Kagamine Len

Kagamine Len
Technical Information
Japanese Name	鏡音レン
Romanization	Kagamine Len
Other Names	The One Who Steals
Vocaloid	Len
Biographical Information
Classification	Vocaloid
Race	N/A
Gender	Male
Hair Color	Blonde
Eye Color	Blue
Affiliation	Russia (formely) Japan
Miscellaneous Information
First Appearance	Don't Leave Me Alone.
Last Appearance	In Your Eyes.
Subtitle Color	Light blue (Part 1); Yellow (Part 2-4) Red (Original programming)

"I want to become strong"

―Len

Kagamine Len is a Vocaloid living in Japan in the present day era. Len was programmed to have a past life as a dog under the care of the child-soldier Irina  in Russia. After being shot, the dog's self was uploaded into Kagamine Len and, forgetting his memories, he lived a relatively normal life with his fellow Vocaloids Rin and Miku, crushing on Miku as an idol. After he accidentally regained his memories, Len sparked off a mess of complications by giving Rin back her memories of Irina.

History

In the Russia Era

"I wasn't even human orz"

―Len

There was originally a stray dog adopted by Irina, who grew to love his master over time. On one occasion, she gave the dog to her comrade to take care of him while she worked as a soldier for Putin, only for her comrade to shoot the dog dead after he broke loose. Afterwards the Russian officer Elena recreated the dog in a spam file that was uploaded to the internet, giving the data file sentience, in order to show the world the government's exploitation of children.

Later, the dog data file was broadcasted as a virus; due to the Irina data file inside Kagamine Rin wishing to have her "dog" again, he discovered the Kagamine Len program and, liking its identical appearance to Kagamine Rin, was uploaded inside.

Part 1

"Yo! Everyone, it's been a while! Pickpocketing's still my hobby."

―Len

Wishing to begin a new life as a Vocaloid, Len and Kagamine Rin were released to a producer and Len managed to separate from his virus, both having their programming wiped. During this, Len's memories of his "past life" were removed and placed in a disk for safekeeping, leaving Len only vaguely aware of the details of his past and mistakenly believing he was once Rin's "comrade" in Russia. He also took up a hobby of pickpocketing from people. Over time, Len also learned about the Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku and developed a crush on her, repeatedly ignoring Rin as a result.

Finding himself unable to obtain Miku, Len entered into a relationship with the yaoi manga character Abe-san. He also began purchasing and smoking weed from Ronald to cope with his relationship failures. Later on, as Valentine's Day arrived, Rin approached Len with a small box in her hands containing a piece of chocolate she'd made for him. As Rin urged him to eat Len hesitated, leading to him being threatened by a red Rin to eat. Following this, Len saw hallucinations of Ronald and Abe.

After Valentine's Day, Len appeared to malfunction, requiring a backup disk to repair himself. During this, though, he decided to pursue a relationship with Rin and give up trying to get Miku's attention. In the season of cherry blossoms, Rin called Len and the two made a date to meet by the cherry trees; Len arrived to see Rin dressed in a grey Russian outfit and standing with a red shovel under the falling cherry blossoms, with the supposedly dead Ronald McDonald nearby. He then helped her bury Ronald and avoid the police.

Len learns to kick

After Len followed Rin back to her house, she took him in and gave him an "initiation ceremony", before violently instructing him on how to brush his teeth, kick, and use a knife. Later, Rin sent Len to the store to buy her sugared natto; during this, Len stole the uploader's bag, believing it to be Rin's, and found the disk containing his past memories inside. Believing it was a backup disk that he could finally repair himself with, Len inserted the disk and began to slowly get his memories back. He also decided to smoke weed during this.

Not too long after, Len was arrested by the authorities and imprisoned along with Rin. After being processed and tried under juvenile laws, the two were released and let off with a scolding. The two walked home together from Shibuya Station, with Len slipping back into his fawning over Miku. Later, the two began attending Miku's Junior High school.

Part 2

"Even so, I have one last wish: I want to meet the old you"

―Len

Since inserting his disk, Len's memories continued to return, to a point where he understood he'd mistakenly grabbed the uploader's bag. He was similarly horrified to learn that he was the dog and not Rin's former comrade, and that he had a role in Irina's suicide. Despite this, he continued to attend school regularly with Miku and Rin, still fawning over the former. During this, Ronald got close to Len and pretended to befriend him.

