Mafumafu (Japanese: まふまふ, Hepburn: Mafumafu, born October 18, 1991) is a Japanese singer-songwriter. In addition to his solo work, he is one half of the music duo After the Rain with fellow utaite singer Soraru. His broad vocal range, spanning over five octaves, allows him to sing in an extremely high register, and in addition to his original music, he often covers Vocaloid songs in their original key.[2][3] He represents himself with a white-haired, red-eyed character with a barcode on his left cheek. As of April 21, 2024, his YouTube channel has over 3.54 million subscribers,[4] and his videos have amassed over 2.25 billion views.[5]
Mafumafu plays guitar and piano.[6] He has written and produced music for video games, anime, and other artists.[7][8][9]
On June 5, 2022, Mafumafu announced on Twitter that after his concerts on June 12 at Tokyo Dome, he would go on an indefinite hiatus from all personal music activities as Mafumafu for the first time in 11 years, citing his medical condition.[10] On January 8, 2023, Mafumafu announced that he would slowly resume activities.[11]
Early life
Mafumafu had piano lessons when he was younger. When he was in elementary school, he tried to make ring tones with an app on a mobile phone his father gave him. He later decided that music was his vocation when he was in high school. In university, he formed a rock band with his friends, the guitarist in the band introduced him to the culture of vocaloid songs and Utaites on the internet.[12] This inspired him to upload his songs on the internet.
Music career
He began publishing song cover videos on Niconico in late 2010. In interviews, he has said that he enjoys listening to a variety of music including electronic,[13] and that he was drawn to music because his childhood was painful and he felt he could convey in music the emotions he had difficulty expressing otherwise.[14][15] He also believes he grows when he is able to overcome the things he did not know or was unable to do before.[16] Since his life in the music industry began, he has stored vocabulary and experiences within himself, which he pulls on when composing and writing lyrics.[17]
While Mafumafu primarily works on his solo dōjin albums, he has done two albums with utaite singer Soraru.[18] On 13 April 2016, they released Crocrest Story under the name After the Rain under the Universal Entertainment Japan label. Mafumafu handled most of the composition and arrangement for the album.[15] He said that he tried to create songs that matched both of their musical ranges, was fun for them, and that drew out both of their strengths.[15] The album reached second place on Oricon's weekly charts.[19]
His first solo tour ran from 15 January to 5 February 2017.[20][21] On 7 May, Mafumafu hosted Hikikomori-tachi demo Fest ga shitai! (ひきこもりたちでもフェスがしたい！) and performed alongside Soraru, Amatsuki, Urashimasakatasen, luz, un:c, Araki, nqrse, and kradness.[22] On 18 October 2017, he released the album titled Ashita-iro World end (明日色ワールドエンド), an album which looks at the end of the world.[23]
Connected to Disney, an official Disney cover album, was released on 13 March 2019. Mafumafu helped produce the album, as well as performed alongside six other singers.[24] On 22 June 2019, he held a solo live performance at the MetLife Dome with an audience of 35,000 people.[25][26] On the next day, 23 June, Mafumafu hosted the annual Hikikomori-tachi demo Fest ga shitai! (ひきこもりたちでもフェスがしたい！).[27] In July, Mafumafu released the single Sacrifice (サクリファイス). This was his first time creating music for an anime, this time for the anime To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts.[28] His album titled Kagura-iro Artifact (神楽色アーティファクト) was released through A-Sketch Inc. on 16 October. There were 20 songs in the album, more than any other album Mafumafu had previously released.[29] He attempted to select the best 20 songs he was capable of creating[30] and included songs with a variety of musical styles, which was a different trend from previous albums.[31][32] Mafumafu also wrote the lyrics, composed, and arranged the music for the opening theme of Pokémon Journeys, scheduled to first air on 17 November 2019, on TV Tokyo. The opening theme "One, Two, Three" is sung by After the Rain, Mafumafu and Soraru's music duo, for the first 31 episodes.[33]
On 16 February 2020, Mafumafu was found unconscious in his living room by staff visiting his home. He was transported to a medical institution, where he was diagnosed with cardiogenic syncope.[34]
Mafumafu was scheduled to hold a solo show at the Tokyo Dome on 25 March 2020[35] as well as his Hikikomori-tachi demo Fest ga shitai! (ひきこもりたちでもフェスがしたい！) in the Tokyo Dome on 26 March. However, he announced on 12 March that he would hold off on the performances due to the impacts of COVID-19. While he did consider postponing the events to a later date, it was officially announced on 31 March that they were canceled.
Sales of Mafumafu's first video release was scheduled to go on sale on 14 October 2020, consisting of video shot during his 2019 performance at the MetLife Dome.
Mafumafu continues to be active on both YouTube and Niconico. He has participated in live shows and summer comic market events. He is currently posting videos with fellow utaite singers and friends Soraru, Amatsuki, Uratanuki, Ahono sakata, luz, as well as game commentator Kiyo.[36]
Mafumafu has a Teru teru bōzu character called Mafuteru (まふてる) which acts as his guardian. Mafuteru is sometimes said to help Mafumafu with the illustrations and editing for his music videos.[37]
The internet series Hikikomori demo maru maru ga shitai! (ひきこもりでも○○がしたい!), also known as Hikimaru (ひきまる), started on 19 December 2018, with appearances by Mafumafu. The second season, Hikimaru 2nd, started on 26 September 2019, with a line up of eight people consisting of Mafumafu, Soraru, Amatsuki, luz, Uratanuki, Shima, Tonari no sakata, and Senra.[38]
On 5 June 2022, Mafumafu announced on Twitter that after his following live performances on 11 and 12 June, he would go on an indefinite hiatus from all personal musical activities as Mafumafu for the first time in 11 years, citing his medical condition. He still plans to be active as a songwriter for other artists, as well as continue to participate in group collaborations.
Other activities
On 23 October 2021, Mafumafu, Soraru, VTuber Haru Shibuya (渋谷ハル), and the esports team Crazy Racoon jointly established the VTuber agency "merise".[40] Merise was later renamed Neo-Porte.[41]
Personal life
For much of his career up to spring 2021, Mafumafu maintained that he could not fall in love and had not been involved in romantic relationships.[42] On January 25, 2024, the weekly tabloid Josei Seven reported that Mafumafu had been married for a short period from December 2021 to July 2022 and is involved in legal proceedings against his ex-wife.[43] Mafumafu confirmed the reports on his blog the next day, explaining that he had been subjected to various emotional abuse, cheating, and defamation through online harassment by his ex-wife, who he referred to as Girl A (A子).[44][45]
On January 28, the online streamer and VTuber Mikeneko posted a response, confirming she was Girl A in the process. She denied Mafumafu's allegations of cheating, said she did not consider what she did to constitute emotional abuse, and stated she has countersued since her legal team considered Mafumafu's lawsuit against her to be defamatory.[46][47]
Mikeneko and Mafumafu both released statements on October 8, 2024 announcing that they have dropped legal proceedings against each other.[48] Mafumafu expresses gratefulness for the legal guarantee that "both parties will have no contact or involvement whatsoever."[49]
Discography
Album
Solo albums
The highest rank is based on Oricon weekly charts.
