Anya (Mouthwashing)

Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for the 2024 video game Mouthwashing; read at your own caution.

About

Anya is a supporting character in the 2024 indie horror game Mouthwashing. Kind but timid nurse on board of the crashed Tulpar spaceship, assists the rest of the crew with medical and psychological help, and is left in charge of the critically injured captain Curly. The character achieved particular popularity within the Mouthwashing fandom, becoming a viral subject of fan art and other fan labor on social media.

Origin

On September 26th, 2024, the indie surreal psychological horror video game Mouthwashing, developed by Stockholm studio Wrong Organ and published by Critical Reflex, was released.^[1] The game follows the story of five crew members of a spaceship named Tulpar who get stranded in space following a collision with a space object. The character Anya was introduced in a teaser uploaded to YouTube on August 18th, 2023 (shown below).

In the game, Anya is a supporting character who is a nurse aboard Tulpar.^[2] Following the crash, Anya provides medial care of Curly, the captain of the spaceship who was severely burned in the crash. The events of the game strongly insinuate that Anya experienced a traumatic event prior to the crash as she was assaulted by Jimmy, the protagonist of the game. The story also reveals that Anya attempted to enroll into a medical school several times but failed, and joined Tulpar a nurse to make money to support her education.

In the game, Anya is a kind and intelligent person, whose timidness and anxiety stem from the assault she experienced.

Spread

Following the release of the game, Anya achieved particular popularity as subject of fan art and other fan labor within the game's fandom, with several works going in early October 2024. For example, on October 12th, 2024, Tumblr^[3] user @foggychan posted a Peach Time meme that received over 2,500 reblogs and 10,000 likes in one month (shown below).

Notably, in October and November 2024, artist Joetastic posted several fan Mouthwashing animations which went viral and inspired fan art. For example, on November 2nd, 2024, @Joetastic_ posted a Doodle Dance animation that received over 17,000 reposts and 114,000 likes on X^[4] / Twitter in three weeks (version without background^[5] shown below).

In November 2024, the character saw further increase in popularity on X, with multiple fan art of Anya going viral. For example, on November 13th, 2024, artist @umikochannart posted a fan art that garnered over 34,000 reposts and 219,000 likes on X^[6] in one week (shown below).

Notably, in memes and fan art, Anya has been compared with actress Shelley Duvall, who portrayed Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's horror film The Shining. In a developer diary posted in September 2024,^[7] developer Wrong Organ revealed that the character is "in fact heavily inspired by Shelley Duvall's Wendy from The Shining".

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References