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Kyomachi Seika (京町セイカ) is a Japanese vocal developed and distributed by AH-Software Co. Ltd. in collaboration with Seika Town, and was originally released as a VOICEROID+ EX speech voicebank in June 2016, and acted as the district mascot for Seika, Kyoto, Japan since 2013.[2] A collection of pitagoe wave files were released for Seika in September 2021. In January 2022, she received Standard and AI voice databases for Synthesizer V Studio.[3] She was released as a VOICEPEAK text-to-speech library in October 2023.[4]
Her voice is provided by Tachibana Rika (立花理香).
She has an official manga available for free on her website, though the first two volumes are no longer available due to Google+, where those volumes were hosted, ending its services for consumers and brands in 2019.[5][6] The epilogue is still available for viewing, however.[7]
Concept[]
Seika is the second VOICEROID to be produced with a crowdfunding campaign.
As a character, Seika is described to be a messenger who travels between the past, present, and future. Her purpose is to inform people of the real life town of Seika, of which she is the mascot in charge of public relations, aswell as protect the world from time paradoxes. No matter what outfit she wears, it always has to be green.[8]
Etymology[]
Her family name, Kyomachi (京町) is derived from the kanji of "Kyoto" (京都) and "machi" (町), which means "town." Her first name is shared with the name of the town she is the mascot of, Seika. Kyoto is the prefecture that the town Seika is in.
From July 5th, 2013, to August 7th, 2013, name suggestions for the mascot were accepted. Throughout this period, a total of 138 possible names were sent in from 22 different Japanese prefectures and the United States. From these submissions, the name "Kyomachi Seika" was chosen.[9]
Appearance[]
Seika wears a sleeveless business-or-office-like attire. Her outfit is primarily green; her jacket, arm sleeves, skirt, and boots are all a lime green color, and she wears darker green thigh-high socks to go with it. She wears a green headset with white cat-ear like tips, and she wields a golden staff with a yellow rose at the tip in her boxart.
Likes[]
- The color green[8]
History[]
Seika was created as a mascot for the city of Seika, located in Kyoto. As an official mascot, her character is used for promotions and collaborations that aim to promote the city and encourage people to visit.
A crowd raising campaign began on November 27, 2015, to raise money for her to become a VOICEROID; the amount needed was ¥2,000,000 (roughly $16,000 U.S.) by December 27, 2015.[10] Within a day of starting, she had raised more than ¥610,500 between just 9 backers, with one back donating ¥500,000. In the next few days, she reached ¥903,000. Despite the fundraiser reaching it's required goal early on, backers continued to donate and raised over 50% than expected, reaching a total over ¥3,000,000. By the end of the campaign, she had raised a total of ¥4,038,500, which was more then double the amount she required to become a VOICEROID.[11]
A project aimed to make Seika into an AI began accepting applications for people to use her in 2020.[12] The goal of the project is to have people be able to speak to Seika, and have Seika respond naturally.
On July 5th, 2020, Seika's birthday, a debut video detailing the decision to become a YouTuber was uploaded to her official YouTube channel.[13][14] Though the title of the video translates to "The Reason a VOICEROID Became a YouTuber," Seika in the video is voiced by her voice provider, Tachibana Rika, and not her actual VOICEROID product.
