Blake Howell

**Blake Howell** is a character for the UTAU engine.

He is voiced by Sam Blakeslee (aka. Lupin), an American VOCALOID producer.

## Concept

### Etymology

His original name was Baionoto Kenji (倍(ばい)音(おん)音(おと)ケンジ). The name Baionoto (倍音音, *bai'on'oto*) means "harmonic sound". he redundant kanji are on purpose, to emphasize the sound aspect. - 倍音 = "Harmonic", 音 = "Sound".

In May 2021, Lupin was thinking of renaming Blake to something more appropriate due to the fact he was intended to be a white American and asked on twitter for suggestions. The names "Ken" and "Winters" were considered but ultimately was settled on Blake Howell.

### Appearance

Blake Howell is a wearwolf with a mesomorphic body type. He has very light skin, platinum blonde hair, white wolf ears and a fluffy white tail, which would give him a somewhat albino appearance if it weren't for his blue eyes and blue streaks on his ears.

He wears a crimson-red jacket over a black tank top. He wears tan cargo pants that can unzip into shorts, black fingerless gloves, and white, black, and red sneakers.

His older design consisted of a maroon headset, a dark grey tank top with a crimson jacket, khakis or blue jeans, and red and black sneakers.

Blake's design was based upon his creator Lupin's appearance, but a more idealized version of himself.

### Personality

Blake is playful, yet serious, slightly to moderately foul-mouthed, a bit over-reactive, calm, kind ("My religion is kindness"), and logical. He knows when to stop talking about bitter topics. When he insults people, he usually doesn't mean it seriously (but there are instances where he has been). He tends to be off-topic and may say something partially-unrelated to the topic at hand (if, that is, he's not paying full attention). His emotions are easily read. Yelling at him can cause him to grow extremely upset, sometimes to the point of crying, depending on who is yelling at him. He has some confidence issues and tries not to show it. It is notable that he begins shaking uncontrollably and begins stuttering when in front of large crowds. Isn't afraid to stand up to someone who is harming others. Though he doesn't like violence, he isn't afraid to use it in desperate situations, which leads some to believe that he doesn't know how to fight since he rarely needs to.

### Likes

* Keychains
* Video games
* Music
* Singing
* Wildlife (particularly canines)

### Dislikes

* Bullies
* Unnecessary violence
* Ignorance

### Relations

* DEX - Same voice provider
* Baionoto Keiti - Twin sister (vocal achieved through g-15)
* Kikyuune Aiko - Fellow XYZ UTAU, fellow gamer, preferred co-op game partner and competitive game rival
* Zeny - Sparring partner, master in OTO-ki
* Doremine Janyori - Fellow werewolf and friendly rival

## History

He was initially retired upon the release of the VOCALOID4 DEX due to having the same voice provider, but production continued after the exclusivity contract expired.

### Marketing

Blake was featured heavily on Lupin's album idle thoughts alongside the VOCALOID3 IA. Distribution of the album has ceased and is no longer available.

## Voicebanks

Blake Howell
Blake Howell is encoded in romaji, with kana aliases parsed on the oto.ini file.
* Act 1 CV (UTAU)
* Act 1.7 VCV (UTAU)
* 2 CV (UTAU)

Blake Howell VCV2a
A upcoming voicebank that is being worked on upon his exclusivity contract with Zero-G Limited expiring. It is experimental and not set to be his final new voicebank.
**All new versions of Blake Howell will be released only through private channels as requested.**

## Reputation

### Trivia

* Although it was once stated that Blake would "never [wear] shorts- ever", in a updated design he was given pants that can be converted into shorts.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/nostr8answer/status/1394734599918563328
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/nostr8answer/status/1394735604877955072
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/nostr8answer/status/1394877259916394500
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/nostr8answer/status/1394931135323455489
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/nostr8answer/status/1250378874921324545
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://twitter.com/nostr8answer/status/1237892528466087938
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/nostr8answer/status/1237892625186705409
8. ↑ Lupin edit on the UTAU wiki
9. ↑ Kenji 2020 reference sheets

## External links

### Articles

* UTAU Wiki
* VocaDB