|
|
|
History
Takara was a toy company founded in 1953. Operating out of Tokyo, Takara first started with traditional toys and board game. Their first major commercial success was the Licca Kayama doll (also called Licca-Chan). Released in 1967, the doll has sold more than 60 million units to date. This was only the first major success for Takara which continues releasing genre-defining toys such as a series of miniature cars called Choro Q in the 70s, the B-Daman and the Beyblade in the 90s, etc.
In the 90s, the Karaoke was an extremely popular activity in Japan and a lot of company were looking at the home market. But home karaoke systems were expensive and complex. You needed a screen for the lyrics, good quality audio system, especially encoded song, etc. Music distribution was probably the biggest problem. In an age where the Internet was not as fast and popular than today, you had to rely on specialized compilations that was expensive, or uses a machine that could connect to an online catalogue. In 1994, Sega released the Sega Music Network to be used with their commercial Karaoke system, the Prologue-21. In 1995, Taito offered a similar service for their home Karaoke system called the X-55. All these services were aimed at adults, leaving the door wide open for Takara to provide an offering to a younger audience.
Takara understood that to enter this market segment they had to have a product that would be affordable and easy to use. Takara licensed the Xavix technology from SSD (which would later release the XaviXPORT using the same technologies) and released their take on the home Karaoke system with the e-Kara.
The e-Kara was an instant success and spawn many successors with improved capabilities and many spin-off console that also used the same cartridges including the Popira, Popira 2, Taiko de Popira and the Jumpin Popira.
In 2003, the animation studios Actas and Synergy Japan produced the animated series called Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch (マーメイドメロディーぴちぴちピッチ). It was based on the shōjo manga of the same name created by Michiko Yokote. Children animated series are often just a big advertisement for the toys that will be produced with that same license and Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch was no exception. The licenses owner struck a deal with Takara to create a new version of their very popular e-Kara Karaoke system called the e-Pitch. While Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch was based on an existing manga, the producer of the show decided to include the toy within the anime itself, as a wand that each mermaid possesses. Even the cartridges made it into the show, as every power acquired by the mermaids, are represented by a glowing rectangle inserted in the side of the wand, exactly where the cartridges slot is.
To differentiate the e-Pitch Microphone from the rest of the e-Kara series, the e-Pitch Microphone would have its own set of cartridges exclusive to it, while still being compatible with the other e-Kara cartridges. The e-Pitch Microphone cartridges would be a little different than the other e-Kara product has they would feature many activities including games. While other e-Kara spin-offs like Popira, Popira 2, Taiko de Popira and the Jumpin Popira already featured games, the games were never interchangeable. The cartridges of these games were only additional songs to play on these systems which had built-in games. For the first time in the e-Kara series, the e-Pitch Microphone would feature interchangeable games.
Release
The e-Pitch Microphone was released in April 2003 to coincide with the launch of the Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch TV show. The console came packed with the first cartridge (A-1). While the TV show as a success, the console was not as successful. This didn’t stop Takara to release the e-Pitch Microphone again in April 2004, to coincide with the launch of the second season of the show called Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure. The 2004 release has a slightly different shape, an updated packaging and came with the cartridges A-4 cartridge instead of the A-1.
Demise
The Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure show ended on December 25, 2004 and was not renewed for a third season making the e-Pitch Microphone obsolete. Many factor explain why the e-Pitch Microphone never succeed. First, while the console was featured in the Anime itself, it wasn’t very different looking than the other e-Kara microphone that some many kids already had. The reason to buy this console if you already had a e-Kara microphone was for the dedicated cartridges. Sadly, only 8 (A-1 to A-8) cartridges were released in the span of 2 years, making it an hard sell if the goal was to play video games on these. With the end of the series, Takara stopped the development on new games and the console felt into obscurity … until 2024.
On March 19, 2004, Bandai Namco opened the preorder for the 20th Anniversary edition of the e-Pitch Microphone under their brand Special Memorize, a brand dedicated to develop special editions of nostalgic items. The updated version will be available in 3 versions (Nanami Lucia / Hojo Hanon / Toin Rina) and will only include songs related to the shows. The songs will change depending on the version chosen.