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Paper short abstract

MikuMikuDance (MMD) functions as a memetic engine within Japan’s user-platform-material ecosystem. Through 1,179 MMD-memes, this study shows how skill, performance, idolization, and skit-based production shape digital communication and reflect creative labor in contemporary online media.

Paper long abstract

The ever-expanding online space is predominantly driven by memetic production and creative practices. Japan’s online media demonstrates such an environment, in particular the MikuMikuDance (MMD) program for creating 3D models, which has led to various sub-cultures of memetic productions, such as internet memes, also influencing online communication and commercialism globally. However, Japan’s contribution within digital culture studies, specifically MMD’s global integration, remains underexplored. This study examines how the intricacies of memetic production shape digital connections and online communication through the case of MMD. It situates MMD within a user-platform-material environment through the lens of meme discourse, arguing that MMD mediates frictions of creative and economic powers. Furthermore, the study showcases communicative values users foster through the operating of MMD’s complex functions as well as its memetic production. A qualitative multimodal content analysis (n = 1,179) reveals four communicative expressions: Ability and skill, embodied performance, memetic idolization, and memetic skits.

keywords: Creative labor, digital culture, Memes, MMD, online communication, platforms