Hatsune Miku Research Articles

“This kind of life has no meaning”

“This kind of life has no meaning”

Hybrid Idol in Virtual Idols: Constructing a New Perspective on Idol Studies in Film and Media

Hollywood science fiction movies from "Ready Player One" to "FREE GUY" have all scored good box office results, while Japan's Hatsune Miku has gained a huge global fan base. They all have one thing in common, or what can be called a common denominator: the presence of avatars in the main roles. Currently, both Venom, a hybrid art figure made of virtual and real people and GUY, a virtual art figure made of pure AI animation, are extremely popular, and both are in line with the current hot meta-universe concept, with natural similarity. If Venom, a combination of virtual and real people, can be a virtual idol, then this virtual image is synthesized by pure AI animation, both of them can be a new kind of virtual "idol", and this article aims to put this kind of pure virtual image into the category of film and media idol research, and explore their value under the concept of the metaverse and The purpose of this article is to investigate the value of these pure avatars in the context of the metaverse concept and the feasibility of their development.

Virtual Music Idol, the Chinese Leitkultur and the Making of the World’s First Virtual ‘Red Diva’

Luo Tianyi is currently the most popular virtual music idol in China, a product of the collective imagination of her fans. She has attracted many fans because of her cute image, her music works, and the space for imagination it brings to people. The development of virtual singers in China is deeply influenced by the Japanese ACGN (anime-comic-game-novel) culture. At first, most of Luo Tianyi's fans were fans of the Japanese virtual singer Hatsune Miku or other anime fandoms with a strong subcultural nature. However, in recent years, Luo Tianyi has gradually attracted the attention of the Chinese official media and gradually shifted from subculture to mainstream culture. As a result, it has not only had a significant impact on the Bilibili Site, the largest interactive Internet platform for teenagers in China but also interacted with the official media, thus becoming an extraordinary music idol.

Artificial intelligence and digital art: current state and development prospects

The article analyzes the use of artificial intelligence in various types of digital art at the current level of their development and outlines the possibilities of external ways of such interaction. The author considers specific artistic examples, which see that the use of artificial intelligence in art develops a complex art history and philo-sophical questions: what is art? how does computer technology change aesthetics? where is the line between technology and creativity? who is considered the author of the work generated by neuronets? is it possible to compare anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric forms of creativity? etc. The researcher demonstrates different approaches to the chosen topic, citing antagonistic points of view of scientists. Some of them believe that art with the help of a computer is the next step in the development of avant-garde trends, while others see these trends as the degradation and even the death of art. In digital painting, we are already faced with the use of works (the most famous example is the android-artist Ai-Da) who know how to draw in different techniques and with the use of different tools. The victory of a painting generated by a neural network at an art competition raised questions about its au-thorship and the admissibility of participation of such works in competitions for art-ists. Discussions on the ArtStation platform indicate that many artists do not per-ceive works made with the help of artificial intelligence as "real" works of art. In mu-sic today, it is possible not just to generate melodies, but to create an imitation of certain styles or composers, which raises questions about the nature of true creativi-ty and its limits. Another direction of using artificial intelligence in music is the crea-tion of virtual singers who become mega-popular. Such an example is given by the Japanese virtual singer Hatsune Miku, who is a hologram with an android interface and an artificially generated voice. In the field of video games, artificial intelligence knows how to create not only levels, but already generate game target worlds and complete games. Artificial intelligence in photography can generate images of non-existent people. At the same time, it is unlikely that artificial intelligence can com-pletely replace a human artist, after which he learns from the previously created ma-terial. This makes it possible to say that he left real creativity and knows how to compile in advance, and not to generate original artistic solutions.

Cute or creepy, that is the question of liveness: can artificial actors perform live?

