Forgotten Friday #14 - 無音シグ / Muon Shigu

Who is 無音シグ? Where can I download Shigu Muon? Who is Muon Shigu?

Forgotten Friday #14 - 無音シグ / Muon Shigu

I actually have no memory of Muon Shigu. When searching his romanized name, only two YouTube videos come up. Both are medley choruses that contain a lot of UTAUs, so I'm not alone in having no idea who this guy is!

Who is Shigu Muon?

Official Art Packaged with Bank

Wiki Wednesday #5 - 泡沫アヤ / Utakata Aya

Who is Utakata Aya? Where can I download 泡沫アヤ? How many banks does Aya Utakata have?

Wiki Wednesday #5 - 泡沫アヤ / Utakata Aya

At certain times, I am bad at words. Please imagine me gesturing wildly at this audio as you listen to it.

When you search either Utakata Aya's romanized name or her official name on YouTube and then set it to sort by a specific criteria, you only get one video. It has nothing at all to do with UTAU.

And my honest question is how?! This UTAU, when used correctly, is super duper amazingly awesome!

Who is Aya Utakata?

Official Art Packaged with Bank

Forgotten Friday #13 卵音マヨ / Tamagone Mayo

Where can I download 卵音マヨ? Who is Mayo Tamagone? Is it a joke on egg salad?

Forgotten Friday #13 卵音マヨ / Tamagone Mayo

I know better than to blindly trust the UTAU Wikia, as Japanese users have come out saying that it fabricates nonsense on occasion, but I'll make an exception. According to Mayo's Wikia page, she is a tiny android that likes hiding in refrigerators. It makes her sick, but she still does it. And no one knows why she likes refrigerators. 

Who is Tamagone Mayo?

Official Art Packaged with Bank

Yen-Mi's UTAUs: Ami, Yumi, and BAI-F0 - An Investigation

Are these UTAUs really named Ami and Yumi? Who is Ichikawa Ami? Who is BAI-F0?

Yen-Mi's UTAUs, Ami, Yumi, and BAI-F0  - An Investigation

Note: I will openly admit that there's no actual reason I should be writing about these UTAUs. They are too new to be forgotten, to popular for Wiki Wednesday, and there's technically only two UTAU characters and not enough to justify calling this an "investigation". But, I have a family history of addiction and I'm dealing with some mental stuff right now. I have a shopping addiction, but no money. One of the ways I've helped with my addiction to shopping is to turn it around and get addicted over acquiring something free - UTAUs. I decided to randomly search UTAU音源 on BowlRoll and downloaded ones that kind of stuck out to me and I could somehow justify slipping in. This was TMI, but I really just wanted to tell everyone about the new BowlRoll thing I'll be playing around with.

Ok, now on to the article! 

The biggest mystery to me in starting this investigation was just who the heck is Yen-Mi? 

The website is written partially in English and partially in Japanese with the banner at the bottom announcing it is a Weebly website in Spanish. Her Twitter is mostly in English with a bit of Japanese mixed in. Though, she admits that she isn't fluent in Japanese as her bio states that she wants to learn it. When you visit her art tumblr, she states she is from the Canary Islands. (Quick aside her art is amazing and I love it.) The Canary Islands are a set of islands controlled by Spain. This conflicts with the fact that she states her UTAUs are recorded in Africa until you realize that Spanish rule be danged, those islands are really close to Africa and are sometimes considered African. (note: her dA, which I only found through BAI-F0's ReadMe, states she is from Western Sahara.)

So, all of that is to say that Yen-Mi is an amazing artist who lives in a Spanish controlled territory off of the coast of Africa. That's why her UTAUs were recorded in Africa but her outlook email has a Spanish domain. (Or not, I'm not sure what to do with the info from her dA.) 

I have a feeling literally no one cares, but it was a big, confusing mystery to me! Anyway, on to the UTAUs.

Who is Ichikawa Ami / 市川アミ?

Official Art Packaged with Bank

Forgotten Friday #12 - 転鳴エルヴィ / Corona Elvy

Who is Corona Elvy? How can I download 転鳴エルヴィ? Are you sure it's not Korona Eruvi?

Forgotten Friday #12 - 転鳴エルヴィ / Corona Elvy

note: the name is often romanized as LV, but the nicopedia has it listed as Elvy. I'm sticking with the one that is more "name like".

