Wiki Wednesday #102 - 金歌トラ / Kanaka Tora
Hurrah hurray! Continuity is messed up because I have to break up the last few articles because they were all from the same family. So, I'm in bed writing this. I've been doing this off and on tonight. Last night? Since I woke up, or something.
Anyway, I'm done with that one family. This UTAU is second fiddle to one named Usagi who won't be covered for probably… a year? Or so? Her voice provider said stuff would be done for Usagi around 2021, and this article was written in 2020. I'm going to keep pushing it further and further out because using my computer gives me anxiety right now. That's why I'm on my phone!
Who is Tora Kanaka?
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| Official Art from Website |
Alright, so the information on Tora's website is a bit spartan. So, I googled her to find the Fandom page and… oh, sweet child. You want to pat the baby on the head and say, "I didn't see anything. Let's go back to the website."
We grow and mature with age. There's nothing wrong with the information on her fandom page. It's standard stuff you'd see in most overseas Forgotten Friday articles. But the jump in art style and coherence lets you see how both the UTAU and the manager have grown. That makes me happy!
Tora wanted to become an idol, and then she did! That's why she's always singing for you. You hit up her talent agency, hired a singer, they chose her, and now she's singing for you!
Her design has absolutely adorable and riffs on stereotypical vocal synth clothes. Her arm warmers are composed of two green cuffs, one on her upper arm and one on her wrist. Between the cuffs is sheer black fabric. She has the gogo boots, but they have a stripe running from her knee to her toes and a green circle in the place where Chuck Taylor's have a circle.
She is a nekomimi with light brown ears. Her ears match her hair, which looks to be knee length. Her hair could be in twin tails, or it could just be parted the way it is in her official art because she's jumping. Anime hair doesn't need to make sense!
A lot of effort went into her color scheme. It works perfectly by choosing analogous colors. So, I'm big on color theory. It's not a skill I learned, I just instantly know what is generally pleasing as a general rule. Learning about it allows me to properly vocalize how I feel.
Her outfit is green. All of the parts that aren't black are green. Unless I was being informative like this, I'd say it was green. But, it's not! One side note - ask ten people what the color "mint" is and you'll get twelve answers. (Seriously, I won't give you just one answer to what mint is. But this is one of the colors I'd call mint, especially when paired with lime.)
Her dress and the main non-black portion of her boots are mint. (Mint is generally less saturated, but only generally. Some sites say that mint is actually closer to forest. Seriously, no consensus.) Mint is such a nice color that gives our eyes a rest. However, using only mint would be a bit boring for a pop idol. That's why Tora has lime green accents. They are close enough in hue that they don't stand out in a way that is noticeable. If you stare long enough, of course it's very obvious that the accents are there. But at first glance, the colors are close enough that you get a sense of green without being alerted to something being off. The difference between the cool mint and the warm lime is like, it's hard to make the words well at this moment, but I love it. It is so expertly chosen. And the hair and the skin don't clash at all, even though those get a pass with character design most of the time.
I really, really like the design. Oh, and she's twenty-four years old.
How are Tora Kanaka's banks?
I had four Tora banks on my computer, but I deleted the one not in distribution on her site. I mean, it was taken off the site for a reason!
Let's start with the first one chronologically: Winter append.
Winter append is based on Elsa from frozen. The design is adorable. It is a one pitch CV bank.
The OTOs are horrifically bad, but this is a bank from 2014. Tora was really new at the point, and we're all bad at OTOs at first. Winter was called choppy on the distribution page, and the reason was the bad OTO file.
If you are looking for a soft and sweet 2010 bank with more consistent pronunciation and a better microphone, this is it. It sums up that era so well, even if it came from an entirely different age. There are issues, but I still love it.
Next is her CV 2. Another one pitch CV. It is a stronger version of Winter, therefore it sounds less noisy.
Finally, we have her VCV. It is one pitch and romaji encoded. It is roughly five years older than the other banks if I am not horrific at math. OTOs are garbage, sadly. But you know what? I love this little tiger, and I'll fix them up.
I'm being extra and doing two different clips for this one, because I want to show off how good she is when she's fixed up! No sliding here! So many lessons have been learned since the old banks, as the voice provider has learned a lot since 2014.
For the second clip, I'm going to delete the FRQ, change to a different wavtool and resampler, and then remake the FRQ. I never do that. It is against the rules of the blog. But, I just want to show her at her absolute best and stunning!
This bank feels voice acted, likely to differentiate it from Usagi. It feels entirely different to the 2014 banks, but at the same time, it still gives that 2010 vibe. Only, way better recordings and a way better microphone.
Where can I download Tora Kanaka?
You can download her from her website. I love her.
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