This paper examines the liveness of the performative acts of technologically simulated or synthesized agents in interaction with humans. It questions the ability of artificial performers to construct a sense of live presence on stage and in other daily performative scenarios and evaluates our perception of liveness in those contexts. In this critical and comparative analysis, I study the live quality of Hatsune Miku’s live musical performances – a computer-generated cyber celebrity with a three-dimensional holographic body and an artificially synthesized singing voice – and the stimulating interactions of PARO, the seal – an adorable therapeutic cuddle-robot utilized as an emotional companion in nursing homes and hospitals. Using performance and media theories, I examine the audience/users’ affective responses and engagement quality with the holographic singer and the robotic pet, directly leading to the acceptance or rejection of the claim to the liveness of these techno-actors. This research also evaluates the impact of the application of cuteness (or kawaii) in designing non-human agents versus the emergence of creepiness in interactions with their incorporeal bodies on our emotive response. The objective is to study the difference between the liveness and aliveness of non-human, non-living performing agents and the impact of evoking the sense of “cute” versus “creepy” on warping the Uncanny Valley Curve.

Reconfiguring Voice in The End: Virtuosity, Technological Affordance and the Reversibility of Hatsune Miku in the Intermundane

AbstractThis article explores the technological affordances of vocal production software in performance through a case study of Shibuya Keīchirō's The End (2012). In the performance of this ‘humanless opera’, desires for pliability and fantasies of control are realised through the affordances of a singing voice synthesis software known as Vocaloid. By reflecting on The End's thematic focus on death and existentialism and on notions of vocal virtuosity, and by exploring the socio-technical processes by which the protagonist, virtual pop star Hatsune Miku, was constructed, the article provides an alternative narrative to vocal production and intermundane collaboration as it relates to the fluid and reversible configurations between voices, bodies and technologies in performance.

Holograms, (Dis-) Embodied Intimacy, and Posthumanism in an Age of Ubiquitous Computing

AbstractAs computational technology becomes unobtrusive and ubiquitous, interconnections between humans and software are increasingly seamless, challenging clear demarcations between organic and synthetic, material and immaterial. Central to these innovations are theories of posthumanism and scrutiny of the self in relation to technology. Posthumanism signifies a continuum of human existence that involves shaping and being shaped by the environment and innovations. This article examines the use of high-fidelity holographic technologies to facilitate human–software interrelationships. Drawing on fictional representation of human–hologram intimacy in Blade Runner 2049 and real-life creations Azuma Hikari and Hatsune Miku (who sometimes appears in holographic form), it argues that hybridized spaces created by ubiquitous computing coupled with holography promote and naturalize intimate posthuman fantasies. Partial disembodiment of humans in technologically mediated spheres, coupled with partial embodiment of software using holographic interfaces, generates liminal counter sites existing between the real and imaginary-other spaces that align with Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopias; holograms, as visceral interfaces, produce simultaneously mythic and tangible contestations of the space in which we live. High-fidelity holography has the potential to radically transform human–machine interconnections now and in the future.

“Wrap You Up in My Blue Hair”: Vocaloid, Hyperpop, and Identity in “Ashnikko Feat. Hatsune Miku – Daisy 2.0”

In 2020, hyperpop artist Ashnikko released a remix of her single “Daisy” with virtual idol Hatsune Miku. While the rights to any commercial use of Miku’s voice and likeness are owned by Crypton Future Media, anyone with Vocaloid software can produce songs for her. While scholars have found that fan-produced performances are foundational to Miku’s development as a performer, less attention has been paid to how intercultural commercial ventures have shaped her identity. This paper employs a textual analysis of the “Daisy 2.0” music video and an observation of comments posted on the video’s YouTube upload to demonstrate how the video’s narrative and its surrounding audience discourse both limit and expand Miku’s cultural signifiers. While fluid approaches to identity afforded by the hyperpop and virtual idol subcultures hold potential to liberate these performers from hegemonic notions of gender and sexuality, cultural and commercial constraints still loom large in these spaces.

“Heart Sutra Pop”: Religious Textual Democratization by a Sexy Vocal Android

In 2010, the publication of “Heart Sutra Pop,” an online animated video featuring the cyber-idol Hatsune Miku singing the Heart Sutra, launched a viral enthusiasm for the text that is unmatched throughout its more than twelve-hundred-year history in Japan. This article explores the digital rebirth of the sutra and the rise of an unlikely virtual spiritual leader. I argue that this cyber-idol-driven sutra boom is both doctrinally justifiable and consistent with a wave of new media initiatives by Japanese Buddhists.

