Vocaloid has been around for a very long time now. Almost anyone can notice Hatsune Miku, especially with all her songs, games, and merch, but did you know that there are over 65 Vocaloid characters and voices?
If you’re new to Vocaloid and don’t really understand what it is or how it works, I talk about all that in my previous article about Vocaloid, Hatsune Miku & the producers behind the scenes. But in this article, I wanted to focus more on the characters, their unique voice, and some of their most popular songs.
Note: Basic Vocaloid character details were taken from the Vocaloid Wiki page. I chose their most popular Youtube videos that show the character in detail, so it may include covers. The most popular songs listed are original songs and were found from Google, vocaloid.fandom.com and thetoptens.com. Be aware that even if a song doesn’t have many views on Youtube, it may have millions when it was originally released on NicoNico.
Hatsune Miku (初音ミク)
“Hatsune Miku is a VOCALOID2. She is 16 years old and based on a Japanese teenage school girl. She is described as “an android diva from in the near-future world where songs are lost”.”
She is the original Vocaloid and thus is the most popular with thousands of songs under her name. She can sing in English, Japanese, and Chinese. She is easily recognized by her extremely long blue pigtails.
Miku obviously has many popular and official songs, but some of her most notable ones include “Senbonzakura”, “Magnet”, “World Is Mine, “Rollin’ Girl” and “Tell Your World”. “PoPiPo” and “Levan Polka” were also featured on the original English versions of Just Dance!
Kagamine Len (鏡音レン)
“Kagamine Len is a VOCALOID2. He is 14 years old and based on a Japanese teenage schoolboy. He is the mirror to Kagamine Rin”. He is a very popular Vocaloid and is recognized by his short yellow hair.
Some of Len’s most popular songs include “Gigantic OTN”, “Childish War”, “Meltdown”, “Law – Evading Rock”, “Holy Lance Explosion Boy”, “Embarrassment – Hiding Adolescence” and “Telecaster B-Boy”.
Kagamine Rin (鏡音リン)
“Kagamine Rin is a VOCALOID2. She is 14 years old and based on a Japanese teenage schoolgirl. She is the mirror to Kagamine Len”. She is usually seen with a short yellow bob and a white hair bow.
Some of Rin’s most popular songs include “Lost One’s Weeping”, “Tokyo Teddy Bear”, “Meltdown”, “Kokoro”, “Paper Airplane”, “The Evil Story”, and “Regret Message”.
Megurine Luka (巡音ルカ)
“Megurine Luka is a VOCALOID2. She is 20 years old. Her design was made to be asymmetrical, so from different angles, she would look different.” Luka is most recognized for her long pink hair with bangs, and her most popular sing in the Vocaloid universe is “Luka Luka Night of Fever”.
Some of Luka’s most popular songs include “Stay The Night”, “Just Be Friends”, “Rip=Release”, “No Logic”, “The Girl Who Doesn’t Know How To Love”, and “Perfect Liar”.
KAITO (カイト)
“KAITO is a VOCALOID1. He is the counterpart to MEIKO.” He is capable of singing in English and Japanese. He is recognized by his short blue hair.
Some of Kaito’s most popular songs include “Doctor=Funk Beat”, “Showman”, “Thousand Year Solo”, “Erase or Zero” and “Jougen no Tsuki (Crescent Moon)”.
MEIKO (メイコ)
“MEIKO is a VOCALOID1. She is the counterpart to KAITO.” She is capable of singing in English and Japanese.
Some of Meiko’s most popular songs include “Change Me”, “Nostalogic”, “Bokyaku Shinzyu”, “Jitterbug”, “Stay With Me”, “Break It, Break It!” and “Tsugai Kogarashi (Paired Wintry Wind)”.
Camui Gackpo/Kamui Gakupo (神威がくぽ)
“Camui Gackpo is a VOCALOID2 and a VOCALOID representation of GACKT (the voice provider). He has a samurai aesthetic about him.”
