About

Shiteyanyo (Japanese: シテヤンヨ) sometimes spelled “Shiteyan’yo”, is a nickname given to a Vocaloid fan character inspired by Miku Hatsune. The character only consists of a head with her long hair, tied up in pigtails, acting as legs. This character has developed a following in many online art communities, such as pixiv and deviantArt.

Origin

The fan character was created by pixiv user Ryūsei (リューセイ)^[1] on February 2nd, 2010.^[2] The drawing was originally titled “Mikku Miku ni Shiteyanyo,” a parody of the lyrics from the Vocaloid song “Miku Miku ni Site Ageru” (みくみくにしてあげる♪).^[3]

Precursors

Prior to the success of Shiteyanyo, other artists in the Vocaloid fandom had drawn similar works by extending a character’s hair to become legs. Designs featuring Miku^[4] (shown below, left) and KAITO^[5] (shown below, right) were both uploaded to Crypton Future Media’s fan work site Piapro in 2009.

Spread

Shortly after it was uploaded, commenters on pixiv began to call the character "Shiteyanyo." Less than 4 hours after its upload, the 3D artist Deino posted a CGI animation of Shiteyanyo to piapro (shown below, left).^[6] On February 4th, 2010, a pixiv user suggested a drawing competition^[7] (shown below, right) based on the character, resulting in 2,340 submissions as of May 2013.

In April 2010, Crypton Future Media officially recognized Shiteyanyo after 400 pieces of fan art had been submitted. Around the same time, the character began to appear in fan videos on the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND). A Miku Miku Dance (MMD) model for Shiteyanyo was posted to NND on February 21st, 2010^[9], and since has been used in dozens of MMD videos. As of May 2013, there are more than 300 videos featuring Shiteyanyo on NND.^[10]

On the English-speaking web, fan art of Shiteyanyo can be found on deviantART^[27], Tumblr^[28] and Zerochan.^[29] In June 2011, the single topic Tumblr blog Fuck Yeah Shiteyanyo^[30] launched. A primarily English Facebook fan page^[26] for Shiteyanyo was created on November 25th, 2012, gaining 85 likes as of May 2013.

Official Approval

On April 6th, 2010, Shiteyanyo’s creator Ryūsei announced via Twitter that he struck a licensing deal with Crypton Future Media for the sake of producing official character goods.^[16] A similar licensing deal had previously been made with the creators of the fan characters Tako Luka and Akita Neru.

With the help of internet users’ enthusiasm, Shiteyanyo joined the official Vocaloid character merchandise line in just two months. Official licensed goods for Shiteyanyo have since been found online stores, figure conventions and CFM’s mobile Vocaloid card game Hatsune Miku Graphy Collection.^[17]

Notable Examples

Illustrations

Videos

In Other Fandoms

The theme of heads walking on legs made out of hair has also expanded into other anime and manga fandoms. Pixiv users have named the style with the fictitious animal taxonomy “Philogradentia” (髪行類, Hatsukōrui)^[12] in homage to “Rhinogradentia”^[13], another faux mammal order created by zoology professor Gerolf Steiner in the 1960s.

Left: K-ON! Azusa's "Yatte Yaru Desu" (ヤッテヤルデス)^[14] | Right: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Mami Tomoe's "Kowakunai" (コワクナイ)^[15]

Relationships With Other Characters

In fan works, Shiteyanyo often appears with other user-generated "creepy" characters in NND mashup videos. Some of the most well-known collaborations are "The Three Miserable Creatures" (御惨家, Gosanke)^[22] consisting of she, HOME Haruka and KimeeMaru (shown below, left), and "The Three Miserable Sisters" (惨姉妹, Sanshimai)^[23] consisting of she, Tako Luka and Larval Rin (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References

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