ВИРТУАЛЬНЫЙ АРТИСТ. VOCALOID И ЭКСПЕРИМЕНТ ПО ЕГО ВОСПРИЯТИЮ

Over the past decade the voice synthesiser Vocaloid has gained great popularity in Japan. Critics debate on whether Vocaloid can be called a new musical instrument and if its creation marks a new era in (Japanese) popular music. The unique characteristic of a Vocaloid is its Alter Ego, its “virtual shape”, which is illustrated like common anime or manga characters such as Sailor Moon or Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, thus owning not just a name but also human-like features. It was due to the use of avatar images that Vocaloid managed to spread across the world via the internet. The most famous anthropomorphic singer is called Hatsune Miku and is known for her long turquoise-coloured hair tied up in two ponytails. Being the uncrowned princess of Nico Nico Douga—the Japanese equivalent of YouTube, Miku opened up the pathway for even more Vocaloids like Luka Megurine or Rin and Len Kagamine. The contiguity of the new creating type to the “screen arts” is maintained by its own existence in the sphere of digital media. This new phenomenon is not very known in Europe, so the question on the principles of its existence is a vital one to discuss. Furthermore, we shall test how its music and appearance are perceived by people who do not belong to the fandom. How does a Non-Japanese listener react to a musical performance done by a computer program? One of the first answers to this question can be found in a study, which was conducted at the Martin-Luther-University in Halle (Saale), Germany. It focused on the reactions of the listeners. Although Europeans do not show as much interest in artificial intelligence as the Japanese, the test subjects showed great sympathy towards the singing program. The essay’s content is divided into four parts. It begins with a contemplation of Vocaloids sociological aspects (1), followed by the introduction of a selfproduced classification of its performances (2) and continues with an explanation on how the experimental research was conducted (3). The last part contains a summarised presentation of the results and a perspective on future research (4). The authors claim this research to be one of the very first tries to shed light on how the popularity of this new musical phenomenon can be explained.

Animating the Kinetic Trace: Kate Bush, Hatsune Miku, and Posthuman Dance

Abstract This project emerges from a recent research-creation project involving MikuMikuDance (MMD), a freeware animation program where 3D models can be maneuvered, posed and choreographed into various dance sequences through the use of motion data and digital manipulation. In a dance translation that involves the choreography for Kate Bush’s song, “Wuthering Heights,” a Microsoft Kinect, and the freeware interface MikuMikuDance, created for Japanese virtual idol, Hatsune Miku, dance is revealed to be both rooted in the body and distributed across collective bodies and screens. By relinquishing biometric control, and allowing data to “dance,” this project eschews mimetic realism for an attempt to learn the machine’s “truth,” and proposes failure as a mode of resistance to systems of control, making way for an assemblage of relational bodies that dance within and through one another.

Медіа-технології та science art у контексті сучасних культурно-мистецьких практик

Media in the 21st Century Cultural Area is an integral component of artistic practices. Currently, a new direction is emerging – science art, which combines art, technology and scientific development. The leading feature of contemporary music is its transformation, which is due to the changing channels of artistic communication that set certain parameters. Music plays a very important role in the space in which it is performed, both the material itself and the musicians. A promising area of science-art development is the emergence of software and equipment that allows us to "resurrect" the stars of the past, simplify the process of musical creation and performance. There is currently a use of holograms for various purposes in music. Sometimes holograms play the role of an accompanying factor, because they can create a background for the performer, replacing the usual scenery, compensate for the absence of dancers, creating a visual basis for performances. Performers working in the field of popular and pop art are often organized in this way. Examples include the concert numbers of participants in the Eurovision Song Contest. Also, hologram or media projection can be used not only as a background but also as a leading factor in a composition. Hatsune Miku is media performer which presents by a hologram and "performs" with live instrumentalists. Miku's visual characteristics are driven by the traditions of manga comics and anime cartoon strips. The vocal party is created using software that can combine different samples. In this case we are talking about the use of the Vocaloid program, which synthesizes the human voice to record vocals, as well as the vocaloid as a fictional character corresponding to a particular synthesized voice. Although Hatsune Miku's live performances are accompanied by live-instrumental performers, the audience's focus is on the vocalist. The ability to create the perfect virtual performers gradually diminishes the professional qualities of gifted live musicians, whose ability is limited, unlike a vocaloid. The evolution and advancement of technology are changing the disposition between composer, performer and audience, but create new opportunities for creative expression.

