Hatsune Miku

Miku Hatsune (初音ミク Hatsune Miku) is the first installment in the Vocaloid2 Character Vocal Series created by Crypton Future Media, released on August 31, 2007. The name of the title and the character of the software was chosen by combining Hatsu (初, First?), Ne (音, Sound?), and Miku (未来, Future?). The data for the voice was created by actually sampling the voice of Saki Fujita, a Japanese voice actress. Unlike general purpose speech synthesizers, the software is tuned to create J-pop songs commonly heard in anime, but it is possible to create songs from other genres.

History
Before Miku was released, Vocaloid was not much more than an obscure program. Nico Nico Douga played a fundamental role in the recognition and popularity of the software. Soon after the release of the software, users of Nico Nico Douga started posting videos with songs created by the software. According to Crypton, a popular video with a comically-altered Miku holding a leek, singing Ievan Polkka, presented multifarious possibilities of applying the software in multimedia content creation. As the recognition and popularity of the software grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborate content creation. Popular original songs written by a user would generate illustrations, animation in 2D and 3D, and remixes by other users. Other creators would show their unfinished work and ask for ideas.

On October 18, 2007, an Internet BBS website reported that she was suspected to be victim of censorship by Google and Yahoo!, since images of Miku did not show up on the image searches. Google and Yahoo denied any censorship on their part, blaming the missing images on a bug that does not only affect "Hatsune Miku" and related keywords but other search keywords as well. Both companies expressed a willingness to fix the problem as soon as possible. Images of Miku were relisted on Yahoo on October 19.

A manga called Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix began serialization in the Japanese manga magazine Comic Rush on November 26, 2007, published by Jive. The manga is drawn by Kei, the original character designer for Miku. A second manga called Hachune Miku no Nichijō Roipara! drawn by Ontama began serialization in the manga magazine Comp Ace on December 26, 2007, published by Kadokawa Shoten. Miku sometimes wears glasses in the manga, and Rin and Len call her "onee-chan" (big sister).

Miku's first appearance in an anime is in (Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei. For online multiplayer games, the Japanese version of PangYa started a campaign with Hatsune Miku on May 22, 2008 in which she is included as one of the characters. Her first appearance in a video game is in 13-sai no Hello Work DS (13歳のハローワークDS, 13-sai no Hello Work DS?) for the Nintendo DS where she is included as one of the characters.

Merchandise
Due to Miku's popularity, it is possible to buy a large range of related merchandise.

Books
みくよん (単行本)

初音ミクミキシングボックス (単行本)

supercell ~ supercell feat.初音ミク



 * Release Date: August 27, 2008
 * Number of Discs: 1
 * Format: Limited Edition
 * Label: Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.


 * Track listing:
 * 恋は戦争
 * ハートブレイカー
 * メルト
 * ブラック★ロックシューター
 * くるくるマークのすごいやつ
 * ライン
 * ワールドイズマイン
 * 初めての恋が終わる時
 * 嘘つきのパレード
 * その一秒スローモーション
 * ひねくれ者
 * またね

First Sound Story~ 19’s Sound Factory



 * Release Date: August 20, 2008
 * Number of Discs: 1
 * Label: Independent Label
 * ASIN: B001CQCJ28


 * Track listing:
 * Birth
 * Voice
 * メランコリー (Melancholy)
 * Tears In Blue
 * Dear
 * Gratitude

Re:package ~ livetune feat.初音ミク



 * Release Date: August 27, 2008
 * Number of Discs: 1
 * Format: Limited Edition
 * Label: Victor Entertainment Inc.
 * Length: 79 minutes
 * ASIN: B001BOBYO0


 * Track listing:
 * Anthem
 * Packaged
 * over16bit!(Full ver.)
 * シューティング☆スター
 * 虹色
 * 椛
 * Light Song
 * リラホルン
 * 日々の夢想い
 * ファインダー
 * ドキドキハートチューン
 * ストロボナイツ
 * Last Night, Good Night
 * Packaged piano ver.
 * our music

Re:MIKUS ~ livetune feat.初音ミク



 * Release Date: March 25, 2009
 * Number of Discs: 1
 * Label: Victor Entertainment Inc.


