Kamui Gakupo (神威がくぽ) is the official mascot character of Gackpoid (がくっぽいど / Gakuppoido) which is a singing synthesizer application software powered by Yamaha's Vocaloid2 and was published by INTERNET Co.,Ltd.[1] The avatar character of the software 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" into our everyday lives as much as possible. Internet co., Ltd drew up their own ideas from this on what makes Vocaloid popular. Gackt's design from 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 was named “Music katana, Miburi” (楽刀・美振 / Gakutou Miburi). The patterns on its blade make sounds as a musical instrument 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, as well as a combination of cyber and traditional Japanese 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 can most likely be shown as a pun on both the avatar's naming and the literal form of "楽" which can stand for "musician" after changing it 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.
"Gakupo" is based on the pronounication of the name "Gackt". The software name of "Gackpoid" also takes its name from Gackt's own. The name of "poid" on the end of the name is short for "like Vocaloid", the full implied name of this product is "Gackt-like Vocaloid".
However, the spelling of his name can at times vary. For example, the Karen-T website his name is often also seen written as "Camui Gackpo". Other spellings of his name have also been witnessed from other sources.
The Gackpoid software was marketed as part of the bid to introduce professional singers to Vocaloid, allowing users access to a vocal of a famous professional singer. He was also marketed with a guide book on his usage, which was optionally able to be bought with his software, he was also 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.
In 2009, Gackt also challenged users of Vocaloid into a competition using Gakupo with the best song not only winning 10 million yen, but Gackt would also sing the song and include it on one of his next albums if he liked it enough.[4][5] In 2011, the winning song "Episode 0" by mathru/KanimisoP and runner up "Paranoid Doll" by natsuP (SCL Project), were featured being sung by Gackt in his 39th single set for release on 7/13, 2011. The producer of the runner up song also received 300,000 yen while the producers of the other 8 top ten songs received 100,000 yen each.[6][7][8]
This album is set to be released on the 13th July 2011, and will be Gackt's 39th single album under the title "Episode.0". The short preview for the original version of the song "Episode.0" in Gackt's version was released during the month of May 2011 Gackt-Episode.0 (Short PV However during the early days of the month of June an official video of the complete version of the song was uploaded on Nico Nico Douga Gackt-Episode.0 (Unofficial PV)
In order to celebrate the release of VOCALOID3 Gackpoid, INTERNET is holding a contest where winners can get their songs added to JOYSOUND’s karaoke song database. Entries need to be uploaded before the end of September to Nico Nico Douga with the tag “JOYSOUNDがくっぽいど” locked. There will be separate awards for the Gackpoid, Gackpoid POWER and Gackpoid WHISPER categories. Furthermore, from now until 6PM JST on September 14, the trial version of VOCALOID Gackpoid POWER can also be downlaoded from INTERNET Co.
He has made a guest appearance in Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix, so far he has been the only non-Crypton official Vocaloid to appear in the unofficial manga.
Gumi and Gakupo made special appearances in the 2010 new year celebration event known as King Run Anison Red and White.
The songs they covered were;
アニソン紅白2010 M-32[Love Letter]神威がくぽ(がくっぽいど) "Love Letter" covered by Gackupo originally from "Mobile Suit Z Gundam", which had originally been sung by Gackt
アニソン紅白2010 M-33[星間飛行]GUMI(メグッポイド) "Interstellar Flight" covered by Gumi from "Macross Frontier", which had originally been sung by Megumi Nakajima.
Their appearance was strictly a one off event.[9][10]
Internet Co. Ltd has released a service that offers Gakupo's voice for use with telephones, this service was first announced in April of 2009. The service is greatly limited compared to what the Vocaloid software allows normally but offers a chance for users to play with a limited version of Gakupo's voice for creating Haiku. The service was later updated for use with the PC in 2011. There is no fee for use of it and the service is open for use for fans across the world. The software application however can only be used in Japanese hiragana only and will take what is written as literal text, so for more complex patterns so great deal of thought may have to go into writing words. Internet Co., Ltd commented they intend to work with Twitter to open the service up more so others can share their works around the world. Users can download their creations for free as MP3's an unlimited amount of times.[11]
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 demand for male vocals and the popularity of his voice provider. Male vocaloids had not been developed for a long time and had so little demand at that time of Gakupo's release, owed to 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 Vocaloid, in Japan he was the most expensive of the Japanese Vocaloids at a time. [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 1 and December 15, 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]
If you change the symbol on his fan and back further, the literal word "gaku" can be changed into hiragana, which will be "がく", it is, as in the word "Gaku", commonly known as a name given to males.
Because Gackt was a major singer, Gakupo was originally sold as the most expensive Japanese Vocaloid 2 release, out of all the Vocaloid 2 voicebanks his release price overall was only beaten by Prima's.
Less experienced overseas fans often mislabel Gakupo as a "Gackpoid" rather then a "Vocaloid" and sometimes dismiss that he is a Vocaloid altogether. This is owed to the confusion over the name.
Gackpoid could be considered another contender for the insider joke "Big Al's syndrome" that overseas fans sometimes use to describe late Vocaloids. He was delayed for a month, however the term had yet to be invented.
The Internet Item Meme craze envisions him with an eggplant. This probably comes from the purple color of his hair and some part of his clothing.
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