About
Kotoura-san’s Head Shake, also depicted as a Shift-JIS art “(＞ワ＜≡＞ワ＜)KoshiKoshiKoshi” (Japanese: (＞ワ＜≡＞ワ＜)コシコシコシ), refers to a series of hand-drawn animated GIFs/videos and illustrations which are tributes to an adorable head shake by Haruka Kotoura, the protagonist in a Japanese manga/TV anime Kotoura-san.[1] In a similar vein to Rikka’s Finger Spin and Poka Poka, it was a poular subject for fan creations on the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND) and illustrators community pixiv in 2013.
Origin
The original Kotoura-san’s head shake is a less than 1-second scene where she is rubbing her head against her boyfriend. It appears on the opening movie for the TV anime series aired from January to March in 2013. Additionally, the opening theme song expresses her cute action with an unique onomatopoeia “Koshi Koshi” (コシコシ or こしこし). This song “Sonna Koto Ura no Mata Urabanashi Desho?” (そんなこと裏のまた裏話でしょ?; lit. “You Want To Hear the Story Behind the Backstory, Right?”) is sung by a Japanese singer/voice actor Megumi Nakajima.[2]
The head shake begins from 0:48
Sonna ni koshi koshi shicha dame yo (Koshi koshi koshi!)
Don’t rub so much on me! (Rub! Rub! Rub!)
Spread
In spite of a quite short appearance, her adorable head shake caught a much attention among viewers. And the further spread was brought by an addicting version for the opening movie uploaded to NND.[3] Anime Otakus soon became to dub it as “Koshi Koshi” and gave a one-line Shift-JIS art reproducing her pleasant smile “(＞ワ＜≡＞ワ＜)KoshiKoshiKoshi” ((＞ワ＜≡＞ワ＜)コシコシコシ). Then, tagged under this Shift-JIS art, onver one hundred of parody videos and animated GIFs or illustrations reproducing “Koshi Koshi” with their favorite characters had been posted to each online creators communities, NND[4], Nico Nico Seiga[5] and pixiv[6], during the anime’s airing period.
Notable Examples
Niconico (＞ワ＜≡＞ワ＜)コシコシコイシNiconico コシコシ春香さん
Left: Koishi Komeiji from Touhou Project | Right: Haruka Amami from THE iDOLM@STER
Niconico そんなこと裏のまた裏話でしょ? ランカver.Niconico てってってー（＞ワ＜≡＞ワ＜)コシコシコシ
Left: Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier | Right: Te-Te-Te-
Illustrations
Search Interest
A phrase without the Shift-JIS art, “Koshi-Koshi-Koshi” (コシコシコシ), has a spike during the anime’s airing period.
External References
Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos/illustrations listed in this section.
[1]Wikipedia – Kotoura-san
[2]Wikipedia – Megumi Nakajima
[3]niconico Douga – 【HD】琴浦さんOP中毒になる動画 / Posted on 01-12-2013 (Defunct)
[4]niconico Douga – Search results for the tag (＞ワ＜≡＞ワ＜)コシコシコシ
[5]pixiv – Search results for the tag (>ワ<≡>ワ<)コシコシコシ
[6]Nico Nico Seiga – Search results for the tag (＞ワ＜≡＞ワ＜)コシコシコシ