Hatsune Miku, Virtual Machine-Woman

Bibliographic Data

ID20057787
AuthorsYuji Sone (0000-0001-8122-875X, Macquarie University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Pages139-166
Publication date2017-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueJapanese Robot Culture (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan US (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/978-1-137-52527-7_6
OpenAlexW2561201014
ISBN9781137525277
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited27

This chapter discusses a popular Pygmalion fantasy in the Japanese context, that is, the creation of an ideal woman, by examining the virtual singing performance of Hatsune Miku. Hatsune Miku is software that combines synthesised singing with an illustrated girl character. For its male fans, Hatsune Miku embodies the metonymical aural and visual signs of femininity. Fans within the otaku subculture manipulate and control the figure and its outputs through this software and related packages, which can generate images and music videos featuring the character. As scholars indicate, these productions can actually stimulate sexual arousal for hard-core fans. This chapter explores the darker side of the modernist fantasy of technologised progress by considering the figures of the robot and the woman in terms of themes of control and subjugation within the otaku subculture

Acoustics · Aesthetics · Art · Fantasy · Femininity · Girl · Literature · Singing · Sociology · Visual arts · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Cinema and Media Studies · Gender Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Psychology

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