This flash animation depicts the Bleach anime character, Inoue Orihime, twirling a leek set to the traditional Finnish folk song 'Ievan Polkka'. The origin of Hatsune Miku's association with leeks dates back to 2006, when the Loituma Girl (also known as 'Leekspin') flash animation became a popular meme on the Internet. Hatsune Miku's character item is commonly accepted to be the leek, a long, cylindrical, white and green vegetable. For example, while a leek was never part of Hatsune Miku's original character design, it is now not at all uncommon to see official illustrations and figures depicting her holding the white and green vegetable. While not part of the original character design, most popular Vocaloids have a fan designated character item, many of which have become officially recognized by the original maker due to their immense popularity amongst fans. These depictions grew in popularity, occasionally with differences in opinion on which item would suit each character best, the 'Item Wars'. Fans would depict their favorite Vocaloid in art or memes with a certain item, usually based off of their color scheme or assumed personality. The affiliation of Vocaloid characters with certain items has its roots with 'Item Wars' (持ち物戦争, mochimono sensou) that occurred between fans online. This is often a source of confusion for many people who are unfamiliar with Vocaloid characters as the relevance of these items is not immediately obvious. Vocaloid characters are often depicted with a particular item, for example Hatsune Miku is often pictured as holding a leek and Kagamine Rin a mikan orange.

Vocaloid list of characters