KAF (Kafu) - VTuber

KAF redefines the conventions of virtual performers in Japan. As a virtual girl immersed in the physical world, KAF's music videos close the gap seen between viewers and VTubers. While her non-musical activity is limited, KAF is gradually opening up to more announcement blogs and posting on Twitter.

KAF Background

KAF, pronounced "kafu" in Japanese, is a female Japanese VTuber and singer. She started posting on YouTube in October 2018. As of April 2021, she has over 500,000 subscribers and 100,000,000 channel views.

KAF History

KAF debuted on YouTube at 14 years old. She performed at the Count0 virtual music event at the end of 2018 as the final act of the event's first part. The performance greatly increased her popularity and follower count. In early 2019, KAF went on a brief hiatus to study for high school entrance exams before releasing her first EP in May. By the end of the month, a crowdfunding campaign for her first concert exceeded its goal by 800 percent. Tickets for her first solo live sold out within a day. In September 2019, she released her first full-length album, Kansoku. In 2020, KAF debuted a new design to represent a new stage in her career. During her second solo live performance, KAF announced she was forming a musical group with four other Kamitsubaki artists called Virtual Witch Phenomenon.

KAF Physical Description

KAF's design resembles a young teenage girl with pink hair. Her eyes are multicolored with a blue outer ring, red inner ring, and yellow pupils. In her debut design, she styled her hair in two braids with blunt bangs reaching the top of her eyes. She wore an ornate blue and white jacket with a bold geometric design. The blue hood features a repeating pattern of cut-out triangles around the opening that resemble teeth. On the outside, the hood has two red eye-like accents each with long ear-like tendrils behind them. Underneath her jacket, KAF wore a simple white t-shirt dress and solid red tights.

KAF debuted her second design in March 2020, still in use as of April 2021. She wears her hair in a low side ponytail with a single braid tucked in. Reflecting her more mature image shift, her new outfit follows a primarily blue color scheme. She wears a simple light blue dress under a cropped, royal blue hooded shawl. The hood resembles the one on her previous jacket with a similar cutout triangle motif.

KAF Personality

In contrast to many VTubers and Vocaloids, KAF has a very reserved and measured personality. Despite her young age, she presents herself in a poised, mature manner. When speaking, KAF often pauses to consider her words and talks in a quiet and monotone voice. She treats her fans with respect and uses very polite Japanese. On Twitter, KAF shows more excitement and energy, implying that she may feel shy when speaking.

Associated Company

KAF is signed to Kamitsubaki Studio, a Japanese indie management company. Kamitsubaki Studio was formed in October 2019 and represents VTubers, Vocaloids and Vocaloid producers, and virtual content creators.

Virtual Witch Phenomenon

Virtual Witch Phenomenon, known by the acronym VWP, is a virtual singing group with a supernatural theme. The group consists of Kamitsubaki Studio members KAF, RIM, Harusaruhi, koko, and Isekaijoucho. VWP announced their formation at KAF's second solo live in March 2021. There they performed their two debut singles, "Den'nou" and "Majo (Shin)."

Notable Releases/Videos

KAF almost exclusively posts videos of song covers or original songs. More recently, she began posting short vlog-style videos addressing her fans with concert information or holiday greetings. Notably, her original songs receive significantly more views than her song covers. Her music videos often use non-virtual locations as a setting to convey her role as a virtual girl implanted in the physical world.

Kansoku

Kansoku is KAF's debut album, released on September 11, 2019. The album contains 15 tracks, including many songs already released on KAF's YouTube channel. As of April 2021, her most viewed music video is for the ninth track on the album, "Devour the Past." The song has strong, rock-inspired backing and a fast-paced melody that contrasts with KAF's airy vocals. KAF posted a trailer video for the album with samples of each song in August 2019. Kamitsubaki released an album featuring 13 remixed songs from Kansoku on December 25, 2019.

Mahou

Mahou is KAF's second album and the first full-length release after her image redesign. The album came out on November 25, 2020, with 15 original tracks. In a departure from Kansoku, most of the songs of Mahou did not have music videos available on YouTube prior to the album's release. Mahou's title track features a duet with fellow Kamitsubaki artist and Virtual Witch Phenomenon member RIM. The album also includes KAF's collaboration songs from her second EP "Hana to Kaitou." "Answer" was used as the eleventh ending theme for the anime Black Clover and "Keshiki" was the ending song for the Netflix anime Japan Sinks: 2020.

Other Activities

KAF also produces the voice for the CeVIO AI voicebank KAFU. KAFU will be a fully computer-generated AI capable of both singing and speaking. As of the time of writing, her debut is scheduled for May 31, 2021.

Links

KAF YouTube Channel
KAF bilibili Channel
KAF Official Website
KAF Twitter
VTuber Main Page
VTuber Label