I am not yet fully back from my hiatus, but lately, I've been into Nico Nico Utattemita singers so much that I feel that I have to share. Remember when I said I'll convert you all into Tourai fans? This is what I mean :P. So far I think I've converted
morphaileffect,
simply_kim,
mitsuiselphie,
xedosarthea, and
mienai_hoshi (slightly) and that was just through plurk :P. This is where my full pimping skill is in! WARNING: lots of links to youtube videos as well as embeds, lots of hearts.
First, let me give a brief intro to
VOCALOID. VOCALOID is a software used to synthesize lyrics to a song. Basically, you compose the music using a separate program. Then, you can input a MIDI of the song into the VOCALOID program or type in the notes, signs and tempo yourself. The "singer" will then sing the notes and then, you can put the lyrics in and adjust how it should be sung.
VOCALOID features ONE character per release (this is except in the case of the twins). When you download a VOCALOID program, you can choose which character you like to sing your songs (or download them all, LOL). VOCALOID I has Meiko (released Nov. 04) and Kaito ( Feb. 06). VOCALOID 2 has Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len (they are in one package), Megurine Luka, Kamui Gakupo (voice contributed by Gackt) and Megpoid/GUMI (voice contributed by Nakajima Megumi). Of course, even though one package has only 1 voice bank, it doesn't mean that you can only use that. You can combine the voices of the packages you have for duets or group songs. Also, even though the characters are voiced by Japanese people, it doesn't mean that you can only compose Japanese songs. Take for example Vocaloid Kaito's rendition of
Take on Me :P
...I have no explanation skills whatsoever. GAH. Just. I fail at using Vocaloid so yeah >.>.
There are a lot of talented amateur (and professional?) composers who put out VOCALOID songs. Some are really popular that they have different renditions (i.e., some other composer will use the music to make a "fandub" of the song using a different Vocaloid character). Actually, I think most of the VOCALOID enthusiasts are people who like watching and listening to the songs. Aside from fandubs using Vocaloids, there are also fandubs sung by real people. And this is the point of this post :P.
WELCOME TO NIKKI'S VOCALOID FANDUB OBSESSION ♥ Don't worry, you won't need VOCALOID skillz/knowledge from here on <33. I just wanted to ramble about VOCALOID :P.
NICO NICO DOUGA is famous for its UTATTEMITA category, where amateur singers upload their songs (whether with video or not). Most of the time, they sing songs from anime and games. The first utattemita song I have heard/watched is arufu's (あるふ) rendition of
Otome no Policy from Sailor Moon using a voice very much like Nakamura Yuuichi (hence, the Bishounen Senshi Grahamoon pun). The first VOCALOID utattemita I watched though is ASK's rendition of
Servant of Evil, originally sung by Kagamine Len. (note: watch both videos, they are amazing).
Ever since then, I've been looking forward more to fandubs/utattemita versions than the normal VOCALOID songs :P. I have two favorites in the male category and I know you won't regret listening to them whether you're a VOCALOID fan or not ♥: I have embeds, links to nico, etc. I strongly advise that you watch the NICO ones, if you have an account, since seeing the comments scroll on the screen is pretty amazing <3.
fanart from
this nico video
トゥライ (Tourai/Tolie/minato/流星P)
• specialty: doujin music (doujin circles minatone and Usa colony), Vocaloid fandubs
• blog:
tolie618• nico nico douga page:
mylist minato or RyuuseiP is a composer/arranger/lyricist of doujin music (fandubs of songs, mostly) and VOCALOID songs. Among his compositions (and my favorites) are
Spice! (Kagamine Len),
RIP=RELEASE (Megurine Luka) and
magnet (Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka).
When Tourai first sang a VOCALOID song, he chose Hatsune Miku's
Black Rock Shooter and did not introduce himself, I think o.o. However, when he sang the second chorus, he mispronounced the term "tsurai" as "tourai". Nico nico viewers pointed it out a number of times (screencap
here) until "Tourai-san" became stuck as his nickname. Later on, he said in his blog that he is also minato/RyuuseiP.
