About

"Leekspin", also known as "Loituma Girl", is a flash animation loop of a female anime character twirling a stock of spring onion, often referred to as a leek or a negi, while set to the Finnish folk song "Ievan Polkka" (Eva's Polka). This simple animation and it's catchy song managed to make a massive impact on the English and Japanese internet during the mid-2000s, spawning many parodies and remixes.

Origin

The loop animation was originally taken from a scene in the second episode of the Japanese anime series Bleach, titled "A Shinigami's Work", where it shows character Orihime Inoue twirling a leek stock while showing off her groceries to protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki. According to the Russian internet culture database Lurkmore^[1], the flash animated loop of Orihime spinning her leek to a 90's a-Capella rendition of "Ievan Polkka", performed by the finnish pop group Loituma, was created by Russian LiveJournal user g_r_e_e_n and was shared to the blogging site on April 23rd, 2006. The flash was mostly contained in Russian LiveJournal before breaking into the English-speaking web when a single serving site titled "LEEKSPIN"^[2] was launched on May 6th, 2006.

Spread

The flash site immediately gained popularity with anime fans and other parts of the net, with it being shared on anime forums and blogging sites like Myspace, LiveJournal, GeoCities, and also on 4chan as form of bait-and-switch. Because of it's simplicity, parodies were soon created and shared by users on YouTube^[3] and DeviantArt.^[4] One of the earliest YouTube uploads of the flash was a crude redrawing shared to the site by user Mireillechan^[5] on May 26th, 2006, while one of the most viewed parody was uploaded by user missilx on July 27th. A Techno-remix, the video has went on to be viewed more than 11.3 million times in the decade since its upload. By July, word of the international exposure of Loituma and their song "Ievan Polkka" eventually reached their home country of Finland with reports that the group were receiving a slew of fan-letters from foreigners, some citing "Leekspin" for their discovery.

Meanwhile, the flash animation would then be embraced by the Japanese net, with parody images and ASCII-art creation being produced by anonymous users in Futaba Channel and 2channel. Its popularity on these sites later lead it to be referenced in the music video for IOSYS's Touhou Project arrangement Lunatic Udongein in December 2006. When the video sharing site Nico Nico Douga was established on March 2007, "Leekspin" became one of the first videos to take root on the site, with a 10-minute loop of the animation being uploaded on the day of its launch.^[6] Attention soon shifted to the song featured in the animation, with live performances of "Ievan Polkka" by Loituma and MAD remixes of the song being shared to the site^[7], with the earliest remix featuring the anime Lucky Star, uploaded to Niconico on May 6th. "Leekspin" would then earn a place in the site's history after a cover of "Ievan Polkka" was arranged by music producer Otomedia, utilizing the then newly-released Vocaloid vocal synthesizer Hatsune Miku. The song was shared to Niconico on September 3rd, 2007 with a music video featuring a cutely-deformed Miku, now known as Hachune Miku, shaking a leek, in homage to the original "Leekspin" animation.

Alongside "Melt" and Miku Miku ni Shiteageru", this cover of "Ievan Polkka" is considered as one of the few songs that helped ignite the Vocaloid phenomenon on Niconico and launch Hatsune Miku into internet stardom and become an icon in otaku and popular culture in Japan.

Notable Examples

Images

Videos

Ievan Polkka MADs

In addition to parodies of "Leekspin", "Ievan Polkka" also went on to become a popular musical resource for MAD videos on Niconico during early 2008. These videos often mimic the aforementioned Lucky Star MAD or the Hatsune Miku cover and are sorted under the tag "'X Tried to sing Loituma' series" (ロイツマ歌わせてみたシリーズ).^[8]

Related Memes

Cat Vibing to Street Musician's Ievan Polkka

Cat Vibing to Street Musician's Ievan Polkka refers to a viral instance of the Vibing Cat meme which has gained popularity as an object labeling meme and a reaction video. Originally posted on Twitter in mid-October 2020, it gained recognition as a meme format on Reddit later that month.

Search Interest

External References