Revision as of 19:59, 22 December 2021 by ChrisTofu(talk | contribs)(Added information on previous karaoke stream to Overview section; fixed a reference.)
A member of the Council and the Guardian of "Civilization," a concept crafted by mankind.
As a living embodiment of the sum of mankind's efforts—the mark that humans have left on the world—she is far removed from her fellow members, as well as other lifeforms. Due to not being created by the Gods, she was free to choose her own appearance, and decided to make herself owl-like, after the bird that symbolizes wisdom.
She is gentle, wise, and an unbelievably hard worker. As a well-traveled vagabond, she is blessed with a wealth of knowledge of the world. She has seen, heard, and experienced so many things that she has forgotten most of them, one of them being her own name.
For some reason, she seems to project a rather pitiable aura. Perhaps this is in part thanks to the loneliness she has often felt in her perennial travels. That is what gave her the idea of making her own friend out of a material that was indispensable to the development of human civilization: paper.
"It may fade and rip, but once a friend, forever a friend."
Overview
Nanashi Mumei (七詩ムメイ), born on August 4th, is an owl VTuber who debuted as part of hololive English -Council- representing “Civilization”. As an all-seeing guardian of mankind, she protects all who she looks upon and hopes everyone can be their best version of themselves.[3]
Mumei’s streams are generally characterised by a relatively low energy, relaxing and comfortable tone (which she takes pride in[4][5]) with Hoomans drawn in by her gentle talking and singing voice, her upbeat and persevering demeanour, and the various noises she makes during streams which fans overwhelmingly find cute and adorable. Mumei is also a fan of puns and frequently uses owl or bird-related wordplay in her Tweets and streams, and this is further evidenced by her choice of fan name and Twitter hashtags.
As an owl, she is stereotypically both forgetful and birdbrained with her not only forgetting her age and previous names over the millennia, but more recently has had many cases of forgetting when her scheduled streams were due to start - in one case almost starting a stream a day early.[6] In addition, on one day in which she was quickly reheating some food before a stream that was about to start, she had found her herself randomly in the process of cleaning a stove.[7] This level of forgetfulness was what led her to refer to her mascot only as “Friend”, as she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself were she to forget its name.[8]
Mumei’s love of knowledge, drawing and singing come across strongly from her streams: with her frequently asking chat (or collab partners) if she can search online for answers to something she forgot or is unsure of;[9][10][11][12] her frequent drawing-themed streams and knowledge of techniques demonstrated by painter Bob Ross;[13][14] and her regularly singing parts of songs from artists across a wide range of genres – from Kelly Clarkson[15] and My Chemical Romance,[16] to The Story So Far[17][18] and Backstreet Boys,[19] to various songs from Disney movies[20][21][22] and those from the musical adaptation of Les Misérables[23][24] (which is also her favourite musical[25]).
In terms of larger-scale forays into singing she previewed an incomplete original song (which is currently in development) during her debut stream,[26] sang a full cover of Silhouette by Kana-Boon (an OP for the anime Naruto: Shippuden),[27] and held unarchived karaoke streams for public viewing on 28th September,[28] 16th October[29], 12th November,[30] and 2nd,[31] 8th,[32] 15th,[33] 20th,[34] and 22nd December, 2021,[35] with a members-only karaoke stream (also unarchived) on 28th November of the same year.[36]
Her representative fan emoji is a feather because her physical form is of an owl.
