Haruno Sora

**Haruno Sora** (桜乃そら) is a Japanese vocal developed and distributed by AH-Software Co. Ltd., and released as an AI voice database for *Synthesizer V Studio* in August 2023. She was originally released as two singing voicebanks for the *VOCALOID5* engine and a speech voicebank for the *VOICEROID2* engine in July 2018. A speech voice library for the *VOICEPEAK* engine was released simultaneously on the same date as her Synthesizer V library.

She is voiced by Kikuko Inoue, a Japanese voice actress and singer.

## Concept

Sora is a 17-year-old gentle and quiet girl. On stage as a singer, she has two different singing styles - "gentle and soft" and "cool and sharp".

### Etymology

The first kanji in her name "桜" means "cherry blossom." The second kanji "乃" is commonly used in names as well as an alternative spelling of the possessive particle "の". "そら" is the hiragana version of "空", the kanji character for "sky". The full meaning of the name is "sky of cherry blossoms".

### Appearance

For the Synthesizer V design, Sora wears a sleeveless black top with a white frilled collar, a black tie with teal stripes and a crystal butterfly charm, a black and gray tube skirt, teal and black leggings with ">>>SEVENTEEN" printed in pink and teal on her left leg. Over her outfit, she wears a white coat-like garment. This layer is off-the-shoulder with white and black trimmed fringe, translucent aqua and blush bell sleeves featuring a black lace-up pattern, and three aqua-colored buttons down the front of the bodice. Two teal belts are attached at the neckline under the arm and read "SEVENTEEN>>> SORA>>>", with two silver, upside-down, heart-shaped carabiners looped on the ends. Attached to the hem of her coat is a see-through aqua and blush-colored fabric. Sora's boots are white with black stripes and black, pink, and teal soles. On the heel of her left boot is a sakura petal with, "17" printed in it, and on her right boot heel is another petal with "Sora" on it. Her blonde, yellow, and blue pastel hair is pulled back into a high ponytail and then separated into two strips held fast by teal butterfly clasps. On her head is a large teal and pink sakura petal barrette. Although not featured in her Synthesizer V software art, Sora is alternatively depicted with a pair of pink-framed, sakura petal adorned glasses in her concept art and official 3D model.

Reference sheet by Hasegawa Umi
### Relations

* Poron - A companion robot that resembles a blue sphere that also functions as a pair of headphones.

## Voice Libraries

* Haruno Sora: Natural & Cool (*VOCALOID5*), July 26, 2018
* Haruno Sora Talk (*VOICEROID2*), July 26, 2018
* Haruno Sora AI (*Synthesizer V Studio*); August 24, 2023
* Haruno Sora Talk (*VOICEPEAK*); August 24, 2023
* Haruno Sora AI Lite (*Synthesizer V Studio*); August 31, 2023

## Additional Information

### Marketing

Haruno Sora has her own official Twitter account which was used to provide updates and promote her. Her birthday was acknowledged as July 26, the same day of her VOCALOID5 and VOICEROID2 releases, and AH-Software may release annual official content, including illustrations, songs, and merchandise. Fans were also encouraged to create content for her.

During her production phase, Sora's Synthesizer V voice database was first showcased at VVV MUSIC LIVE on June 25, 2023. Her Synthesizer V and VOICEPEAK productions were also heavily promoted during her fifth anniversary and character birthday.

An official MMD model by Tumidango was created and distributed on July 24.

Synthesizer V & VOICEPEAK MMD models by TumidangoFull model render (contributed by Hoami Miruka)

### Reputation

Haruno Sora's character status
**Miscellaneous**

* The two singing styles mentioned in her character concept reference her "Natural" and "Cool" voicebanks built for VOCALOID5.
	+ Sora's Synthesizer V AI voice database may make references to her original VOCALOID5 voicebanks, with the description mentioning similar traits of "Natural" and "Cool". The voice database was noted to have a gentle and soft quality that can shift to a powerful and cool style. In addition, one of her Vocal Modes was named "Cool".
* Sora's age of 17 is possibly a reference to Kikuko Inoue's well-known running joke of calling herself 17 years old when asked her age, to which fans would jokingly refute her in return with "yeah, right".
	+ Many of Sora's tweets allude that she may be older than 17.
	+ This could also be backed by images of Sora's school uniform, which is an older seifuku with a low collar dip and a longer skirt. This style came from the 1980s, which was when her voice provider would have been in high school at the time.

**Achievements**

* First Japanese VOCALOID to release for Synthesizer V.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/ahsoft/status/1681296462054055936
2. ↑ http://www.vocaloid.com/en/products/show/v5vb\_harunosora\_natural\_en
3. ↑ http://www.vocaloid.com/en/products/show/v5vb\_harunosora\_cool\_en
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/harunosora17
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/harunosora17/status/1659182465200852992
6. ↑ https://www.ah-soft.com/press/voice/20230725.html
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/ahsoft/status/1683678929830449155
8. ↑ https://myanimelist.net/people/195/Kikuko\_Inoue
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/harunosora17/status/1644189841465409537 - An example tweet of Sora noting that the jersey Poron was wearing was one that Sora wore herself at 17 years old, though "that's 'now' isn't it?"
10. ↑ https://twitter.com/harunosora17/status/1663058240706609152
11. ↑ https://prtimes.jp/story/detail/B5w1adHo80r

## External links

* Character page
* Synthesizer V page
* Official Twitter account