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Who are the Piapro Characters?

The March 2016 box from OMAKASE is celebrating global pop star Hatsune Miku with a collection of items that includes the full Piapro Character lineup. Just in time for the Miku Expo North American tour, mystery items include collectibles and gear themed around Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, Megurine Luka, KAITO and MEIKO. “Piapro” is a shortening of “Peer Production” – the concept that users of Crypton Future Media's voice synthesizer nurture the ongoing creative movement. Here's a quick primer on Miku's world.

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Hatsune Miku
Hatsune Miku is not only the icon of the ever expanding Piapro creative community, she's also a successful global pop act, performing sold-out 3D concerts worldwide, appearing in TV commercials, numerous product tie-ins, and even on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Known for her trademark blue-green pigtails and futuristic uniform, Miku quickly evolved from cutting edge voice synthesizer software into a phenomenon of a highly participatory cyber culture, with users creating and sharing massive amounts of Miku-related content. Miku is often associated with leeks.

Kagamine Rin
Rin is the charming and youthful voice of representing the voice synthesizer software. Her trademarks are her blond hair with a huge white ribbon, blue eyes and a school uniform-like outfit. She was released with Len, her male counterpart, in the software “VOCALOID2 Kagamine Rin & Len” on December, 27th 2007. KAGAMINE RIN and KAGAMINE LEN are based on the concept of creating a twin pair of female and male voice banks recorded from the same Japanese female voice actress, Asami Shimoda. Rin's associated food item is an orange.

Kagamine Len
Len is a male character and his looks feature short blond hair, blue eyes and a school uniform. Len was originally created together with Rin as character illustration for the voice synthesizer product “VOCALOID2 Kagamine Rin & Len. He has a youthful male voice. Rin and Len's names were developed from the concept “Rin” for “right” and “Len” for “left” audio channels, whereas the surname KAGAMINE means “mirrored sound”. Len's associated food item is a banana.

MEGURINE LUKA
MEGURINE LUKA is a popular character known for her mysterious looks and cool expression. Her trademarks are pink long hair and an attractively designed China dress. Equipped with a bilingual (Japanese and English) voice bank, Luka was the third release of Crypton's Character Vocal Series.

Her voice is characterized as a “cool, moody and breathy female voice” that can easily be utilized for the production of house, deep electronic music and jazzy sounds. Her original voice is sampled from a Japanese voice actress, Yu Asakawa. Luka's associated food item is a tuna fish.








MEIKO
MEIKO is the first vocal synthesizer developed by Crypton Future Media, released in November, 5th 2004. MEIKO's trademarks are her short brown hair bob, her red mini-skirt and boots.

The software MEIKO features voice samples of singer and songwriter, Meiko Haigō. MEIKO is characterized by a pure and consistent voice, with a gentle and warm tone. MEIKO's associated food item is sake.








KAITO
KAITO's trademarks are his blue hair and a long blue stole. He is popular for his smooth and grown-up voice, and his various singing styles that can even be expressed as soft and whispery.

KAITO was first released in 2006, utilizing the sampled voice of a Japanese singer Naoto Fuga. KAITO's associated food item is ice cream.

OMAKASE featuring Hatsune Miku ships in March 2016. Subscriptions are available now at viewster.com/omakase. Use coupon code PIAPRO10 to get 10% off your first box.