Forgotten Friday #154 - 楽音キヨ / Rakune Kiyo

 Here's an actual Forgotten Friday article about an UTAU from 2009! I had that last word document all nice and in a row, so I just powered through it so that I could reach my goals faster!

Forgotten Friday #154 - 楽音キヨ / Rakune Kiyo

So, I decided that next time I start a spreadsheet, I’m going to order it so that I can write from one to one hundred and then post the articles in that exact order.

Well, I didn’t do this for this spreadsheet. That’s because, well, I need to just have filler between the families without doing advanced calculus to see where to fit what in. I think it would be okay to space out family members by three articles, right? Well, I’m not entirely sure I have enough.

And, most importantly, all of these banks in this document are also already on my computer. I don’t need to download anything else.

Also… These are actually old banks. Not Wiki Wednesday but from five years ago, but 2009 and 2010 banks. I had a feeling people missed those.

Who is Kiyo Rakune?

Official Art from Bank

Rakune Kiyo has been at the very top of the spreadsheet, #1, for the entire time I have had my master spreadsheet. I’m a little sad to see number one get hidden as all finished rows are, but it’s time.

Kiyo had a VCV bank, and from the demos I saw, it was really good. But, sadly, it was taken down. I actually contacted the voice provider and asked if they could find a copy. They said they’d try, but… no VCV.

Another reason I held off was Miyo. Miyo is just Kiyo with g-17. I didn’t realize that, though! I actually had assumed that it was a one download, two banks situation. I didn’t know how I would cover that… but it’s just Kiyo, only Kiyo has a bank.

More or less, Miyo and Kiyo are basically the same character with some minor differences. Miyo is girlier and more youthful - she wears skirts and has two ponytails. Kiyo feels as if she herself is too boyish.

Beyond those two things, describing Kiyo’s design is describing Miyo’s design.

Kiyo has brown hair and big red eyes that match the bow around her neck. She has red square headphones and a giant yellow rain jacket with small bows on the edges. Her sleeves are long and wide enough to hide nearly her entire hand. She wears brown shorts and has really long black rain boots. Or Miku boots. I have no idea how tall they are, because the anatomy is very chibi. It’s adorable, though, the original art. 

Google Translate lists her special skill as winning a lottery for gum. I should look into that, but sometimes you just want to keep the mysteries of life a mystery. She dislikes troublesome things, while Miyo (who is basically also her) hates insects and exercise. Miyo is good at eating too fast and causing trouble. 

Still really bummed out about the VCV being gone, though. This UTAU was released on 03/03/2009. That is old as heck! And, like, history is more fun when it is VCV. 

But, oh well. The thing about UTAU is that there are so many different UTAUs with so many different voices, but by that same token, you can find the same voices in multiple places. A lot of people sound really similar. The VCV sounds amazing for February of 2010, but this is what you’re missing out on. I can’t tell you who it sounds like, because (points up at the number of articles in this series) outside of ones that I really got to know in the past, all of the voices start to just melt together and I can’t remember names. Before this blog, I could say “That sounds like so and so, you might like this and that.” But now it’s just like “uuuh… I… maybe heard that a while ago? Or someone else?”

How is Rakune Kiyo's bank?

As said earlier, the VCV was just... The VCV stopped existing, so only the CV bank remains. However, I think that is okay by me that the CV remained up and the VCV stopped existing. There's not much nostalgia to be had in old VCV banks... But the giant bundle of nostalgia in this CV bank?!

I actually wrote this out of order to address the issue. So, I don't know if AXFC messed up, or if the uploader messed up, but my copy of the bank was corrupted. 

Only one sample was missing from the UST I was using to test, and thankfully, she had three pitches so that I could replace what I needed to easily. (note: if using shareware UTAU, you need to copy the file names and make them aliases (three clicks in setparam, change aliases use %f for alias name) for prefix map to actually work as intended.)

Now, all that being said. This is a very 2009 bank. When we look back at old banks, we remember them being better than this because we were impressionable kids. (Note: anyone who joined the fandom after 2010 will be really confused about how we ever thought this was amazing.) 

The voice quality is just the perfect kind of airy (read: bad), and the... I don't know how to explain it. It reminds me of being young and the fandom being fun. But even if you aren't here for the nostalgia, this is a very nice voice with an amazing pitch blend and it's just so freaking adorable! 

Where can I download Kiyo Rakune?

The links to her release videos are on her Visual Archive page. It's funny. She's so early to the game, but I don't remember her much at all from the past. She is absolutely wonderful, so I have no idea how she wasn't ultra popular.