Personality
As a cheerful, caring and sweet (yet introverted[4]) barn owl,[37][38]Nanashi Mumei (normally referred to as Mumei, but also affectionally nicknamed “Meimei” by fellow Council members) takes her job seriously as a guardian protector of mankind. On the other hand, however, it is Hoomans who believe that the one that must be protected is Mumei herself. This desire to protect her is compounded by multiple aspects about her: such as her forgetfulness and the ease with which she becomes embarrassed and overwhelmed. These bouts of forgetfulness are frequent enough to make Hoomans joke that she “forgor” and “rembers” whenever she forgets about something and (sometimes) remembers it again during her streams. This forgetful nature, combined with regular spells of being scatterbrained or overwhelmed results in her panicking and as a result, doing or saying things she doesn't mean to[39] such as inadvertently responding that she “forgot” in some cases where she didn’t actually forget due to sheer force of habit.[40]
A notable instance of Mumei getting overwhelmed was her first Super Chat celebration stream, where she chose not to read chat at the beginning because she knew that she would (and eventually did) get startled by the fast rate of donations sent to her.[41] However, this same stream also highlighted the care and appreciation she holds for her fans, with her stating numerous times throughout the stream that she sees the precious time people set aside to watch her streams “genuinely as valuable [as money]”.[42][43][44] Similar sentiments were also shared during Mumei's membership opening stream; in which she said that she didn't mind if Hoomans didn't become members as she was "so appreciative of... anybody who comes and watches",[45] and also was understanding of viewers who wanted to wait until she was feeling better before purchasing membership because she was feeling notably unwell at the time of this stream (with this choice making "a lot of sense" to her).[46]
Outside of these celebration streams, her appreciation can further be seen in frequent Tweets expressing her gratefulness to those who watch and convey their enjoyment of her streams (particularly when the stream does not go as planned),[47][48] her responses to those expressing gratitude for her content during streams,[49][50][51][52] and her general interactions with chat. Such interactions include her pleading with tired fans staying up late for her stream to go get some sleep,[53][54][55] as well as her expressing the happiness she felt knowing Hoomans were inspired to draw because of her, and were also using her #watchMEI Twitter hashtag to draw alongside her during her first drawing stream.[56]
Although she has moments of high energy and excitability (especially while under the effects of caffeine), Mumei regards herself as a “low energy” individual with the social aspect of streaming being surprisingly tiring at times. However, she thinks that it’s okay and normal for people to become tired while doing something they enjoy so she doesn’t mind it.[4] This introverted disposition becomes most apparent when she starts finding it difficult to know what to say; with her often resorting to impromptu singing or noises to fill the silence if streaming by herself,[23][57][58] or at times struggling to find an appropriate greeting or response while in the presence of others[59][60] (though this can result in entertaining but nonsensical conversations with other hololive members such as Gawr Gura[61][62] and Mori Calliope[63]). These bouts of random sounds and responses may also be partially attributed to her birdbrained nature, with Mumei herself admitting that she has a very short attention span and finds it difficult to multitask.[64][65] These traits are particularly evident during her Minecraft streams where a theme of her getting sidetracked from her set goals is so common,[66][67] that at the start of one stream she had to ask chat to tell her if she was deviating too far from her declared plans.[68]
The following streams are considered legendary streams (伝説の配信, densetsu no haishin) by Mumei's fans.
Stream list
Stream
Summary
Air date
【UNARCHIVED】what
Mumei sings for an audience of over 30,000 concurrent viewers during her first karaoke stream, which was guerrilla and unarchived in nature. During the stream, the word "Mumei" becomes trending worldwide on Twitter: peaking at #13 worldwide,[80] #7 in the United States,[81] and #1 in Canada.[82]
September 28, 2021
Other Media
Trivia
* Nanashi (名無し) and Mumei (無名) are both Japanese words which signify namelessness, which is apt considering she has forgotten her previous names.[83]
She is able to take the form of any owl species, but has most recently taken the form of a barn owl because it matched her "current state of mind".[37][38]
Another owl form she has taken in the past is that of the eagle-owl.[84]
She has given express permission for Hoomans to use the artwork she has herself drawn (such as those from her Passpartout streams), for use as a personal avatar or other similar use cases.[85]
Mumei has stated that viewers do not need to send Super Chats toward equipment upgrades or similar purposes as she will be able to cover all relevant costs herself.[86]