 * Track listing:
 * ファインダー (kz's DSLR remix)
 * Packaged (kisk baker's yogamix)
 * Light Song (Hiroyuki ODA remix)
 * 椛 (The Standard Club PIANO DANCE REMIX)
 * 虹色 (Version by ryo from supercell)
 * ファインダー (imoutoid's "Finder Is Not Desktop Experience Remix")
 * Last Night, Good Night (みくすびとremix feat.らっぷびと)
 * リラホルン (kz's Drillhole In My Brain remix)
 * ストロボナイツ (RAM RIDER remix)
 * our music (kz's The Beginning of The End remix)
 * D.E.N.P.A. (クラブイベントタイトルソング)
 * Heart Beat
 * carol (original by kisk baker)
 * サイハテ (original by 小林オニキス)

Sakura no Ame (桜ノ雨) ~ absorb/absorb feat.初音ミク



 * Release Date: November 28, 2008
 * Number of Discs: 1
 * Format: Single, Enhanced, Maxi
 * Label: Nippon Crown = music =
 * Length: 41 minutes
 * ASIN: B001F10YTA


 * Track listing:
 * 桜ノ雨 -standard edit-(absorb)
 * 桜ノ雨(absorb)
 * 桜ノ雨 -less vocal-(absorb)
 * 桜ノ雨 -合唱ピアノ伴奏ー(absorb)
 * 桜ノ雨 -standard edit-(absorb feat.初音ミク)
 * 桜ノ雨 (absorb feat.初音ミク)
 * 桜ノ雨 -less vocal-(absorb feat.初音ミク)

Miku no Kanzume (みくのかんづめ)~ OSTER project feat.初音ミク



 * Release Date: December 3, 2008
 * Number of Discs: 1
 * Label: Indies Label -music-
 * ASIN: B001HRRW9C


 * Track listing:
 * Intro
 * 恋スルVOC@LOID
 * フリートーク#1
 * フキゲンワルツ
 * おやすみのうた
 * フリートーク#2
 * Dreaming Leaf-ユメミルコトノハ-
 * 片想イ VOC@LOID
 * つきうさぎ
 * フリートーク#3
 * RING×RING×RING
 * ちょこまじ☆ろんぐ
 * デジネコポップヌコミックス
 * フリートーク#4
 * 8月の花嫁
 * ミラクルポイント
 * フリートーク#5
 * 恋スル大合唱

Jewel Colors ~ ave;new feat.初音ミク



 * Release Date: February 14, 2008
 * Number of Discs: 1


 * Track listing:
 * Jewel Colors
 * true my heart -HATSUNE mix-
 * snow of love -HATSUNE mix-

Up in the higher skies



 * Release Date: 2008


 * Track listing:
 * Stratosphere (ストラトスフィア) (2008 remix)
 * Dragoon (feat. Yamai)
 * House space flight rocket (ロケット宅宙便)
 * Song of Pixie (Bossa study)
 * Electropneumatic girls (電空少女) (Caramel-ICE version)
 * Soar (UHS version)
 * Stratosphere (ストラトスフィア) (Exaggerate mix)
 * House of cool air flights (ロケット宅宙便 クール) (Flights rocket version)
 * Stratosphere (ストラトスフィア) (Fine weather mix)
 * Song of pixie
 * Electropneumatic girls (電空少女) (Azuki-ICE version)
 * Dragoon
 * Soar (Uta-balla remix)
 * To your original (キミノモトヘ)

Hatsune Miku 1st Album



 * Number of Discs: 1


 * Track listing:
 * Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru
 * Heki i Usagi
 * Tori no Uta
 * Tsuki no Shizuku
 * Mirai no Eve
 * Platina
 * Futari no Mojipittan
 * Uninstall
 * Ano Subarashi Ai wo Mou ichido
 * Angel Voice
 * Ievan Polkka
 * True my Heart -Vocaloid2 Special Edit-
 * Melodies of Life
 * You
 * Anata no Utahime
 * True my Heart -Short Version- Sakura Saori with Hatsune Miku
 * Lost my Music
 * Remone doaisukuri mu
 * Ne tou ge de reset!
 * Cruel angel thesis

Black★Rock Shooter
Song by ryo (A member of Supercell) Video by HUKE (A member of Supercell)
 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast
 * Black★Rock Shooter tells of the narrator's despair and hopelessness as they wander aimlessly, searching for something important to them that they presumably lost. Eventually the narrator gains new hope and decides to move on into the future with courage. The video for the song became massively popular, featuring Black★Rock Shooter traveling through a bleak city and countryside, riding a motorbike and wielding weapons. Black★Rock Shooter is an original character design by Huke, and happens to resemble Miku.

