Oh you fools. You poor, misguided fools.
Hatsune Miku is not from some sort of wonderful-yet-unknown queer magical girl anime, nor is she even from the product of some mangaka’s strange fever dream. She is not from any anime at all. Far worse, she is the beginning of the end. She is an idol. But not like any regular idol. No, she is a virtual idol. She was created by a team of engineers using Vocaloid software. For the non-audio nerds, Vocaloid software is synthesizer software that mimics the human voice. The character of Hatsune Miku was created to market the product. Meaning that you essentially “buy” a copy of Hatsune Miku to stick inside your computer (and then make sing for you) when you buy the Vocaloid software.
Yes, it’s weird, but that’s not the weirdest part. Hatsune Miku has become so popular that there are even Hatsune Miku concerts. They are exactly how they sound: a bunch of men stand in a venue and watch a projection of a 16-year-old girl sing pop songs. And yes, people pay money for this. If I sound like a hater, I apologize. But I’m gonna hate just a little bit. See, it’s not unlike a Gorillaz concert, after all, Gorillaz are one of my favorite bands, but at a Gorillaz show you know that Damon Albarn and maybe De La Sol is going to come out and sing along to “Feel Good Inc.” The projections aren’t live, sure, but the music is. Meanwhile, Hatsune Miku is a recording. Yes, she has a “back-up band” that plays live? But can there really be a back-up band for something that’s already backed-up on a hard drive?
Weirdly enough, Hatsune Miku is now getting her own manga series. And has even made cameo appearances in a few anime already. She doesn’t have an anime yet, but something tells me it’s coming. And you know what? I hope it’s good. Then at least something about this can be redeemable.
Featured image credit: KEI
