Forgotten Friday #140 - v.g.mのマヌー / Manuu

 I was curious, because this is stringed CV, if it could be used as a CVVC. I did run it through moresampler to generate a CVVC OTO, and I do believe if you are willing to mix palatalized consonants and the regular versions, with the exception of "n C" samples, you are able to use it as CVVC! But that was just a silly test, because it was intended to be CV, so I will treat it as CV.

Forgotten Friday #140 - v.g.mのマヌー / Manuu

I love singular they. I even conjugate it to be grammatically correct sometimes. That’s definitely not because I was raised around people who butchered the English language while being completely monolingual… haha…

Seriously, I did some Duolingo and had a few years of Spanish class in elementary school. Had an easier time talking to an old Mexican man who barely spoke English than my own grandfather half of the time. The real problem is that my grandfather doesn’t always wear dentures, but ya know, that’s less humorous.

But, sometimes he becomes default because Google Translate makes it default. Manuu is genderless and asexual. But Google Translate puts “he” in there. I’m going to try and make an effort to use singular they because I believe that Manuu is a three pitch bank with the pitches being labeled as “male, normal, female”. 

The design also makes me think singular they is better because the design is really androgynous. The outfit and curves make the design look male, but the visual symbols included in the face make the design look female.

This isn’t addressed in the biography because gendered pronouns are 50/50 a thing. Because I’m on my chromebook, I don’t know how to type Japanese. So, “kare” is “he”. I believe this is the same as the English singular they in that it’s the default when you don’t know. “Kanojo” is “she”, and only applies to women. “Karera” and “kanojora” make them plural. However, it was explained to me that “kanojora” only applies when every person referred to is a woman. If one man jumps into the mix, it’s “karera”. 

But those don’t really come up as much as you’d think, because once you say someone’s name and they know you’re talking about that person, you can just… not use pronouns or nouns to refer back to them at all. Or just use their name. Japanese is confusing.

Who is Manuu?

Official art from Bank

Their design is so. Freaking. Dope! 

To start, UTAU purple is the purple mostly associated with Defoko. It should be the purple in the UTAU icon, but naw. If you see Defoko, you associate it with UTAU more quickly than actually seeing the icon. (I use the dang thing constantly, and I still had to google it to see what colors were in the icon.) It’s a specific mood of purple - blue-violet and desaturated.

Manuu has a deeper version of UTAU purple. And, I mean, I love purple. I love it way more than anyone would probably expect. I’m wearing a purple shirt right now!

Manuu’s sythe and collared shirt are a slightly desaturated UTAU purple. Their pants and boots (I love boots) are also desaturated, but the shade has been shaded and they are way darker. Their hair and vest are extremely saturated and a bit darker in value. 

Overall, the outfit has a Wild West investment banker look. The vest has that old timey feel, and like, boots. There’s puffed sleeves! There’s even a scarf! It is sadly not apricot - it is plum. (That was an old people music reference!) 

Manuu’s sythe is intense. It even has a glowing gem on it. I feel like it would be extremely impractical for reaping grains, but Manuu is a grim reaper. Specifically, they reap the souls of those who… I.. not touching this one at this moment.

Manuu is one hundred and four years old, with no gender. They are a whimsical soul who just really likes cool and neat things. They don’t like things that are uninteresting. I’m just relaying the Google Translate results. I don’t know if it’s deeper than that.

Manuu loves making sweets. I also really love what I understand their tone to be, but I’m not fully sure. I think that when Manuu is annoyed and wants to openly disrespect someone, they just straight up use the most ridiculous honorifics possible. Like Link saying “well excuUuUuUuse me, princess.” But, when both parties are respectful, they just use the most appropriate honorific at that time. 

I just adore this kid. They even did something super illegal and recovered a human soul by hand!

How is Manuu's bank?

So, unless I'm very bad at reading, this UTAU shares the same voice provider as Ruki and Murasaki. I mean, this is why I should have kept keeping family members apart, but I'm on a time crunch so going nicely in order it is!

I didn't fix the OTOs, but here's the run down. The highest pitch is really nice and I enjoy it. It's meant to be a "girl" bank. It's airy (staticky), and it's just a nice female voice that's just middle of the road. Not deep enough to be mature, not bright enough to be youthful. Just nice. 

The middle pitch just sounds like someone pinching their nose while doing an androgynous voice - like a softer version of SRS's Psycho.

The low pitch is just really, really trying hard to do a male voice. You can hear it in the inflection that they are really, really trying. The main issue is that, well, the samples are extremely short, and voice acting that quickly is really hard. I did a test with my own singing just sitting here. I can do "Amarillo by Morning" and you'll think George Strait is just hanging out in my room. But the second I tried to do it quickly, my throat seized up and I swore it felt like someone was stabbing me. That's why Murasaki and Ruki were "this has the vibe of being a lady doing a guy voice", and this is "oh dang, I can tell you are really trying."

If you like any of those vibes, you are completely free to just only use one pitch from the whole bank. Because, I do feel like this bank matches the design regardless of which pitch you use.

Where can I download Manuu?

You can  download them from their distribution page. For once, I am wholeheartedly recommending a v.g.m. UTAU!