Some of Gakupo’s most popular songs include “Dancing☆Samurai”, “Paranoid Doll”, “Joker”, “Butterfly”, “Venomania-Kou no Kyouki”, and “Soushitsu Monochrome”.
Gumi (グミ)
“GUMI is a VOCALOID2 whose age had been stated to be roughly in her teens.” Gumi is recognized for her short lime green hair. Her most popular songs are “King” and “Megu Megu Fire Endless Night”.
Other popular Gumi songs include “Echo”, “Again”, “Killer Lady”, “Coward Montblanc”, “Crystalline”, “Saigo no Revolver”, and “Mermaid”.
SF-A2 Miki (SF-A2 開発コード)
“SF-A2 miki is a VOCALOID2. She was conceptualized as an android.” Miki was created by HEARTFAST (Ah-Software Co. Ltd) and she has a simpler design with long reddish hair.
Some popular Miki songs include “INSaNiTY”, “Gekijou Ai Ka”, “Joshi Chuugakusei, Kindan no Jijou”, “Ryuu Ten ni Noboru”, “Wish”, and “miki miki★Romantic Night”.
IA (イア)
“IA is a VOCALOID3 and CeVIO vocal. She is often portrayed as being mysterious and otherworldly due to her original promotions and lack of specified personal info.” IA is pretty recognizable due to her extremely long white hair with some pink/silver highlights.
Some of IA’s most popular songs include “Chiri Chiri Juso”, “IA IA★Night of Desire”, “Genjitsuteki Ronri Shugisha”, “Yuugure Semi Nikki”, and “Inner Arts”.
Lily (リリィ)
“Lily is a VOCALOID2 and a VOCALOID representation of Yuri Masuda (the voice provider).” While she has yellow hair like Rin, her hair is much longer and she appears to be older/more mature.
Some of Lily’s most popular songs include “Lily Lily★Burning Night”, “Jitter Doll”, “Wave”, and “Elect”.
Oliver
“OLIVER is a VOCALOID3. He is 12 years old and was based on the bandaged Frankenstein’s monster.” Oliver is created by VocaTone and only speaks in English.
Utatane Piko (歌手音ピコ)
“Utatane Piko is a VOCALOID2 and a VOCALOID representation of PIKO (the voice provider).” Piko is a bit harder to recognize as he generally has short white hair, but it may appear as blue or purple in certain lights.
Some of Piko’s most popular songs include “Yami Iro Alice”, “Piko Piko☆Legend of the Night”, “Kotoba Meteo”, “Remember”, “Kimi no Uta”, “Kimochi Warui”, and “Kizuna”.
Yuzuki Yukari (結月ゆかり)
“Yuzuki Yukari is a VOCALOID3 and VOICEROID+. She is 18 years old and loosely inspired by the legend of the moon rabbit.” Yukari tends to wear purple and other cool colours, and her white/silver hair is tied into two low ponytails.
Some of Yukari’s most popular songs include “Sayonara Chainsaw”, “Mattaku Mini Naranai Song”, “Chururira Chururira Daddadda!”, “Che-check Check One Two!”, “Freedom Lolita”, “Setsugetsuka”, “Frontier”, and “Kibou no Tsuki”.
Fukase (ふかせ)
“Fukase is a VOCALOID4 and is a VOCALOID representation of Satoshi Fukase (the voice provider).” Fukase is usually seen with short red hair, and tends to have an extravagant outfit.
Some of Fukase’s most popular songs include “Boku ga Monster ni Natta Hi”, “Dare mo Shiranai Happy End”, “COLORBARS”, “Broadcast Illusion”, “‘Cause I’m a Liar”, “Akenai Yoru no Lily”, “Corrosion”, and “Ohayou, Boku no Utahime”.
Kasane Teto (重音テト)
Kasane Teto, while a recognizable character in the community, she is not a Vocaloid. She is actually a UTAUloid and Vipperloid. She was released by a group called the Vippers as an April Fools joke in 2008 to fool people that she was Crypton Future Media’s new Vocaloid. Regardless, I’m including her as some may be looking for her 🙂
Some of Teto’s most popular songs include “Memories Within The Mirror”, “Type Writer”, “Kasane Territory”, “Meishou Romance”, “Liar Gentleman”, “Diggy Doggy Bobblehead”, and “An Ideal Day”.