Tourai sings mostly Kaito and Kagamine Rin songs. He also does collaborations with other artists (for duets) like Jack, Usa (his almost!permanent duet partner as Miku :P), etc. He adjusts the pitch for the female songs so he can sing it without difficulty. Nevertheless, he has a great falsetto and isn't scared of going all out with singing. Some people say that he sounds like Miyano Mamoru (I don't think so ;;) but he's mostly identified with Kaito. He has a very silky, smooth, sexy voice that doesn't hurt the ears. Some people say that he's so popular that even guys adore him (ahahaha, can I wish one of them is clear? XD).
NOTABLE TOURAI SONGS (with embeds)
- Most of the Youtube links of the original Vocaloid songs (and sometimes the embeds themselves) have Romaji and translations.
BLACK★ROCK SHOOTER (ブラック★ロックシューター)
originally sung by Hatsune Miku
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: this is Tourai's first VOCALOID fandub, and as I said, where he got his nickname.
Click to view
極楽鳥 -bird of paradise-
originally sung by Kagamine Rin
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is an amazing rendition and is one of my favorite Tourai songs. He has a sexy squawk according to B-san scream near the beginning and the rest is made of awesome.
Click to view
meltdown (炉心融解)
originally sung by Kagamine Rin
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is Tourai's most viewed fandub, with 500,000+ views at nicovideo. I wouldn't be surprised, though, since this song is really awesome. After this, there was also a released synthesized duet of meltdown with him and clear and it was great, too /fangirl ^v^.
Click to view
Piano x Forte x Scandal (ピアノ×フォルテ×スキャンダル)
originally sung by Meiko
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: I love this because of the piano sounds and the way Tourai can sing fast without ruining the pace or the tone. What a versatile voice *sigh*.
Click to view
Marionette (マリオネット)
originally sung by Hatsune Miku
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: Personally? I was sold when I heard the sigh at the start dammit.
Click to view
CENDRILLON
originally sung by: Kaito and Hatsune Miku
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is one of Tourai's duet with Usa, a popular female Nico singer. I do not like Usa much when she's singing solo, but I must say this is a beautiful rendition. Note that this song is one of the reasons why the Kaito x Miku OTP is popular and of course, the popularity rubbed off to UsaTourai :P.
Click to view
erase or zero
originally sung by Kaito and Kagamine Len
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is a rare collab with another guy, Ten XD;. It's one of my favorite Kaito x Len songs so there :3.
Click to view
Fullchin Boogie (フルチン☆ブギ)
originally sung by Kagamine Len
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This song is a collaboration with Jack featuring Shigeru (both are Nico singers, too). This is a surprising song, even for Len. Fullchin means not wearing anything below ;~;. Yeah, well. Just.
Click to view
Hitobashira Alice (人柱アリス)
originally sung by Meiko, Kaito, Miku, Rin and Len
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This song is a collaboration of Tourai (as Kaito), Yamai (as Meiko), Re:A (as Miku), Utawa Sakura (as Rin) and Usa (as Len). This song also has disturbing content, please listen at your own risk. Still, if you don't take the risk, you wouldn't hear Tourai's super sexy narrating voice at the start <33.
Click to view
picture from his own nico community profile
clear
• for clarification, I will put clear's name in itals. so it wouldn't be thought of as an adjective :P.
• specialty: doujin music (anime and VOCALOID)
• mixi
here• blog
here• nico nico douga page:
mylist• does collabs: with dasoku (蛇足) as dasokuria (だそくりあ); with wotamin (ヲタみん) as clewota; with vivienne (びびあん).
clear is a singer I do not know anything about. I first heard him from the synthesized version of his and Tourai's
meltdown and fell in love. I know he jokes about his blog about being called "hentai-san" though, but nothing more.
clear has a similar voice to Tourai. However, his voice is thinner and slightly higher. He has gentle voice sometimes that remind me of Irino Miyu. I like his ballads although lately, he's become really great at upbeat songs, too ;;. He sings songs by Miku, Len and Kaito. Unlike Tourai who collabs mostly only with Usa (and Jack), clear collaborates with dasoku (a guy) to form the dasokuria pair who sang the famous magnet duet. He also collaborates with females like wotamin, who mixes his songs for him, too, and vivienne. Personally, I find clear more versatile with his songs and collaborations than Tourai, because he can sing cute and unexpected songs. I mean, I was so thrilled when I watched his
version of May'n's Northern Cross from Macross Frontier!
