Luka Luka Birthday Fever

Illustrated by strikerさん

Sorry for the late writeup; things got hectic recently and this article kind of slipped through the cracks. In either case, we’d like to wish a belated happy birthday to Megurine Luka! (We’d sing, but then we’d get sued for copyright infringement… Oh, and you probably don’t want to hear us sing :))

January 30 marked the third anniversary of Crypton Future Media’s release of the third installment of their Character Vocal Series, Megurine Luka. Voiced by Asakawa Yuu, Luka was the first VOCALOID sound library to feature both Japanese and English soundbanks. According to a blog post from Crypton, her last name means a sound that has traveled the world and her first name is supposed to evoke the idea of songs flowing and wafting through space like a fragrant scent.

Luka’s boxart was illustrated by KEI, the same artist behind Miku, the Kagamines, and Lily. KEI designed Luka to look asymetrical, which reflects the fact that she is a bilingual Vocaloid. Her design also incorporates features of brass instruments. The gold curl on her chest represents a circulatory organ, while the blue jewel on her throat symbolizes moisture, air, and water drops.

Like the other VOCALOID characters, she also has her own character item(s). Unlike Miku, many people battled over what would become her character item, with the cute little octopus Takoluka and the tuna seemingly the winners.

Of course, like the other VOCALOID characters, Luka’s birthday was celebrated by Japan in many different ways. Crypton’s VOCALOID record label KarenT published four new releases in celebration. The PIAPRO blog is running a goods raffle (entries must be submitted by the end of the day, February 6) for one copy of the actual software, three figmas, five large grab bags and five small grab bags. Entrants need to just enter their name, email address, what they wish to win and a message to Luka. In addition to releasing a new witch costume for Luka, Project DIVA Arcade is running a promotion through February 5 for an extra 5VP for each song cleared.

Meanwhile, fans organized a live streaming marathon of Luka-related programs on Nico Nico Namahousou that started at 8PM JST on January 27 and concluded at 1AM JST January 31. Countless videos and images were uploaded on Nico Nico Douga, Pixiv and PIAPRO. Be sure to check them all out, although we have picked out a few of our favorites for those of you who have busy schedules.

Before we move on to that, here’s a few of the most popular Luka songs from the past year:

“Interviewer” by KuwagataP

“Hello, Worker” by KEI

“Track” by KEI

“Sacred Secret” by MuryokuP

“Live in Dead” by Jimmythumb-P

“Hello World” by koushirou (HikutsuP)


Now let’s take a look at some fanart for Luka’s third birthday!

Illustrated by 潮音さん
Illustrated by 三日留真さん
Illustrated by 7:24さん
Illustrated by 満美さん
Illustrated by koyubiさん

The Future For Luka – Luka Append
Crypton Future Media has announced that they are working on an Append for Luka, along with Meiko and Kaito. So far, there have been two public uses of Luka Append. The first is “Hoshizora to Yuki no Butō-kai (Zeal mix)” and the second is “Dokuringo to Cinderella“. Keep in mind that Luka Append is still in the early stages of development and is still sounding quite similar to Luka’s standard voicebank. Hopefully we’ll see some bigger changes in the future.

It’s been a great year for Luka so far. Let us look forward to another year with Luka, and most excitingly, Luka Append!

This has been a joint article written by hightrancesea and wasdiop.


9 thoughts on “Luka Luka Birthday Fever”

  1. Uh, the two public uses are “Hoshizora to Yuki Butou-kai (Zeal mix)” and “Dokuringo to Cinderella”. Lost Destination is a completely different song that’s been remade as a duet with Kaito Append and Len Append. That reprinter just put them both in the same video because they played consecutively on the crossfade.

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