Voice Providers

## MEIKO: Meiko Haigou

**Meiko Haigou** (拝郷メイコ) is a professional singer and the voice provider for **MEIKO**.

She was born in 1978 in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of 18 her unit *Fragrance Balance* received an award in an amateur music contest held by Yamaha. This event set her up with Yamaha, and she closed a contract in 2001. The contract expired in 2006 and she has been in a solo career since then.

She also performed with The 39's on multiple occasions.

#### External links

* Wikipedia
* Official website
* Official blog
* Twitter (@meikohaigou)
* Anime News Network

## KAITO: Naoto Fuuga

**Naoto Fuuga** (風雅なおと) is the pseudonym of a professional singer who is the voice provider for **KAITO**.

He started his career in the music industry as a music teacher after graduating from college, and then as a backing singer and anime song singer. He also worked as a dubbing voice actor in the animation film Cinderella by Walt Disney.

#### Trivia

* Little of his identity is disclosed so far, including his birth year and real name.
* The name *Naoto Fuuga* (Japanese order *Fuuga Naoto*) is wordplay on *fuuga na oto* (風雅な音), "tasteful sound."

#### External links

* Wikipedia
* Official blog
* Twitter (@fuganaoto)
* Anime News Network

Interviews:

* VOCALOID CL Interview: Naoto Fuga, voice provider de KAITO (in Spanish)

## Hatsune Miku: Saki Fujita

**Saki Fujita** (藤田咲) is a professional voice actor and the voice provider for **Hatsune Miku**.

She was born in 1984 in Tokyo, Japan. In 2003 she was awarded in the contest *VS Audition 2003* by Pony Canyon which established her career as a voice actress. Since then, she has built her fame in the industry, providing her voice for many animated shows and computer games. She provided high quality voice samples for VOCALOID2 Hatsune Miku. She has become a veteran of Vocaloid. Due to her familiarization with Vocaloid scripts, she herself stated she now reads the script faster than her first time reading it.

Throughout her time in the vocal synth community, a number of people, including other voice providers working for Crypton Future Media, commented on how professional she remained even when frustrating recording moments occur.

#### Hatsune Miku: VOCALOID2

Her soft and clear voice caught the attention of Crypton and they adopted Saki for their first VOCALOID2 product and third VOCALOID product overall, Hatsune Miku. Crypton created an instant hit, launching the widely-known VOCALOID trend. Saki Fujita provided a cute, high and clear voice for Hatsune Miku. Now Miku is widely recognized as the most famous and leading vocal synthesizer character, having appeared in concerts worldwide.

#### Learning English: VOCALOID3

Saki once again reprised her role for the Miku append voicebanks. She took on a new challenge in VOCALOID; providing English-based voice samples as Miku, for the English voicebank of Hatsune Miku. She learned English using an English learning program called "Engrish away!". Due to problems with learning an American accent, she has been progressing slower in her voicebank than a native English speaker. Crypton claims her accent is clearer and more understandable than Yuu Asakawa (Megurine Luka's voice provider).

#### Trivia

* Her voice acting prowess would find herself voicing various characters for the browser game Kantai Collection.

#### External links

* Wikipedia (en)
* Wikipedia (ja)
* IMDB
* Official blog

## Kagamine Rin & Len: Asami Shimoda

**Asami Shimoda** (下田麻美) is a professional voice actress and the voice provider for **Kagamine Rin** and **Kagamine Len**.

She was born in 1986 in Tottori, Japan. During high school, she developed her talent as a voice actress and received a scholarship for voice actress school. Her professional career started in 2005 when she provided her voice for Ami/Mami Futami in the arcade game *THE IDOLM@STER*. This product spread her fame in the industry, causing her to be contracted by Crypton to provide the voice for a new female/male VOCALOID after Saki Fujita was hired as the voice for Hatsune Miku.

#### External links

* Wikipedia (en)
* Wikipedia (ja)
* IMDB
* Arts Vision
* Official blog
* Twitter (@shimoda\_asami)

Interviews:

* Miku Channel Interview: Asami Shimoda 's Interview for the 6th anniversary of Kagamine Rin/Len (English subs)

## Megurine Luka: Yuu Asakawa

**Yuu Asakawa** (浅川悠) is a professional voice actress and the voice provider for **Megurine Luka**.

She was born in 1975 in Tokyo, Japan. The Luka project started in early 2007, preceding the Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin/Len projects. Crypton had the idea of releasing Luka as their first VOCALOID2 product, but Yuu's and Crypton's schedules did not match well. Therefore, Luka was distributed as the third Crypton voicebank following Miku and Rin/Len.

Yuu can speak competent English, which is why Crypton hired her for Luka. She does not consider herself bilingual and openly admits she has issues with English at times. Regarding English, she believes perfecting English grammar is a priority. Worrying too much about pronunciation may lead to sounding unnatural. This was reflected in her methods of teaching when she was brought in to aid with the recording of Hatsune Miku V4 English.

#### External links

* Wikipedia (en)
* Wikipedia (ja)
* IMBD
* Arts Vision
* Official blog
* Twitter (@Julia320)

Reports:

* Miku Channel Report: Yuu Asakawa's Report for the Magical Mirai Concert 2013 (Channel 39)

References:

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD9H34jvh0c
2. ↑ https://ameblo.jp/tacit/entry-12201321113.html
3. ↑ https://ameblo.jp/tacit/entry-12201321113.html