Forgotten Friday #139 - v.g.mのルキ / Ruki

 I think this is the last article for a bit that has more than one bank! And even though it has more than one, it only has two. So yay!

Forgotten Friday #139 - v.g.mのルキ / Ruki

On the visual archive, the name is just Ruki, but on the website, Ruki is just the subtitle following “紫蜜庵”. I don’t know what that means. 

I actually adore the biography and design of this UTAU, but there is one major issue: the name. Though the name is longer on the menu on the website and on the URL, it’s listed as just Ruki on the Visual Archive and the biography itself on the website.

But, ya know how it is. Some UTAUs just have traits that will ban them from ever reaching notability. It’s lame, but that’s life.

Who is Ruki?

Official Art from Bank

I love this UTAU’s story and design. I learned what “onee” is in an LGBT context. It’s like James Charles calling everyone sister, because it is literally the word sister and can apply to effeminate dudes. (Is James Charles relevant or accepted? I think in all of the drama, it was the dang grown adults attacking him and he proved he was innocent. But I barely followed it then and I really don’t follow it now.)

The colors are a bit muted in the design, and I don’t know if that’s an artistic choice or if those are the actual colors chosen for his design. His outfit is pretty dope and looks comfy. He wears a maroon jacket with a belt. Under that is a grey sweater covering a white collared shirt.  He has buckled on the cuffs of his jacket’s sleeves that match the belt. The sleeves of the sweater poke out from underneath the jacket, and his nails are painted black. He wears charcoal skinny jeans and has those boots with the fur.

Quick sidenote: there are two separate women being described in the “Apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur” song. Each rapper is taking turns describing their ideal woman.

He wears glasses, and I can’t tell how his hair is meant to be read. It’s possible that the red light is just atmospheric, but it looks like he has purple hair with brown roots, as if it is dyed. There’s a little ponytail in the back saying “hello!” when you spot it. 

Ruki is a bisexual vampire who was turned when he was trying to find a way to bring back his deceased lover… I mean, that’s what Google Translate says. And that’s really cool! I love stories where you learn why people are who they are, and they are who they are because of love. 

He is a good homemaker and will eternally be twenty-four years old in appearance. He likes rabbits and reading, but he hates yogurt. 

So, I struggled a lot with picking a “favorite book” when I was younger. I had a habit of reading things from the “required reading list” (they weren’t required in my state, the list was only there so that kids wouldn’t learn Othello four years in a row. Teachers couldn’t pick any books to teach that were assigned to higher grades.) The other stuff I read tended to be kind of trash, like Jodi Picoult novels, once I got to high school.

But, picking a favorite book from the required reading list was looked down upon by the learned scholars. It implied you read what you were told to read and that was it. Picking a YA novel was frowned upon. Picking fun trash was frowned upon.

As much as I love Flannery, after years of soul-searching… Screw you, learned scholars. My favorite book is Twilight. 

How are Ruki's banks?

Ruki has a one pitch VCV and a three pitch VCV with the pitches A3, C4, and E4. He also has a whisper version of A3.

Again, this UTAU has no reason in their personality to be bold and brash, but just like Murasaki... They are a fair bit yelly. I don't know if the voice provider was a guy or a girl, but it sounds a fair bit like a woman struggling to make her voice sound masculine. It could have been a young guy, but that's just what it sounds like for reference. The bank is pretty high quality, but that voice type has a bit of limited appeal.

Next we have Blooming Wisteria, the three pitch VCV. Just like Murasaki, the pitches blend perfectly. But, also just like Murasaki, the design and personality don't really match the voice. I have a really hard time figuring out how this is different form Murasaki because I believe they have the same voice provider, doing really similar voices. Like, Ruki's voice fits Ruki's design by an order of magnitudes better than Murasaki's fits. And this is a high quality bank! It's all "hmm", you know?

Where can I download Ruki?

You can download him from his distribution page. If you like Kanipan type voicebanks, you will love this bank. But if you don't like banks that sound like women trying very hard to sound like men (regardless of if they are men or not, because it's the sound not the voice provider kind of deal), then this will not really make you happy.