Kamui Gakupo

Gender: ♂
--------------------
Company: Internet Co. , Ltd.
Distributor: Internet Co. , Ltd
Voice provider: Gackt
Illustrator: Kentaro Miura
Reduced no.: VA-G01
Affilation: YAMAHA

Kamui Gakupo (神威がくぽ) is the official mascot character of Gackpoid (がくっぽいど / Gakuppoido), a piece of singing synthesizer application software powered by Yamaha's Vocaloid2 and published by INTERNET Co.,Ltd.[1] The avatar character of the software was drawn by the illustrator Kentaro Miura (三浦健太郎 Miura Kentaro).

A note from Crypton Future Media's Vocaloids was that they were using cyber-style clothes which can "melt into" our everyday lives as much as possible. Internet co., Ltd drew up their own ideas from this on what makes Vocaloid popular. Gackupo's look was picked from several possible designs.[2] Gakupo has a samurai aesthetic: the Vocaloid is clad in a Jinbaori, a kind of kimono which was used as a battle surcoat, with parts of Japanese armor, and carries a katana which is named “Music katana, Miburi” (楽刀・美振 / Gakutou Miburi). The patterns on its blade make musical sounds when it is swung down. The sword existed because producers wanted a link to a musical instrument, there were no objections to the use of a weapon.

When considering the features of Gakupo, the producers informed them they wanted the eyes to look like Gackt's, and for what he wore to include a combination of cyber and traditional Japanese-styled clothing. The colours were picked to make him stand out from the other Vocaloids.[3]

The symbol on the back of both Gakupo's fan and shirt/jacket is a stylized version of the kanji for "music" which is "楽". In romaji format, this is literally spoken and read as "gaku", which is most likely a pun on both the avatar's naming and the literal form of "楽" which can stand for "musician" after being changed into "楽人".

Gakupo is one of the few Vocaloids to see his most popular Meme make it into merchandise form. The "eggplant", or rather the version with stick-legs, is an additional item included with his Nendoroid figurine.

The Gackpoid software was marketed as part of the bid to introduce professional singers to Vocaloid, allowing users access to the vocal of a famous professional singer. He was also marketed with a guide book on his usage, which could be purchased optionally with his software. He was promoted as 'the first male (masculine) vocaloid' for Vocaloid2.

Originally, Gakupo songs were not allowed to be sold on Karen-T; however, this was later allowed in 2009.

Popularity

In the Japanese fandom, he was slow to gain popularity due to a lack of demand for male vocals at the time of his release. Gakupo eventually gained popularity because of an increase in interest for male vocals and the popularity of his voice provider. Male Vocaloids had not been developed for a long time and had little demand at that time of Gakupo's release, indicated by the failure of Kaito's release early on in Vocaloid's life circle. Gakupo was also the most expensive Vocaloid 2 vocal, beaten at his time of release in price only by Zero-G's Prima, in Japan he was the most expensive of the Japanese Vocaloids.[12] In mid-2010, he was reported to be on par with Crypton Future Media in terms of popularity. However, Gumi had overtaken him.

A independent Vocaloid search on Nico Nico Douga revealed that most Vocaloids had less then 1,000 videos uploaded on Nico Nico Douga in between July 1st and December 15th, 2011. Gakupo however did manage to be the 4th most popular Vocaloid when a mean count was done with 375 views and 17 mylists.[13]