What’s that Weird Eyeball Monster Japanese Artists are Drawing?

You might have seen a wide range of fanarts of a particular multiple-eyed blue monster on Japanese Twitter.

There are cute ones like these:

A fantasy monster rendition:

There’s even a traditional Japanese woodblock print fanart too:

However, there are also a great number of horror fanarts of this character, like the following:

So… What exactly is this monster?

This monster is the official mascot for the 2025 World Exposition happening in Osaka. 

The monster design was first revealed on March 22. It was created by mountain mountain, a design studio run by artist Kohei Yamashita. People online went wild because of its キモかわ (kimokawa) appearance. Kimokawa means “grotesque yet cute.” 

I suppose it’s similar to how “Biblically Accurate angels” with a whole bunch of eyeballs have become a popular meme on English social media.

The reason it’s been making waves online recently is that its name was finally decided. After receiving 33,197 name submissions from the public from April 26 to May 16th, 2022, the character was named “Myaku Myaku” on July 18.

Even Prime Minister Kishida joined the naming ceremony.

What does Myaku Myaku mean?

Myaku Myaku’s name has two origins, because the name was actually submitted by two people (Miyuu Kawakatsu and Hinata Sakuda) from the public, and each submission had different reasons behind the name.

Miyuu Kawakats chose the name based on the Japanese word 脈々 (also pronounced myaku myaku), which means “ceaseless” or “continuous.” Kawakatsu wrote that “our human DNA, wisdom, technology, and culture” has been ceaselessly carried forth throughout generations. And this freely transforming character has endless possibilities within.” and hopes that it could carry the wonders of humanity into posterity.

Hinata Sakuda said that they chose the name because the red and blue colors of the mascot made them think of arteries and veins (respectively). They also thought the word 脈 (myaku, which means “pulse” or “hope”) can describe the connection of human civilizations and international cooperation – the two main themes of the Word Expo.

The name has been a huge hit and many people online have been referring to Myaku Myaku as “Myaku Myaku-sama”. Twitter has been treating it like an ancient eldritch god that has been finally released on earth to bring peace and/or wreak havoc.

There were some Rule 34 images of Myaku Myaku that we didn’t add in this article. If you like non-human monsters doing the dirty, then you’ll want to check out our R18 collection of “Non-Human” works full of monsters, succubus, demons, and tentacels!

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