Mili is a Japanese indie music group founded in August 2012, consisting of Cassie Wei, Yamato Kasai, Yukihito Mitomo, Shoto Yoshida, and Ao Fujimori. Mili covers electronic classical, contemporary classical, and post-classical genres of music in Japanese, English, Chinese, and French. Apart from releasing their own songs, Mili has also contributed their music, lyrics, and/or songs to various media such as video games, commercial video, and for other artists. Mili is labeled under Saihate Records; as of October 2019 and announced in April 2020, they have separated from their music management company.
Three of their released CDs placed first in the Oricon Indies chart, and they appeared in Summer Sonic 2017 and 2018. The group is named after the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, "Dear Mili." The band has also released music under the name AWAAWA.
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Members
Mili consists of the following five members:
Yamato Kasai (葛西大和) or HAMO – main composer, main arranger, secondary lyricist, and guitarist.
Cassie Wei, or momocashew – lead vocalist and main lyricist. Born May 8, 1993, in Beijing, China, she was raised in Canada before relocating to Japan. Prior to co-founding Mili in 2012, she operated as an independent Vocaloid producer under the name momocashew, utilizing voicebanks such as OLIVER. She is married to fellow member Yamato Kasai. Following a public pregnancy announcement in November 2023, she gave birth to her first child in May 2024.
Yukihito Mitomo (三友行人) – bassist. Joined Mili in December 2013.
Shōto Yoshida (吉田翔人) – drummer. Joined Mili in December 2013.
Ao Fujimori (藤森蒼) – illustrator and animator. Joined Mili in September 2014.
Former members
Ame Yamaguchi (山口雨) – stylist, designer, and art director. Joined Mili in May 2014; left in August 2019 to work on personal projects.
Honours
In 2025, scientists named a fossil barklouse †Psyllipsocus mili. The species is from the Cretaceous and its name was given in honor to the band's "incredible music and art".