HIMEHINA - VTuber

HIMEHINA is a popular Japanese VTuber duo and musical group. Since 2019, HIMEHINA has carved out a reputation as high-quality singers with visually impressive music videos. They plan to release their second studio album in May 2021.

HIMEHINA Background

HIMEHINA is a Japanese VTuber duo consisting of Tanaka Hime and Suzuki Hina. The group posts chat streams and plays video games much like traditional VTubers. However, they are most successful as original musicians.

HIMEHINA History

Tanaka Hime first debuted as a solo VTuber and singer in March 2018. That May, Suzuki Hina joined her channel in her official debut. They posted their first music video, "Welcome to Japali Park," in August 2018. Later that month, their YouTube subscriber count reached over 100,000. By the end of 2018, the duo had posted five music videos and exceeded 300,000 subscribers. In January 2019, HIMEHINA released their first original song "Hitogata." By the end of the year, the group had released four original songs, performed their first solo live, and announced a national tour. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, HIMEHINA's planned national tour in 2020 was canceled. Their first album, Ai no Hana, came out on April 15, 2020.

Tanaka Hime Physical Description

Tanaka Hime is a short female VTuber designed with Chinese aesthetic influences. She has light pink hair with red highlights in her bangs. She wears two buns on each side of her head, both wrapped with a skinny braid around the base. Her eyes are dark pink and lined with her signature red color. She wears a short red cheongsam-inspired dress with elbow-length puffy sleeves. She has a gold emblem with the kanji for her name, "Tanaka," hanging from her cutout collar. Underneath, she wears a short black pleated shirt, featuring the same gold lining as the dress overlay. She wears pink thigh-high socks tucked into bulky black boots adorned with red ribbons.

Suzuki Hina Physical Description

Suzuki Hina is the second half of the VTuber duo HIMEHINA. She has long, wavy blonde hair with blue streaks in her bands and two short tufts making a "shark fin" style haircut. Her design features military-inspired elements. She wears a dark blue beret and matching double-breasted uniform-style cropped vest. Her exposed midriff resulted in the fan nickname "bellybutton girl." Suspenders connect her vest to her matching dark blue short shorts. On her right arm, she wears a red band with the kanji for her name, "Suzuki." Military-style accents, such as her tall boots, yellow sash, and garter pouch, complete her design.

Tanaka Hime Personality

Hime has a friendly, energetic personality. When talking, she speaks in a high-pitched voice and often speaks her mind without a filter. She has trouble standing still during her streams and has to move around every few seconds. Hime can get overly excited and start speaking in an uncontrolled loud voice. Her tendency to laugh and talk a lot has led her to joke about needing an oxygen tank to manage her breathing. When she sings, Hime lets out a more mature, powerful side to her voice.

Suzuki Hina Personality

In contrast to Hime, Hina has a laid-back and occasionally goofy personality. Despite her elegant appearance, Hina has the tendencies of a natural airhead. She's calm and often does things at her own pace. However, she is a huge manga and anime fan and gets excited talking about her favorite series. During these moments, she can act as energetic and playful as Hime. Her singing voice is gentle and soothing. Primarily, she performs soft harmonies to Hime's powerful vocals.

Associated Company

HIMEHINA operates under their own small media company HIMEHINA Project. The special effects design company known as Tanaka Koumuten created both members and owns their related copyrights.

Notable Releases/Videos

HIMEHINA has been steadily successful by building a fanbase around their original music.

Hitogata

HIMEHINA released their first original single "Hitogata" on January 9, 2019. The song features a cool electronica pop style that showcases the duo's mature vocals. Hime and Hina split the verse performances and harmonize on the chorus. In the second verse, they both demonstrate their rapping abilities, which repeats again in the song's outro. In late February 2019, HIMEHINA posted the "Hitogata" music video to their YouTube channel. In the video, the girls perform the song in a dark city nightscape with additional sets including a cemetery and flower field. They also wear black versions of their usual outfits to fit the darker aesthetic of the song. The song was used as the ending theme for the 2019 spring anime VIRTUAL SAN - LOOKING. In the first VTuber Music Awards, the "Hitogata" music video won 1st place in the best music video category.

Ai no Hana

Ai no Hana is HIMEHINA's debut studio album released on April 15, 2020. The album contains 19 tracks, including the four original songs released over 2019 and interlude instrumentals. HIMEHINA expanded on their rock influences in producing the album, as seen in the title track and second single "Hibari." The group also re-recorded a rock-inspired version of their first original song "Hitogata" to round out the new album sound. Initially, the album release was supposed to kick off a national tour of Japan which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After going on sale, the album peaked at number three on the Oricon weekly album ranking. The album is available on iTunes and Amazon in Japan and online cd retailers.

Other Activities

HIMEHINA has appeared on NHK and other Japanese news channels in part of talk shows surrounding VTubers. The duo also starred in a 2019 spring anime titled VIRTUALSAN - LOOKING along with fellow VTubers Mirai Akari and Nekomiya Hinata. The show followed an ensemble cast of nearly 30 VTubers in slice-of-life situations.