♡ What is claretspiral about, and what does it mean to you?

claretspiral is NAVILOID's project for the UTAU Takane Kita, who began development in the latter part of December 2025.

The project revolves around Kita's life as a digital entity that gains sentience and forms from a simple voicebank. It explores her emotions that develop after the unfortunate circumstances regarding her very existence, plus her own voice provider that lived within the story before an untimely ending. claretspiral will also have digital horror themes and sensitive themes that may or may not hit too close to home, so I do think it won't be for everyone in the end.

In a personal sense, claretspiral represents the pain and hardship I and many people must face throughout life and the bittersweetness that comes with the non-linear nature of recovery. For the last parts of 2025 and even right now, I have undergone a lot of personal issues with people that came and went in my life, and struggled heavily with self-image and even my own memory of the things that have happened to me, even the things I have done to others. I almost quit vocal synths as a whole and thought about vanishing and escaping in any way as a result of this.

Thus, Kita and the in-lore circumstances that surround her, reflect that need to be seen and truly loved by others even when it becomes a obsession and destruction, even when it begins to tear yourself and others apart to the point of unrecognizeability. It often feels repulsive and cruel.

(But I really believe it's not too late for her, and it won't be too late for anyone else going through the same pain right now.)

I do hope to reveal more through different song covers including her upcoming release video, and I hope you'll show her some love. ^o^

♡ Any inspirations behind Kita and claretspiral as a whole?

Yes, actually. Kind of? I was into the SCP Foundation collaborative fiction project in my teenage years, and still am though to a lesser degree. The idea of anomalous entities like Kita, especially those that live within the electronic or digital realm, has always intrigued me.

The inspiration for her voice direction was Hatsune Miku herself, down to the idea of appends (some of the keywords are even taken from Miku's appends!). In fact, Miku had also influenced the design significantly, and Kita was originally conceptualized as a Miku pastiche before I moved on to the current idea! Her other design inspirations are Imori Yuna from SuiPote! (Ado's April Fool's joke) and Tonarine Sai (a very old fanloid). You can kinda tell I love pink...

Kita's character and lore inspirations include Yuri and Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club, Iwakura Lain from Serial Experiments Lain, and Mukou Aoi from Totono. (Though Aoi only partially applies because of osmosis, not because I was into it. Yet.)

Finally, the reclist for Kita, which is rentan or stringed CV, was also inspired by a ton of 2007-2010 era UTAU's features (though admittedly inconsistent LOL), though there are also two recent UTAU in the mix! These are:

• Sekka Yufu
• Fuuga Coto
• Adachi Rei
• Ishimaru Michiyo
• Sakuwatari Chiyo
• Kurone Series
• Tsukumo Shion
• Utane Uta
• Suiga Sora
• Nene Nene
• Amane Luna
• Awami Upa
• Nagone Mako