One day, Len received a note from Rin to meet her behind the school after class and arrived late, bearing Rin's ire for his tardiness. Rin then asked him what he thought of her efforts to become an idol; seeing her acting like Miku, even to the point of pulling her hair into pigtails, Len expressed his disapproval. After leaving the scene, Len procured and smoked weed from Ronald and had a tryst with Abe-san to forget his troubles. He lay in a drugged stupor afterwards, upset to see Rin trying to act like someone else and miserable over what he'd remembered of Irina's suicide.

File:44.jpg

Len embracing Rin

After this point, Ronald tricked Len into wanting to give Rin back her memories. Over time, Len watched Rin become happier and more successful, even being nominated for school council, while he continued his relationship with Abe. One day, Abe told him that they wouldn't be able to meet and Len, depressed, went to bet on horses at the Suidoubashi racetrack. While there, he listened to Hatsune Miku's song on the radio. He ruminated on his situation while the radio continued to go haywire and cut out.

Although believing it selfish, Len finally decided to give Rin her memories back, smoking a final joint and then running off to find her. Catching her in Tokyo Dome City, Len pulled Rin into a hug and, in the process, inserted the disk into her headphones. Immediately after, he watched as Rin pulled away in disgust, only for her memories to start returning and changing her mind. Despite Rin's new positive mood, Len became indecisive, internally worrying over what he had done by giving her memories back and realizing he had been deceived by Ronald.

As he continued to fret, Len was startled out of his dark mood by Rin, who came up close and tried to cheer him up. Despite this, he repeatedly looked away until Rin insulted him, causing him to look back in anger instead. As she again enticed him to take her hand, Len finally joined his hand with Rin's, officially beginning their new relationship. The two then shared a romantic date in Tokyo Dome City Attractions together before Len left, leaving Rin to walk home alone.

Part 3

"Since I've tired of looking at the dream I'll desperately protect the now"

―Len

That December, Len searched for Miku after she had gone missing and found her holed up in her room watching the TV. After he sat down with her, the two watched Rin sing Assassin!, broadcasted on television. Afterwards, Len heard Miku despairing over herself in the wake of Rin's success and claiming she was "nothing". In response, he frantically tried to cheer her up through various means, only for Miku to rebuke him and order him out. Soon after, Rin called Len and he went out, dressing in a Santa suit based on what Rin sang in "Assassin!".

File:Kagaminiuturu2b.jpg

Wandering around the snowy Tokyo, he visited the marketplace and bought a raw mackerel pike to eat before heading to meet up with Rin. Arriving at the scene, however, Len saw Camui Gackpo shooting at Rin and he raced to save her, kicking the gun out of his grasp. He then told Rin to run, assuring her he'd be fine, and he faced off against the figure alone. After musing over his situation, Len took out his pike and prepared to face Camui.

Camui also stood then, pulling out a sword, and Len listened to him cryptically monologue about his past. Seeing his chance after the speech, Len attacked Camui with a Misawa-style elbow thrust; As he got close, however, he was startled by Camui's red eyes and threw his pike at him. Camui, realizing Len was the dog, made another attack and Len dodged it, striking him again with his elbow and knocking him unconscious.

Following this, Len stole Camui's wallet as a trophy of his success and fled, reflecting on all that was happening around him. When opening up the wallet, he found a red scarf within. After Len returned to his dorm, he changed out of his costume and noticed that several layers of Rin's clothing lay scattered about the entryway. He then received a Skype message from Miku and the two started talking, Len explaining when asked how Rin was missing but her clothes were still in the dorm.

As Miku began to muse cryptically about Rin being "separated", Len asked her for answers and only learned that Miku planned to go to Suidoubashi. He arranged to meet her there, putting on another hooded jacket and his new red scarf, and went out into the growing winter storm. As he ran to Suidoubashi, Len spotted Rin out in her Vocaloid outfit in the snow. As he ran towards her, Miku shot a USB into his headphones from behind, affecting his programming and causing him to collapse.

From his headphones, Len began to see the story of Elena and Urusei Teppannov, ending in the former's suicide after she rebelled against Putin and the latter's own defection from being an assassin. During this time, Miku dragged his body back to her house, along with Rin's. Afterwards, Len came to in Miku's home, and quickly began speaking with her to assess the situation with Rin, learning that she'd only gotten a little more time.