Sometimes, I want to say something and I know it will be controversial. I know better, but I do it anyway.

I like to imagine that Elvy's creator, Piropino, is a lot like what would happen if Chris-chan was left alone to have fun doing silly things. Elvy has four genderbends, and all of their art is very stylized in a way that isn't very popular. 

Piropino himself loves video games to the point that his description on his blog is taken up mostly by his favorite Pokemon and video game characters. (Yoshi and Luigi, by the way.)

Who is Corona Elvy?

Elvy, two variations of Euipie, two variations of Little Eupie, Walubi, and Ai
Official art packaged with bank

Wiki Wednesday #4 - Chie Koizumi / 千恵小泉

Who is Chie Koizumi? Where can I download 千恵 小泉? Who made Koizumi Chie?

Wiki Wednesday #4 - Chie Koizumi / 千恵小泉

Let me start by saying HOW?! How does this UTAU only have one video on YouTube? This bank is so adorable. Let me get out of the way that it is a one pitch CV bank. That has something to do with it, of course. I like the bank so much I commented on the voice provider's release video asking if she was considering VCV. (She is thinking about it, but she needs to fit making it around her college schedule.)

As always, I'm saving embedding the sample until later in the article. But boy howdy! Brace yourself for adorableness.

Forgotten Friday #11 猫歌すすき / Nekoga Susuki

Who is Nekoga Susuki? How can I download 猫歌すすき? What is Susuki Nekoga?

Forgotten Friday #11 猫歌すすき / Nekoga Susuki

I've been saying it a lot lately, but my tastes are extremely subjective. What I adore in a bank is a fatal flaw to other users.

Today in "Mae's tastes are weird", we have an adorable UTAU that sounds like a perfect little angel singing through a little tin can. (Or, in other words, a really muffled bank.)

Who is Nekoga Susuki?

Official Art Packaged with Bank

The UTAU Collective, Fractured Hope Co. - An Investigation

What is Fractured Hope Co.? How can I download Hannah's Regret? Who is Masha Moonspeak?

The UTAU Collective, Fractured Hope Co. - An Investigation

There are two main camps of UTAU users. For the first, UTAUs are a tiny part of ourselves that we work on and share with the world. For others, UTAUs are OCs. Neither side is right or wrong, it's just a difference in thought process.

A group that exemplifies the UTAUs are OCs concept is Fractured Hope Co. While being overseas UTAU users, Fractured Hope Co feels completely alien to the English speaking community. The active members of Fractured Hope Co are all from Belarus. However, I assume other users were from other former Soviet Bloc countries before Fractured Hope Co consolidated its membership. Their story is quite interesting and demonstrates how hurtful bullying can be.

I don't know anything about their past beyond what they wrote, but the bullying deeply impacted their drive in a good way. Their site is beautiful and responsive with detailed backstories and plenty of art.

I would love to go through and showcase all of their UTAUs, but . . .

There are over fifty UTAU demo videos on their YouTube channel. Some of those demos introduce more than one UTAU. For that reason, I'm going to watch every video, find those that snatch my wig, and then write about those banks. 

The entire reason I began this investigation was Emmanuelle BluR.

Official Art from UTAU Wiki
Art by Sightseed

The design stuck out to me. However, as Emmanuelle is a former member of Fractured Hope Co, I'll leave it at the design snatched my wig. I will focus on the voice and not the design for the most part, but golly they are good at designs.

Anyway! Let's go!

Forgotten Friday #10 - 餡知モン / Anchimon

Who is Anchi Mon? What does Anchimon mean? How can I download 餡知モン?

Forgotten Friday #10 - 餡知モン / Anchimon

Again, I'm cheating a bit. Anchimon does have a video on YouTube from 2017. But, it's from a Japanese user and it's a chorus. Besides, who doesn't love hearing about Anchimon?! I really liked Chemistry in high school, so an UTAU named after an element (Antimony) appealed to me.

But I'm going to be completely honest - my memories of this UTAU are a weird composite of random other UTAUs. When I saw the official art packaged with the voicebank, I felt really, really confused.

. . . huh?

I remember using him, and I remember him singing "Under the Darkness" at some point, but I literally can't find any proof of either.