Hu Tao

Hu Tao is a playable character in the action role-playing game Genshin Impact. She is voiced by Brianna Knickerbocker in English, in Chinese, Rie Takahashi in Japanese, and  in Korean. In the game, she serves as the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor within the Chinese-inspired nation of Liyue. She made her debut as a playable character within the second phase of version 1.3 of the game on March 2, 2021.

Creation and design
In the weeks following the initial release of Genshin Impact in September 2020, some players discovered unreleased characters within the game files, with Hu Tao being among them. This resulted in leaks that the character would be officially launched in version 1.3 of the game, but Hu Tao went without mention in the version 1.3 preview video released by miHoYo, disappointing many fans who were looking forward to the character's launch. By the end of February 2021, one month after the release of version 1.3, miHoYo announced that Hu Tao would be released in the second phase of version 1.3 alongside her dedicated Story Quest chapter, “Papilio Charontis", with said Story Quest being unlocked after players complete Archon Quest Chapter I: Act II, "Farewell, Archaic Lord". On February 27, miHoYo released a character preview video, which revealed that Hu Tao is the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor of Liyue, possessing the ability to see ghosts and being acquainted with Zhongli. Hu Tao's skills and gameplay were showcased in the character demo video released on March 1, with both the announcement and demo also displaying her playful personality. In gameplay, Hu Tao possesses the Pyro element and wields a polearm as her primary weapon. Her skills require sacrificing health to increase damage output, requiring the player to manage her health and utilize abilities from other characters.

Hu Tao's Chinese voice actor,, described Hu Tao as a "creepy and cute" girl. After getting to know the character in depth, she found that Hu Tao, while being mature and strong internally, maintains the innocent and cheerful nature of a child. On the surface, she often makes light of subjects regarding life and death, but secretly has a more genuine and thorough understanding of them, treating the matters with sincerity and respect. Hu Tao's English and Japanese voice actors are Brianna Knickerbocker and Rie Takahashi respectively. Takahashi expressed surprise at the complexity of the character when she received background information regarding her. At the recording site, she was further surprised when directed to "make Hu Tao weird", as she had interpreted the character as having more of a tricky personality.

Appearances
Hu Tao serves as the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, who is responsible for planning funerals and similar affairs, although she often goes on breaks during the weekends. Most of the time, she is shown to have a livelier and active side to her, often pulling pranks on other characters, but is serious regarding matters to her profession. In the early days of Hu Tao's management of the Parlor, she was questioned by the other undertakers because she was only thirteen at the time. Her leadership would be up to the highest Calibur and increasing prestige, satisfying the other undertakers within. This also led to the subject of funerals being less taboo within Liyue as well as how Hu Tao obtained her vision. She is also a "famous" local poet, often traveling around to accumulate materials and inspiration for her poetry. She describes herself as an "alley school dark poet" and is proficient in writing doggerel, with her works being so recognizable that children tend to recite them.

After the update of version 1.3 of Genshin Impact, players can obtain Hu Tao through "wishes" within the game. Unlike other five-star characters, Hu Tao can only be obtained via specific banners that ran throughout the update. She was designed to be a primarily offensive character with good damage output. Hu Tao differs from other offense-based characters in that she consumes health points to convert attack damage into Pyro elemental attacks and increase damage. Her Elemental Burst consists of a ranged attack which partially restores her own health if it hits a target. When her health is less than or equal to around half, the damage and healing amount caused by her Elemental Burst is increased. She would later return for three re-runs for versions 2.2, 3.4, and 4.1.

Promotion and reception
In response to players' high expectations for the character, the production team postponed Hu Tao's trailer until after the traditional Lantern Festival to avoid potential negative impact of the character's announcement during the festival; the character was released a few days later. March 2 also corresponded with the Tung Shing, which contained terminology such as sacrifice, enshrinement, and funerals, which some perceived as a deliberate decision. On May 23, 2022, Hu Tao appeared in a card collection as part of a collaboration with Bandai. On August 9, 2022, Chinese electronics manufacturer OnePlus announced a limited edition variant of the OnePlus Ace Pro featuring the character. In addition, a popular fan-made preset outfit based on the character would later be implemented in the action role-playing game Tower of Fantasy.

Hu Tao was well-received upon release, with players creating many fan-works as a result. Sisi Jiang of Kotaku acknowledged that her gameplay was a significant factor, and attributed some of her popularity to "her cute goth appearance and eccentric personality". GameDaily believes that the production team paid attention to detail when introducing the character, such as her constellations relating to her poetry and to her profession within the Funeral Parlor. In an analysis regarding the character's popularity, Game Grape editor Jiulian Baodeng stated that it came primarily from her setting and role within the story. He noted how the character appeals to the values and actions that younger demographics yearn for.

In January 2023, as part of the game's annual "Lantern Rite" event, the character delivered a rap performance that garnered a negative reaction from both fans and media outlets, with some suggesting that the character should keep her supposed "hidden talent" to herself. Tyler Colp, writing for PC Gamer, observed that some critics likened the performance to that of streamer Mori Calliope, citing similarities in perceived low quality. Colp also pointed out a possible localization issue, noting that the English version of the game seemed to forcing the characters to "adhere to anime stereotypes", thereby stripping away some of the nuances present in the original Chinese scripta matter "which has been a constant point of contention for fans". On the other hand, Tilly Lawton, in an article for Pocket Tactics, argued that all versions of the rap performance outside the Chinese rendition were noticeably subpar. Lawton further argued that some of the disappointment was because many fans had been "looking forward to our fave ghosty gal getting a rare moment to shine."

Her trailer video exceeded one million views in less than seven hours after being released on YouTube, while Genshin Impact topped the iOS best-selling list in seven regions and ranked in the top ten on the best-selling list in 41 regions on the day of her release. In November of the same year, Hu Tao appeared for the second time in her own banner, and the sheer number of players playing at once caused miHoYo's largest server "Celestia" to have a server implosion. Because this was the second time where many had logged on simultaneously since the public beta, a queue system was set up to handle the surge of players. On that day, Genshin Impact topped the iOS game best-selling list in 31 regions, the first time that Genshin Impact topped the charts simultaneously in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States, Japan, and South Korea. According to Sensor Tower statistics App Store and Google Play player payment records, on the day that Hu Tao's banner was launched, it brought in a revenue of 12.9 million USD to MiHoYo. A similar study was conducted, where it was reported that within the first day, her release would bring in around 100 billion yen. Her banner with during version 3.4 would also go on to set a record-high in revenue by March 1, 2023. Conversely, she would maintain a relatively high Spiral Abyss usage rate in version 3.4 of 25.8%, ranking 17th.