Ievan Pollka
Argueably Miku's most famous song, this version is a parody of the infamous video showing Orihime Inoue from Bleach twirling a leek to an infinite loop of the Ievan Polkka's 5th stanza. Miku's version stars Hachune Miku (はちゅねミク), who is a blank-eyed doll-like chibi version of Miku with a gaping mouth that waves a leek in time to the music.
 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast

Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru (I'll Give You Mikumiku)

 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast (without subtitles)
 * One of the most iconic Miku songs, often operating as an "anthem" for Miku and VOCALOID. The lyrics are Miku announcing herself to the world. This song is often covered and rewritten for other VOCALOIDs, especially when the VOCALOID is a newcomer. The lyrics are as follows:

Kurutto, Odotte, Hatsune Miku

 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast (without subtitles)
 * This 3DCGvideo was made by gragra. It features Nendoroid-like Miku Hatsune, Rin& Len Kagamine, Kaito, Meiko, Yowane Haku, and Akita Neru dancing to the 9th ending theme of the anime Sgt. Frog. At the end, all of them dance the Caramelldansen.

Love is War
Song by ryo (A member of Supercell)
 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast (With English Subtitles)

melody
Song by mikuru396 PV by ussy-P (motion and editing) /(modelling data by kio)
 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast (With English Subtitles)
 * A song accompanied with an early 3D PV, portraying Miku standing among a landscape of turning gears. The song is about Miku's gratefulness to VOCALOID users for giving her a song to sing, and how she wants to move people with her song. The song is very famous and both the song and the PV are instantly recognizable to most VOCALOID fans.

Melt
Song by ryo (A member of Supercell)
 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast
 * This song is about a shy girl who's in love. She gets her bangs cut, and hopes he will notice, all the while encouraging herself to look cute. Her love is pure; she says that she loves him because it is he she likes, and not because she's in love with being in love, but it would melt her to confess. Then, it rains. She has an collapsible umbrella in her bag, which she thought was too small, but the boy joins her under the umbrella of his own will. Heart thumping, she is so happy she would cry, because (in Japan) sharing an umbrella is a sign of shared feelings and associated with couples. When they reach the station, she almost tells him to hold her, because she doesn't want to leave him, and can't believe herself.


 * Multiple PVs for "Melt" exist; most of them feature Miku as the protagonist, acting out the events described by the song. The "boyfriend" character is often represented by a man whose face isn't seen (a technique often used to represent "Master", or the Vocaloid user), or at times by Kaito.


 * "Melt" and its PV videos are so popular on Nico Nico Douga and Youtube that it has been featured in some Nico Nico Medleys, and has many covers and parodies both by live musicians and other Vocaloids.

Saihate

 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast
 * An introspective, slightly romantic song about a person trying to accept the loss of someone they were close to. The song is often most-recognized by the imagery it is accompanied by in videos: Miku, dressed in a black dress suit, wandering a whimsical, monochrome fantasy land decorated by yin-yangs, spirals, butterflies and zebras. This song received multiple versions, including graffiti art, a karoake medley, and many different covers.

Hatsune Miku no Shoushitsu (The Vanishment of Hatsune Miku)

 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube broadcast
 * A song about Miku if she reached the end of her life due to a virus that she has obtained. It dwells on her wish to be like a human and how she sees herself as just a toy for singing. At the same time, however, she still wishes to sing more and be together with her friends, but at the end her wish comes true. Much of the song is played at a super-fast rate so that the lyrics are barely distinguishable.
 * Multiple PVs exist for Hatsune Miku no Shoushitsu. Many of them approach the 'story' in a different way; one of the more popular interpretations is that the song is Miku's thought process as she is deleted from her master's computer. Other variations on the theme, however, do exist.

World is Mine
Song by ryo (A member of Supercell)
 * Nicovideo broadcast
 * Youtube Broadcast
 * The song is about a spoiled girl who believes herself to be a "princess" that the world revolves around, and her struggles with falling in love with a standoffish boy. There are many PV variations for this song, but the narrator is almost always portrayed as a short-tempered and fickle Miku (interesting because of the meek and sweet-tempered manner that Miku is often portrayed with.)


 * In addition to the Miku version of World Is Mine, called the "Women's Side", there is a "Men's Side" performed by Kaito telling the story from the "prince's" point of view. There is also a version that mixes both the Men's and Women's Sides, making a complete story.


 * "World is Mine" is very popular among female singers on Nico Nico Douga and Youtube, and has recieved multiple covers.