Introducing VirVox Project & Character “Genbu”
If you said that Genbu needed no introduction, then you’re not necessarily wrong – Genbu as a character isn’t necessarily new, but as we mentioned in our Q&A article, the people behind VirVox Project (under permission from VOLOR (Animen), are bringing him to the forefront of their new ventures… and if we’re lucky, he might be bringing some friends with him too!
Here we’ve compiled all the information we know so far about VirVox and Genbu, so dive right in and familiarise yourself with the whos/whens/whats/whys and hows of this brand new project.
※The following translations are all unofficial
History – beginning up til now
VirVox Project’s official Twitter account was created in February 2021, and their first introductory post was on May 1st:
Nice to meet you, we’re ViriVox* Project (working title)!
With this project we plan to carry out various activities, such as creating new content and supporting creative activities centered around male speech and singing synth characters.
We’re still working out the specific details of this project, so we ask that you wait just a little longer for more information!
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact us!
We’d like to answer as many of your questions that we have the answers to at present, so we are accepting anonymous inquiries [on marshmallow-qa]!
*Note: the account did mention afterwards that they misspelled the title of their project as “ViriVox” in the initial tweet. The actual name of their Project is “Project VirVox“.
Then this image was posted on May 5th 2021, and although there’s one potentially familiar name and colour on this list here…
…there appear to be three other names with colours associated with them too!
We already know Genbu (shown above in green), but so far we’ve only really ever seen his name written as just that – “Genbu” or ゲンブ. Which means that this graphic shows his full name, and therefore (we can assume), those of the other characters for the project:
・玄野武宏 ・雀松朱司 ・青山龍星 ・白上虎太郎
・Kurono Takehiro ・Wakamatsu Akashi ・Aoyama Ryuusei ・Shirakami Kotarou
(The English readings were announced in the Q&A we translated here).
Character introduction: Genbu
You may already be familiar with this rather handsome fellow – and as we mentioned, so far we’ve known him as “Genbu” (ゲンブ), a guy who’s actually already available as a SynthV voicebank!
Thank you for your patience, but we would now like to introduce you to the characters of VirVox Project!
First up we have Genbu/Kurono Takehiro, a male vocal synth who’s already been released for Synthesizer V!
Click here to download his new full-body standing PNG image file:
https://bowlroll.net/file/253539
As well as this, we at VocaSphere noticed that the first kanji from his family name (the 玄 from 玄野 / Kurono), when paired with the first kanji of his given name (the 武 from 武宏), gives you 玄武, which is actually read as “Genbu”!
Furthermore, for those who weren’t aware, “Genbu” is a character originating from Chinese mythology who is known often as the “Black Turtle“. In regards to this concept being adopted into Japanese mythology, he is said to be one of the four guardian spirits of Kyoto!
If you take a close look at his character design, you may notice the tortoise shell pattern over his left shoulder, known as 亀甲 / kikkou in Japanese, which further highlights this!
It’s probably not a stretch to assume that the other three boys will have similar details in relation to their names and outfits too, so keep an eye out for this!
Ah, and here is Genbu introducing himself:
Uhh, I guess this is the first time we’ve met. I’m Kurono Takehiro. Nice to meet you, or something.…………Huh? Did you just ask me if I’m wearing a costume?! Idiot!!! I like it, it’s not just some sorta costume, okay?!…… Geez.
Genbu:
Right then, once again… it’s nice to meet you!
Character usage guidelines
One of the essential sets of information any fan needs is that of character usage guidelines! Find out exactly how we’re supposed to portray the characters, as dictated by the people working hard to bring us exciting new vocal synth content! :
Genbu:
Ah right, before I forget… if you feel inclined to draw any fanart or make other creations featuring me, please make sure to add the hashtag #玄野武宏, so that it’s easy to find. The other’s said they’d be really happy if you could use their hashtags as well: #雀松朱司 #青山龍星 #白上虎太郎.
