I turned 21 today, meaning I’m now legal to drink alcohol in the US! HUZZAH!

Didn’t do much for my birthday other than hanging out with friends, though. We watched Harry Potter 7 (Part 2) since they were showing it on campus as a special event, then we went to a local Japanese restaurant (Tomo) for dinner.

I had una-don and shittake mushroom soup, and with that, my first drink being legal: hana-awaka sake (a sparkling sweet-flavored sake). And finally, red-bean mochi ice cream for dessert. It was delicious~

Thanks so much to everyone who did art presents, I’ll be sure to use the Aiko pics in videos at some point! ;u; It really means a lot to me. m(_ _)m

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That’s right, Kasane Teto, practically the figurehead of the UTAU fandom, will be in Project Diva as a playable character!

I figured I’d go ahead and share my thoughts and feelings on this, though I’ve yet to play any of the PD games (not for lack of wanting) since they’re pretty mixed. On one hand, I’m super excited for Project Twindrill and Teto for being included in this, on the other… well, continue reading.

This event pretty much solidifies Crypton’s support of UTAU, and of Teto, which is both good and bad. If you’re wondering the negative repercussions, just look at people’s reaction after Crypton/KarenT posted news of the Graduation from Lie CD: “OMG! TETO-CHAN IS VOCALOID NOW?!?!!!”

When that’s completely not the case. And it won’t be until certain things come to pass, if they ever do.

Teto, unlike other fanmades recognized by Crypton, has her own voice used in a software SEPARATE from Vocaloid itself. Her counterparts Haku and Neru, as well as Sakine Meiko, Hachune, and Tako Luka, lack “officially set” voices or Vocaloid voicebanks, and are merely character derivatives of existing Crypton series Vocaloids. Haku and Neru are typically Miku (or Rin, in Neru’s case) voice-edits (if they have a voice at all), and the other three are easy enough to guess.

Teto is different in that she is an UTAU, but her IMAGE (design, art, etc.) is not by default connected to the UTAU software in any way. Ameya, the programmer of the UTAU software, does not “own” her image. Twindrill, the team that develops her voicebanks, owns her image and apparently has either collaborated or has licensed it to Sega/Crypton for Project Diva. Does this make her a Vocaloid?

NO.

Teto’s voicebank is still UTAU-only. Until she gets a commercially developed voicebank for the Vocaloid synthesizing engine, she will REMAIN as such. It is only her image that is connected to Crypton through both Project Diva and KarenT, her voice remains useable in freeware. Vocaloid is its own software, therefore calling Teto a Vocaloid because her image is being used in a Vocaloid game is like calling Mario a Pokemon because he was in Super Smash Bros. with Pikachu and Lucario.

Now, facts aside, this honestly has me a little worried. I don’t think Twindrill plans at all to have Teto become a Vocaloid (as in commercial voicebank using Yamaha’s engine and all), nor do I think that she could easily become one at all, considering a legal mess it would create for copyright of Oyamano Mayo’s voice (she’s Teto’s voice source). But it sure opens the door for a lot of fandumb and makes  me a bit apprehensive. It’s quite an accomplishment for a character related to the UTAU freeware, but I’m just not so sure I’m ready to accept a Teto contracted in any way to Crypton just yet. Call me a stick in the mud or a purist or a hipster, but it feels really, really weird to see this happening.

tl;dr – Teto’s still not a Vocaloid yet, get the fuck over it.

Trying to get back into the habit of posting covers I find including Aiko and/or Akio! ;n;

Thanks so much to Myokuju for using her in a duet with Blueloid!

Also, I have for a while been considering removing Aiko’s age from her “official” profile. Her voice is certainly not the typical voice of a 15-year-old, no matter how “tomboyish” Aiko might be. I’m now considering leaving her age completely to fan interpretation. If you consider her 15, you can continue to consider her to be 15 (I think I might xD) but it won’t in any way be “official.”

HOWEVER THIS IS NOT YET IN EFFECT!

The terms on Aiko’s bank, limiting her use in pornographic art and/or songs with explicit lyrics are still applicable. However, once I “complete” her RockLoud, PopMellow and BalladSoft voicebanks (I use that term lightly, as I’ll still develop her afterwards) she will cease to have these limitations and will be released to the public moreso as a freeware instrument (as UTAU was originally intented) than a character.

However I won’t stop making art or other character-related things! She’s still a character to me, I’d just not wish to hinder her use in music as much as she has been, and I think the age thing has held her back in that a little. I continually find people requesting my permission to use her for songs that I don’t think are inappropriate in any way and I have a feeling that’s simply because of her lengthy Terms of Use.

Being in Tennessee, I wasn’t able to attend the Mikunopolis concert in LA, but thanks to my friend Hentai/Ario I was able to obtain a digital ticket to view it on Nico Live.

THAT. WAS. SO. AMAZING.

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Hnghgnhn I can’t get over how pretty the model was this time around… and the outfits were ten thousand times better than the ones from the 39 Giving Day concert… Saihate and Anti the Infinite Holic were my absolute favorites ;A;

The arrangements were stunning too. The strings section playing with the slap bass in “Popipo” made the song just so much more enjoyable for me… actually I think I was a little fixated on the bassist ;n; I looove slap bass.

I only wish there had been more Luka and the twins, but meh, considering the concert was cut down to a mere hour and thirty minutes from the 2-3 hour epic that 39’s was…

Also, Crypton, I see what u did thar. Demoing Miku’s English bank all over the place. I hope you guys still plan to touch it up a bit though, she was really hard to understand with that accent xD Even moreso than Luka, and that’s saying a lot.

Looking forward to the Blu-ray 8’D