Thursday, November 19, 2009

MEIKO

Everybody loves MEIKO onee-chan ^_^ So do I! MEIKO is one of the earliest VOCALOID that was made by Crypton. The same company who created the ever popular Hatsune Miku VOCALOID that everyone's listening to. Ok, not everyone but a LOT of people.
So what prompted this post? Well... take a look at the picture below...

Oooh, all the VOCALOID plushie... they're all so cute! But look to the farthest right of the picture. IT'S MEIKO!!! IT'S A FREAKIN' MEIKO PLUSHIE!!! I knew I didn't get the Miku plushie for a reason. The Miku plushie had been in my online shopping cart for a while, but I've never gotten around to actually order it, even if it was one of the hottest items that was always sold out when it got restocked...

I saw the Kaito and the Kagamine twins plushie being made. I didn't even think that MEIKO was a possibility since she was ignored this whole time... But I kept my optimism up when I saw KAITO and Rin and Len being made, "maybe there's a chance MEIKO will be made too". And there she is in all her glory! The mature MEIKO making her presence in the recent Miyazawa Model Exhibition!

Well I can't really leave it at that though. I have to explain why MEIKO gets her own post here and why I'm a fan.

So who is MEIKO anyway? As I've said she was one of the earliest VOCALOIDs released on November 5, 2004. Her voice is based on a Japanese singer named Meiko Haigou. Unfortunately MEIKO, the Vocaloid, does not share the same popularity as Hatsune Miku, who is a Vocaloid ver. 2 program. MEIKO's voice tend to be more electronic than the other Vocaloids, but a lot of skilled programmers have created great music for MEIKO. In fact, MEIKO has a greater range of vocals than Miku and the later Vocaloids. Her songs range from jazz, R&B, rock, pop and even children's songs. I personally like her cool voice as expressed in the following song:



The above video and song was the one that exposed me to MEIKO and was the catalyst that made me delve deeper into the VOCALOID world, all thanks to Mr. Hatsune Tenrou... It was a very cool song paired with depictions of a very strong and tough MEIKO protecting the younger Vocaloids.

There are few versions of MEIKO, but I'll only talk about the two right now. One is the older version of MEIKO which is based on the box art of the software. She tends to have the cool adult voice. The other version, which was fanmade, is Sakine Meiko, who is supposed to be the 16-year-old version of MEIKO. Obviously she has a younger voice and used for more fun songs such as Honey:



Sure it's a cuter voice, but I can't help but find it a bit more electronic than Sore ga Bokura no Justice (the first posted song).

It was exactly two weeks ago that MEIKO celebrated her fifth birthday. This picture was so cute that I need to use it. A younger version of MEIKO? KAWAII! ^.^ I made a special post about her birthday on Figure.FM and highlighted some of my favourite MEIKO songs.

One of her newer songs that was created on her birthday is Sky Cutting Scissors as seen below:



You know you want your favourite singer to do her best, right? ^^ Which is why I'm quite choosy about MEIKO songs and I tend to not bother if the song is too electronic for my taste. That varies of course. So even if her voice still sound too electronic, but the song was well done, I'd still like the song.

One of these creators who composes MEIKO song is none other than Susumu Fujiwara, better known as the composer to most, if not all, of Satoshi Kon's movies. The last movie that he composed was Paprika and not many know this (neither did I when I first watched the movie) that he used MEIKO to sing for the opening song! Way to go MEIKO! High profile work ^_^



Paprika is already one of my favourite anime movies because of Megumi Hayashibara was the voice actress for the main character, great visuals, great story... and now with this recent revelation, great opening song! I did love that song even before knowing about this fact :)


And of course I'm looking forward to the Puchi Nendoroid Vocaloid version of MEIKO. She looks so cool! Some people on Figure.fm, DannyChoo.com and Twitter have probably seen my current avatar with this MEIKO ^^

This is the Sakine Meiko version. She has that *kira* pose from Macross Frontier's Ranka... Speaking of which:



Right now I'm not as avid in looking through her songs and videos on Nico Nico Douga as I used to, but I hope to continue this habit again. My time has become shorter and shorter these days... But she still has a fan in me, even if I don't keep up to date.

Last but not least... I can't leave a MEIKO post without showing you my favourite MEIKO song and video ever ^_^



26 comments:

  1. So Ecchi man luvs older women, eh?

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  2. wow a real Meiko fan XD very infromative vocaloid facts ^w^ thanks for sharing XD will do the same for Miku in a couple of days I guess

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  3. I had no idea who Meiko was before this post actually, except for a faint sense that she's related to Vocaloid.
    Love the song you posted though.
    And that plushie is really cute. ^ ^

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  4. So, Meiko was before Miku? I always thought Meiko was after. ^^

    I didn't listen to much Vocaloids songs to give a accurate opinion but she doesn't sound that electronic to me. Miku might even sound more electronic because of her higher pitch.

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  5. OMG!!!!! The Paprika OP was done by a Vocaloid?
    Wow this just blew my mind since I never ever even thought about that possibility.

    Ive gotta admit Ive never ever heard about Meiko before but Im not really into the whole Vocaloid fad ^^;;

    The only song done by vocaloids I really like is Triple Baka and thats it.

    The voices sound too electronic to me and my prefered type of music is never done with the Vocaloids

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  6. Ma, those plushies are usually priced at extreme sums... I remember trying to get my dirty paws on some touhou ones, not nice on the wallets, thems.

    Imo there's not enough Haku luv going around.

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  7. Arggh~! Nendroids... Evil... They'll blow my wallet.. >_<

    But still, Meiko looks hot. :b

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  8. @FatB: Technically MEIKO is still younger than me ^^;;;

    @Tenrou: Yah plushies! Getting Miku? :D

    @kyourin: LoL are MEIKO fans that rare? XD Will look forward to your Miku post soon then ^_^

    @Yi: Yah, I did post one of her songs in your comments before. There were a lot of Vocaloid posting before the big move to figure.fm. So hopefully they'll return one day.

