is a fictional character created by Tsuji Santa for the Japanese video game company

Nitroplus Nitroplus Co., Ltd., currently styled as NITRO PLUS, formerly stylized as nitro+, and formerly known as "OKStyle", is a Japanese visual novel video game developer that has developed a number of visual novels, including eroge. They have also coll ...

, first appearing as a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

for a Nitroplus-sponsored music festival in 2006. Nitroplus has since developed the character into a

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...

that includes music products,

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series, computer and

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, toy

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

s, and other merchandise. An

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

White Fox , is a Japanese animation studio founded in April 2007 by Gaku Iwasa. The studio's most successful productions include adaptations of ''Steins;Gate (TV series), Steins;Gate'', ''Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World'', and ''Akame ga Kill!' ...

based on the character aired in Japan between January and March 2014.

Characters

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 A model is a person with a Role (disambiguation), role either to display commercial product (business), products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as an Model (art), artist's model. Modelling ("modeling" in British and ...

as well as the vocalist and guitarist of the fictional band . 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

; : :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 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''. ; : :Sonico's manager, a tall man with orange-yellow flame-styled hair who is always wearing a

hannya The is a mask used in a traditional Japanese Noh theater, representing a jealous female demon. It is characterized by two sharp bull-like horns, metallic eyes, and a leering mouth. In Noh plays, the type of mask changes according to the degree ...

mask and carrying a

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

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. ; : :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

s 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 is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing and releasing books, magazines, light novels, games, and collectibles. Founded in 1969, the company owns and distributes such publications as the eponymous ''Hobby Japan EX'' magazine, as w ...

. Figurine styles have included the highly stylized Chibi,

Nendoroid The series is a brand of plastic figures created by the Japanese Good Smile Company since 2006. They typically depict characters from anime, manga or video games and are designed with a large head and smaller body to give them a cute appearan ...

, and

Figma Figma is a collaborative web application for interface design, with additional offline features enabled by desktop applications for macOS and Windows. The feature set of Figma focuses on user interface and user experience design, with an empha ...

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 An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These fig ...

have also been produced.

Media

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''. *: Second single introduced at the 2010 Summer

Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual Doujinshi convention, ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered ...

, also as an insert song from the adult PC game ''Axanael'' by Nitroplus. *: A solo single sold on the iTunes Store and

Amazon MP3 Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manage ...

to raise revenue for earthquake relief following the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

. *: 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''. *: 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 is a singing Speech synthesis, voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. The s ...

songs.

Manga

A 4koma manga series titled was featured in Enterbrain's '' Magi-Cu''. Another 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''.

Games

SoniComi (2011/2016, PC)

is a computer game for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

released on November 25, 2011, developed by Nitroplus and published by Nitroplus and

Enterbrain , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on January 30, 1987, as . Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strate ...

. As a

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

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 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

adaptation with improved visuals, titled , 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 JAST USA is a publisher of English language, English-language versions of Video gaming in Japan, Japanese video games, specifically bishōjo games, dating sims, visual novels and History of Eastern role-playing video games, Japanese RPGs. It wa ...

through

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

, featuring dubbed voice by Jessica Nigri.

SoniPro (2014, 3DS)

is a game developed by Nitroplus and

Imageepoch was a video game developer based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was filed for bankruptcy in 2015, due to its declining sales and increasing debt. History The company was founded in June 2005 by Ryoei Mikage. Their first release was the tactica ...

for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

, 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, 2014.2013-07-28
SoniPro 3DS Game Has You Training Super Sonico To Be An Idol
Siliconera ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' 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 novels '' Shiny Days'' and ''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 An ''eroge'' (, ''eroge'', or , ''erogē'', ), also called an H-game, is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. The term encompasses a wide variety of Japanese games containing erotic content across multiple genres. The first ''eroge'' were crea ...

''Axanael'' developed by Nitroplus. She also appears in

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

'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 is a Japanese video game, amusement and anime holding company created in 2009 by the merger of Koei and Tecmo. Koei Tecmo Holdings owns several companies, the biggest one of those being its flagship video game developer and publisher Koei Tecmo ...

/ Team Ninja's ''

Dead or Alive A wanted poster (or wanted sign) is a poster distributed to let the public know of a person whom authorities wish to apprehend. They generally include a picture of the person, either a photograph when one is available or of a facial composite ...

'' series, four characters from the manga ''

Ikki Tousen , also known as ''Battle Vixens'' in North America, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūji Shiozaki. Loosely based on the classic 14th century Chinese novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', the series revol ...

'', two characters from '' Valkyrie Drive,'' and the titular character of

Idea Factory is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher founded by former Data East employees in October 1994. A division of the company makes otome games under the name of Otomate (see Idea Factory#Otomate games, list below). An ...

's '' Hyperdimension Neptunia''.

Anime

An anime television series titled was announced at the Nitro Super Sonic 2013 event held at the Tokyo International Forum. Produced by

, the 12-episode series aired in Japan between January 6, 2014, and March 24, 2014, and was simulcast by

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

. A DVD and Blu-ray release of the TV series in Japan was announced for March 19, 2014.

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC (or simply Sentai) is an American entertainment company. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sentai Studios. The ...

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 MVM Entertainment, also known as MVM and MVM Films, is a British licensor and distributor of Japanese animation. The company also sub-licenses anime titles from US anime companies such as Media Blasters, Geneon, Nozomi Entertainment, Urban V ...

has licensed the series in the United Kingdom. In Australia and New Zealand, Hanabee licensed the series within the region.

Muse Communication Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of Japanese animation. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and E ...

licensed the series in Southeast Asia and streamed on Muse Asia

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

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

Episode list

Other media

Gravure books featuring Sonico were released by Enterbrain on July 7, 2011. An internet radio show, , began broadcasting on March 24, 2011. A Sonico-themed non-game networking software application for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

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 brand of beer from

Nara Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

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 A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being computers ...

featuring the artwork of Sonico on the rear of the device.ハイホー × すーぱーそに子コラボレーション！
, hi-ho