ZOLA Project (ゾラ プロジェクト), also stylized as ZOLA PROJECT, consists of three male Japanese VOCALOIDs released in June 2013 for the VOCALOID3 engine, marking the 10th anniversary of the VOCALOID software. YUU, KYO, and WIL were developed and are distributed by the YAMAHA Corporation.[2]
Their voices were provided by the members of the "ZOLA" group, with Minoru Takahashi as YUU, Yuu Miyazaki as KYO, and M.Cayton as WIL. They were introduced as the world's first "VOCALOID Boy Group you can meet!", a way for ZOLA PROJECT to "expand into the real world" as if the VOCALOIDs were "installed" into them.
ZOLA PROJECT was later updated as AI voicebanks for the VOCALOID6 engine in June 2023, with Yuu Miyazaki reprising his role as KYO while YUU and WIL were reconstructed by using the original VOCALOID3 voicebank data.[3]
Concept[]
Etymology[]
"ZOLA" is an acronym for "Zenithal Operated Liaison Aggregation".
Appearance[]
Yuki Seto confirmed that hiring Yoshitaka Amano (character designer for the Final Fantasy series), for "image illustrations," was part of an effort to expand the VOCALOID™ fanbase beyond the current segment of listeners. This was to create a new image for the software.[4] Yuki Seto has stressed that Amano's artwork of the three vocalists are "image illustrations" and not "character designs." In other words, the artwork is like concept art, conveying a specific image instead of a specific character design. For the logo design, it is credited to Souun Takeda.
Though Amano's designs remained the primary focus of advertisement and identity of the ZOLA product, additional designs were also produced with the intent of being additional, yet official, boxart designs. One of the reasons for this was to highlight different interpretations of the original Amano artwork, while giving YUU, KYO, and WIL, additional promotional art as well as alternative designs.
KYO[]
INFORMATION PENDING
YUU[]
INFORMATION PENDING
WIL[]
INFORMATION PENDING
KYO[]
In KYO's V6 design, he is represented as a young man with wavy light brown hair and amber eyes. He wears an orange long-sleeved shirt under a blue and white streaked top, which is covered by a baggy blue sports jacket-style vest with white and orange stripes on the lapels. His pants are the same material and have the same pattern as his top, and may be a one-piece, but no official reference sheet has been released to give details. He wears black dress shoes. Around his neck is a silver chain necklace. In his left hand, he holds a silver microphone.
YUU[]
In YUU's V6 design, he is represented as a young man with short blonde hair with brown-black tips and light blue eyes. He wears an untucked hot pink button-down shirt, a black tie with white polka dots, bright pink coat, a green and white jacket with black lapels, black shorts, black socks, white loafers, and silver dangle earrings.
WIL[]
In WIL's V6 design, he is represented as a young man with short, fluffy, black and white hair, aquamarine eyes, and a mole on his left cheek. He wears a black high-neck top, a black and white streaked coat, a loose teal jacket that has circular holes cut out from it, black pants with a white paint splatter design, black shoes, and a gold necklace.Official profiles[]
- YUU Blood type B; Gemini; age in adolescence; sweet voice.
- KYO Blood type B; Aquarius; fair, strong voice.
- WIL Blood type A; Capricorn; exotic, husky voice.
History[]
Marketing[]
ZOLA PROJECT was heavily advertised prior to release; a number of interviews and spotlight events were hosted as part of this. YUU, KYO, and WIL later appeared on the cover of DTM magazine.[5]
In September 2015, a manga was produced featuring ZOLA PROJECT titled "ZOLAの人たち―僕らはいかにボカロで人気者になるために作戦会議をしたか―". Published by PHP Institute, created by VOCALOID producer 卓球少年 (Takkyuu Shounen) and Illustrated by 夢乃ハルカ (Yumeno Haruka), the manga follows the ZOLA PROJECT members and their quest to become popular.[6][7]
In March 2019, ZOLA PROJECT's KYO, voiced by Yuu Miyazaki, was an invited speaker to the 7th International Conference for Universal Design in Bangkok 2019 as a moderator of the opening ceremony of the event.[8][9]
Voicebanks[]
- YUU
- YUU is the high pitch vocal of the trio, made to cover upper ranges. He has a shallow vocal range, but a large tempo range. His voice is made to blend with KYO and WIL when used together.
- ZOLA PROJECT (VOCALOID3), June 20, 2013
- ZOLA PROJECT (VOCALOID NEO), September 2013
- YUU (Mobile VOCALOID Editor)
- YUU (VOCALOID NET)
- KYO
- KYO is the middle range vocal, acting as the bridge between the vocals of YUU and WIL. He has a shallow vocal range, but a large tempo range. His voice is made to blend with YUU and WIL when used together.
- ZOLA PROJECT (VOCALOID3), June 20, 2013
- ZOLA PROJECT (VOCALOID NEO), September 2013
- KYO (Mobile VOCALOID Editor)
- KYO (VOCALOID NET)
- WIL
- WIL reaches the lowest vocal range of the 3. He has a shallow vocal range, but a large tempo range. His voice is made to blend with YUU and KYO when used together. He has a foreign accent compared to the other two.
- ZOLA PROJECT (VOCALOID3), June 20, 2013
- ZOLA PROJECT (VOCALOID NEO), September 2013
- WIL (Mobile VOCALOID Editor)
- WIL (VOCALOID NET)
Music featuring ZOLA PROJECT[]
- There are listings for notable and original songs.
- On this wiki, KYO is featured in 45 songs , 13 albums , 1 series .
- There are listings for notable and original songs.
- On this wiki, WIL is featured in 34 songs , 10 albums , 1 series .
Translation | ゾラミク★エキセントリックフューチャーナイト (Zola Miku ★ Eccentric Future Night) |
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Featuring | ZOLA PROJECT - YUU, KYO, WIL; Hatsune Miku
|
Producers | |
Categories | Original song |
Featuring | ZOLA PROJECT - YUU, KYO, WIL
|
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Producers | cillia
|
Categories | Cover song |
Translation | 世界へ送るレクイエム (Sekai he Okuru Requiem) |
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Featuring | ZOLA PROJECT - YUU, KYO, WIL
|
Producers | |
Categories | Original song |
Translation | 夢中願望 (Muchuu Ganbou) |
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Featuring | ZOLA PROJECT - YUU, KYO, WIL
|
Producers | |
Categories | Original song |
- "VOCALOID ZOLA PROJECT" on Niconico Video
- "VOCALOID ZOLA PROJECT" on YouTube
- "VOCALOID ZOLA PROJECT" on bilibili
- "VOCALOID ZOLA PROJECT" on SoundCloud
- "VOCALOID YUU" on Niconico Video
- "VOCALOID YUU" on YouTube
- "VOCALOID YUU" on bilibili
- "VOCALOID YUU" on SoundCloud
- "VOCALOID KYO" on Niconico Video
- "VOCALOID KYO" on YouTube
- "VOCALOID KYO" on bilibili
- "VOCALOID KYO" on SoundCloud
- "VOCALOID WIL" on Niconico Video
- "VOCALOID WIL" on YouTube
- "VOCALOID WIL" on bilibili
- "VOCALOID WIL" on SoundCloud
Reputation[]
Status
Google Trends |
Trivia |
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Achievements |
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References[]
External links[]
Language | Description | Site |
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Japanese | ZOLA The official website for VOCALOID ZOLA PROJECT | Link |
Japanese | VOCALOID3 ZOLA PROJECT product page | Link |
English | deviantArt , art and media community | Link |
Japanese | Pixiv , art and media community | Link |
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