Hacune Miku - subverzivni potencijal participativno kreiranog sajber pop-idola

Virtual worlds and online interactions are the base of cyberpop culture, in which consumption also causes production of meaning. It possibly can, but does not have to bring out subversive and/or activist potential. The overflow of the virtual into the spaces of physical reality, by use of technologies as gestural interfaces, holographic projections and the like, allows direct bodily interactions with virtual objects. Some of these objects are so-called virtual idols. Their appearance, identity and celebrity status are constructed and assigned by real people in the real world. This paper analyses the role of fans in the creation of the most famous virtual idol, the vocaloid Hatsune Miku. Based on this analysis, the paper puts forward a thesis that existence of Hatsune Miku puts emphasis on the activity (participation) per se, instead of activism. It does not serve the idea of social change, but the maintaining of the social status quo.

Kyararevisited: The pre-narrative character-state of Japanese character theory

AbstractThis article proposes to take a closer look at a variety of contemporary Japanese “character” franchises which cannot be accounted for if the entities in question are primarily understood with reference to diegetic worlds or stories. Rather, virtual idols like Hatsune Miku, fictional mascots like Kumamon, or notorious product placement figures such as Hello Kitty all seem to circulate mostly on non-narrative artifacts such as clothes, office supplies, or decontextualized artworks, and within mediated performances such as stage musicals, cosplay, or public appearances in full-body suits. They are nevertheless quite typical for the Japanese “media mix” franchising model, designed to allow for user-level reshuffling and reenactment. Such “characters without stories,” orkyara,are thus best understood as “mediated performers,” as fictional actors that can take on any fictional role attributed to them within the participatory cultures and collective creations of fan manga (dōjinshi), fan artworks, or even cosplay. Theorists such as Itō (2005) or Azuma (2009) therefore differentiate sharply betweenkyarakutāundkyara,the latter being a pre- or meta-narrative “nodal point” for diverging games of make-believe.Kyaracan just as easily beenactedandperformedas they can be brought back into narrative (kyarakutā) contexts. The following article relates and contrast these notions to international (“Western”) character theories and argues for their relevance beyond “exotic” Japanese contexts.

Fans Negotiating Performer Personas: ‘Melt’ by ryo feat. Hatsune Miku

Fans Negotiating Performer Personas: ‘Melt’ by ryo feat. Hatsune Miku

‘I'm a Cloud of Infinitesimal Data Computation’ When Machines Talk Back: An interview with Deborah Harrison, one of the personality designers of Microsoft's Cortana AI

How is the personality of an artificial intelligence crafted, and what are the issues at stake? As one of the original architects of Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana's personality, Deborah Harrison knows the process inside out. In an interview with Guest‐Editor Liam Young, she examines the questions that creating this AI raised in terms of gender, culture and ethics, and considers the future of machine interactions. Wataru Sasaki, lead developer of the software behind the AI pop star Hatsune Miku, and android engineer Kohei Ogawa also join the discussion.

METHOD TO INVESTIGATE FICTIONAL ENTITIES: A CASE OF ISHINOMORI SHOTARO’S “KAMENRIDER BLACK” TV SERIES IN INDONESIA

This article reports an experiment to pursue appropriate observation method on fictional entities inside popular culture products from Japan: two dimensional characters, fictional characters in a movie. Previous research showed how Indonesian popular culture producers being empowered in production, as fictional entities involved, such as “Hatsune Miku” (HM), a virtual singer persona. This article focused on older cases where media Japan travelled to Indonesia. Back in 1989, a TV action serial "Kamen Rider Black/ Ksatria Baja Hitam" (KRB/KBH) from Japan, was broadcasted by Indonesian local television station RCTI, and dubbed in Indonesian language. The experiment on finding appropriate observation method is conducted by constructing frameworks, imagined as ‘dissecting’ fictional entities into smaller observable parts. The purpose of this paper is to map methods to examine the role of non-human entities under transnational media by evaluating through early stage experiment.

