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Computer-Generated Idol Miku Hatsune Gets Own Manga

Miku Hatsune, the first popular Japanese idol singer whose "voice" is generated on-the-fly by computer software, will have her own manga drawn by her character designer Kei in Monthly Comic Rush magazine's January 2008 issue (on sale November 26). The virtual idol was originally created by Crypton Future Media to launch its Vocaloid Character Voice Series for personal computers.

Crypton's software uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2 engine and samples from voice actress Saki Fujita (the voice of the character Momoha and a singer on "A Happy Life" in the Manabi Straight! anime) to create entirely new songs when ordinary computer users type lyrics and musical notes. Three demo songs are available on Hatsune's official webpage. The Swedish software company PowerFX localized the Vocaloid software for its own English-language singer, Sweet Ann.

Previous virtual idols, such as Kyōko Date, have featured computer-generated looks, but employed regular humans for the actual singing. Similarly, fictional virtual idols in anime, such as Eve Tokimatsuri of Megazone 23 and Sharon Apple of Macross Plus, had humans providing their voices in real life.

Source: Moon Phase

Image © 2007 Crypton Future Media, Inc.