Such donations were initially so frequent that Mumei (unenforceably) "banned" such donations[87] because of the sheer number she had received,[88][89] as well as the absurdity of what Hoomans said they were donating toward.[90][91]
Despite it being a normalised "tradition" within the VTuber community, Mumei has further stated that viewers do not need to donate blue Super Chats whenever she takes a streaming break to go to "an idol meeting" (the bathroom).[92]
Her karaoke streams are likely to all be unarchived and guerrilla in nature as she is mindful of not disrupting others she lives with.[93][94]
Mumei does not foresee herself streaming FPS games on her own channel as she would feel too much pressure to perform well, and would not enjoy streaming these games as a result. She is, however, willing to play as part of other hololive members' streams (such as those of Kureiji Ollie).[95][96]
Inugami Korone was the first hololive member that Mumei was interested in.[97]
Prior to debut, Ninomae Ina'nis was the hololive English member she watched the most. As Mumei finds it difficult to focus when watching media such as streams, TV shows and movies, she watched Ina's streams while doing other activities.[98] Ina also streamed at convenient times of day for Mumei to watch her streams live.[99]
From video clips Mumei watches of herself, she has no recollection of "60 percent" of what was clipped. She believes that this is because of the difficulties she has multitasking which makes her not fully process what she is saying at these moments.[100]
The first official collaboration stream she had beyond other Council members was a Minecraft stream with Takanashi Kiara on 28th September, 2021.[101]
At debut, she used a keyboard with blue ("clicky") mechanical switches but soon ordered a new keyboard with red ("linear") mechanical switches to replace it.[102] This is because she personally would not want to hear the loud "clickity-clackity" (noise of blue mechanical switches) if she herself were watching someone else's stream.[103] The first stream in which she used her new, quieter keyboard was her first Minecraft stream on September 7th, 2021 (two weeks after debut).[104]
After she posted her first Tweet, Mumei's Twitter account was flooded with new followers. This led to Twitter temporarily restricting her account due to excessive activity.[105]
She is one of the hololive production VTubers with a verified YouTube channel. Other verified members can be found here.
Mumei shares the same oshi/fan mark with the following VTuber:
* Befitting her role as Guardian of "Civilization", Mumei dislikes (but is prone to) forgetting things and likes to obtain new knowledge as well as remember things she has forgotten.[106]
Other things she likes include vegetable broth soup,[107] berries,[108] drawing and singing; while she dislikes mud, printers and mosquitoes.[106]
Her favourite ice cream flavours are pistachio, vanilla and chocolate (with her also liking a combination of the latter two).[109]
Her main goals for her time in hololive include: having an original song be used in a rhythm game; learning new skills (and improving upon current ones, such as Japanese); writing a song for guitar; and being in a 3D Live (as well as general) collaboration stream with her senpai and other Council members.[110]
Tuesday is Mumei's busiest day of the week due to her duties as Guardian of "Civilization". In terms of responsibilities, the closest parallel to human activities she can think of is "going to school", with these responsibilities including reading, writing, listening, research and testing (or generally "using your brain").[111]
Due to the unpredictable timings and exhaustion caused by this duty-filled day, she will typically not stream on Tuesdays[112] and is unlikely to streaming again on this day after attempting one such stream on September 22nd, 2021.[111]
Coupled with her streaming responsibilities, her duties mean that she very rarely has rest days or proper breaks for herself without other obligations to take care of.[113]
Mumei was "banned" from having caffeine by Hakos Baelz due to it affecting her for an unusually long time ("nearby 15 hours").[114][115]
Due to this sensitivity to caffeine, Mumei rarely drank caffeinated drinks before joining hololive but has since starting drinking them more regularly.[116] This is because caffeine helps her deal with nervousness[117] and allows her to remain productive for longer - though this can cause her to stay up much later than usual and lose sleep as a result.[118]
She doesn't particularly like cooking and finds it a bit of a chore due to it taking a long time.[119] The biggest pain point for her is food preparation; where she spends a long time chopping up ingredients such as garlic, onions and potatoes.[120][119]
As she doesn't think of herself as a good cook, she finds air fryers very useful and convenient due to the speed and ease of both food preparation and cooking when using the appliance.[121]
Ways she has mentioned using her air fryer include cooking salmon[121] and making salt and lime tortilla chips.[122]
When she doesn't want to cook too much, Mumei often makes simple pasta dishes.[123] Whenever she makes this type of dish she also tends to add a lot of tabasco sauce to it, going so far as to say that the main reason for the meal is so that she "can have a lot of tabasco".[124]
