About

『AKAGE [赤毛]』 refers to a series of animation memes and video edits featuring the song "Akage (Redhead)," a remix created by YouTuber SmilyBruh featuring Kasane Teto and Hatsune Miku. The high-BPM song and its music video came to be used as a video meme template by internet users who inserted their original or favorite characters into the format. The trend began on YouTube before spreading to Twitter / X and TikTok in February 2025.

Origin

On February 28th, 2024, YouTuber^[1] Sasuke Maschine posted a music video for the song " イガク " or "Medicine," featuring the voice of Kasane Teto, a UTAI voice synth similar to Vocaloid. The video gathered over 38 million views in a year.

On January 25th, 2025, YouTuber^[2] SmilyBruh posted a music video for their remix of the aforementioned song, named it "Akage" or "Redhead." The song featured both Kasane Teto and Hatsune Miku and gathered over 900,000 plays in a month.

Spread

On February 11th, 2025, YouTuber^[3] @キケン posted their own version of the "AKAGE" music video, changing the color and characters featured in the track. The video gathered over 65,000 views in two weeks.

On February 12th, TikToker^[4] @rak_ji posted a version of the music where she edited herself into the video template, gathering over 1 million views and 89,000 likes in two weeks. The release of a CapCut Template by TikToker^[5] @ubsnslpvkps on February 14th allowed more TikTokers to share their own AKAGE edits.

On February 18th, Twitter / X^[6] user @MYush_aA posted a version of the AKAGE video, gathering over 12,000 likes in a week.

AKAGE meme 🦖🍱 pic.twitter.com/yPAiaOI3kp

— 𝙊𝙈𝙖𝙊 (@MYush_aA) February 18, 2025

On February 19th, 2025, YouTuber^[7] 水綿 posted a version of the meme, gathering over 116,000 views in a week.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References