smooooch ・∀・

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About

smooooch・∀・ is a popular soundtrack from the Japanese arcade music rhythm video game Beatmania IIDX 16: Empress which is produced by KONAMI as a part of BEMANI line.^[1] Since late 2008, the animated music video for this happy hardcore track has gained favor with online users, with a series of parody videos and fan art being posted to the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND) and the Japanese illustrators service pixiv.

Origin

The song "smooooch・∀・" was written by a Japanese composer/DJ Kosuke Saito a.k.a kors k^[2], and the animated video featuring three princesses dancing, was created by a Japanese illustrator Maya Takayama, better known as her alias MAYA. The song was first included in Beatmania IIDX 16 released for Japanese arcade in November 19th, 2008.

The song has also been featured to other music video games in the BEMANI series, including Dance Dance Revolution X2, REFLEC BEAT and Pop'n Music.

Spread

Soon after it was first released, this cute animation got much attention among game players and with internet users. Following Caramelldansen and other dance animated video memes, the animation was quickly set as the subject of many fanfics, and video remixes. One of the earliest hit remixed video was posted to NND on December 7th, 2008,^[3] which featured Rin Kaenbyou from the Touhou Project. A completed version of the video (shown below) would be posted to NND a week later, but it has since been taken down.^[4]

Like this video, video creators began replacing the princesses with other characters from various anime and video games series. More than 800 videos related to this song have been posted to NND^[5], and many of them are also uploaded to YouTube.^[6] Users from pixiv have also gained a fascination with the animated video, with over 1300 fan creations and parody illustrations being posted to the site.^[7]