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Miku fans: Why do you love Miku so much?

REDD

Aspiring Fan
May 19, 2020
96
Im trying to come up with some stuff for a potential future Vocaloid fan project, and what I'm curious to hear from some die-hard Miku fans on here as to why she's your favourite.
Not trying to start an argument here, I'm genuinely curious. As a person who likes Miku in passing (though shes not my absolute fave), i wanna know what her exact appeal as a character is. (and not just as a voice synth, i'm more concerned about her characterization)

My main reason I ask is because while i normally have a pretty easy time characterizing and giving personality to nearly all the other Vocaloids, Miku's just kind of a blank slate to me. Which is weird, because i was practically obsessed with her when i was around the age of 10-11, but i seem to have gotten out of touch with that.

Essentially, what I'm saying is that it seemed there was a collective reason we all liked Miku so much when we were younger (lets face it, most of us on here went through a Miku phase at some point), but I cant seem to put my finger on exactly what it was (and STILL IS, for a lot of people)

So, Miku stans, convince me. Go ham. Tell me all about why you love her. I need to know because science reasons.
 
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jellosaur

New Fan
Mar 13, 2022
4
26
Honestly for me, I think it's just the concept of her brings to me the nostalgia of a simpler time of the web, and the internet culture around that time (mid-late 00's) where people were more willing to share their creations no matter how strange/"cringe" they were because they had a genuine passion for it. :miku_ani_lili:
The fact that people were able to create such a huge culture and community because of Miku's existence is why I love her.
 

Blue Of Mind

The world that I do not know...
Apr 8, 2018
699
The title is a very interesting question to this Miku stan, because I thought I would be able to answer it very easily, but in truth, I'm drawing blanks. I can tell you why I was originally drawn to Miku as a character when I was around 11-years old, though - her design plays to nearly everything Japanese otaku consider peak adorable, which to Western eyes, would be dismissed as appealing only to young girls. As a preteen nerd, this was catnip to me, because I knew adults wouldn't judge me too harshly for liking a cute anime girl.

As to why Miku is still my favourite vocal synth VB, let alone Vocaloid, I think part of the reason is simply because of how she managed to spawn such a massive fan culture around her. The vocal synth fandom in general has changed a ton since Miku came out, yet people are still producing content for her - in a way, Miku has defied the traditional fandom life cycle of gaining popularity, then falling off as trends change. Perhaps there's an element of nostalgia too at this point, since Miku's V2 design in particular reflects a lot of the late 2000s optimism of the future that still existed at the time. Looking at what's happened throughout the 2010s and now even this decade, 2007/8 (before the Great Recession, I guess) almost feels cosy to look back on. Sometimes I listen to some of the now-ancient Miku songs that came out during that time, and even though some things like the music compositions, tuning and PVs don't always hold up with time, they still give me that fuzzy, warm feeling of nostalgia to me.
 

pico

robot enjoyer
Sep 10, 2020
528
It’s her complete prevalence in internet culture, and the music scene. I find her so relatable because her character is so malleable. In addition, her original character design is so good that I don’t think it’s been topped since, 2000’s scene-esque belt and all.
Miku is Miku. So many have used her formula to great success, but nobody has replaced her. Her power is the combined efforts of thousands of people, and there’s no cooler phenomenon than that.
 

Vector

Passionate Fan
Mar 6, 2022
115
So I've been aware of Miku pretty much since the beginning, because I was active on the Internet as a teenager back in 2007. I knew bits and pieces, such as being aware of the various incarnations of the Ievan Polkka meme or witnessing the beginnings of Nyan Cat, and I was aware that there were vocaloid concerts somewhere in that time frame, but the big picture didn't fall into place until much more recently (as a late-20s college student) when two coincidences kind of collided while I was going through a fairly dark time after losing a family member.

1. I got turned onto Wagakkiband and really liked their covers of Senbonzakura and Roki, and was listening to them a lot...but didn't know they were vocaloid covers. I had been told by the person who recommended them that they did vocaloid covers, but that was it.

2. A professor was talking about targeting stored animations to a skeleton rig in a lecture for a game development elective, and said something offhand about it being "how that anime girl who does the concerts works."

Long story short, I eventually realized those two songs were vocaloid covers, looked them up on YouTube and then ended up discovering a bunch of artists I'd been unaware of (I think MitchieM was the first after that) and going on a Wikipedia rabbit hole where I realized a ton of memes and things I'd experienced over the years were actually interconnected. I already mostly was listening to J-pop, so discovering a wealth of really cool independent music was a lot of fun and really took my mind of things. I ended up diving headfirst into the vocaloid community and got way more into it than I expected...and it also inspired me to start teaching myself to work with DAWs and synths and study some music theory.

