LEON and LOLA were the world’s first VOCALOID products—undeniably pioneering—and MIRIAM, by releasing a voicebank built from the recordings of a professional singer (Miriam Stockley), took a step closer to the idea of a “singing persona,” suggesting a direction others could later build on. That said, none of them achieved major commercial success. Still, sales are not the whole story.
Focusing on LEON and LOLA in particular: in Japan, their distribution was handled by Crypton Future Media. By observing who these products were aimed at—and how their packaging and positioning landed—Crypton drew lessons that influenced how they later introduced MEIKO and to whom, as discussed in interviews with CEO Hiroyuki Itoh. Seen this way, without the first path LEON and LOLA opened, MEIKO might not have taken the form she did; and without MEIKO’s success, the “Character Vocal Series” that later took shape with Hatsune Miku might not have emerged, or might have arrived much later.
LEON and LOLA themselves did not reach the level of success that MEIKO or Hatsune Miku did, but the more you look at where those later successes began, the clearer it becomes how essential and irreplaceable their presence was. As Zero-G once wrote on a product page, they were “the ‘Adam and Eve’ of the new era of virtual singing.” Far from hyperbole, I think that line captures a real truth about the VOCALOID origin story.
@Xx_ShinSekai_xX LEON & LOLA are technically in the "like" category, I only separated them cuz this was mainly focused on my favs, and in their case they aren't, overall they're not that appealing to me srry, but I do enjoy seeing duets of them don't get me wrong, that's why I decided to include
It's on her 30s, Bi, has strong attitude but also sweet mood, ridiculously strong, loves sake, play guitar, arcades & rhythm games, Sachiko is her mom, besties with LOLA, MIRIAM, Miku, Haku, Ruko, Luka, Ritsu and Lily, married with KAITO while rasing the Kagamines together
@Redguy_Fukase @Tohoku_ZunkoEN Are you trying to blame ME?
Here's the list:
Silhouette Series which are 20
You and Flower
Big Al, Bruno and Clara, DEX and DAINA, if I'm not wrong KAITO and MEIKO, Leon, Lola, Miriam, Sweet Ann, Prima, Tonio, Mew, maaaybe CUL, this leaves around 70 queer VOCALOIDs
@Xeno_Genesys Fr, the last V1 was KAITO, there's only five V1, LOLA, LEON, MIRIAM, MEIKO AND KAITO, Miku is the second V2, since Sweet Ann was released before her (29 June)