Kurita Maron

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Kurita Maron
Character information
Gender	Male
Pronouns	He/Him
Birthday	October 9
Technical information
Type	A.I.VOICE, VOICEVOX
Language	Japanese
Voice Provider	Shigetaka Kurita
Illustrator	fun_bo
Release date	February 22, 2023
Company	AI, Inc.
Affiliation	DWANGO Co., Ltd. VOICEVOX

Kurita Maron (栗(くり)田(た)まろん) is a Japanese A.I.VOICE and VOICEVOX text-to-speech library developed by AI, Inc. in collaboration with the Japanese telecommunications media company DWANGO Co., Ltd. and VOICEVOX. He is capable of speaking in standard intonation and was released on February 22, 2023.

His voice is provided by Shigetaka Kurita (栗田穣崇), the official representative of the Japanese video distribution service Nico Nico Douga and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of DWANGO Co., Ltd..

Concept

Despite having the appearance of a cute young woman, Kurita Maron is actually a man, and people are frequently surprised when he speaks. His hobbies include reading and watching videos. He is usually quiet, but sometimes has trouble keeping his composure due to a traumatic experience with peppermint oil.

When he was in high school, his friends dared him to dress up in a girl's uniform which was surprisingly well received. He's a member of the library committee.

Etymology

「栗」(kuri) and 「まろん」(maron) both mean "chestnut", with the former specifically referring to the Japanese variety. As a whole, 栗田まろん would translate as "Japanese chestnut field chestnut". (Of course, Kurita is also the surname of his voice provider.)

Appearance

As noted by his illustrator, Kurita Maron's appearance is based on that of a chestnut and autumn themes that would also look good holding a book.

History

2022

Kurita Maron was announced on September 29, 2022 through an official AI, Inc. press release as part of a collaboration with DWANGO Co., Ltd. and VOICEVOX with the aim of providing free, medium-quality text-to-speech vocal synthesis software based on the voices of the Nico Nico Douga representative Shigetaka Kurita and the President and Representative Director of Studio Onsite Co., Ltd., Ryouran Hyakka for the A.I.VOICE and VOICEVOX software. At the time, a design was not conceptualized and an official illustration contest was announced to be held to illustrate the official character design for Kurita Maron. The highest award tier would be formally selected as Maron's character design and would also be used as the character design for the upcoming VOICEVOX library to be released at a later date. Maron was originally planned to be released for A.I.VOICE in early spring of 2023 and the VOICEVOX library, to be released in the summer.

The illustration contest began on September 30, and concluded on October 23. Five awards were offered with the Grand Prize including the usage of the design as Kurita Maron's official character design as well as a prize money award of 100,000 yen. Other rewards included the "Outstanding Performance Award" awarding the winning entrants with all of the currently released A.I.VOICE series download version products that have been on sale at the time of the winning announcement. Other rewards were supplied by Nico Nico Douga, AI, Inc. and VOICEVOX respectively.

The contest concluded on October 23 with the Grand Prize entry being awarded to the illustrator fun_bo (ふんぼ). AI. Inc noted that the design was cute and was impressed at the use the "chestnut" and "niconico" motifs, giving a well-balanced and elegant impression and was looking forward to the gap between the appearance and the character's bass voice.

2023

Maron was officially released for A.I.VOICE on February 22, 2023 as free digital download for users. It was noted that Maron would not have access to the voice style function. A trial edition was released on the official A.I.VOICE product page for users to try before downloading. User were supplied with a provisional activation key to activate the software after installation.

On October 6th 2023, Maron's Voicebank was released as the 8th generation for VOICEVOX's engine latest engine(ver. 0.14.8) along with the other upcoming voicebanks for the generation.

Marketing

Kurita Maron was included among six other A.I.VOICE vocalists in the A.I.VOICE Biz lineup. Official Kurita Maron-themed merchandise including metal can badges, acrylic stands and keychains were distributed during the "THE VOC@LOiD Super M@STER51" portion of the 2023 Nico Nico Chokaigi event held on April 29 through April 30, 2023.

Voicebanks

Kurita Maron

• Kurita Maron (A.I.VOICE), February 22, 2023
• Kurita Maron (VOICEVOX), October 6, 2023

External links

Official

• Website
• A.I.VOICE Kurita Maron Product Page
• Illustration Contest Page
• Official Fediverse/Misskey Account (@kuritamaron@voskey.icalo.net)