Miku and Len then chatted about the story he'd just witnessed; Before speaking any further, they began to talk in a fast stream, Miku cryptically explaining how the memories Rin had of being "Irina" were created by the woman in the story based on her own observations, Although confused by her wording, Len also discussed with Miku his own feelings as "the dog" despite looking like the boy who shot him, learning that this was in part due to Rin's own wish for him over her real comrade.

File:Genkaku 3.png

Len in Miku's house

Later, their discussion turned to the story of Irina's suicide, Miku explaining how it was being propagated all over and Len figuring out that her former owner, Teppannov, had tried to stop its propagation. They moved on to talking about Rin and how her uploader had poorly erased her memories, and Len realized aloud that if he hadn't given Rin her memories back, she could have remained with him forever.

Miku soon brushed this off, and the two discussing Rin's impending destruction; told he had no chance of saving her, Len was instead given the choice to show Rin one final happiness before she was gone, Miku using the USB to link him, Camui, and herself to Rin's interior for this purpose.

Initially Len balked, not wanting to see Rin perish or to perish himself, But as Miku encouraged him, including insulting him the same way Rin once did, Len resolved to go. As the two of them began to run out of time soon afterward, Len said his farewells to Miku, complimenting her on how she'd changed in both her behavior and hairstyle. As Miku bid him farewell, Len entered Rin's interior with his resolution decided.

Part 4

"Farewell, Irina"

―Len

Now inside the data world, Len received a new coat similar to the one Irina's comrade wore. He then searched until he found Rin, ruminating on what was happening with Rin and his past fixation with his "past life". Spotting Rin in the distance, he ran towards her before Camui suddenly appeared and fired at him, the bullet missing him. Len and Camui began to banter as they faced off yet again; when Camui disparaged himself and Irina for their past lives, Len vehemently dismissed his statements.

Fully accepting that he wouldn't be able to change Rin's fate, Len nonetheless decided to give her that final happiness by defeating Camui. He ran at his opponent and attempted to wrestle him; as they fought, Len reflected on all the things that had once misguided him in the past. Saying farewell to "Irina", Len threw Camui off with the Atomic Suplex Hold and smashed him against the ground, defeating his nemesis once and for all. Rin's data then disappeared in front of his eyes, and Len began crying as he awakened outside the data world.

Back in Miku's house, Len stood and saw Rin sitting up on the floor, awake but a blank slate. He then saw Miku still "asleep" and realized that he was all alone. Len took the blank slate Rin out of Miku's house and walked with her around Tokyo, passing by all the locations that had once been important to them like Shibuya station or the racetrack; eventually, they reached Tokyo Dome City where they had their first date. Becoming depressed as he thought about all he'd lost, Len stopped and started crying while he recognized aloud that he was the only one left.

Then, however, as Len thought about how much Rin meant to him, began to walk again. Resolving from now on to be strong like Rin had wanted, Len ran and caught up to the blank slate Rin, pulling her into a hug near Tokyo Dome. In the next moment, he felt her arms around him in turn and trembled, hugging her closer. Then, at last, Len quickly said that he loved her for the first time.

Traits

Personality

"Because you carry a heart that can't be controlled."

―Miku

After being uploaded as a Vocaloid, Len originally acted as a noncomittal and fickle teen; although friends with Rin, he preferred to chase after the more glamorous Hatsune Miku and even got into a relationship with an older man when unable to win her heart. Even as he grew to love Rin, Len continued to be a fan of the other Vocaloid and would be shy when approached by her. Additionally, rather than face his problems he would use weed to forget about them and deny when he was unhappy.

File:Zz.png

Len often needed encouragement from others

Compounding this personality was Len's inability to stand up for himself when bullied or attacked by Rin; he also had insecurities that were exacerbated by regaining his memories as the dog that helped cause Irina's suicide. As a result, he was often self deprecating and worried about everything being his fault, in the past and present. Despite this and his own self-deprecation, Len would nonetheless react to any insults directed at him with offense, shaping up as a response.

As a carry-over from his mischievous dog programming, Len was also a delinquent and often acted on his own interests without thinking of the consequences. As part of this he would pickpocket and steal as a hobby, and stole Rin's bag without any compunctions in order to find his backup disk. Later on he continued stealing, taking Camui's wallet following their first confrontation. He would also regularly skip Junior High, take illegal drugs like weed, gamble, and do other felonious activities while speaking in casual slang, such as saying "yo," to emphasize his irresponsibility.

