Natsuki Karin

**Natsuki Karin** (夏色花梨) is a Japanese vocal developed and distributed by TOKYO6 ENTERTAINMENT in collaboration with AH-Software Co. Ltd., and was released as an AI voice database for *Synthesizer V Studio* in April 2022. She was also released as a speech voicebank for *CeVIO AI* on the same day.

She is voiced by Miyu Takagi, a Japanese voice actress.

## Concept

Natsuki Karin is a third-year student attending the fictional Otaru Shiokaze High School. She can play the bass and is noted to be "not good with troublesome things". When she was in the first grade, she was a guitarist and vocalist, but after Koharu Rikka joined the music club, she turned to the bass.

Karin likes double fromage, archery, and cute things. She dislikes matcha. She is themed around the summer season.

### Etymology

**Natsuki** (**夏色**) translates to "summer color" or "the color of summer". **Karin** (**花梨**) refers to Chinese quince fruits and fruit trees.

### Appearance

Karin is a high school student with shoulder-length, mauve-colored hair tied into pigtails and black bows tied at the top. She has pale purple eyes with a mole under her left eye.

Karin wears a standard school uniform - a white top with a purple bow and a dark blue/white accented long sleeved partially opened jacket over it. She also wears a short, dark blue, pleated skirt, black and white-striped thigh-high, and a pair of brown loafers.

Ekaterina (エカテリーナ), her companion, is a mauve-colored stuffed bear with tall ears, small black horns and black claws. She wears a dark black ribbon tied to her chest and has a small black bow on her head. She has a pair of black bat wings on her back. The name "Ekaterina" is a Russian feminine given name meaning "pristine". It was chosen for its Russian noble style, which fits well with the interests of Karin, as there are also tourist ships between Otaru, Hokkaido and Russia.

### Relations

* Ekaterina - Stuffed bear companion
* Koharu Rikka - fellow student & music club member at Otaru Shiokaze High School.
* Hanakuma Chifuyu - fellow student & music club member at Otaru Shiokaze High School.
* Momoka Akino - Karin's senior. She was introduced in Karin's audio drama and was voiced by Nene Hieda.

## Voice Libraries

* Natsuki Karin Talk Voice (*CeVIO AI*), April 13, 2022
* Natsuki Karin AI (*Synthesizer V Studio*), April 13, 2022
* Natsuki Karin AI Lite (*Synthesizer V Studio*), April 13, 2022

## Additional Information

### Marketing

On May 22, 2021, Karin received an official acrylic keychain. A cocktail collaboration with Bar V, a bar in Susukino Sapporo, was also announced. On May 24, three contests as part pf the Koharu Rikka x Otaru Collaboration were launched one of which was to name Karin's and Chifuyu's stuffed bear companions. Finalists of the Otaru Collaboration radio FM, Mascot Name and Audio Drama contests were announced during the second TOKYO6 ENTERTAINMENT Official Live Broadcast on July 21. Twelve entries were submitted for the stuffed bear mascots for Karin and Chifuyu respectively. Of the winning entries, *Ekaterina* (エカテリーナ) was selected by Miyu Takagi, Karin's voice actress, as the name for Karin's mascot submitted by Twitter user
Kagamin.

An official 3D model for Natsuki Karin was revealed on January 29, 2022 and was confirmed to be made by tumidango. It was distributed for free on March 10. Official standing pictures for Karin were released on March 16.

MMD model by tumidangoFull model render (contributed by Manaboy223)
On June 24, 2022, Dreamtonics Co., Ltd. announced its first creation contest in collaboration with AH-Software, Animen, AUDIOLOGIE Co., Ltd., and Eclipsed Sounds, LLC with three competition areas: originals, covers, and cross-lingual synthesis. Creators were encouraged to submit their work regardless of language restrictions. Prizes included cash distribution from bilibili, digital copies of certain Synthesizer V voice databases, and the physical boxed copy of ANRI. Karin was listed as one of the eligible vocals for this contest.

On September 11, "NATSUKI KARIN SPECIAL LIVE!" was launched with a playlist of twelve songs.

New Karin standing art by MtU, Karei, Niijima Akiichi, and Yume no Owari were expected to release in 2023.

Karin's birthday is acknowledged as September 9 and TOKYO6 ENTERTAINMENT may annually encourage fans to create content for her.

Karin was among one of the Synthesizer V vocals that could be trialed at certain Japanese music retail stores where customers can use the software that was set up with the stores' PCs.

### Reputation

Natsuki Karin's character status
**Reaction**

Upon revelation of Koharu Rikka's companion characters, Natsuki Karin and Hanakuma Chifuyu were met with excitement as the second and third new characters of TOKYO6 ENTERTAINMENT's line. This led to anticipation and hope that the pair would receive voice databases in the future. In June 2021, their productions for CeVIO AI and Synthesizer V AI were officially confirmed via livestream, but as the video was available only in Japanese, the lack of announcement via social media, and no notification of a website update, many overseas fans did not become aware of the production until August that year. Regardless, fans were excited to know that the two would be joining Rikka as voice synthesizer characters.
**Impact**

Karin's CeVIO AI and Synthesizer V AI productions were made possible through a successful crowdfunding campaign that was launched from October 8 to October 28, 2021. She reached the main goal in less than three hours since launch, with the final stretch goal reached on October 11. She managed to accumulate a total of 15,646,075 yen by the end with 630 backers, reaching 230%.

## References

1. ↑ https://note.com/tokyo6/n/nc5e32c933fa1
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/s\_akasakov/status/1527328339945746433
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekaterina
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/kero\_2/status/1413864677390446592
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1516604792701091841
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1396092732460912646
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1396092732637028357
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1396729377426087940
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/kero\_2/status/1413864677390446592
10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9wDSETvuzY&t=4199
11. ↑ https://twitter.com/karin\_info1/status/1487289179398893571
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/karin\_info1/status/1501935016590610435
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/karin\_info1/status/1504095153320972288
14. ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv17237015
15. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1568932367481421824
16. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1575391534354075649
17. ↑ https://twitter.com/shima\_umeda/status/1598220720546676737
18. ↑ https://ubgoe.com/projects/68

## External links

* AH-Software Co. Ltd. Synthesizer V AI Product Page
* Character Page
* Koharu Rikka x Otaru Collaboration Website
* Crowdfund Page
* Official Twitter