NOTABLE CLEAR SONGS (with embeds)
- Most of the Youtube links of the original Vocaloid songs (and sometimes the embeds themselves) have Romaji and translations.
Fire◎Flower
originally sung by Kagamine Len
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is not a very powerful song, but I like how clear utilized his voice range here. Len songs are usually high-pitched, so I am quite impressed with this. Not a favorite of mine, but still a good, upbeat song.
Click to view
Iroha Uta (いろは唄)
originally sung by Kagamine Rin
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is one of the few female songs clear has sung. I really like his adlib here and the way he said "oide" at the instrumental part ;A;. I also liek the message (ahahaha) where the singer promises loyalty and dedication to a person. So far, this is my favorite clear solo ♥.
Click to view
FROM Y TO Y
originally sung by Hatsune Miku
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is one of the few female songs clear covered, too, and it is also one of my favorite ballads. It's a very sad song about separation. Tourai also sang a version of it, but I like clear's version more because I think the melody fits his voice. Tourai's version came too strongly for me :). Clear's is perfect <3.
Click to view
SAIHATE (サイハテ )
originally sung by Hatsune Miku
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is a cover done by Hatsune Miku, which is then sung by clear as a ballad. To be honest, I prefer clear's ballad version to the Miku one.
Click to view
ANOTHER: WORLD IS MINE (アナザー:ワールドイズマイン) -band edition-
originally sung by Kaito
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is a song connected to Hatsune Miku's "World is Mine". The lyrics seem a bit off-sung at times, but it's still a good song.
Click to view
TSUGAIKOGARASHI (番凩)
originally sung by Kaito and Meiko
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is a good rendition of the song by clear and vivienne. There is also an UsaTourai version, but I like this one more because Usa and Tourai's voices can be too forceful and powerful at times and I don't think it fit the old era melody of the song.
Click to view
ggrks (ググれカス)
originally sung by Megurine Luka and Gackpoid
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This song is sung by clear and wotamin (clewota team-up). I think they have a good team-up. I love this song to bits, both original and cover! This song is about a guy who's totally head over heels with the girl and is stalking her. The girl is clearly annoyed by it and when she is asked questions like "Do you eat eggplants?" or "Are you wearing panties?" she replies with "Google it, you idiot" (hence the Gugurekasu title). Ahhh, I love it when clear asks the pervy questions and laughs, LOL. Very sexy sigh-laugh WHYYY?
Click to view
IMITATION BLACK
originally sung by Kaito, Gackpoid and Kagamine Len
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: This is such a cool song *A*. This song is sung by clear, dasoku (his BL partner hahaha), and valshe (a female nico singer who's also very good!). This is one of clear's latest works, so you can see how he's totally improved from a balladeer to a rockstar. I love it <3.
Click to view
magnet
originally sung by Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka
herefirst uploaded at nicovideo
herenote: If you have read the Tourai pimp post above, you'll see that I mentioned that he composed "magnet" for Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka. The lyrics are pretty yuri (as you can somehow see in the fanart in the vid). Of course, what do you get when males sing a yuri song? YAOI of course XD;. This version sung by clear and dasoku is the best and probably the safest version (we'll talk more about that later :3).
Click to view
*** clear also has his own versions of
Cendrillon (with Vivienne),
meltdown and
bird of paradise, but I didn't include them in the notable list because I think they're not his best songs and that Tourai does them better. Just click the links if you want to watch them too :3.
OKAY PIMPING DONE. What next? Downloading of course. After you've watched the videos or clicked the links (I hope you did, or else you'll regret it for the rest of your long life :E) you might want MP3s of some of the songs. In my next post, I'll do a tutorial on how to use nicosound as well as download links (zips) of all the Tourai and clear songs that I have hahaha. I'll also include the scandalous versions of magnet which I have tortured
simply_kim with :P. Please look forward to it~! (It'll be in a few hours, I promise).
...I wish you've been impressed or something :3. Please tell me your thoughts on them, or if you are already into NND Utattemita, let's talk about your favorite singers! Feel free to link people to this post, since this is public ♥.
LOCKED PART B HERE...