 pieces.

Tone Rion
Tone Rion - Rion's pigtails, long stockings, short skirt (albeit longer than Miku's), neckwear (tie). Her illustrator Akio Watanabe had made similair designs to Tone Rion's in the past and it is likely Tone is copying this familiar character design he had used previously.

MoeJapan character related designs are generally fitted to suit the "moe" aspect of anime character design and try to hit off many common traits that are considered "moe" to Otaku. The similairties between Tone Rion and Miku are witnessed in other characters by MoeJapan and have no connection with Miku's design, they are drawing their influence from the same sources Miku draws hers from. The Zettai Ryouiki is considered a method of inserting a slight sexual undertone into a seemingly innocent looking character design. It is very common to see amongst moe designs.

Aoki Lapis
Aoki Lapis - Two long tail-like hair strands and a short skirt, though longer than Miku's, neckwear. Like Miku she has piano keys on her stockings, although they do not follow the same direction Miku's were. She is also mostly blue. Generally, despite the apparent following of the formula, Lapis is actually following the "Magical girl" of character design. Part of the coincidence with Miku comes from the fact that the Zettai Ryouiki is quite used in the design of modern anime/manga characters (see Tone Rion section above).

This genre is greatly influenced by manga and animes such as Sailor Moon and the impact of these famous series such as Sailor Moon left influences on future character designs in that genre. It is therefore very common to see designs showing cultural references or links back to the series as they were often revolutionary and/or highly popular amongst their target audience.

External links & See also

 * Zettai Ryouiki - Pixivpedia's Article (English)
 * TVTropes: Zettai Ryouiki
 * VOCALOIDs Unofficial illustrations