Ah…… um, yeah. Uhh……a-and……in the case of wanting to upload that sort of content featuring us*……I’d be super grateful if you could add the word “kosshori / コッショリ” somewhere in the post too. Those words are muted by this account, so we personally won’t see any posts including them, and there are other people who’d rather not see it either, although granted, there are also people out there who would actually be interested. Huh? Nonononono of course there’s no way I’m interested in that kinda stuff!?
* Here Genbu is referring to the so-called “sensitive content/subjects” broached as a question in the Q&A we posted recently. They are asking that if you would like to create any fan works (artworks, comics etc.) which center around “sensitive” themes (erotic, BL, grotesque etc.), that you add any of the above muted words to your post so that people who aren’t interested don’t have to see it (including things which could be potentially triggering to others).
VirVox finally posted their list of character usage guidelines on May 9th, but for any questions you still have, you are always welcome to message them on their Marshmallow account!
One Twitter user by the name of xuu (ｼｭ−) has helped to do their own translation into English as well, so make sure to check that out when you get the chance:
EN: https://note.com/virvoxproject/n/n463a11e855fd
JP: https://note.com/virvoxproject/n/n72cf1c1feaac
Further announcements…
There was also a rather intriguing clip posted to their Twitter on May 6th…
…and the mystery of the note saying “May 7th at 19:00” was soon revealed to be this:
Thanks so much for your patience, VirVox Project here!
Here we have the first in a series of song covers* which we will be uploading once every fortnight – today’s upload is a cover of YOSABI’s “Yoru ni Kakeru“, featuring Kurono Takehiro!
The chorus has been done using SynthV Genbu.※Update: When we said “once every fortnight”, we actually meant once a week!
As of writing, this is the only cover that’s been uploaded, but we’ll be sure to update you once more drop!
**UPDATE ON MAY 14, 2021**
The second cover song has been revealed to be テレキャスタービーボーイ / Telecaster B-Boy by すりぃ / Surii
Sorry for the long wait!
Here we have Kurono Takehiro/Genbu’s second cover song, and also a new visual!
For those who can’t wait to see the visual… feast your eyes on this video!
Telecaster B-Boy / by Kurono Takehiro (CV: Garo) 【VirVox Project】
And with it even came a brand new design for Genbu by おにだるま / Onidaruman!
Inter-character relations
Genbu seems to have a good, established relationship with Tsuina-chan too:
Genbu:
It probably looks like Tsuina-chan would be a kouhai* to me, but in reality I have a lot to thank her for, in regards to everything she did for me before this project even began. I’m seriously super grateful.
* The term “kouhai” (後輩) refers to one’s junior or underclassmen in the same line of work or activity that you are involved in. In other words, Genbu became SynthV character before Tsuina-chan, so Tsuina-chan thus looks up to him as someone to learn from.
Tsuina-chan sure seems excited to meet the new boys, and see how the project progresses:
Tsuina-chan: “Looks like another exciting project……”
VirVox: Thanks so much! We hope you’ll keep looking forward to it!!
(I wonder what kind of bread we should have……)
(It’s said that Tsuina-chan loves different types of bread, especially curry bread, so it seems Genbu is either trying to entice her to to support unveiling of the project, or he just cares for Tsuina-chan and wants to do something nice to say thanks to her).
Either way, it’s super cute to see their interactions, and we can’t wait to see more!
This has been a LOT to unpack, but we hope that you’re now caught up with everything Genbu-related, and that you’re excited to meet the three other boys who’ll be joining him in the near future, if all goes to plan!
As someone who’s been looking forward to more male synths, I can hardly contain my own excitement! Here’s to the success of VirVox Project!
~Tanudama
Links
VirVox Project
VOLOR (Animen)
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[…] If you’re interested in the progress and announcements related to VirVox Project’s characters and activities, you’ll want to check out our other companion article here. […]