As we have already mentioned in previous articles, “Shukusei!! Loli Kami Requiem” is a song by the Japanese artist Ui Shigure from his album The Rain Doesn’t Stop Yet. Featuring Shigure’s voice as a nine-year-old girl and narration of Tamaki Inuyamawas composed by D.watt and written by MaronBoth of IOSYS. Although it was released in 2022, the song suddenly went viral in September 2023 following the release of its full music video. Because its lyrics revolve around the topic of pedophilia, the song has also accumulated some controversy on the Internet.
The lyrics of “Shukusei!! Loli Kami Requiem” is written from the perspective of the fictional character of Ui Shigure, a nine-year-old girl who attacks imprisoned loliconeros and simultaneously acts as a goddess guiding them to salvation. The music video features danmaku comments, inspired by the comment layout of the Nico Nico Douga video platform, which depict sexual predators. Right in the middle of the song, in an act of “divine purging,” the music cuts to show her firing her “Ui Beam” to electrocute the “nasty creatures” while the narrator explains the situation and the attack. Shigure’s sadistic way of teasing has been described as a “mesugaki”; that is, the provocative behavior of a girl to sexually attract adults.
At the time of its release, the song did not receive immediate notoriety. “Shukusei!! “Loli Kami Requiem” became known by Shigure fans as one of the “cute” songs on the album. However, after the release of its music video a year later, the song went viral worldwide on social media and became an internet meme, something unexpected for Shigure. The video reached 10 million views in three weeks, making it the fastest-growing VTuber song and one of the fastest-growing original songs among VTubers overall.
The “overwhelming quality” of the video, especially the dancing that appears during the song’s chorus, helped amplify the sudden growth of its popularity. TikTok users began posting videos of themselves or their own characters or video game characters, such as Genshin Impact, imitating the dance. At the end of September, it is estimated that more than six thousand videos about the song had been published on the platform. Its popularity later spread to other platforms such as YouTube Shorts and Twitter.
The song has sparked controversy for its “pedophile themes.” The manufacturer of child safety alarms Artec came under fire on social media after pointing out that the alarm that appeared in the music video was based on one of their products and Post a video on YouTube and TikTok in which one of your employees appeared dancing to the rhythm of the song and prostrating themselves as a sign of gratitude for having presented their product. on September 29. The company posted an apology on its website in early October for its “extremely inappropriate behavior that lacks consideration and self-awareness“, and then deleted his TikTok account. On October 3rd, Daisuke Yokoyama, former actor of the children’s television show Okaasan to Issho, deleted a video on TikTok in which he appeared dancing, after criticism received on social networks. Yokoyama apologized for this, stating that she was unaware of the context of the song, as well as that she was trending, and also deleted her account.
These events allowed the song to make the leap to a niche audience. (fans of VTubers and otaku culture in general) and will begin to be known by the general public. However, the theme of the song was not well received by the community, as demonstrated by the comments on a popular Japanese forum:
- «You can’t blame them for reacting this way. It is a well-known fact that when something becomes popular, it will receive criticism from all sides.».
- «It can not be helped. When something sells well, these types of people will inevitably appear».
- «I don’t understand the psychology behind the criticism. Do they criticize people because they feel righteous, or are they simply jealous of their success? Be that as it may, they are happy to do things that harm others.».
- «The minority method of shouting to get noticed is finally stopping working, but it still has its moments».
- «The people who complain are generally older adults, so let’s not be so intolerant and be kind to them.».
- «If something is bothering you, why don’t you stay out of it? There are people who apparently enjoy doing something that bothers them for the simple purpose of criticizing it later.».
- «I must admit that what I liked was the animation itself, the lyrics never seemed attractive to me».
- «If we start criticizing songs for their lyrics, shouldn’t there be some songs canceled decades ago?».
- «I think that the clear culprits of this uproar are the companies and the artists, who want to get on the trend without having the slightest idea of the context.».
- «The song itself has been playing since last year, but I didn’t think the music video would have such an impact».
- «I don’t know if it was good or bad that it was a criticism directed at a company, I’m partly glad that happened to them».
- «If the lyrics of an anti-lolicon song bother you, I don’t think that speaks very well of you.».
- «Nowadays it is common for people to highly criticize something they don’t like, instead of ignoring it and moving on.».
- «To be honest, I think the term “loli” has been demonized in such a way that its mere mention is already the subject of criticism. If I’m not mistaken, even a short adult woman can be called that.».
- «I have the impression that VTubers themselves seek to get into controversies to stay in the public eye. After all, there is no such thing as bad publicity.».
Fountain: Nijipoi