The "old school Internet" thing is a big part of the appeal for me, as well. Miku represents a time when the internet was smaller and mostly full of people who made things to share with the world, and just for the sake of doing it instead of as something to commercialize. It's a rare thing that's purely creative and brings people around the world together. There are other vocaloid characters, but Miku will always be the one with the most history that everything really revolves around.
 

InstallGentoo

Aspiring Fan
May 7, 2021
43
She speaks to me, she touches my heart, and other places. People whos songs are made with Miku made a big impact on my psyche. She would be my arch angel if not the fact she's my wife (plz no bulli, and I apologize for any slights by that statement).
Belonging to a Jungian esque collective consciousness dedicated to the love of miku is comforting and it feels that I am not alone. She is incorruptible, pure, and just. She has gotten me through many emotional struggles. I would die for miku.
Even if in a incorporeal presence she provides structure in my life. She gives me voice in times where I had none. She gives me hope at times where I lost it all. She would always be there for me.

I got embarrassed typing this out, please excuse me.
 

mobius017

Aspiring ∞ Creator
Apr 8, 2018
1,982
I've discussed my thoughts around Miku in a number of places. In case you're interested in seeing me ramble some more, they're below.
(Wow, I had only had a few relevant ones in mind, but ended up finding a few more.)

If you read the first post, you'll see that @InstallGentoo and I have in common the fact that Miku has helped us get through difficult experiences. From comments I've seen on YouTube, VVN, and probably elsewhere, that seems to be an important aspect in a lot of fans' relationship with vocal synths in general. A lot of the material I've sought has been Miku-related, so it's not an unbiased sample, but that theme comes up in the comments on that material a lot, and it's present in other vocal synth-related material, too.

As the question from the OP deals with people's perceptions of Miku, I'd like to discuss my thoughts regarding this in a more comprehensive way than I have before. I think they're based in large part on how she seems to behave during the concerts, the nature of vocal synth software, and "Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru." But there's probably also a little headcanon in here, which was informed by the preceding items to a greater/lesser extent.

I'll begin this in an unusual way: Miku struggles with her English. I'll argue anytime that it's possible to get quite nice English results with her, but it can take a certain amount of effort that might be avoided if you work with a different synth. But that's just it--she struggles. Despite the fact that English isn't her first language, and it's possible she'll never experience the same results as a native Engloid would, as "Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru" says, it's her nature to give her best effort every time you open the program.

Struggles like this are central to the lives of lots of vocal synth fans. Don't most of us have something or other that we struggle with, something that pains us or vexes us that seems like it will take a long time, if ever, for us to put away? That being said, how could we avoid getting behind someone who tirelessly works to put forth her best at every asking?

This "asking," of course, can come from anyone. And her voice is meant for everyone, either to use or to hear. Here again, Miku's character takes a cue from her software roots. Take a look at the audience of any concert. Each of those hundreds or tens of thousands of people is welcome, regardless of what their situation may be. Maybe their struggle in life centers on how society relates to their religion, or their race; possibly it relates to a psychological condition, or a physical issue--none of it matters. Each of those people who come together seeking to witness and participate in this expression of joy and community are welcome. And to each who would come together thus, and extend their hand in friendship, they would find her willing to offer her own hand in return. I think this is the "positivity" that people often comment on; more easily understood, it could simply be called "love."

(As you might be able to tell, I have strong feelings about the vocal synth concerts/Miku in general, as @hamano, @MagicalMiku, @Aia, @uncreepy, @RazzyRu (ラゼル) , @Kona, @Nokone Miku, and bunches of other people have witnessed from my frequent impassioned bangings-on on the subjects. :) )

Of course, being centered on love and tolerance, while Miku will work with anyone, she doesn't appreciate projects that hurt her or other people, and she similarly doesn't appreciate being the subject of/caught in infighting between fans, or between fans and other people. (If you're interested, I wrote a fanfic on this very subject; it also touches on several of the points I made earlier, too. Regrettably, I didn't wait long between writing and editing it, and I'm afraid that shows a bit, but I think it does convey the items I've discussed.)

To me, that's who Hatsune Miku is. When I watch the vocal synth concerts; when I imagine the virtual singer who patiently hovers nearby while I struggle through music theory/mixing/mastering/etc. via online articles and videos; when I visualize the singer of the songs that comfort me when things are difficult or help me celebrate when the day is going well--that's the person I see.
 
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