Article: Miku Hatsune - Birth of a virtual idol

Anime appearances

With success swirling all around her, it was perhaps inevitable that Miku Hatsune would find her way into the world of anime eventually, and at the time of writing her characters has squeezed in cameos in a number of shows.

Her first appearance (complete with Saki Fujita as her voice actor) came in an episode Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, as Miku appears to audition in a sketch involving an attempt to find a voice for the usually mute, mobile phone toting Meru.

At the start of this year, Miku Hatsune was employed to sing a version of the series Akikan's ending theme for the final episode of that show, while the episode in question also featured a new character named Miku which seemed to be something of a nod to the virtual diva.  Ironically, Miku was voiced in this episode by none other than Megumi Nakajima, who has since been granted a Vocaloid character of her own.

Miku herself doesn't make an appearance in the one-off Lucky Star OVA, but her character is reprised by a fabulous cosplay turn thrust upon Kagami Hiiragi - An incident which has since influenced the release of a couple of figures depicting Kagami in full Miku get-up (leeks and all).

Miku Hatsune has also made other random appearances within anime, not least an unexplained cameo in the final episode of Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo.

With this flurry of activity, you might be wondering why Miku Hatsune is yet to gain an anime series of her own.  Well, wonder no more, with the past week bringing forth the announcement of a Black Rock Shooter anime series which will see a pilot episode released at the end of September 2009 followed by a full series next spring.  Although not strictly a series about Miku herself, Black Rock Shooter started its life as a song performed by Miku Hatsune, but composed by ryo and with a character very loosely based on Miku by huke (members of artistic collective Supercell), and its huge popularity has led to the creation of a series overseen by staff who have previously worked on the likes of Kannagi, Lucky Star and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.