SeeU (시유)
“SeeU is a VOCALOID3. She is 17 years old and described as “cute and lively, yet mysterious.”” SeeU is unique in that she speaks Japanese and Korean.
Some off SeeU’s most popular songs include “I=Fantasy”, “Hide and Seek”, “Error”, “Mission”, “Reflection”, “I=Nightmare”, and “I Only Speak Konglish”.
Aoki Lapis (蒼姫ラピス)
“Aoki Lapis is a VOCALOID3 and the younger sister of Merli. She is a 15 cm tall fairy who is based on “light””. She is recognized for her ambre blue and purple hair, and often wears mermaid matching mermaid colours.
Some of Lapis’s most popular songs include “Daydream Flight”, “Thing the Future”, “Maboroshi so Rakuen (Illusionary Funeral Paradise)”, “Song of Paradise”, “Kasa to Ame”, “Dreaming Night”, and “Zutsuki”.
V Flower (ブイフラワ)
“flower is a VOCALOID3. Her voice has been described as “a charming female vocal” with a powerful, androgynous-sounding tone. Her clothing appears to have a gothic theme.”
Some of Flower’s most popular songs include “Magic City”, “Naive Hero”, “Kikoemasu ka (Can You Hear Me)”, “Bocca Della Verita”, “Villain”, “Goodbye Sengen”, “Venom”, “Traffic Jam”, and “Mayday”.
Kaai Yuki (歌愛ユキ)
“Kaai Yuki is a VOCALOID2. She is a 9 year old elementary school student. She is the counterpart to Hiyama Kiyoteru, her teacher.” She is often seen in a red unform with shoulder-length black hair tied into 2 pigtails.
Some of Yuki’s most popular songs include “Lost Umbrella”, “Leg Train”, “I’m Sorry, I”m Sorry”, “Ikanaide”, “Rugrats Theory”, “Anticyclone”, and “Hydrangea”.
Nekomura Iroha (猫村いろは)
“Nekomura Iroha is a VOCALOID2 who was featured in the “Hello Kitty to Issho” game as one of the “Kittyler” characters.” Neko means ‘cat’ in Japanese, so you can expect a lot of cat features in her outfits.
Some of Iroha’s most popular songs include “Hit You 8759632145 Times With This Piano”, “Neko Neko☆Super Fever Night”, “Tobira no Mukou”, “P.a.r.a.l.y.z.e”, “Rera”, and “Seishun Kyousou Kyoku”.
CUL (カル)
“CUL is a VOCALOID3. She is 16 years old and was the mascot of the VOCALO Revolution television program.” Cul tends to have long red hair tied in a ponytail.
Some of Cul’s most popular songs include “Shiro no Kisetsu”, “Minority”, “Rosuto Memory”, “Atashi tte. Hontou Baka”, “Aijou Juliet”, “Segments Blue” and “DEAD or LOVE”.
VY2 (Codename Yuuma)
“VY2 is a VOCALOID2 and represented as a sword called a wakizashi.”
Some of VY2’s most popular songs include “Nenchaku-kei Danshi no 15-nen Nechinechi”, “Mugen-zakura”, “Garasu no Hana”, “Active Diver”, “Odeko ni Haeta Biwa no Seikaku ga Warui”, “Nurebairo”, and “Fools Among the Stars”.
Mayu (マユ)
“MAYU is a VOCALOID3. She is a 15 year old yandere with a gothic lolita design.” You can expect Mayu to have her signature long white hair with dark frilly dresses.
Some of Mayu’s most popular songs include “Ichizu na Kataomoi, Minorasetai Chiisana Shiawase”, “Maji de Oko da yo? Atashi Machigattenai”, “Love Logic”, “Kodoku no Bannin”, “Formalin no Umi”, “Escape From Dystopia” and “Yuudachi no Ribbon”.
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