Akikoloid-chan

Akikoloid-chan (あきこロイドちゃん) is a Japanese VOCALOID licensed to Lawson, Inc., and as a "private" VOCALOID, she is not commercially distributed. Her date of debut was the 13th of September 2011.

History
In 2011, the LAWSON convenience store chain's new mascot, "Akiko-chan" was announced to receive a synthesized VOCALOID voice makeover to become "Akikoloid-chan," who acts as a navigator for LAWSON's new Nico Nico Douga channel. On September 6, 2011, Akikoloid-chan videos were uploaded on Niconico. The vocal was from the VOCALOID3 engine and the voice provider was Arimoto (有本) from Koe-bu (こえ部), a voice sharing site for amateur voice actors. A video showing her "production" was made and she was revealed in an interview about VOCALOID with a YAMAHA representative. Songs were also shown using her vocals.

Currently, she is owned only as a private-license that Lawson acquired from YAMAHA and she will never be released for commercial use. A boxart for her has also since appeared. However, it was for display purposes only.

Following a query submitted to LAWSON on July 23, 2014, it was revealed that her usage in music had been discontinued. Despite this, she will remain as a public character representing LAWSON.

Concept
She is based on Akiko-chan's character; much like how Ryuto (Gachapoid) is based on Gachapin, she is not Akiko-chan herself.

Etymology
Her name is a combination of "Akiko"'s own name plus "-loid" from "VOCALOID".

Appearance
Akikoloid is said to have been built by Akiko's older brother in a university lab within a week. Her appearance is based off Akiko-chan's, only designed to look more like an android. She is said to be a university sophomore student who also works part time for Lawson.

Marketing
Akiko-chan was originally introduced as a campaign character for Lawson under the profile "a university sophomore student and a part-time worker for Lawson".

Campaign
A new campaign related to the character has begun "LAWSON x VOCALOID" titled "Vocalawson campaign", this ran from September 13, 2011 to September 26, 2011. During the period of the campaign, customers at Lawson stores will be able to obtain an ID application upon purchase of the ten goods in the promotion, which will allow them entry into a lottery. Applicants enter via mobile phone or the LAWSON website. This is the first campaign where original YAMAHA VOCALOID goods can be won.

Included in this campaign was an Akikoloid-chan a figurine and a MikuMikuDance model. The model is available to downloaded from the company's site. This model was used in various official promotional videos displayed in the Lawson channel on Nico Nico Douga. It has been converted for use in MikuMikuDance with the help of Piron. It's first appearance was September 27, 2011, with a public download on December 18, 2012.

In January 2013 a campaign introduce Akikoloid-chan to Indonesia and other Asian countries.

Events
GUMI and Akikoloid-chan appeared in a concert together, dancing on stage. Though other concerts have been done for VOCALOID, this is the first official "3D" concert, previously all concerts had been done with 2D technology. Merchandise related to the concert was later produced such asa CD and DVD. On the 2nd of November a video clip about the 3D Concert "VOCALOID3 x LiveAR" was released. On the 26th of November, GUMI, VY1v3, Tone Rion, Akikoloid-chan and Aoki Lapis appeared in a 3D concert at Vocafarre 2011.

On January 21, 2012, Akikoloid appeared in a Live Jam Event in 2012.



Games
The outfit design for Akikoloid-chan is being used as a collaboration outfit for the character in Koei's latest installment in the long running hack and slash adventure series  (Shin Sangoku Musou 7 in Japan). Perched on her shoulder is the Lawson Chicken Nugget Mascot, Karaage-kun. She will also be receiving a unique skin for her throwing knives, which makes them look like musical notes.

This is the third Lawson collaboration outfit this character has been given in the Dynasty Warriors series. The first being the, the second being a Lawson themed.

Akikoloid-chan appears in the game "鬼武者Soul（ソウル）".

Trivia

 * YAMAHA officially list Akikoloid-chan as the first VOCALOID3 vocal in their VOCALOID timeline.