IA

IA  (イア) (subtitled "- ARIA ON THE PLANETES -") is a Vocaloid3 whose voicebank was provided by the Japanese singer Lia, who is known for "Tori no Uta", which is a song used for the opening theme of the visual novel, Air. Her design was illustrated by Aka Akasaka, while the design direction was by Maxilla Inc. IA is named as such due to the name of her voice provider, Lia.

History
IA was released on January 27, 2012.

A beta demo was released. The song is a cover of one of Lia's original works. On December 14, 2011, two more demos were released. On the 13th of January 2012, the full version of the beta demo was released via Youtube Broadcast.

Etymology
"IA" is taken from her voice provider's name "Lia".

There are at least two ways to read her sub-title of "Aria on the Planetes":
 * In her subtitle of "Aria on the Planetes," the words "Aria" and "Planetes" are latin for "open space" and "planet" giving the translation of "Open Space on the Planet".
 * "Aria", is also the Italian word for "air" and was used as a term in opera for expressive pieces usually sung by a single singer.

Marketing
Information has been released much slower. Her promotions have taken the approach to make her seem more otherworldly and mysterious.

The licensing for IA is slightly different to past Vocaloids and it is worth taking the time to read this page for more details. Unlike some past Vocaloids, users can use her image on CDs, flyers and posters, although some permission will be needed for greater usage of her image. This is a departure from past Vocaloids such as Crypton Future Media, who require you to ask permission for use of their Vocaloids' images on CD, flyers and posters.

Clothing
Prior to her release, you could buy a t-shirt with her logo on it.

Figurines


A Garage Kit has been made and the PVC version is being produced by the Aquamarine Company. It is already up for pre-order and will be released during March, 2013.

Concerts
IA has collaborated with Nippon engineering to preform at Kamarok Festival 2012, however, this was not leaked. On November 28th, IA performed with Jin at Voice Fes 2012, singing Live drive and World Calling, the theme song of the event. 1st Place also announced their next project 'IA Project Next Stage' which will start in 2013. Information about it is unknown, although they did mention promoting IA more in the following year.

Race Car Sponsor
The IA project is currently sponsoring the LEXUS TEAM SARD at Super GT300 on 18/08 at the seasons opening event which will mark IA's debut as a sponsor girl.

Vocaloid 3
She comes as a standard Vocaloid package. For her 1st birthday, however, a limited edition Anniversary box was also released.


 * -|IA=

Examples of Usage
To our readers and editors, for section notes please read; Notes; Examples sections.

Popularity
IA was well received and had many hits in the Nico Nico Douga weekly rankings after her release. On 08/04/2012, research conducted showed she had 679 hits on Piapro, 2459 hits on Pixiv (after search was refined) and 2,872 hits on Nico Nico Douga, making her the most popular of the early Vocaloid 3 releases. Within 6 months of her release, several songs hit 1,000,000+ views on Nico Nico Douga, whereas none of the other Vocaloid 3 vocals had achieved success of this calibre. This therefore put her on par with some of the more successful Vocaloid 2 era voicebanks, with IA being the only new Vocaloid to achieve this thus far in the Vocaloid3 era.

Trivia

 * Some overseas fans have mistaken the "Aria" in her boxes subtitle as part of her name, using it as her surname or refer to "IA" as the shorthand for "Aria" by mistaking this for her actual name.
 * Despite the myth of IA's age being 15, she has had no age assigned to her. The origins of this myth seems to originate from a section underneath the paragraph on IA about her provider Lia, wherein one of the first things mentioned on Lia is that she debuted in America at 15 years old.

Notable for...

 * First 1st Place Vocaloid released
 * First female Vocaloid released by 1st Place
 * First VOCALOID3 to hit over 1 million views on NND.

Gallery
[source]
 * -|Boxart =
 * -|Concept art =
 * -|Promotional art =
 * -|MMD models =
 * -|Misc. =