Tone Rion (兎眠りおん) is the name of a Japanese-language female Vocaloid3 developed by Dear Stage (Moe Japan Co., Ltd.). She is noted for her cute, nasal voice. [2][3]
Her brief backstory states that she is 16 years old, good at singing and dancing and was born in 2095. Rion performs on the "Dear Stage" (ディアステージ) located in future Akihabara set 100 years from the current time.
The design has the distinct appearance of a 'cooking' maid. However, based upon her background, the design is meant to portray an Akibamaid (秋葉原 メイド), a cosplay girl whose role is that of waitress rather than a cook.
The the Kanji for Tone Rion's name means 兎 (Bunny/Rabbit) and 眠 (Sleep), however the phrase itself "兎眠" (Rabbit's sleep) has no signifcant meaning in Japanese. Though the company does not give any account, Rion's name is believed to be a double pun on the English word tone and the musical instrument Tenori-on produced by Yamaha.
Tone Rion is the first Vocaloid to specifically be sold as "Moe" and first to focus on the Vocaloid Otaku based culture. Rion is also the first to target this particular classification directly with her avatar mascot design and vocal designed around the commonly considered moe traits of Japanese manga and anime characters.
Tone Rion's vocals were used in a Japanese Norton Anti-Virus Commercial "Norton Antivirus USB Amulet". Her character illustration can also be seen on a man's T-shirt and monitor screen. She sings the background song as well, titled "Omamori Uta".[4]
Rion Tone was popular upon release with the Vocaloid Otaku crowd, although was not the most popular of the Vocaloids released in 2011. On April 8, 2012, research shows her as the least popular release for Vocaloid 3, having just 170 Nico Nico Douga hits, 63 Pixiv hits and 28 Piapro hits. Tone Rion also failed to get any songs in the Nico Nico Douga rankings in the week of her release and has stayed mostly off the ranking since release.
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