Hatsune Miku has been around for nearly two decades at this point, and she’s a veritable anime icon. This is despite the fact that, until 2025, she didn’t have an official anime of her own and existed in a sort of “anime-adjacent” status. Now, however, she’s firmly cemented as one of the medium’s heroes, and she’s using this popularity to help redeem a video game speedster who’s been around for far longer.
Despite being created by Japanese company Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog has never been particularly popular in Japan. This reflects the nature in which he was created, with the rude dude with an attitude meant to counteract a more pleasant plumber. Now, however, he’s finally getting his due in his home country, and Miku is a big part of that.
Hatsune Miku Is Currently at Her Most Popular
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Hatsune Miku
Hatsune Miku is one of the many Vocaloid characters from Crypton Future Media, with these electronic programs being used to sing various songs and remix others with their now familiar voices. The designs for Miku and her friends fit right in with anime, despite the fact that they aren’t technically anime characters. For years, there were several unofficial anime featuring the character, namely, the project titled Black Rock Shooter (based on an image that inspired a song by Miku). Likewise, fan art and similar ventures have seen fans mashing her up with actual video game and anime characters, with their mutual association with leek onions being a uniting factor between Miku and Orihime from the Bleach manga and anime. There have since been countless collectibles released based on Miku, and she’s easily the Vocaloid with the most merchandise.
Some of these items merely feature her or the other Vocaloid singers, while many others are collaborative tie-ins, most of which involve anime and similar brands. For instance, there are now countless Hatsune Miku Sanrio products, with these commonly teaming her up with the lop-eared dog, Cinnamoroll. In fact, Miku interacts with Cinnamoroll far more than she does with Hello Kitty or Kuromi, likely due to their analogous color schemes. There have also been similar crossover collectibles featuring the other Sanrio mascots and Crypton’s other Vocaloids. The year 2025 has been inundated with numerous Hatsune Miku-themed Mobile Suit Gundam offerings, including model kits combining Miku and mecha. Finally, the year has also made her into an anime character once and for all, with the release of the anime movie Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing. A big success in Japan, it’s cemented the Vocaloid as one of the biggest branding hits of the past decade. This is far more the case for her than a Japanese video game icon, however.
Sega’s Biggest Character Was Never Big In Japan
Sonic from Sonic X running.Image via Sega
Sonic the Hedgehog debuted over 30 years ago, and as soon as he hit the scene, he quickly replaced the moribund Alex Kidd as Sega’s mascot. The character definitely helped put Sega on the map in the West, and the success of the original Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy ensured that the Sega Genesis was just as big as its rival console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Conversely, Sonic was neck-and-neck with Nintendo’s Mario, with various ads outright selling the Blue Blur through this rivalry.
This success made perfect sense, as Sonic’s cool attitude and other mechanics were tailor-made for a Western audience. Even the music and designs of the games reflected many trends in the West, with these tunes resembling the New Jack Swing hits of artists such as Bobby Brown, while the visuals had a certain Memphis Milano flair that was reminiscent of shows such as Saved by the Bell. For years to come, Sonic was one of the kings of the industry — but a lot of this success was only felt in the West.
Largely due to how much he was designed for Western tastes, Sonic the Hedgehog was a lot less popular when he debuted in Japan. He simply had too much of a rude attitude to fit into the culture, and this was especially egregious given how other cute animal characters were portrayed in Japan through anime and other mediums. The Sega Mega Drive, the Japanese take on the Genesis, wasn’t as big as the Super Famicom (the Japanese SNES), so Sonic’s initial trilogy had a lot less impact.
Ironically, the Sega Saturn sold much better in Japan than it did in the West, but this console was also notable for lacking a brand-new Sonic title (with the planned Sonic X-Treme ultimately being canceled). The 3D era for the character didn’t change things, and this was also the case in the early 2000s. In fact, the Japanese anime Sonic X was only a hit internationally, and its third and final season didn’t air in Japan until years after it was initially released. The recent Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movies also flopped there, despite their global popularity otherwise.
Thankfully, Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog as a whole is experiencing something of a resurgence in popularity, and this is starting to be felt in Japan. The modern Sonic renaissance arguably began with the success of Sonic Mania in the late 2010s, with this retro-styled title bringing back the classic 2D side-scroller gameplay, graphics and music. This has since continued with the remastered Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations (which combine elements of the 2D and 3D games), the newer Sonic Frontiers (largely considered the best 3D Sonic game) and the newly-released racing title, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.
The latter has already become a well-received hit, and this success, amid the controversy surrounding Mario Kart World and the Nintendo Switch 2 overall, has reignited the Sega/Nintendo rivalry. This racing title, as the name suggests, is also a crossover game, with several “guest” racers being from brands beyond the Sonic games. One character in particular is likely a big part of why the game is actually gaining traction in Japan.
Anime and Vocaloid are Rewriting Sonic’s Japanese Identity
Hatsune Miku is one of the crossover characters in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and this isn’t the only mash-up aspect between the brands. To coincide with the new game, “Project ONSOKU” was launched, with these Hatsune Miku songs being based on the characters and concepts from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. As with just about anything Miku, the album has definitely become popular. This is especially the case in Japan, where Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was rising in the ranks of anticipation before its release.
Many fans in the West were actually shocked at how hyped it was becoming in Japan, with the historical reticence toward the franchise making this turn of events particularly perplexing. This trend arguably began when Sonic Frontiers was such a big hit in Japan, but it’s clear that Miku is helping to make Sonic consistently big in that country.
Now that she’s a true anime character, Hatsune Miku is redefining Sonic as a truly Japanese character. No longer a 1990s Western-style bad boy in the vein of Bart Simpson, Sonic’s presence throughout the world feels more “genuine” in a way that avoids the “cool kid” pandering of the past. This is making him a lot more palatable to Japanese audiences, which explains the somewhat more cutesy interpretations of him there.
For instance, the Sonic & Friends web series and merchandise reimagine Sonic and his allies as cute, chibi-style mascots. Given how much they resemble the many Sanrio characters, it’s no surprise that this take on Sonic’s cast of friends were part of the 2025 Sanrio Character Popularity poll. Conversely, many kids’ manga and manga magazines promoted Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and this level of attention from Japanese youngsters is something that the Sega hero never really had before. In a way, these appearances and crossovers are making Sonic into a “Japanese anime character” in the same way that Colorful Stage! gave this sense of cultural legitimacy to Miku.
Another crossover character in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is Joker from Persona 5, which makes a lot of sense. The Persona and broader Shin Megami Tensei franchise are owned by Atlus, which is now a subsidiary of Sega. Ironically, the Persona games have long boasted an aesthetic similar to the most stylish anime, and there have also been numerous Persona anime adaptations. Thus, having Joker along for the ride continues the “Japanese” feeling of the new Sonic racing game.
The same is the case with the presence of Pac-Man, with the arcade icon being owned by Japanese gaming developer Namco. Pac-Man was definitely more accepted by Japanese audiences than Sonic historically was, but now, they’re both in the same pantheon within the country. A big part of this is the upward trajectory in quality for the modern Sonic games, but it’s impossible to deny the big impact that Hatsune Miku has had on the hedgehog. The two brands will now likely be as synonymous with each other as Miku is with Cinnamoroll and other Sanrio mascots, and the Vocaloid singer’s help has become the proverbial 100th ring that’s given Sonic a second life in Japan.
AloJapan.com