[5][8] Kyoko's fictional biography, on the other hand, stated that she was first scouted while working part-time at a hamburger shop in front of Fussa Station.
[14] Producing content was very expensive, costing several million yen (tens of thousands of dollars) for a stage appearance.
[16] Horipro viewed Date as a dream talent for the multimedia age of the 21st century: she would never get sick or be involved in any scandals, she could appear simultaneously on any number of channels worldwide, and she could speak and sing in any language of the world.
Before the debut, Kyoko attracted a lot of attention, including from the overseas media, but the delay gave the hype time to cool off, which may have contributed to the project's lack of success.
[4] On November 2, she made her video and chatting appearance on the TBS informational program Broad Caster [ja].
[19] In 1997 her voice was changed, her name was updated to "Kyoko Date DK-97,[12] and her CD single Touch was released on July 21.
[20] She appeared on posters of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and on the front cover of the ad magazine Jamāru [ja], but in the end, Kyoko Date disappeared after just a few months of minor activity.
[4] Meanwhile, on December 5, 1996, Fujisaki Shiori of Tokimeki Memorial made her own CD debut as a virtual idol with Oshiete Mr. Sky.
[22] At the time, Yoshitaka Hori and Miki Watanabe were seen by some as the second-generation leaders of the entertainment industry's leading production companies.
[25] It was intended that this version proceed on to appearing in online advertisements, and Horipro explained away the character's earlier failure as a result of being "ahead of her time",[26] but DK-2001 too vanished without any significant activity.
She won the grand prize, based on votes by viewers, on a program broadcast from 1999 to 2000 on Digicas [ja] entitled CG Idol Contest.
[30] It was stated that she dreamed of becoming an idol just like her mother, and the company aspired to launch her career as a VTuber following the success of fellow virtual artists such as Hatsune Miku and Kizuna AI.