    @tamerchris: It really depends on the songs and how the voices are used. If the song is well done then you wouldn't even notice that it's electronic ^_^

    @Blowfish: I was just as surprised as you were when I found out about Paprika. Vocaloids are definitely not for everybody but some songs are so well done that it's hard to tell if it's a Vocaloid or not ^_^ Hehehe, "Blow"fish got his mind "blown" XD

    @Ningyo: Oooh yeah, the Tohou ones were limited items IIRC. The other Vocaloids one are a bit pricey too, but not all plushies are expensive. These ones are made to be similar to a Plushie Nendoroid. Well Haku is technically a fan creation whereas MEIKO is official ^^;;;

    @bd77: LoL yeah, thankfully I don't buy too many and they are generally cheaper than other figures. Yesh, sexy MEIKO is sekushi!

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  9. @Lightning Sabre: Not in my country, it'll cost an arm and a leg...

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  10. I've always wondered who she was XD *not much of a Vocaloid fan* this is a nice post! I love the Honey video... it was so cute! :3c and the first fanart just makes you "AWWWW!"

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  11. i think i didnt learn of Meiko till i played Project Diva ^^;; she really stands out in the line of plushies. not really too familiar with all the vocaloid characters but Luka, Miku and Meiko are my favs... any Luka plushie?

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  12. Holy fucking shit, Meiko did the Paprika opening? Tits!

    But yeah, Meiko is easily my favourite vocaloid; she's the only one of em that doesn't make me feel like a pedophile.

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  13. Paprika OP??!!? OH SHI~

    DAMN you know how long that HONEY Video was stuck in my head!?!? >__< omg its too EPIC...not a big fan of Meiko but some guy *AHEM* is slowly infecting me....-___-
    =P Otsukare sama deshita! :3

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  14. @bd77: Gah... Nendoroid arms and legs cost you a real life arm and leg? >_<

    @ninjovee: I know I love that first fanart too ^.^ LoL looks like everyone's infected by Honey XD

    @rockleelotus: Yah her red colours are really striking doesn't it? I was really pushing to unlock MEIKO in Project Diva. From the looks of it, Luka is just a matter of time ;)

    @Snark: Awesome, eh? I had a feeling you were gonna say that ^^;

    @Argyle: I dunno which guy you're talking about... XD It's so weird that you guys like Honey more than I do. Sure I like it, but not to that extend, lol.

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  15. Catching up on blogroll again after spending days on catching up on White Album...

    Still don't know much about vocaloid~

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  16. I don't know if I'm just a dumbass, but I've never seen Vocaloid...like seriously, I see artwork ALLL over the place and have countless pics of her, but I never thought about it :P

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  17. Hell yeah a Meiko post! I really do like Meiko but I haven't heard enough of her, so honestly all the videos you had here are new to me, as well as the art! I'm hoping I get at least one of the Meiko petits in my box, if I'm even able to still get it after having a problem with fraud on my debit card -.-; It's great that she's getting a plushie, I really hope they give her and Kaito a Figma soon, I'd buy them both.

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  18. @Wolfheinrich: If you had asked me last year, I'd point you to Tenrou, because I was pretty much clueless about Vocaloids before. But yeah, this whole sub-culture is really hard to follow in the middle of it. Just ask me if you want to know :)

    @FaS: It's definitely not for everybody since there are a lot of them, but I say just like what you like and if you see anything good, fanart-wise, then it's fine to like them without knowing about them ^^

    @Persocom: LoL I'm a bit behind on all of the latest MEIKO songs so I could do more if I have time to find more of her songs again. These videos are a bit older, but the art I picked up the newest ones from image boards, I wanted to keep that fresh at least ^^. I'm a bit concerned that MEIKO is just not popular enough for GSC to make them =/

    I think there's at least one full set of the main ones in the box... Ooh jeez hopefully you can get it despite that fraud thing =(

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  19. Aww still no Luka plushies out there..

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  20. I SWEAR, i'm gonna watch vocaloid ASAP!!!! I'm tired of not knowing the stuff about Vocaloid!!!! grrr.

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  21. I've never really noticed Meiko, but my friend is also a fan of hers. This post really showed me what Meiko can do and brings new appreciation to her talents! That Meiko plushie is awesome! Now I can't wait to see if I get a Meiko from the Petite Nendoroid Vocaloids I ordered!

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  22. Meiko...no idea who she was 'til now. Thanks for the info LS. :)

    I think Miku is over-rated. Her songs are barely any good, and her voice is annoying after 2 minutes...but her character design looks really nice. There's something about that green and black look...

    I'm not one to speak because I got some Miku stuff heading my way, but that's what I think of Miku now.

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  23. @hirobot: *High five*

    @Yamada: If MEIKO's being made, then Luka is an inevitability.

    @FaS: It's not really of a watch but a listen. Most of them are songs, but take a look through Youtube and there are a ton of them! Follow this link and you can see some of the best Miku videos at least.

    @pyauki: Yay so I'm not alone in my MEIKO fandom XD She is a bit underused, so she's not as popular as others, but good to have some appreciation for MEIKO ^_^ I'm sure you'll get at least one MEIKO in the Petite Nendoroid box :)

    @Tommy: You're welcome! LoL the looks definitely win people over. It is quite odd to listen to them at first, but I guess you gotta find the right songs to really appreciate these Vocaloids. I'll have to keep an eye open to see what kind of Miku goodies you're getting :)

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  24. hey!its those funny bunnys~!X3 i love their shows even if its just seconds.what the heck is with the naked girl?

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