Super Sonico

Super Sonico (すーぱーそに子) is a fictional character created by Tsuji Santa for the Japanese computer and video game software company Nitroplus, first appearing as a mascot for a Nitroplus-sponsored music festival in 2006. Nitroplus has since developed the character into a media franchise that includes music products, manga series, computer and video games, toy figurines, and other merchandise. An anime television series by White Fox based on the character aired in Japan between January and March 2014.

Super Sonico
Super Sonico is a fictional character created by Tsuji Santa of Nitroplus. Her debut appearance was on October 14, 2006, as the mascot for Nitroplus' annual live music festival event "Nitro Super Sonico", which took place at Shiba Park in Minato-KU. Nitroplus was initially focused on computer games based on visual novels, but every year since 2000, they have also held a music festival.

Sonico appears in various media as an eighteen-year-old college student. She is depicted as an attractive young woman with light peach skin, large red eyes, and straight, light pink hair. She keeps her hair long in the back and in the front. She is always shown wearing her signature headphones. Her depictions show much variation in her facial features and body proportions between the different artists, while always keeping her trademark traits: headphones, pink hair color, and large bust. She also appears as a popular gravure idol as well as the vocalist and guitarist of the fictional band First Astronomical Velocity (第一宇宙速度). Sonico also studies marine biology at Musasaka University and lives in Mushashino-shi, Tokyo. She is prone to sleep a lot, often requiring help to wake up, and her favorite foods are macarons. Her bandmates refer to her as "Nico".

Associated characters

 * Suzu Fujimi (富士見 鈴)
 * The young female founder and bassist of the band First Astronomical Velocity. She has light green eyes and straight, long black hair. She is of average height and build but appears thin next to Fuuri and Sonico. She is often seen wearing a pink nurse's uniform and often attempts to dress up Sonico in dubious outfits.
 * The young female founder and bassist of the band First Astronomical Velocity. She has light green eyes and straight, long black hair. She is of average height and build but appears thin next to Fuuri and Sonico. She is often seen wearing a pink nurse's uniform and often attempts to dress up Sonico in dubious outfits.


 * Fuuri Watanuki (綿抜 フウリ)
 * The young female drummer of the First Astronomical Velocity band. She has a full figure, violet eyes, and short, wavy brown hair. She is shy and good-natured and is usually seen either eating or sleeping when not playing in the band. She and Suzu first appeared in Nitroplus' 2010 visual novel computer game Axanael.
 * The young female drummer of the First Astronomical Velocity band. She has a full figure, violet eyes, and short, wavy brown hair. She is shy and good-natured and is usually seen either eating or sleeping when not playing in the band. She and Suzu first appeared in Nitroplus' 2010 visual novel computer game Axanael.


 * Manager Kitamura (北村 マネージャー)
 * Sonico's manager, a tall man with orange-yellow flame-styled hair who is always wearing a hannya mask and carrying a katana on his back under his coat. He is particularly protective of Sonico, ready to strike at anyone threatening or attempting something inappropriate with her. When not defending Sonico, he is friendly. Despite his demon mask, he is sociable, talkative, and actively seeking modeling work for Sonico, sometimes overcommitting her.
 * Sonico's manager, a tall man with orange-yellow flame-styled hair who is always wearing a hannya mask and carrying a katana on his back under his coat. He is particularly protective of Sonico, ready to strike at anyone threatening or attempting something inappropriate with her. When not defending Sonico, he is friendly. Despite his demon mask, he is sociable, talkative, and actively seeking modeling work for Sonico, sometimes overcommitting her.


 * Ouka Satsurikuin (殺戮院 鏖禍)
 * Nitroplus’ former mascot, who is seen in the Super Sonico Animation. Ouka serves as Sonico's co-worker at the modeling agency. She is a tween-age girl of short stature and slight build. She has short orange hair; her right eye color is orange; and she wears a riveted brown leather eye patch over her left eye. She wears a frilled tiara on her head, with grooved silver disks that cover her ears. She is confident, extroverted, and constantly looking for her spot in the limelight. However, she is inexperienced with handling clients, and unlike Sonico, she does not have a protective manager, so she often ends up in bad predicaments.
 * Nitroplus’ former mascot, who is seen in the Super Sonico Animation. Ouka serves as Sonico's co-worker at the modeling agency. She is a tween-age girl of short stature and slight build. She has short orange hair; her right eye color is orange; and she wears a riveted brown leather eye patch over her left eye. She wears a frilled tiara on her head, with grooved silver disks that cover her ears. She is confident, extroverted, and constantly looking for her spot in the limelight. However, she is inexperienced with handling clients, and unlike Sonico, she does not have a protective manager, so she often ends up in bad predicaments.

Toys
A popular and extensive line of PVC figurines of Super Sonico has been produced for Nitroplus by well-known toy designers, including, among many others, Max Factory, FREEing, Orchid Seed, and Hobby Japan. Figurine styles have included the highly stylized Chibi, Nendoroid, and Figma designs, in addition to the more realistic designs drawn directly from the character as she appears in games, manga, and anime. Sizes have ranged from 1/8 to 1/2 the size of the young adult woman character as she appears in the media. Action figures have also been produced.

Music CDs
To date, there have been six singles and three albums released featuring Sonico.


