Miki Dan

Miki Dan has been at the forefront of professional yoyoing for years now, and with their recent  championship at the International Yoyoing Federation, it comes as no surprise that they should be invited to Hope’s Peak Academy! However, unless you really pay attention to yoyoing news, not much about the championship or what it took to earn it is public knowledge. If it weren’t for Miki’s other exploits, there might not even be a wikipedia page about them. Still, Miki Dan has gathered attention from more than just HPA–they’re a certified meme.
 
Videos of Miki’s yoyoing performances in Harajuku have been popular on the internet for some time, but they really only came into the spotlight in recent years after a video of them knocking a police officer’s hat off with a yoyo before sprinting away from retribution went viral. This video has been all over facebook, youtube, vine, and twitter with attempted recreations all over the world.

While the viral nature of the video has definitely contributed to their meme status, the meme itself is a still from the video that has been altered and labeled by a hundred different people for humorous effect. The image is taken from the exact moment Miki’s yoyo made contact with the police officer’s hat, and it usually is edited as follows: each aspect of the picture (Miki themself, their yoyo, the police officer, and his hat) are labeled accordingly to make a joke. The first example of this is a simple nihilistic meme popular among young people world wide, the gist of it being that the police officer is labeled “me,” representing the creator of the meme, his hat is labeled “my good mood,” their yoyo is labeled “mental illness,” and Miki is labeled with the year the meme was made. The point being, of course, that Miki (20xx) is using the yoyo (the presumed mental illness of the creator of the meme) to knock down the officer’s hat (the good mood of the creator).

It’s been edited time and time again for various effects, political commentary, and decreasingly funny jokes.

Miki has used this status as a meme to promote their brand name Stylish™ Yoyo. While yoyoing will never entertain the mainstream popularity some might wish for it, their commercials have aired on television and the internet alike, and there was briefly a period where people would attempt to freeze-frame their ads and make new, spinoff memes based on them. None of this would be too impressive, of course, if it weren’t for the record sales reported after the meme incident.

Regardless of the popularity of the sport, Miki Dan is a recognizable face to anyone who keeps up with social media, and the money they’ve reported making from yoyo sales alone is nothing to sneeze at! Still, fairly little is known about them outside of their meme status.