Hanakuma Chifuyu

**Hanakuma Chifuyu** (花隈千冬) is a Japanese vocal developed and distributed by TOKYO6 ENTERTAINMENT in collaboration with AH-Software Co. Ltd., and released as an AI voice database for *Synthesizer V Studio* in October 2022. She also released as a speech voicebank for *CeVIO AI*.

She is voiced by Kaya Okuno, a Japanese voice actress.

## Concept

Hanakuma Chifuyu is a first-year student attending the fictional Otaru Shiokaze High School. She can play the drums and is noted to have "serious withdrawal thoughts". She decided to enroll and join the music club after seeing Natsuki Karin performing live. She is described to be addicted to taking photos with an old camera she found in her warehouse.

Chifuyu likes matcha, reading, and cameras. She dislikes sweetness in general. She is themed around the winter season.

### Etymology

**Hanakuma** (**花隈**) is an existing Japanese surname with **Hana** (**花**) meaning "flower" & **kuma** (**隈**) meaning "corner/nook/recess" while **Chifuyu** (**千冬**) translates to "a thousand winters".

### Appearance

Chifuyu is a high school student with long black hair tied into braids extending past her shoulder and small white bows tied to the tips of the braids. Her eye color is a pale green and she wears a pair of black glasses, although she also wears contact lenses sometimes. Her Synthesizer V AI design omits the glasses.

Chifuyu wears a standard school uniform - a grey top with a green tie and a dark blue/white accented long sleeved jacket over it. She also wears a short, dark blue pleated skirt, black leggings with a pair of black and white-striped socks, and grey calf-length boots.

Larkpatch (ラークパッチ *Raakupacchi*), her companion who was also called Professor Larkpatch (ラークパッチ教授 *Raakupacchi-Kyouju* or ブロフェッサー、ラークパッチ *Purofessaa Raakupacchi*), is a light blue stuffed bear with black claws and dark blue patches over his left eye, arms and legs. He wears a dark blue tie and has a small top hat on his head. He has a white bandage on his right arm and has a pair of tattered yellow wings on his back. His name "Larkpatch" is inspired by Doctor William Smith Clark, an American professor of chemistry, botany and zoology and a colonel during the American Civil War and the word "patch" in reference to the patches on his body.

### Relations

* Larkpatch - Stuffed bear companion
* Koharu Rikka - fellow student & music club member at Otaru Shiokaze High School.
* Natsuki Karin - fellow student & music club member at Otaru Shiokaze High School.

## Voice Libraries

* Hanakuma Chifuyu Talk Voice (*CeVIO AI*), October 20, 2022
* Hanakuma Chifuyu AI (*Synthesizer V Studio*), October 20, 2022
* Hanakuma Chifuyu AI Lite (*Synthesizer V Studio*), November 2, 2022

## Additional Information

### Marketing

On May 22, 2021, Chifuyu 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 Chifuyu's and Karin'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, *Larkpatch-Kyouju* (ラークパッチ教授, lit. *Professor Larkpatch* or ブロフェッサー、ラークパッチ) was selected by Kaya Okuno, Chifuyu's voice actress, as the name for Hanakuma Chifuyu's mascot submitted by Twitter user Mamon; this name would be later simplified to just Larkpatch (ラークパッチ) on Chifuyu's official character page.

On April 22, 2022, Kaya Okuno performed "Himetaru.NE" at "Koharu Rikka 1st LIVE! First Day of School!".. It was a song written by Itsuki Minato, Takapira's keyboardist, that was intended to be a future demo for Chifuyu. On September 29, an MMD model by tumidango and official standing art were made available.

MMD model by tumidangoFull model render (contributed by Manaboy223)
Chifuyu's birthday is acknowledged as March 2 and TOKYO6 ENTERTAINMENT may annually encourage fans to create content for her.

Chifuyu 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

Hanakuma Chifuyu's character status
**Reaction**

Upon revelation of Koharu Rikka's companion characters, Hanakuma Chifuyu and Natsuki Karin 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**

Chifuyu's CeVIO AI and Synthesizer V AI productions were made possible through a successful crowdfunding campaign that was launched from June 26 to July 26, 2022. She reached the main goal within minutes since launch, with the final stretch goal reached after an hour. She managed to accumulate a total of 23,920,803 yen by the end with 1007 backers, reaching 398%.
**Miscellaneous**

The first song featuring Hanakuma Chifuyu to reach 1 million views was "Omajinai", an original by Nakiso, which occurred on April 1, 2023.

## References

1. ↑ https://note.com/tokyo6/n/nc5e32c933fa1
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/s\_akasakov/status/1527328339945746433
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/Chifuyu\_Info/status/1488017581629841410
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/V1JZpwkKFGpv8qD/status/1396475684223025157
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1396092732460912646
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1396092732637028357
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1396729377426087940
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/V1JZpwkKFGpv8qD/status/1396475684223025157
9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9wDSETvuzY&t=4528
10. ↑ https://twitter.com/kaayaataaaan/status/1518219391048896512
11. ↑ https://twitter.com/s\_akasakov/status/1518268067771744256
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1575385469172338688
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/shima\_umeda/status/1598220720546676737
14. ↑ https://twitter.com/tokyo6info/status/1541070939374624768
15. ↑ https://twitter.com/Chifuyu\_Info/status/1551946581146234880

## External links

* Character Page
* Koharu Rikka x Otaru Collaboration Website
* Official Twitter
* Crowdfund Page