Nekomura Iroha

Nekomura Iroha
Character information
Gender	Female
Pronouns	She/Her
Birthday	May 14.
Technical information
Product code	SAHS-40775
Type	Kittyler, VOCALOID2, VOCALOID4
Language	Japanese
Voice Provider	Yoshitate Kyounosuke
Illustrator	Okama
Release date	October 22, 2010
Company	Sanrio Wave Co., Ltd.
Affiliation	Sanrio Co., Ltd. AH-Software Co. Ltd. YAMAHA Corporation

Nekomura Iroha (猫(ねこ)村(むら)いろは) is a Japanese VOCALOID developed and distributed by AH-Software Co. Ltd., and was created in collaboration with SANRIO and the Hello Kitty to Issho! Project. She was initially released in October 2010 for the VOCALOID2 engine. She was updated to the VOCALOID4 engine in June 2015. Her voice provider was initially unrevealed, but was eventually confirmed to be utaite and Showa-style singer Yoshitate Kyounosuke (佳(よし)館(たて)杏(きょう)之(の)助(すけ)) on June 18, 2015.

Concept

Etymology

"Iroha" is the old Japanese variant of "ABC" (as seen in the Japanese iroha poem) and "I, Ro, Ha" means "A(La), B(Si), C(Do)" of seven-note scale. "Nekomura", her surname, means "Cat Village".

Appearance

She is illustrated by okama, a Japanese manga artist and illustrator.

The speakers encasing her hands are called Dynamic-Phonon Busters. The other set of speakers are called Chorus-speakers. Each of these move around, supporting her. The floating microphone collects her voice, and Announce Booth, which is on her head, works as an amplifier that divides sounds into three classes for the speakers according to ranges: the sound frequencies for tweeters, mid-range speaker, and woofers.

Official profile

See also: How Nekomura Iroha became a Platinum Kitty

Iroha is canonically a "Kittyler": someone who loves the Sanrio character Hello Kitty. She joined the Hello Kitty to Issho! Project in early August 2010. According to her official profile on the Hello Kitty to Issho! page, she is interested in Hello Kitty and wants to become a "Platinum Kitty". A story about how she became a Kittyler was included.

History

Marketing

She was originally designed by Sanrio for Comiket (Comic Market) in 2009. Iroha was released as a part of a promotional tie-in with a VOCALOID x Hello Kitty promotion.

A CD was released with two songs ("Tsubasa" and "ABBEY FLY") featuring her along with VSQ files. She owes much of her early use to being supplied as a trial version. The offer for the free trial ended on September 30, 2010.

FuRyu produced a model of Lily and Iroha that was released as a prize for UFO catchers. Since they are prize models, they are not commercial sale models and this can limited their availability for purchase outside of the UFO machines.

Until late May 2011, no AH-Software VOCALOIDs could be used for works sold via KARENT. However, Iroha remained under ban until late January 2012 due to AH-Software's joint ownership of her with Sanrio.

Voicebanks

Nekomura Iroha - Natural

The original Iroha vocal is meant to represent a lower toned female and has powerful tones representing a more child-like or teenage girl. It is tomboyish and was a tie-in promotional with Sanrio co., Ltd.

• Nekomura Iroha (VOCALOID2), October 22, 2010
• Nekomura Iroha V4 (VOCALOID4), June 18, 2015

Nekomura Iroha - Soft

A more feminine sounding vocal compared to the original "Natural" voice, it has a softer tone and looser pronounications for more expression. In comparison to Iroha "Natural" as well, it is an adult and not a child.

• Nekomura Iroha V4 (VOCALOID4), June 18, 2015

Reputation

Reaction

Overall, Iroha was well received by both Japanese and Western fans. The Western fans especially praised her vocal capabilities and she was amongst the fan favorites of the 2010 releases. This was an improved reaction from the previous VOCALOIDs released by AH-Software and Iroha did not endure the same struggle to gain popularity as her predecessors.

Misc

An independent search on niconico revealed that most VOCALOIDs had less than 1,000 videos uploaded in 2011 between July 1 and December 15. Iroha fell into this category.

Trivia

• Due to miscommunication regarding advertisement of the new collaboration happening at the same Comiket booth as another event, fans initially believed that the new VOCALOID announced to be a collaboration between AH-software and Sanrio would be the kittyler, Rio, who was illustrated by KEI, the illustrator for the Crypton Future Media, Inc. CV series, Lily, & galaco (It is to be noted that at the time, a "Kittyler" was misunderstood to be a moe personification of Hello Kitty herself rather than someone who is simply interested in the character). This sparked a controversy and an interview with one of the members of AH-software had to clear up the misunderstanding. Rio was used for an upcoming project by Sanrio, Hello Kitty to Issho!, and she is one of several Kittylers illustrated by multiple artists. KEI was just one of them.
• Two MMD Models of Iroha were released from Windows100% magazine, one in August and another in November. The first model was based upon her Kittyler attire and the other on her VOCALOID attire. The creator of the models is ISAO. Her second model (VOCALOID style) was used for an official 3D movie that was shown on her official page and broadcast on Youtube. In May 2011, two more models of Iroha were released, both done by the same artist, but this model was released to the public for a limited time. The models are Iroha in a more casual (dubbed idol) appearance. The first model that was released had a large bun wrap, but after much feedback, ISAO edited the same model to have a side ponytail. In July 2011, a Magician model was released from Windows 100%.

Achievements

• Most popular AH-Software VOCALOID2
• First AH-Software VOCALOID to gain satisfactory levels of popularity
• First VOCALOID with connections to SANRIO
• First female VOCALOID to have a male voice provider
• First VOCALOID to be voiced by an "utaite"

External links

Articles

• VOCALOID Wiki