Mayu



MAYU is a female VOCALOID3 by EXIT TUNES. EXIT TUNES has released several VOCALOID related CDs and albums for [http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/Crypton_Future_Media,_Inc. Crypton Future Media], [http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/Internet_Co.,_Ltd. INTERNET], and [http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/1st_Place_Co.,_Ltd. 1st PLACE] VOCALOIDs.

She was released on December 5th, 2012.

Appearance
MAYU's design is based on gothic lolita fashion. Her hair itself fades from a light blonde to rainbow, and she is depicted with a hat that has a speaker attached. Her earrings appear to be styled like in-ear headphones that hookover the ear. The buttons on her dress are amplifier buttons/knobs, while the bottom of her dress has a keyboard pattern. Her shoes also have neon-lighting.

She holds an axe, which is to show her yandere influence. The rabbit doll she holds has a microphone at the top of its head. When she holds it up to sing, she grabs it by the neck, as if she were strangling it.

Character Traits
Her birthday is on May 6th.

MAYU is intended to be a yandere influenced VOCALOID, hence her yandere traits and axe.

Etymology
Currently there has been no official word explaining the name "Mayu".

The rabbit she is holding is named Usano Mimi (宇佐乃ミミ). The name translates to "bunny ears." It was first introduced as an April Fools' Day 2012 joke as a parody of the Crypton Future Media Character Vocal series website. There, it was listed as a new line of VOCALOIDs called "Animaloid".

Marketing
MAYU has a standard usage "terms of use." Individuals and doujin circles can, without prior approval from EXIT TUNES, freely use the name MAYU, illustrations based on the character design and her voice created through the software, as long as distribution is limited in scope or is one of the “noted distribution methods," regardless of whether money changes hands in doing so. Furthermore, commercial entities can freely use the voice without prior approval from EXIT TUNES. However, the official logo and illustration is not included in this license.[4]

Promotion
As part of her promotion, EXIT TUNES released MAYU as a special package, which features her VOCALOID3 voicebank and a Special 2-disc CD. This bundle also comes with a MAYU cellphone strap and mouse pad, though note that these items are limited stock. MAYU also has several pieces of merchandise based on her.

Clothing
A dress based on MAYU's outfit has been produced by Coslook, from which an Usano Mimi stuffed animal has also been made.

Popularity
Due to early announcement, MAYU started to gain popularity several months before her release. At the release date, she has 880 artworks on DeviantArt. This is slightly above Galaco level, while also being slightly below CUL and Aoki Lapis, and noticeably less than IA. In Japan, due to EXIT TUNES' effort, she received more attention. MAYU songs appeared in the Weekly VOCALOID Ranking seven weeks before her release. By the release date, her most popular song had earned 330,000 views on NicoNicoDouga, and had hit the #1 position in the Ranking (but only for one week). By that date, she had six songs with 50,000-150,000 views, and seven songs with 10,000-50,000 views. It has placed her as the second most popular VOCALOID3 after IA. However, considering her heavy promotion, this result is not so spectacular. Moreover, some of her promotional songs reached a lower number of views for their famous producers. Therefore, MAYU's final level of popularity is not exactly clear.

Notable for...

 * First VOCALOID from EXIT TUNES
 * First female VOCALOID from EXIT TUNES
 * First Yandere influenced VOCALOID
 * First lolita-styled VOCALOID