KAF

KAF (Japanese: 花譜, read "Kafu") is a Japanese virtual singer and VTuber affiliated with KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO. Most VTubers build their audience through personality-driven live streaming. KAF is instead known as a music-first performer, and in 2022 she became the first VTuber to perform at the Nippon Budokan.

Profile

Item	Detail
Debut	October 2018 (YouTube)
Birthday	December 5
Agency	KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO
Group	V.W.P -Virtual Witch Phenomenon-
Nickname	Kafutarou
Language	Japanese

Career

Around 2017, when she was 13, KAF uploaded cover songs to a karaoke app. Those covers caught the attention of Japanese producer PIEDPIPER. She began posting on YouTube in October 2018, at the age of 14, and was paired with composer Iori Kanzaki, who became the main composer for her first three albums.

Her first single, "Intertwined," came out in December 2018. Shortly afterwards she performed at the Count0 virtual music event at the end of the year, closing its first part. That performance greatly increased her following and pushed "Intertwined" into the top 10 of the iTunes charts and the top 30 of the Oricon chart. In early 2019 she took a short break to study for her high school entrance exams. She returned with her first EP in May 2019. A crowdfunding campaign for her first concert, held at Liquidroom in Ebisu, raised about eight times its goal, and the tickets for that first solo live sold out within a day. In September 2019 she released her first full-length album, Kansoku.

In 2020 KAF released a second full-length album and introduced a new character design to mark a new stage in her career. On October 27, 2021 she launched the Kumikyoku ("Suite") project, a side project to her solo work. It was planned as 15 songs made with major-label artists from the Japanese music industry and released over a long period. On March 26, 2022 she held a special one-woman live to mark her high school graduation. On the same day she announced her own radio program, Panpa ka KAFi R, broadcast on InterFM. On August 24, 2022 she held her third one-woman concert, Fukakai 3 (Mad), at the Nippon Budokan. It was the first time a VTuber had performed at the venue. In November 2025 she held a solo concert titled "Susei" at Shanghai Echo Land Music Park in China.

Activities

Streaming style

KAF's work centers on music: original songs, covers of Japanese-language songs, and live concerts. She does relatively little outside music, though she has gradually started posting announcement blogs and updates on social media. Her music videos often place her virtual avatar in real-world settings. Commentators have described this as narrowing the gap between viewers and virtual performers. She is also a member of the virtual singer group V.W.P -Virtual Witch Phenomenon-, together with other KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO artists on the label Phenomenon Record. She provided the voice for KAFU, a CeVIO AI singing voicebank released in July 2021.

Music and works

"Intertwined" (debut single, December 2018)
Kansoku (first full-length album, September 2019)
"Rabushii" and "Karisome" with Kizuna AI (single "Ai to Hana," 2020)
Suite project collaborations, including "Asahi" with Sakura Ayane, "Beyond META" with MIYAVI, "CAN-VERSE" with ORESAMA and "Made in Atashi" with Tokyo Gegegay
"Tokyo Shandy Rendezvous" with MAISONdes (ending theme of the TV anime Urusei Yatsura, 2022)
"Shuge-Hai!!!" with Kenmochi Hidefumi (2023)

Characteristics

KAF is portrayed as a young girl with pink hair. Her eyes have a blue outer ring, a red inner ring and yellow pupils. Her real identity has never been made public. Writers have pointed to this anonymity, together with the strength of her singing, as part of her appeal. Her career is often compared with conventional Japanese music acts rather than streamer-focused VTubers.

KAF