Mafumafu

Overview

Mafumafu (まふまふ, born October 18, 1991) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and utaite. Standing 178 cm tall with white as his image color, he is known for a wide vocal range spanning over five octaves and a strikingly high register. He handles vocals, lyrics, composition, arranging, performance and engineering entirely by himself, sometimes describing himself as a self-styled "jack of all trades" (何でも屋). He often covers Vocaloid songs in their original key and has written music for video games, anime and other artists. He is also one half of the duo After the Rain with fellow utaite Soraru. As of 2025, his YouTube channel has over 3.6 million subscribers and his videos have amassed more than 2.25 billion views.

Career

Early life

Mafumafu grew up in a strict household with many lessons, including piano, calligraphy, self-defense, astronomy, English, pottery, tea ceremony and tennis, and as a child dreamed of becoming a scientist or astronomer. His first experience composing was making a ringtone on a flip phone his father gave him in elementary school. Bullied as a student, he felt cut off from the upbeat music popular in society and found comfort in rock bands and artists who made darker songs. Feeling he could express his pain more easily through music than words, he decided at 15 to become a musician. He joined a light music club in high school, and at university used his tuition exemption to buy a guitar and Cubase, forming a rock band (including a visual kei band) in which he played guitar, vocals and drums. Through the band he was introduced to Niconico and Vocaloid culture.

2010-2016

On December 29, 2010, he uploaded a cover of "Yamiiro Alice" to Niconico and began activity as Mafumafu, a nickname. On May 2, 2012, he posted his first original Vocaloid song, "DAYBREAK". His first dōjin album, Yumeiro Signal, followed on August 11, 2012, then Setsunairo Syndrome (December 31, 2013) and Yamiiro Night Parade (April 25, 2015), distributed through Comic Market and THE VOC@LOiD M@STER among others. He also supplied songs to fellow utaite such as Amatsuki, Uratanuki, Aho no Sakata, Soraru and luz. From December 20 to 31, 2015, he held his first nationwide tour with Soraru, After the Rain -WINTER TOUR 2015-, and the pair formally formed After the Rain on January 8, 2016. On April 13, 2016 they released Crocrest Story, for which Mafumafu handled most of the composition and arrangement; it reached second place on Oricon's weekly chart.

2017-2019

His first solo tour ran from January 15 to February 5, 2017. On May 7 he hosted his first music festival, Hikikomori-tachi demo Fest ga shitai!, at Saitama Super Arena, with Soraru, Amatsuki, Urashimasakatasen, XYZ members and others. On October 18, 2017 he made his national distribution debut with the solo album Ashita-iro World End via NBC Universal Entertainment Japan; it was certified Gold on December 8. In December 2018 he began a collaborative program with Yahoo!, with a second season from September 2019.

On March 13, 2019 he took part in and co-produced the official Disney cover album Connected to Disney with six other singers. On June 22 he held his first dome concert at MetLife Dome before 35,000 people, and hosted the festival there the next day. In July he made "Sacrifice", his first anime tie-in, as the opening for To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts (Season 1). On October 16 he released the 20-song album Kagura-iro Artifact through A-Sketch, his largest album to that point, featuring a variety of styles; it was certified Gold on November 8. He also wrote, composed and arranged the opening theme "One, Two, Three" for Pokémon Journeys, which After the Rain sang for the first 31 episodes.

2020-2022

On February 16, 2020 Mafumafu was found unconscious at home and diagnosed with cardiogenic syncope. His planned Tokyo Dome solo show (March 25) and festival (March 26) were canceled due to COVID-19. On October 14, 2020 his first live video release, from the 2019 MetLife Dome show, went on sale.

On May 5, 2021 he streamed a free Tokyo Dome show worldwide, reaching about 400,000 concurrent viewers on YouTube and bilibili. On August 1, a second festival, World Conquest II, was screened in cinemas nationwide and streamed globally. On October 23 he co-founded the virtual YouTuber agency Neo-Porte with Soraru, Shibuya Haru and the pro gaming team Crazy Raccoon. On December 31 he performed Kanzaki Iori's "Inochi ni Kirawarete Iru." at the 72nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen; the performance video gained over 4 million views within days.

On June 5, 2022 he announced an indefinite hiatus for health reasons following his Tokyo Dome concerts, which he held on June 11 and 12 (Omote/Ura), promising to return.

2023-present

He announced the resumption of activity on June 9, 2023. On August 24, 2024 a studio live was streamed for YouTube Music Weekend, and on December 25, 2024 he released Sekai-iro Universe, his first solo album in five years and his largest, with 30 songs, through A-Sketch. On January 11 and 12, 2025 he held Rinne at Nippon Budokan, his first solo concert in two and a half years. Between October and December 2025 he released a run of singles including "Pamela", "Yoidore Shirazu", "Ima wa Ii n da yo.", "Darling Dance", "Override" and "Shindara Doko e Ikuno kana", along with covers such as "Animal" and "Vampire".

Musical style

Spanning Vocaloid, J-pop, J-rock and anime music, Mafumafu's work reflects his affinity for rock and darker songs, and he values conveying emotions hard to express otherwise. He enjoys a wide range of music including electronic, and cites L'ArcenCiel, ELLEGARDEN, ONE OK ROCK, Spitz, DIR EN GREY, RADWIMPS and Neru among his favorites; early on, ViViD's SHIN influenced his vocals. He plays guitar, bass and piano and writes, composes and arranges his own songs. His guardian teru teru bōzu character Mafuteru sometimes handles illustrations and video editing for his music videos.