Hatsune Miku

V4 Hatsune Miku Design

Hatsune Miku is often referenced throughout the Duckpond, either being drawn consistently in Broken Picture Phone, or various songs being played. In Broken Picture Phone references of Hatsune Miku have become synonymous with Lm1xb, using Hatsune Miku as a way to delineate him. They would often also depict Hatsune Miku with pink hair unbeknownst to the fact that a pink haired Hatsune Miku variant, named Sakura Miku, exists. She was also used to represent Lm1xb during the 2020 Duckpondronpa

Outside of the game Lm1xb often plays Hatsune Miku songs in the voice chats. Bepno is seemingly the only other member who truly enjoys certain VOCALOID songs while the other members simply tolerate it.

## History

Hatsune Miku (初音ミク), codenamed CV01, was the first Japanese VOCALOID to be both developed and distributed by Crypton Future Media, Inc.. She was initially released in August 2007 for the *VOCALOID2* engine and was the first member of the Character Vocal Series. She was the seventh VOCALOID overall, as well as the second *VOCALOID2* vocal released to be released for the engine. Her voice is provided by the Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita (藤田咲, *Fujita Saki*).

There have since been numerous installments, such as additional voice libraries dubbed 'Append', as well as an upgrade for the *VOCALOID3* engine, which contained an English vocal release. She received a *VOCALOID4* update to her Japanese and English voicebanks in August 2016, as well as a Mandarin Chinese voicebank in September 2017.

Crypton had the idea to release Miku as "an android diva in the near-future world where songs are lost."

Her very first concept was of a bilingual Japanese and English vocal, but this later became the concept of Megurine Luka.

When KEI illustrated Miku, he was given a color scheme to work with (based on the YAMAHA synthesizers' signature blue-green color) and was asked to draw Miku as an android. Crypton also provided KEI with Miku's detailed concepts, however, Crypton said it was not easy to explain what a "Vocaloid" was to him. KEI said he could not create an image of a "singing computer" at first, as he did not even know what a "synthesizer" was. It took him more than a month to complete the commission.

Miku was originally intended to have a different hairstyle, but after trying out pigtails, KEI thought they were more suitable. Her pigtails have since become an iconic part of her design. On June 22, 2012, Hatsune Miku's twin tails even earned her the title of the Twin Tail which best represented the 2000s, marking her the best set of Twin Tails from the dawn of the 21st century. She now shares her twin tail distinction with other characters like Sailor Moon (who won best Twin Tails back in the 90s period).

The digital design on Miku's skirt and boots are based on synthesizer program colors, and the bars represent actual bars within the program, following Crypton's ideas. Part of her design is based on some of YAMAHA's keyboard models, particularly the DX-100 and the DX-7. The thin squares around her pigtails are futuristic ribbons made of a special material that floats in place. As seen in KEI's art for Miku, they are able to hold Miku's pigtails in place without having to physically touch the hair itself. The ribbons are also reported by KEI to be the hardest item on the character's design for cosplayers to recreate.

After an internet meme involving Hachune Miku, Miku was associated with a spring onion (often mistaken for a leek due to the similar appearance). This, along with KAITO's association with ice cream, started a discussion called "the Item War" within the VOCALOID fandom, where it became traditional for new VOCALOIDs to have an item assigned to them and the items were debated upon until one stuck via an Internet Meme. This occurrence has since died out.