The thinkings/opinions of a bizarre, quiet girl: BLOG -- Me and Hatsune Miku

Finally! Here is my blog about Hatsune Miku. I've been anticipating this for quite a while. I just never had a good chance to write about her.

This blog will talk briefly about Hatsune Miku and why I like her. And of course, I'll start off with my initial thoughts and first exposure.

My Initial Thoughts and First Exposure

I think I first heard about Hatsune Miku around 2008. Actually, it was more like, that was the first time I saw her... and she was everywhere. Where I frequented online, I often saw fan work of a girl with long green pigtails.

She must be very popular, I thought, and didn't give her a second thought. I usually stay away from super popular things, thinking, They already have a lot of fans -- they don't need another. When Project DIVA was released (a rhythm game featuring Hatsune Miku) for the PSP, I dismissed it completely (despite my love for rhythm games).

Now fast forward to late 2011, when I imported iDOLM@STER 2 for the PS3. When I saw that getting one of the DLC costumes would unlock a Hatsune Miku song, I thought, I guess I really should try a Hatsune Miku game... see what she's all about...

About a month later, I imported the first Project DIVA game. I tried the first song on the list, "The World is Mine". The song was edgy. Hatsune Miku's dancing was edgy. I really liked it. Since then, I've more or less explored her songs, culture, and world. And now I am a huge fan.

What is Hatsune Miku?

Hatsune Miku!

Before, I thought that Hatsune Miku was just a video game character, but that's not it at all. Hatsune Miku is a singing synthesizer (also known as a vocaloid). It's a program you use to create singing vocals to go with music (most often music that you created). The girl with the green pigtails is like a character / persona of that specific voice. Crypton (the developer of Hatsune Miku) was very smart to do that, because now that singing synthesizer isn't just a singing synthesizer -- it's a singing synthesizer with Life.

Later on, Sega developed the Project DIVA games, featuring songs created by the Hatsune Miku program, and featuring the Hatsune Miku persona.

That's Hatsune Miku in a nutshell.

Other singing synthesizers (vocaloids) with persona exist (like Meiko, Luka Megurine, Kaito, Lin & Ren Kagamine), but I'm just gonna focus on Hatsune Miku for this blog.

Why do I like Hatsune Miku?

In one word: cute. Hahahaha, well, that's not the reason at all. She is cute for a character, but nah, there's more to it than that.

Her songs are user-created and can be freely shared -- I really like this. Anybody who has the program can try creating a song with her vocals attached to it. Then they can upload the song and share it with everybody. I think it gives people a chance to be creative and express themselves. In a way, I think it also encourages creation, seeing others trying the same thing.

Lots of song variety -- What can I say? I like variety. Since her songs are created by so many people, they should fall under many different music genres.

Her character can be very relatable -- Since Hatsune Miku's persona doesn't have set personality traits, I'm free to perceive her however I want. I can relate to her however I want. That also means that my perception of her could greatly differ from somebody else's perception, and that's fine. This is how I see Hatsune Miku:

To me, Hatsune Miku is the embodiment of confidence, energy, and intensity. She can be very strong (like in the song "The World is Mine"), but also display moments of fragility ("Rolling Girl") and shyness ("Melt"). She's kinda how I'd like to be: saying what she wants, dressing whatever she wants, and still possessing another side (her moments of fragility and shyness).

Fan creations of her are welcomed -- It's not everyday that you see developers encouraging fans to use their copyrighted characters. Anybody is free to create and share fan works of Hatsune Miku, whether it be graphics, videos, whatever. I think it was through fan creation that Hatsune Miku now carries an association with leeks / spring onions. It's just another form of encouraging creation, and I support that greatly.

There are more reasons as to why I like Hatsune Miku, but those are the major ones. Soon enough, I'll be giving my own shot at creating songs and attaching Hatsune Miku's voice to them. The English version of Hatsune Miku came out a couple of days ago, and I'm gonna get it.

Thanks for reading my blog! I hope you have an awesome week :)

To end off, I'll share some of my current favourite Hatsune Miku songs. I'm sure I've shared some of them in the past, but whatever. It just means I still love them.