With Splatoon 3 just around the corner and the Splatfest demo now behind us, we’re starting to get a real feel for what’s hot and what’s not in the eagerly anticipated game. And right now, it’s looking like Splatoon’s new ‘Idols’ are set to steal the show.
The idols – essentially band members what act as news hosts who present the latest happenings in the world of Splatoon – are a group of three characters this time round, as opposed to the usual two idols in the first two games. They include an Octoling named Shiver, an Inkling named Frye, and a Manta Ray named Big Man. Together they form a band called Deep Cut, and they host the news program for Splatsville called the Anarchy Splatcast. These three will be delivering information about stages and available ranked modes regularly.
Deep Cut’s first song, Anarchy Rainbow, was a hit on YouTube, and at the time of writing is on its way to two million views. It’s a mashup of different cultures from each Deep Cut member (Shiver being Japanese, Big Man Brazilian, and Frye Indian, seemingly), resulting in an amazing song. The first Splatfest in Splatoon 3 already felt like a huge festival, in contrast to the first two games’ more concert-like energy. The chaotic theme fits into the designs for the trio, wearing wildly different clothing and sporting various colors.
Needless to say, Deep Cut has gotten tons of exposure and the internet has already fallen in love with these characters. Tons of fan art and memes for the three hosts have spawned from various parts of the internet, such as this fan art featuring the Squid Sisters drawn by stupjam, or this cute and cozy drawing done by Twitter user MoonMilkii. The appreciation for these characters has reached beyond the Splatoon community as well, drawing people unfamiliar with Splatoon into the franchise. It all seems strange at first, but it becomes clear why that’s the case when you look deeper into the characters.
They really fit the theme of ‘Chaos’ for a start, without needing to resort to the apocalyptic vibe that everyone was expecting. They’re amazing from a visual standpoint, with the fan favorite in the community seemingly being Big Man. His main color is red, and he’s the first male idol on top of being a different species than the usual Inkling or Octoling.
Let’s talk about their design. One particularly appealing part of Shiver’s design is the sharpness of her eyes, giving them all a cool shark-like look. An interesting part of Frye’s design is the decoration on top of her head that’s believed to represent some type of food (possibly some of the fried food you’d find at Crusty Sean), and that plentiful dome of a forehead has already been subjected to memes aplenty, such as threads showing Twitter users playing Tic-Tac-Toe on it like this one from MysticGengar, or the many videos you’d find on YouTube, such as Frye’s Special Problem by Pringus McDingus.
While some actively dislike it, many fans love Frye in spite of this design choice, even appreciating it as a reference to the vampire squid species she happens to be based off.
The chaotic theme plays into the designs of the group as well, with their eclectic colors colliding with each other. There’s also the different clothing they sport beyond their shawls, such as Shiver’s shimenawa wreath and tight pants, and Frye’s fried food headband and baggy pants. They also seem to feed into the subliminal theme of ‘threes’ that are present in the game: three-pointed triangular eyebrows, three ear piercings, you get the picture. It looks like Nintendo took a lot of care in designing the idols, and it paid off beautifully.
The song was the icing on the cake, establishing them as community favorites well ahead of the game’s release. I, for one, can’t wait to see Deep Cut’s personalities shine through the Anarchy Splatcast on September 9th, and beyond.
