Hatsune Miku now MCU canon after Vocaloid song in Guardians of the Galaxy 3

Hatsune Miku has officially made her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after a Vocaloid song appeared in its latest feature film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!)

Guardians of the Galaxy launched its third (and seemingly final) installment over the weekend, successfully sending off its beloved cast of characters in an emotionally-charged finale.

The highly-anticipated superhero flick was filled to the brim with content for hardcore fans of the Marvel comics. From Rocket’s tragic (and frankly, traumatic) backstory to the long-awaited inclusion of Cosmo the Spacedog and even the appearance of Howard the Duck, there’s a lot here for die-hard Marvel lovers to enjoy.

However, one of its more understated references seems to have gone under the radar for most moviegoers — and that’s the fact that it includes a Vocaloid song.

Vocaloids are an AI-based technology created by Yamaha that basically act as digital singers. This tool is especially useful for electronic music producers, a few of whom have based their careers off of creating songs using Vocaloids.

There are a ton of Vocaloid singers in existence right now after the program was first launched in 2003. Each ‘singer’ has their own program, and the most famous of these is Hatsune Miku.

Eagle-eyed (or should we say, eagle-eared) viewers might have noticed a familiar voice during two particular segments of the movie. After the gang first lands on Counter-Earth, Starlord and co. attempt to communicate with The High Evolutionary’s society of furries — whoops, anthropomorphic animal-humanoids — with varying degrees of success.

Yes, that was Miku you heard in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

While the group tries to converse with a family of bat-people in their (delightfully retro) home, a Vocaloid song can be heard playing over a record-player before getting shut off by the bat-dad, who seems a bit put out at his strange houseguests’ sudden intrusion.

The song makes a second appearance over the radio in the family’s car, which is subsequently commandeered by Starlord, Groot and Nebula as they make their way to the High Evolutionary’s cubelike pad for a ‘Face-Off.’

Yes, that is Miku’s voice you heard in the song, which is called ‘Koinu no Carnival’, or ‘Puppy Carnival’ in English. The tune actually includes 50 Vocaloids and was first released in 2017 as part of the ClassicaLoid Musik Collection. The track was based on Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin’s Minute Waltz, which is also known as ‘Valse du Petit Chien’ — ‘Waltz of the Little Dog.’

The lyrics are all about different breeds of dogs and how cute they are. We can’t think of a more adorable Vocaloid song to be included in a Marvel movie. (But let’s be real — we’d also love to see Miku kick bad-guy booty along with the Avengers using a giant leek. How awesome would that be?)

You can check out the rest of our Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 coverage below:

Best Easter Eggs | Pete Davidson cameo | Who dies? | Counter-Earth explained | Number of post-credits scenes | Avengers: Infinity War reference | Phyla-Vell explained | Is Yondu in GOTG 3? | Chris Pratt wants to return | Lylla, Teef and Floor explained | Does Rocket die? | Doctor Moreau influence | Adam Warlock, hero or villain? | High Evolutionary explained | Soundtrack details | Description of post-credit scenes | All actors and characters | Runtime explained | Why Rocket is the MVP | Is it streaming? | What is Blurp? | Ending explained | GOTG movies ranked | Will there be a Vol 4?