Controversy Concerns

A Miku Formula is a formula often applied to Vocaloid mascot designs that is largely inspired by the design of Hatsune Miku as illustrated by KEI. It appears often in fanmade character designs and derivative characters made by fans of Vocaloid and also with UTAU.

Currently, the formula has no official given name and the page here is titled accordingly to the description of the subject. The use of "Miku Formula" on this page is taken from the Chinese Vocaloid fandom, who described the contest entries from the "Vocaloid; china" contest as though they are "working to a Miku Formula" and was describing the ridiculous amount of entries that were clearly based on Hatusne Miku's design in contrast to the amount of original designs in the contest.

Details


The formula varies per interpretation of what it is and it is debatable what a formula exactly will need to consider. Still, many common traits are shared by designs following a common formula and these are easy to pick out.

The base of most formula is usually these common traits that identified in most versions:
 * Pigtails/twintails
 * Long hair also fits in with this formula too; buy only when supported by other aspects of the formula (alone is it 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 the 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 influenced male designs.

Origins
Back in 2008 when fanmades and derivatives were regular occurances, there was less concern for the formula and many fans were using the formula for their own means. For example, to by-pass the restrictions of the image use on the Crypton Vocaloids or to demonstrate thier own individual creative use of the software.

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.

Awareness of just how many unoffical characters used the formula with little difference between Miku began to grow. There was growing pressure on producers to develop their new characters and Nico Nico Douga fan-related pages began to ignore designs which were not developed. Crypton Future Media itself welcomes derivatives of its own Vocaloids as it demostrates the creativity in using their Vocaloids and has adopted several derivatives. However, other studios did not do this.

UTAU gave Producers the means to develop a character independant of the Vocaloid software. However, this did not result in the formula disappearing completely, but rather it helped develop this formula even further as many UTAU continue to borrow aspects of design from Hatsune Miku and the rest of the Character Vocal series. In particular Vipperloid Kasane Teto became famous after using the formula to pretend to be a Vocaloid.

Popular 3D software MikuMikuDance was also a influence for the development of the formula. It came with some basic models of Crypton Future Media characters leaving users to create their own models. The starter models are allowed to be altered for further developements, and many users alter them because they are considered "safe". It was very easy to make models for characters such as "Akaito" or "Zatsune Miku" simply by recolouring the existing models, although the MMD community has since established itself in other directions away from this.

Copyright Concerns
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.

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 formula will take basic parts of the formula and then proceed to build a unqiue design on top of those basic elements. Studios will never confirm if they use the formula so most are identified only through observation from fans.

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.

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. For instance, when designing their Gackpoid product, Internet co., Ltd noted some of the things that made past Vocaloids popular. Cyber-style clothes, as seen on the Crypton Future Media Vocaloids were implimented onto Gakupo's design in accordiance with their believe as this was a popular element of the current Vocaloid design.

Examples of Vocaloids Using the Formula
The following Vocaloids are said to have been inspired by Hatsune Miku's design.


 * 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 personnel opinion and even those acknowledge a common formula will not always have the same opinion on what the formula is.

Sonika
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.

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

Ring Suzune
Ring was the most notable Vocaloid to use 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 havign 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 have 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
A few Vocaloids appear to acknowledge the formula, but are actually borrowing similair traits from other areas. Past franchises, manga/animes and games like Dragonball, Final Fantasy or Sailor Moon greatly influenced the popularity of their respected genres and markets, much like Miku influenced her own market. Miku herself had originally borrowed her own appearance from such origins.

In short, long stockings and a short skirt are common in Japan in character designs and these two design traits alone would not make a Vocaloid copy Miku's design, likewise the same goes for use of school uniforms. In other words, unlike the previous mentioned Vocaloids, the following Vocaloids are not attempting to copy the aspects that made Miku popular, but rather were taking their designs from the same original sources Miku took hers from too and have been acknowledged as borrowing aspects from other soruces.


 * 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.
 * 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 did 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 the Zettai Ryouiki is quite used in the design of modern anime/manga characters.
 * 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 - Rion's pigtails, long stockings, short skirt (albeit longer than Miku's), neckwear (tie). Her vocals also have a cute nasally vocal. 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.

External links & See also

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