          |
Emergence of Virtual IdolsHan-Yuan Liu Hatsune Miku is the latest pop star to emerge from Japan's entertainment scene. She has stared in numerous music videos, has several studio albums to her name, and even has her own video game (Miku Hatsune). However if you hope to attend a live concert of hers, you will be sorely disappointed as she can never host one due to the fact that she is not a real person. So just what is she? In recent years Japan has embraced robotic and cybernetic technologies in an effort to solve the problems of depopulation and an aging society. However this interest in cyborgs and machines has expanded out from the core interest groups - such as the medical establishment -and has rooted itself into the popular culture. In fact if we look closely enough, we can see signs of cyborgs in a variety of mediums within Japan's pop culture. One such medium is Hatsune Miku, who in short is a fictional character based on the Vocaloid2 program which allows users to create music by synthesizing voices (Paper). The way the program works is that it comes prerecorded with the syllables of the Japanese alphabet, which in the case of Miku is voiced by the voice actress Saki Fujita (Paper). Users can then simply assemble the syllables to form entire words, and then with words they could form phrases, or more often than not even entire songs (Paper). So in a sense Miku can be regarded as a virtual cyborg since she has no physical body and yet she still retains a human voice that which was created by synthesizing a real human voice.
Her unique status of being a virtual cyborg may have been her key appeal that propelled her to stardom. As she had no physical body, history, or any distinct characteristics other than her voice, users were free to create their own versions of her. In fact users created much of the content associated with the present character of Hatsune Miku. For example they gave her unique theme songs, created special dance moves for her music videos, and even rendered her in 3D. It is perhaps due to the fact that fans could actively participate in creating the character of Miku that she became so popular within the Japanese internet community (Metagold). However her status as a virtual cyborg does not mean that she is limited to only the digital realm. As users create songs for her and upload them to the Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico Douga, some of those songs eventually become very well known, which then raises the profile of the original creator (Miku Hatsune). As a result, some Vocaloid2 users have gone on to release albums of their own, such as the group Supercell that recently came out with a self titled album which came in second place on the daily charts (Artefact). A final testament to the reach of Hatsune Miku in real life is that in 2009 more than 80 schools in Japan choose a song made famous by her on the internet as their official graduation song (Linkinstreet). Not too bad for a singer who's never held a live gig, wouldn't you agree? Links/Sources:
Artefact. “Hatsune Miku Tops Album Sales Charts.” 6 Mar 2009. Sankaku Complex.6 Mar 2009
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/03/06/hatsune-miku-tops-album-sales-charts
Pictures/ Illustrations:
Illustration 1: http://www.amazon.co.jp/Re-Package-%E5%88%9D%E5%9B%9E%E9%99%90%E5%AE%9A%E7%9B%A4-livetune-feat-%E5%88%9D%E9%9F%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%82%AF/dp/B001BOBYO0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237877441&sr=8-1
|