 * Singles
 * SUPERORBITAL (released November 24, 2010; GRN-021): First studio single and first theme song for the PC game SoniComi.
 * Passion Rocket (情熱ロケット): Second single introduced at the 2010 Summer Comiket, also as an insert song from the adult PC game Axanael by Nitroplus.
 * Power (ぱわー): A solo single sold on the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3 to raise revenue for earthquake relief following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
 * Advance, BLUE STAR! (進め、BLUE STAR！): Third single released in collaboration with Earth Star Entertainment's Comic Earth Star as the theme song of the magazine. The single was used to collect aid funds for earthquake relief.
 * VISION (released July 29, 2011; GRN-027): Fourth single as the second theme song to SoniComi.
 * Phantom Vibration! (ファントム・ヴァイブレーション！): Debut solo single. The single included an additional costume patch for the PC game SoniComi on the CD-ROM.


 * Albums
 * GALAXY ONE (released November 11, 2011; GRN-028): First studio album.
 * Love & II+ (released June 27, 2012; GRN-030): First Cosmic Velocity's 2nd album that contains three discs with Love＆II+ LIVE gokko!, Love&II+, and SoniComi: Communication with Sonico Original Soundtrack.
 * SONICONICOROCK Tribute to VOCALOID: Third studio album containing vocal covers of assorted Vocaloid songs.

Manga
A 4koma manga series by Chika Nonohara titled Super Sonico SoniKoma began serialization on March 12, 2011, in Comic Earth Star. Another manga series titled Sonicomi, with art by Imusanjo, was serialized in the Monthly Comic Blade. A 4koma manga series titled Super Sonicomic (すーぱーそにこみっく) has also been featured in Enterbrain's MAGI-CU Comics.

SoniComi (2011/2016, PC)
SoniComi (ソニコミ) is a computer game for Microsoft Windows released on November 25, 2011, developed by Nitroplus and published by Nitroplus and Enterbrain. As a visual novel game, the player takes on the role of Sonico's cameraman. The game features events where the player is able to take gravure photographs of her. A PlayStation 3 adaptation with improved visuals, titled Motto! SoniComi (モット！ ソニコミ), was released on March 20, 2014. The PS3 version received a Famitsu score of 30/40. The game was released worldwide with an English translation by JAST USA through Steam, featuring dubbed voice by Jessica Nigri.

SoniPro (2014, 3DS)
SoniPro (ソニプロ) is a game developed by Nitroplus and Imageepoch for the Nintendo 3DS, announced during the 2013 Wonder Festival. As an idol-producing game, the player takes on the role of Sonico's producer, who aims to train her to become an idol. The game was released on July 31, 2014.

Famitsu gave SoniPro a review score of 30/40.

Appearances in other games
Sonico has made cameo appearances in various games, including Le Ciel Bleu, the visual novel Lovesick Puppies, the Japanese online games Web Knight Carnival, Mechanical Girl War Z, Dragon League, Dungeons Lord, Momoiro Daisen Pylon, Blue Sky Dragon Guild, and Super Heroine Chronicle. Sonico appears as a character within the eroge Axanael developed by Nitroplus. She also appears in Square Enix's Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur between March 11 and March 23, 2014. Super Sonico and Ōka appear in the Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel fighting game, appearing as a support character in the arcade version and as a playable character in the console version, while the latter is playable in all versions. Sonico also appeared in Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash as one of the DLC characters, along with the three characters from Koei Tecmo/Team Ninja's Dead or Alive series, four characters from the manga Ikki Tousen, two characters from Valkyrie Drive, and the titular character of Idea Factory’s Hyperdimension Neptunia.

Anime
An anime television series titled SoniAni: Super Sonico The Animation (そにアニ) was announced at the Nitro Super Sonic 2013 event held at the Tokyo International Forum. Produced by White Fox, the 12-episode series aired in Japan between January 6, 2014, and March 24, 2014, and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. A DVD and Blu-ray release of the TV series in Japan was announced for March 19, 2014. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series in North America. It was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on May 26, 2015. The Anime Network began streaming the series on February 6, 2014. MVM Films has licensed the series in the United Kingdom. In Australia and New Zealand, Hanabee licensed the series within the region. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia and streamed on Muse Asia YouTube channel.

The main opening song of the anime is "SuperSoni♥" (すぱそにっ♥) by Super Sonico (Ayano Yamamoto). The opening theme for episode one is "Beat Goes On" by Ayano Yamamoto, while a different ending theme, each performed by First Astronomical Velocity (Yamamoto, Mai Goto, and Mami Ozaki), is featured in each episode.

Other media
Gravure books featuring Sonico were released by Enterbrain on July 7, 2011. An internet radio show, SoniRadio (そにっくらじお♪), began broadcasting on March 24, 2011. A Sonico-themed non-game networking software application for iOS has also been released.

Endorsements
Sonico was used to promote the International Exhibition Center station of the Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit Rinkai Line. She is also being used to promote the Soni Plateau (曽爾高原) brand of beer from Nara Prefecture as a collaboration based on the similar-sounding name. Sonico was also the mascot for the 2013 Anitamasai Convention in Saitama.

The Super Sonico Tab is a special edition ASUS MeMo Pad ME172v tablet computer featuring the artwork of Sonico on the rear of the device.