Some of my most observant readers may notice that I tend to a slight, miniscule amount of bias towards talking about Hatsune Miku. Shocking, I know! But I cannot allow for this bias to define my entire blog. Variety is the spice of life, after all. And so I must branch out, by profiling my favorite non-Vocaloid vocal synth, Kasane Teto!
Kasane Teto is a joke. Or at least, that’s how she started out. She was created by the users of Japanese image board 2channel (similar to 4chan in the West) as an April Fool’s Day Prank in 2008. Teto was made to fool viewers into thinking she was a Vocaloid (a part of the most well-known vocal synth company). She didn’t even have an actual voice software back then! But fortunately for twin-drilled idol, she was later provided with a voice based off of Oyamano Mayo, and was later released as an UTAU, a free vocal synthesizer software.
Her origins as a joke have defined some of her well accepted character traits. She is canonically around 31 years of age. But she’s a chimera, so she’s actually 15 and a half. If this doesn’t make much sense, that’s by design. She loves baguettes, and has bright red drill-like twintails as her signature hairstyle. Her own website states that her best skill is getting extensions on rental DVDs, and that she’s really bad at singing.
Her first original song is called “Teto for Go”, and features no lyrics. She later released “Song of the Eared Robot“, an updated version of which I featured in a previous blog. But perhaps one of her most well-known appearances would be in “Triple Baka”, featured alongside Hatsune Miku and Akita Neru:
The song is a simple love song without terribly deep lyrics. The animation is that accompanies it is both adorable and hilarious. Even as a reupload, the song still has over 19 million views!
Kasane Teto later received an SynthesizerV AI version of her voicebank, which allowed her vocals to far surpass not just her older songs, but most modern vocal synths in comparison.
To illustrate this, I’ll end this blog with a SynthesizerV AI version of one of her most famous songs, “Teto Territory” (I’ve also linked the original version for those who wish to listen to it).
The song is mainly about her desire to become a Vocaloid and make music for the world. It features a lot of the character traits I previously described within the music. Although she may have not become a Vocaloid, she still became one of the most popular vocal synths in her own right. As they often say, aim for moon. Even if you miss, you’ll still land among the stars.
Might be the most unrelated comment ever, but the Japanese know how to create some great characters and that is showcased by every single one of your passion blogs.
It’s really amazing that the character began as a joke but has now grown to such high fame. It is cool when things start that way, sort of like inventions that were created by accident. Overall this was an engaging entry that excellently articulated the origins of this unique vocal synth.
I also find myself biased towards Miku when talking about Vocaloid. I didn’t know about Kasane Teto before, but it’s interesting to see how the character developed over time. I really enjoyed the song you listed too!