Let's All Love Miku (A Hatsune Miku Anniversary Retrospective)

August 30, 2026

This year, I had the honor of seeing Miku Expo live in Boston on the 10th of May. It was genuinely one of the most magical experiences of my life. I’m not really a concert goer, and the ones I have been to were nothing compared to what Miku Expo was like. The second my dad pulled up to the venue, I felt an immediate wave of familiarity wash over me. It was so incredible seeing such a big, diverse group of people all connected under one shared passion: VOCALOID. I had so many people excitedly point at my cosplay of Miku from the music video for ‘Static’, compliments on my ita bag– and of course I did my fair share of fawning over my fellow fans (shoutout to the freebies I got, and the lovely person in the pit who gave me a piece of confetti to bring home!)

I was honestly really shocked I didn’t cry when I was there, but I also think I did my fair share of crying before the concert– especially to (what I think was) the star song of the show, CONNECT:COMMUNE. As somebody who basically grew up on the internet, CONNECT:COMMUNE’s message really resonated with me. Growing up with essentially the entire world at your fingertips most certainly does some… damage. And I won’t pretend the internet is this perfect, holy grail of a place. I think people have done enough of the opposite. Instead, I can’t help but think about all the bonds made possible because of the internet. Humans are inherently social creatures. No matter where we are, no matter what we’re doing, even the most introverted of people (such as myself!) have the thought subconsciously floating in their minds: I want to connect with other people about this. My closest friends today live miles away from me, and I wouldn’t have met them without the internet. I would not have met them if it wasn’t for the fact that humans looked at the distance we have between each other, and thought, “I want to bridge that”. If it wasn’t for the fact that I looked at what I enjoyed doing and needed to know that others enjoyed and loved this too.

VOCALOID as a whole is something that has brought me a huge sense of community in my time on the internet. Funnily enough, though, the internet wasn’t even what introduced me to VOCALOID: my friend in elementary school had the anthology manga by Kei (Miku’s original artist). I really thought she was just a manga character! Obviously, afterwards, I took to the internet to learn more– and that’s where I was really introduced to the wonderful world of VOCALOID. I was blown away by the sheer amount of creativity required to keep this community going. It was seriously incredible for little me, who was constantly told off for drawing on her assignments, and thought she was the next lyrical genius for making a shitty Minecraft parody of the pop song of the year. Hatsune Miku as a character has essentially become the VOCALOID community’s shared muse, in a way. She’s the reason so many people strive to create, and strive to give love to those that create. VOCALOID is something that only exists because of passion and community. For someone who spent so many of my younger years feeling alienated and isolated from other people my age, that meant the entire world to me.

Soon enough, Miku will be twenty years old… I guess she’s eternally sixteen, but you get what I mean. It’s strange to think that I’ve already surpassed her marketing age. Miku’s already waved me off to the next stage of my life, while she remains right where she always is. …. That’s not entirely accurate, though. Thanks to the way the VOCALOID community operates, I think Miku is also constantly going through the next stages of her life. She’s never stagnant, despite the fact that she is, technically, eternally sixteen years old. The love the VOCALOID community gives her lets her constantly change and grow, taking on new forms that are unique to the people that love her. There’s something really poetic about that, I think.

Thank you for nineteen years, Miku. Where would I be without you? Miku Expo was one of the most unforgettable moments of my life… and here’s to hopefully many, many more. Let’s keep connecting.