A closer look
Leave it to the Japanese entertainment industry to use Victorian-era haunted house magic to make thousands of people scream for a vocal synthesizer. Everyone calls her a "hologram," but Miku is actually just a brilliant 2D projection on a specialized, hyper-expensive transparent polymer screen. By angling the projection perfectly and hiding the edges in the darkness of the stage, the light creates an illusion of 3D depth. It is a stunning testament to human imagination that a 150-year-old parlor trick can make a turquoise-haired software program look like the biggest pop star on earth.