She dislikes grocery shopping as her indecisiveness causes her to take a long time in purchasing everything she needs. For instance, this indecisiveness results in her spending inordinate amounts of time comparing different brands of the same item, which also leads to her becoming self-consciousness about other shoppers' thoughts about her spending so long in one place.[125]
She doesn't normally feel hungry in mornings and afternoons, and tends not to eat before streaming as she feels it makes her tired during the stream.[126][127][128] However, her stomach will still rumble as if she were hungry and there have been times where it has done so while she streamed.[129][130][131] As such, she sometimes keeps a snack on hand nearby before she starts streaming.[132][133]
Mumei thinks of herself as nomadic as she frequently moves house[134] and is thinking about moving once again to relocate to a more streaming-friendly environment.[135] However, she does wish that she could live in one place for a prolonged period - citing "over a year" as an ideal length of time.[136]
She currently lives at a location which isn't as accessible as she thinks it should be, with many online businesses not offering delivery to her area and some stores being relatively far away. This distance can make it difficult for her to run small errands.[137]
She heavily suspects that she has aphantasia, which is an inability to voluntarily create a mental image in one's own mind (for example, of an apple).[138] This suspicion is supported by her normally needing to search for reference images of things that she merely wants to doodle.[139]
She used to dislike Halloween as she was scared of it but has now come to like it. She especially likes how leftover Halloween (and Valentine's Day) sweets and chocolate become heavily discounted shortly after the main day passes.[140]
Due to having "oddly small" hands she was forced to consider purchasing an acoustic guitar (which she prefers over electric[145] and electro-acoustic variants) that was of a smaller-than-normal size.[146] Such a size would allow her to reach various guitar chords easier.[147]
Mumei's aforementioned difficulties when watching streams, TV series and movies (see General trivia) also means she doesn't watch much anime. This is because it becomes too difficult to pay adequate attention to anime subtitles when she's simultaneously trying to focus on other things.[65]
She tends to get heavily immersed into and addicted to games she really likes - losing interest in other games as a result.[150]
However, she doesn't have much free time to play games off-stream due to her responsibilities as a streamer and as Guardian of "Civilization".[150][151]
* Mumei has a pet that she refers to as "Animal" (named as such for the same reason she calls her mascot "Friend"[152]) who frequently intrudes upon her streams.[153][154][155] She concedes that Animal is spoiled not only in general,[156][157] but also by Hoomans who are very loving toward Animal as a whole - with some going as far as sending Super Chats for it.[158][159][160][161]
Animal has separation anxiety and will cry and wail if Mumei has to leave Animal's side for an extended period of time.[164] This makes Mumei not want to leave Animal alone, and is the main reason why Mumei sometimes struggles to run even small errands.[165]
Animal dislikes it when Mumei sits at her desk for long stretches and will often vie for Mumei's attention.[166] An example of this is Animal flipping their basket of toys over numerous times per day; forcing Mumei to stop what she's doing and pick them all back up.[167]
Animal is able to make noise for multiple hours to get Mumei's undivided attention, with Mumei stating that she has tried not reacting to these pleas (to no avail).[168]
Mumei rarely purchases new toys for Animal because Animal quickly gets tired of whatever they play with. To counteract this, Mumei will regularly hide away and then reintroduce a selection of toys to keep Animal from losing interest in all their toys at once.[169]
Animal is "high maintenance",[170] with Mumei spending two to three hours outside with Animal daily.[171] Mumei's daily routine includes her waking up early each morning to take Animal out for a walk, and taking them out again just before she starts streaming to make sure Animal is tired out.[172]
On days in which Mumei's duties as Guardian of "Civilization" are the busiest, Animal is normally cared for at an "animal day care".[173][174]
After Mumei eats something, Animal will often want to smell Mumei's mouth as Animal gets curious as to what Mumei has just eaten.[175]
Animal often quickly rips out the stuffing[176] and squeakers of toys,[177] and sometimes likes to jump onto Mumei's chair and grab things from her desk to tear apart.[178]
Examples of things that have been destroyed during these instances include a microphone pop filter and a brand new phone charging cable.[178]
However, Mumei does not buy rawhide as it "gets gross".[183]
Animal will tend not to go to bed until Mumei herself does, and is allowed to sleep on Mumei's bed even though it forces Mumei to change the bed sheets much more frequently as a result.[184]
If Mumei is lying down somewhere and briefly gets up, Animal will go and lie down at the exact spot where Mumei had just lay.[185]
