Yowane Haku

Haku Yowane (弱音ハク Yowane Haku) is an officially recognized derivative. Her name is taken from Yowane, meaning negative sayings/thoughts and Haku, roughly translated as utter. Her first name and last name make a play on words "yowane-(wo)-haku" (弱音(を)吐く), meaning to say negative thoughts or to show white feather. Her white hair is from ハク, which has the same pronunciation with 白 (white).

History
Haku was originally made as a representation of songs that use Hatsune Miku but ended up sounding awful. In such cases, the makers of that music would then proceed to whine about how their work never received attention and later moved on to whine when criticism stated their work as dull and boring, or was posted quite late when few people were on Nico Nico Douga. She became popular and her creator Caffein later established other characters following the same procedures, each representing a slightly different aspect of failure within the Vocaloids.

It has been pointed out by some fans, when speaking about songs and PVs that feature Haku singing, say that if one succeeds at producing a "bad" song, then no failure was met in the process. There are a small number of fans who disapprove of such songs, this is because it can be considered a contradiction to the point of Haku's existence being based on failure. This in particular is also aimed at the Haku songs that end up sounding "good" as Haku was meant to be far from this ideal. However, whatever songs that come out in her name are subject to the interpretation of the producer, whether they follow Haku's depiction of failure or not.

Acceptance into Vocaloid
Haku is one of the Vocaloid derivatives that became officially recognized by Crypton Future Media, the publisher of the Character Vocal Series for Vocaloid 2. The other derivatives bearing this distinction is Miku Hachune, Neru Akita, Meiko Sakine, and Tako Luka.

Appearances

 * MikuMikuDance (MMD), 3D software
 * An MMD model of Haku was created in August 2008 by modeler Animasa. See the Haku Yowane (Animasa) page for details, and also see other Haku models.


 * Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix, manga
 * Haku makes a cameo appearance as a student of Neru (ch6) and is also in chapter 7 and chapter 14, then she later appears drinking sake with Meiko (ch16).


 * Chibi Miku-san, 4-koma manga
 * A popular 4-koma that portrays Haku in adult form, she is introduced (#50) as an owner of a local candy shop in Vocalotown. She is a friend to both of the Hatsune sisters and is allergic to almost anything fun. Aside from that, her personality is very identical to her original character (done by Caffein), except for her alcohol abuse.


 * Project Diva (PD), game
 * Haku is an available character in the PSP game, Hatsune Miku ~Project Diva~ and again as a playable character in its sequel. Her appearance in the first Project Diva game did not carry her "official" personality, and was as cheerful as Miku. This was corrected in Project Diva 2nd, complete with moody mannerisms if the player has not chosen her for a long time.


 * Fanmade Promotional Videos (PV)
 * Haku is commonly seen in fanmade videos, portrayed in various ways or simply dancing.


 * Merchandise
 * Official licensed Haku figurines have been produced, such as Nendoroid Puchi and a scale model.


 * Artwork
 * Search Yowane Haku on deviantArt Pixiv Piapro


 * Media
 * Search Yowane Haku on YouTube NicoVideo

Notable Works
While Haku is regarded to sing any song that is a "failure" song of Miku, since she can have a voice config, it is possible for her to have an individual song dedicated to her.

Trivia

 * Haku is referred to as a "VOYAKILOID" (in Japanese, ぼやく) - 'Boyaku' means grouchy or to grumble and complain, the pronunciation in Japanese is Boyakiroido.


 * Going by Caffein's character sheet commentary, Haku's early design had a tinge of grey skin, but it was not well received. Her red eyes were not an attempt to reflect albinism, but merely inspired while watching a Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. music video on Nico Nico Douga. The character named Motoko, or "Major" has red eyes.


 * While she was conceptualized to originally be a Miku user, Caffein states it is not a problem to think of her as a failing Vocaloid, or a co-worker, or the lady at the small candy shop et cetera.