Hatsune Miku ’07–’09 Impacts – CD & DVD First Press Editions / Preservation Project

The more energetic companion to Memories, bringing together some of the songs, memes, animations and experimental works that made early Hatsune Miku culture distinctive.

Together, the releases document the more immediate, experimental and internet-driven side of Hatsune Miku’s formative period. Where Memories leans towards melodic and reflective works, Impacts contains many of the songs and videos that became viral landmarks of early Vocaloid and Nico Nico Douga culture.

Summary

Released on 26 August 2009 alongside Hatsune Miku Best ’07–’09 Memories, Impacts forms the second half of an early retrospective of Hatsune Miku’s first two years. The album contains 17 tracks and runs for approximately 58 minutes.

The distinction between the two compilations is reflected in their selections. Memories generally favours melodic and emotionally resonant material, while Impacts emphasises songs with a stronger immediate impact, including humorous works, internet phenomena and some of the most recognisable early Vocaloid compositions.

Its creators include ika, OSTER project, supercell, livetune, LamazeP, doriko, minato and others who helped establish the rapidly developing Vocaloid producer scene. The selection also demonstrates how little separation existed between serious musical production and internet culture: elaborate compositions sit alongside novelty songs, memes and works whose popularity was inseparable from their accompanying videos.

Hatsune Miku DVD Impacts followed on 10 February 2010 alongside DVD Memories. Its 13 videos extend the same concept into animation and PV production, preserving works ranging from conventional music videos to pixel animation, comedy and experimental fan-created visuals. The original fold-out poster supplied with the DVD doubles as an illustrated programme for all 13 videos.

Important Tracks & Videos

Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru♪ [Shite Yan yo] – ika feat. Hatsune Miku

One of the foundational songs in Hatsune Miku history. Released shortly after the software itself in 2007, it became one of the earliest Miku songs to achieve enormous popularity on Nico Nico Douga.

The title plays directly with the name Miku, and the song helped establish the idea of Hatsune Miku as a character and performer rather than simply a software instrument.

The DVD preserves a separate pixel-art PV of the song by ika / Yokota.

Koi Suru VOC@LOID – OSTER project feat. Hatsune Miku

One of OSTER project’s defining early works and an important example of songs written from the perspective of Miku herself.

Its self-referential treatment of a Vocaloid experiencing emotions towards her producer contributed to the early development of Miku’s characterisation through fan-created music.

Black★Rock Shooter – supercell feat. Hatsune Miku

One of ryo/supercell’s best-known early compositions. The song was inspired by illustrator huke’s original Black★Rock Shooter character and became an exceptional example of collaboration between music and illustration within the early Vocaloid community.

Black★Rock Shooter subsequently developed into its own multimedia franchise independent of Hatsune Miku.

Ievan Polkka – Otomania feat. Hatsune Miku

One of the most important early Miku internet phenomena despite not being an original Vocaloid composition.

Otomania’s Miku version became closely associated with the fan-created chibi character Hachune Miku, particularly through an animation showing her waving a leek. The combination became one of the earliest widely circulated Hatsune Miku memes and helped establish the leek as a recurring accessory associated with the character.

Last Night, Good Night – livetune feat. Hatsune Miku

One of kz/livetune’s best-known early Miku works. Its polished electronic production demonstrates the musical sophistication that was developing alongside the more playful internet culture represented elsewhere on Impacts.

PoPiPo – LamazeP feat. Hatsune Miku

A quintessential example of early Vocaloid internet culture. Built around Miku enthusiastically promoting vegetable juice, PoPiPo combined a deliberately repetitive song with distinctive animation and choreography.

The DVD includes the associated video by LamazeP and Sunafuki Tabito.

Koi wa Sensou (Love is War) – supercell feat. Hatsune Miku

Another major ryo composition from Miku’s formative period, accompanied by imagery created by supercell illustrator Shirou Miwa.

Its aggressive rock arrangement and striking visual presentation contrasted strongly with Miku’s original bright character artwork and demonstrated how freely creators could reinterpret her.

magnet – minato (RyuseiP) feat. Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka

A particularly significant duet between Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka, who had only been released in January 2009.

The song became one of the best-known early Vocaloid duets and represents the increasingly important interaction between different Crypton Vocaloid characters.