On December 21, a new crowdfunding campaign aimed towards funding a Synthesizer V bank was announced and set to begin two days later on December 23.[15] The campaign aimed to raise enough funds for production of a Standard singing voice database for Synthesizer V, an original song featuring Seika and her voice provider, Tachibana Rika, and ultimately a Synthesizer V AI voice database. On January 11, 2021, the crowdfunding campaign reached its initial goal of ¥4,000,000 for production of her Synthesizer V voice database.[16][17] In response to a fan on January 12, Seika's Twitter stated a Lite version of her Synthesizer V library is undecided.[18] On January 21, the crowdfunding campaign reached it's fourth goal of ¥ 6,000,000 for the production of her Synthesizer V AI voice database.[19] The crowdfund officially concluded on January 31 with over ¥9,395,000 raised.[20] Following the crowdfund, Rika Tachibana presented a congratulatory message for Seika on February 2. [21]
On June 16, Seika's Twitter congratulated Tsurumaki Maki for her upcoming Synthesizer V release. It was also noted that Seika was making good progress in production and asked fans to wait a while longer.[22] On July 28, AH-Software noted that Seika's voice database was in the process of being made at the time.[23] On September 30, it was confirmed that Rika Tachibana had already finished recording for the Synthesizer V software and that development was going smoothly. A release was not expected until the beginning of 2022.[24]
On August 27, it was announced that Seika would be receiving a set of voice samples in the pitagoe series alongside Tsuina-chan, newcomers Asumi Shuo, Asumi Ririse, Young Man, Young Woman, Old Man, Old Woman would be receiving pitagoe releases. They and the previously announced Furimomen[25] and Mitarashi Mary[26] would have the first volume of samples release on September 28, 2021.[27]
On November 21, new information about Kyomachi Seika was revealed during SEIKA Subculture Festival 2021. Her Synthesizer V design was revealed and confirmed to be illustrated by VOFAN, a Taiwanese artist,[28] who was chosen due to the desire to market to Taiwan, though the COVID-19 pandemic prevented direct interactions.[29] Her voice database was shown during the event for the first time and it was confirmed that Rika Tachibana was asked to sing about 40 songs for Seika's recordings.[30] She chose fun and sad songs, but was instructed to sing them all with Seika's bright voice and retain the same tone.[31] Seika's beta version was then shown during the event, performing the song "Tsubasa".[32][33]
On October 5, 2023, Kyomachi Seika, along with Tohoku Itako, released as a text-to-speech library for the VOICEPEAK vocal synthesizer program along with a second volume of samples released for pitagoe.[4]
Voicebanks[]
- Kyomachi Seika
- Her voice is listed to be quite upbeat and energetic but not as upbeat as Zunko, rather calmer like Yukari.
- Kyomachi Seika (VOICEROID+ EX), June 10, 2016
- Kyomachi Seika (pitagoe vol.1), September 29, 2021
- Kyomachi Seika Standard Lite (Synthesizer V Studio), January 21, 2022
- Kyomachi Seika AI Lite (Synthesizer V Studio), January 21, 2022
- Kyomachi Seika Standard (Synthesizer V Studio), January 27, 2022
- Kyomachi Seika AI (Synthesizer V Studio), January 27, 2022
- Kyomachi Seika (VOICEPEAK), October 5, 2023
- Kyomachi Seika (pitagoe vol.2), October 5, 2023
Reputation[]
Achievements[]
- Second successful crowdfunded campaign voice for VOICEROID.
- First VOICEROID character to have manga merchandise.
References[]
- ↑ Physical bundle that includes both Standard and AI voice databases.
- ↑ crunchyroll
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ahsoft/status/1473852111767351296
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://twitter.com/vocaloid_beta/status/1702623291150930124
- ↑ Seika site
- ↑ Seika site
- ↑ Google images
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Official profile
- ↑ Seika site
- ↑
vocaloidotaku(dead link) - ↑ Green Funding campaign
- ↑ https://kyomachi-seika.narikiri-qa.jp/landing/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1279631969198813184
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmYiAGdWNMQ&feature=youtu.be
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1340889027856138240
- ↑ https://greenfunding.jp/lab/projects/4418/activities/15142
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1348535024014950402?s=20
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1348903732415586307?s=20
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1352161705082589185
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1355893528635691013?s=20
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1357528923446235137?s=20
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1405164389506842630
- ↑ https://twitter.com/tomo_ahs/status/1420362670868365317
- ↑ https://greenfunding.jp/lab/projects/4418/activities/19187
- ↑ Frimomen Pitagoe announcement
- ↑ Mary pitagoe announcement
- ↑ Pitagoe press release
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1462309390451503104
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kyomachi_seika/status/1462406721159057410
- ↑ https://twitter.com/nat0468/status/1462371325947695106
- ↑ https://twitter.com/nat0468/status/1462371327604494344
- ↑ https://twitter.com/tomo_ahs/status/1462371249963765760
- ↑ https://twitter.com/nat0468/status/1462371566763724801
External links[]
Official[]
Articles[]
[]
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