Over time, as his relationship with Rin developed Len began to act more maturely and take responsibility for himself. He also began working to protect the people he cared for, rather than just showing off, and as an example was unafraid facing Camui in order to give Rin a "happy ending". As part of this maturity, after Irina disappeared in the data world and the Rin he knew was lost forever, Len was able to move on from his grief and resolved to be a stronger person from that point on, receiving closure with her blank self.

Skills and Abilities

"That's not the Cobra Twist, but the Atomic Suplex Hold is a cool technique, mew"

―Rin on Len's wrestling style

Being a Vocaloid, Len was stronger and able to take more abuse than the average person; similarly, he was skilled at wrestling and able to defeat the much larger Camui on two separate occasions, despite the latter being better armed. As noted by Rin, Len had a distinct wrestling style apart from hers and made particular use of the Atomic Suplex Hold technique. This skill at fighting also extended to being able to dispatch an opponent with a high-kick if taking them by surprise, and making use of unconventional weapons like a pike fish. He was also incredibly fast, running being a trait he retained from his dog programming.

As a Vocaloid, Len was an extremely capable electronic singer and had the potential to be a popular idol; he also had an amount of sex appeal and was capable of seducing multiple men. Despite his other abilities, however, Len was sometimes slow-witted and was, by his own admission, unable to understand many things about the world and his situation with Rin. Due to this he would sometimes gravely misread a situation and act inappropriately or fail to pick up on cues from other people. Making up for these shortcomings he was tenacious and, when properly encouraged, would never give up.

Appearance

"I remember my appearance is the spitting image of the person I saw back then"

―Len on his model's appearance

Due to the circumstances of his becoming a Vocaloid, Len looked almost identical to Rin in terms of height, color, and facial structure. He had bright blue eyes, pale clean skin, and blond hair tied back in a ponytail with messy, spiky bangs. As typical for a Vocaloid, Len had a white headset attached to his head that had yellow lights, into which a USB drive or disk could be inserted to change or update his programming.

Originally Len wore his typical Act 1 Vocaloid costume with a white short-sleeved shirt and yellow tie with detached black sleeves, black shorts, white shoes, and black legwarmers. Rather than the front of his short sporting an F-clef, however, as in Crypton's official design, Len's shirt front has Rin's G-clef in black. During school hours or when skipping school, Len would wear his school uniform of a white dress shirt, a yellow tie, yellow and white sneakers, and yellow plaid slacks. In cold weather, he would wear a thick auburn winter jacket over the uniform.

On one occasion Len dressed up in a Santa outfit, complete with a big bag, but neglected to put on his beard. Going out to meet with Miku later, Len put on heavy blue pants and a grey winter coat with a hood and the letter N on the bottom, as well as the red scarf he received in his first battle with Camui. He would continue to wear this outfit for the rest of the series, save for in the data world where he took on the appearance of Irina's former comrade.

Relationships

Kagamine Rin

"You really are cute. But you know, not that you weren't before!"

―Len

Len's fellow Vocaloid and friend. Len had a special connection to Rin from the beginning due to his programmed past life as Irina's dog, becoming a Vocaloid with her because of the strength of their connection. With his memories gone, he instead labored under the assumption that they had both fought together in Russia and believed this was the basis of their connection. Despite this, Len initially found Rin's attempts to get his affection tiresome and preferred pursuing the more popular and well-mannered Hatsune Miku.

Len at first paid Rin little attention

After the incident where Rin gave him chocolate and he gave up on Miku, Len began to show interest in Rin as a second romantic option, despite her regular physical abuse and verbal threats towards him whenever he slipped up. He would continue to have this romantic view of her even with his relationships with Abe-san or his desired relationship with Miku. Similarly, despite liking Miku he would prefer Rin when she acted like herself and didn't imitate anyone else.

After receiving his memories again, Len's relationship with her became complicated by his love for her as a dog and the guilt that accompanied his memory of her suicide. Because of this they began to grow distant and he missed the old Rin, Irina, that he knew as a dog. Trying to base their relationship on his old love for Irina, Len nonetheless had trouble saying he loved her and was unable to form the deep connection with her he craved. He eventually realized that he would have to let the past go and became resolved to send Rin off with a smile in the data world, finally being able to express his feelings for her although missing her terribly when she was gone.