Romeo and Cinderella – doriko feat. Hatsune Miku

One of doriko’s best-known Miku compositions and a major song from 2009. Its inclusion demonstrates that Impacts was not restricted to novelty or meme-driven works, but also collected ambitious original Vocaloid pop.

Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro – Hachi feat. Hatsune Miku

Included on the DVD, this is an important early work by Hachi, the producer identity used by Kenshi Yonezu during his Vocaloid period.

Its Japanese folk-inspired sound and unsettling visual imagery made it particularly distinctive among contemporary Miku works. Hachi would subsequently become one of the most notable musicians to emerge from the Vocaloid producer community.

*Hello, Planet. – sasakure.UK feat. Hatsune Miku

One of sasakure.UK’s best-known early Vocaloid works. Its intentionally simple pixel-art presentation contrasts with its melancholic narrative, making the video particularly representative of the creative experimentation taking place on Nico Nico Douga.

CD Track List – MHCL-1568

intro Ran Ran Ruu – OSTER project feat. Hatsune Miku
Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru♪ [Shite Yan yo] – ika feat. Hatsune Miku
Koi Suru VOC@LOID – OSTER project feat. Hatsune Miku
Sukoshi Tanoshiku Naru Jihou – 19’s Sound Factory feat. Hatsune Miku
Hato – Kazami Ren feat. Hatsune Miku
Black★Rock Shooter – supercell feat. Hatsune Miku
Ievan Polkka (Replica ver.) – Otomania feat. Hatsune Miku
Last Night, Good Night – livetune feat. Hatsune Miku
PoPiPo – LamazeP feat. Hatsune Miku
Houkou Onchi – Agoaniki feat. Hatsune Miku
Koi wa Sensou – supercell feat. Hatsune Miku
Kimi wo Nosete – AsataroP feat. Hatsune Miku
magnet – minato (RyuseiP) feat. Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka
Romeo and Cinderella – doriko feat. Hatsune Miku
Salaryman no Uta – Ayane xion feat. Hatsune Miku
outro Fuu, Arigato! Pekori♪ – Deadball-P loves Hatsune Miku
Hikyou Sentai Urotander – Shin-P feat. MEIKO, KAITO, Miku, Rin & Len – Special Track

The final track is notable for expanding beyond Miku herself to include MEIKO, KAITO, Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len.

DVD Programme – MHBL-146

Gekido of Hatsune – PonpokoP feat. Hatsune Miku
PoPiPo – LamazeP / Sunafuki Tabito feat. Hatsune Miku
Hachune Miku wo Fuyashite Mita. – Otomania / Kumazou feat. Hatsune Miku
Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro – Hachi feat. Hatsune Miku
Koi wa Sensou – supercell feat. Hatsune Miku
Turkish March - Owata＼(^o^)／ – OwataP / y0641983 feat. Hatsune Miku
[Pixel Art] Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru♪ – ika / Yokota feat. Hatsune Miku
Koiiro Byoutou – OSTER project / Y-Oji feat. Hatsune Miku
Kasoukyoku – No.D / Yuujin Ueno feat. Hatsune Miku
*Hello, Planet. – sasakure.UK feat. Hatsune Miku
VOiCE – LovelyP / Nyohoho feat. Hatsune Miku
Convenience Store – cokesi / Yunomi feat. Hatsune Miku
Hato – Kazami Ren / brother feat. Hatsune Miku

The DVD runs for approximately 51 minutes.

The surviving original poster provides unusually useful documentation. One side carries the full-size Impacts Miku illustration, while its reverse presents all 13 videos with individual images, creator credits and accompanying notes.

Release & Version Details

Hatsune Miku Best ’07–’09 Impacts – MHCL-1568

Impacts was released in Japan on 26 August 2009 simultaneously with Memories (MHCL-1567).

The two albums were conceived as complementary compilations rather than sequential volumes. Impacts concentrates particularly strongly on works whose music, concepts or accompanying videos had made an immediate impression within the rapidly expanding Hatsune Miku community.

The preserved first-production copy retains its illustrated outer slipcase and original A2 fold-out poster.

The poster carries a large Miku illustration surrounded by chains and is explicitly branded Hatsune Miku Best ’07–’09 Impacts. Its visual treatment is substantially darker than the corresponding Memories artwork, reinforcing the deliberate contrast between the companion releases.