보컬로이드 가상캐릭터의 특성 분석 연구 - 아이돌캐릭터 하츠네 미쿠를 중심으로-

본 연구는 미디어 믹스 플랫폼에서 다양하게 생성 되고 있는 새로운 서브컬처의 생성방식과 그 유용성 에 대해서 알아보고자 한다. 이를 위해 2000년대 들 어 활성화된 보컬로이드 문화의 속성과 성공요인에 대해 알아보고자 했으며, 이들 문화의 핵심 팬덤으로 자리 잡은 가상 캐릭터 ‘하츠네 미쿠(初音ミク)’를 중심으로 그 영향력을 분석해 보았다. 분석결과, 보컬로이드의 가상캐릭터가 가지는 속성 은 크게 ①유동성(flexibility) ②개방성(openness) ③활용성(applicability)의 특징을 가지고 있었다. 우 선 장소와 처한 환경에 따라 다양한 변형 캐릭터가 만들어지고, 그 모습도 그에 따라 가변화한다는 점에 서 ‘유동성’의 특징이 있다. 두 번째, 콘텐츠 수용 자가 동시에 생산자가 되어 미쿠라는 가상캐릭터의 특징과 속성을 다 함께 만들어 간다는 점에서 ‘개방 성’의 특징을 가지고 있다. 그럼에도 그 원형이 하 츠네 미쿠에서 왔다는 것에 대해서 아무도 이의를 제 기하지 않는다. 마지막으로 미쿠라는 가상 캐릭터의 ‘활용성’이다. 보컬로이드 문화는 소수 오타쿠들의 취향을 웹미디어에서 반영하는 것에서 시작되었지만, 이제 미쿠는 현실문화에서 활용도와 파급효과가 매우 높다. 미쿠가 세계 3대 축제인 북해도 눈 축제에 메 인 캐릭터로 활동하며, 세계 주요도시에서 홀로그램 콘서트, 뮤지엄 운영, 어린이 축제디자인 키트 등에 활용(2010년 이후 매년)되는 것이 대표적인 사례이다. 이는 취향의 다양성과 의미를 드러내는 서브컬처 기반의 집결이 새로운 디자인을 탄생시키며, 더 나아 가 새로운 문화자본을 탄생시키는 원동력이 될 수 있 다는 것을 의미한다.

POSTHUMAN IN JAPANESE POPULAR CULTURE: VIRTUAL IDOL HATSUNE MIKU

Idol is a popular young entertainer in Japan. The development and changes of idol’s generation are pretty fast because of the fan’s demands for perfect idols that meet their desire. The strategy to fulfill the demands of the idol which have deficiency (as a human) is to make virtual idols. Their presence started to replace idol, which means virtual idol is part of the product of Japanese’s popular culture. This research is intended to descript the virtual idol’s posthuman value as a virtual product that mixed with human reality. The object of this research is Hatsune Miku’s concert Magical Mirai 2016. She is one of the virtual idol who is still developing until now. This research used cultural studies approach and cybersemotic method (Piliang, 2010) to read Hatsune Miku’s posthuman value. The result of the study shows Hatsune Miku has posthuman value manifested on her appearance and voice. The posthuman values illustrated on Miku are her appearance that shows Japanese young women ideal body and her voice which can be controlled by anyone who has the software.

The impact of supply chain partnership and market driven strategy on consumer behavior in buying Vocaloid Hatsune Miku products

Hatsune Miku is the first virtual singer who is currently achieving success, even up to the world level. Miku has a large number of fansbase, like a famous singer. Its popularity also helps Crypton Future Media, as the company maker of Miku, to collaborate, forming a supply chain partnership with several big companies, to bring Miku into real products, which fans can have. This literature review explores this literature study explores Miku's development ever since it was created, until it became famous, and gave rise to a unique supply chain partnership. Researcher using systematic literature review method, with the aim of understanding how big the impact of Supply Chain Partnership and Market Driven from the success of virtual singer Hatsune Miku to consumer behavior, both from the general public and fans. The impact of this unique supply chain partnership is to make consumers loyal and feel close.