Hatsune Miku

"Hatsune Miku who bewitches me with things like I've never seen"

―Len

A fellow Vocaloid. While also enjoying Hatsune Miku's songs from his past life, Len as a Vocaloid came to have a strong crush on the popular and well-mannered Miku due to her beauty and talent as an idol, finding her a more unobtainable and exciting love interest than Rin. Len's unrequited crush on Miku led to him experiencing much depression as he was unable to win her heart, trying to pretend he'd gotten over her by playing around with the likes of Rin and Abe-san. Despite this, he continued having an interest in the idol, although over time this interest developed into a sort of casual friendship with her.

As a result of their growing friendship, Len did his best to not only receive Miku's affection but to also cheer her up when she was depressed over Ronald, accepting that she loved the clown over him. He also came to understand that Miku had a far greater understanding of the events that had occurred in Russia over his own and felt at times that he was simply being lead around by her. After meeting with her a final time before finding Rin, Len was able to finally understand the insecurities and sad past that had made Miku as depressed as she was; as a result, after the events in the data world, Len began to miss Miku as he was left alone but wondered if she had finally achieved her own form of validation.

Camui

"I'm not a dog. Maybe that's you."

―Len

Len's nemesis. From before Len was a Vocaloid, he had held a special disliking for Camui's "past self", as both the one who shot the dog and the one partially responsible for Irina's suicide. In the Vocaloid era, before knowing his true identity and their origins as data files, Len opposed Camui because of his targeting of Rin. During their fight he quickly found him a scary individual that he was originally too frightened to fight for long. Not understanding everything that Camui was saying, he merely thought that his monologues about the past were creepy.

In their second encounter Len's resolve allowed him to face Camui without fear, instead defiant in the face of his taunting. By the end, Len could understand his feelings on his "past life" but refused to bow to his pessimistic attitude. While thinking that the too-far-gone Camui also needed to have been given the happiness that Rin was given, Len nonetheless fought him for Rin's sake and gave him no more consideration once out of the data world.

Abe-san

"Now I'm engrossed with a young man"

―Len

Len's lover. At some point Len entered into a relationship with the older man as a means of taking his mind off Miku, continuing to date him during the times he tried to get Miku or Rin's affections. When depressed over his true nature after receiving his memories back, he would also use Abe-san to take his mind off everything, only to get even more depressed later when the older man wasn't able to meet with him. After starting up his romance with Rin after their date in the amusement park, Len appeared to stop seeing Abe-san.

The Uploader

"Let's escape from this base producer"

―Len

Len and Rin's producer. Len had a low opinion of his producer; he, like Rin, found him "base", likely due to his failure to make either Rin or himself popular as Vocaloids. Due to this, he paid little mind to the producer and eventually just wished to escape from him with Rin.

Trivia

Notes

• In January 2010, Len won third place in the "Favorite Putin-P Series character" poll held on Putin-P's blog.

Curiosities

• Len is the only main character in the series who has never held a gun.

Gallery

• Concept Art
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Bonus
• Albums
• Misc

An early conceptual sketch of Len with Rin by Shiuka

An early illustration of Len's junior high outfit

Concept art of Len's junior high uniform by Shiuka

Len in his Vocaloid outfit in I'll Give You Chocolate!

Len in a panel from I'm Happy!

A depressed Len in Not Together

Len shown in If We Meet Again☆

Len in The Eyes That Don't Vanish.

<gallery orientation="none" spacing="small" position="center" columns="fit to page" hideaddbutton=true> Ansatsusha_1.png|Len with Miku in Assassin! Nothing_1.png|Len in The One Who's Nothing. GoodbyetotheDream_3.jpg|Len in his Santa suit from Goodbye to the Dream☆ OtherSideoftheMirror_3.PNG|Len fighting Camui in The Other Side of the Mirror＞ LiarFlashback.jpg|A flashback of Len from Who's the Liar? Jama_Shinaide_2.png|Len from Don't Interfere, Okay?☆ Genkaku_3.png|Len in A Place to Chat!

Genkaku_5.png|A doodle of Len.

Len in the data world from The Broken Mirror.

The "sleeping" Len in Goodbye to You★

An illustration of Len outside the data world from With the You I Can't See.

Len in In Your Eyes.

Len in his school uniform from The Twisted Emperor ○

Len smoking in the Putin-P Part 1 album booklet

Len in the Putin-P Part 2 album booklet

The Santa Claus Len with his Cat Rin by Shiuka

An illustration of Santa Len hugging Rin.