Hatsune Miku DVD Impacts – MHBL-146

The DVD was released on 10 February 2010 alongside Hatsune Miku DVD Memories (MHBL-145).

The first-production edition included a serial-numbered card in addition to its special physical presentation. The DVD is NTSC Region 2 and contains approximately 51 minutes of material.

The preserved copy retains its original illustrated slipcase and large fold-out poster.

As with DVD Memories, the poster is more than a decorative inclusion. The front carries a full-size Miku illustration, while the reverse functions as a programme sheet identifying and describing all 13 videos. The insert is explicitly branded Hatsune Miku DVD impacts.

Why It’s Significant

If Memories demonstrates how quickly Hatsune Miku developed into a credible vehicle for independent music, Impacts demonstrates something equally important: how closely her success was tied to internet culture.

The compilation includes polished electronic music, rock, ballads and sophisticated original compositions, but it also embraces absurdist humour, memes, derivative animation and songs whose popularity cannot easily be separated from Nico Nico Douga.

Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru♪, Ievan Polkka and PoPiPo are especially important examples. Their influence extended beyond their recordings into animations, character jokes and visual motifs that helped audiences collectively develop the informal personality associated with Hatsune Miku.

The DVD makes this relationship even clearer. Rather than presenting only professionally produced promotional films, it preserves markedly different approaches to online video creation: pixel art, 3D animation, hand-drawn work, comedy and more conventional music-video production all coexist within the same official release.

It also preserves work by creators whose influence extended far beyond this period. Hachi later became internationally successful under his own name, Kenshi Yonezu, while ryo, kz, OSTER project, doriko and sasakure.UK became important figures in Vocaloid and Japanese popular music.

For preservation purposes, Impacts therefore represents more than an early Hatsune Miku greatest-hits collection. It is a physical record of the unusual online ecosystem from which Vocaloid culture emerged.

Preservation Notes

Complete first-production copies should retain the illustrated outer packaging and their respective original fold-out posters.

The CD poster is a large-format illustration specifically branded Hatsune Miku Best ’07–’09 Impacts. The DVD poster has additional archival importance because its reverse serves as an illustrated guide to the complete DVD programme.

Both posters were originally supplied folded, so regular factory fold lines are expected even on unused examples.

The card outer cases are particularly susceptible to rubbing, edge wear, creasing, crushing and fading. Exposure to strong sunlight should be avoided because deterioration of the pale watercolour-style artwork can be especially noticeable.

The original serial-number components associated with these releases also illustrate a problem increasingly encountered when preserving late-2000s physical media: the physical component can survive long after the online service or bonus content it accessed has disappeared.

Keeping the outer packaging, inserts and posters together with the discs therefore provides a substantially more complete record of the releases than preservation of the optical media alone.

Trivia & Interesting Facts

Impacts and Memories were released simultaneously on 26 August 2009, five days before the second anniversary of Hatsune Miku’s original release.

The Impacts CD contains 17 tracks and runs for approximately 58 minutes.

The two albums were deliberately differentiated. Contemporary descriptions characterised Memories as the more mellow selection, while Impacts emphasised songs with particularly strong hooks and immediate impact.

Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru♪ was already a major Nico Nico Douga phenomenon by the time the compilation appeared and is one of the works most closely associated with Miku’s initial explosion in popularity.

The CD’s Ievan Polkka preserves one of Miku’s earliest internet memes and the origins of her enduring association with a leek.

magnet is unusual within the compilation because it prominently pairs Miku with Megurine Luka rather than presenting Miku alone.

The DVD includes Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro by Hachi, the Vocaloid producer identity of future singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu.

The DVD also preserves Hello, Planet., an early sasakure.UK work whose pixel-art presentation demonstrates how comparatively simple visual techniques could become an integral part of a Vocaloid song’s identity.

Hatsune Miku DVD Impacts reached No. 7 on Oricon’s weekly DVD chart and remained ranked for five weeks.

The CD and DVD posters use different illustrations but share the Impacts identity. The CD artwork depicts Miku against prominent chains, while the DVD artwork presents a brighter, more energetic Miku reaching towards the viewer.

About the Snows Mini Preservation Project

This item has been documented as part of the Snows Mini Preservation Project, an ongoing effort to preserve and catalogue physical media. Our aim is to record releases, variations and their historical significance for collectors and future enthusiasts. Most items featured in the project form part of our archive and may not be for sale.