Kuroi Shiba

Kuroi Shiba (黒井しば) is a female Japanese Virtual YouTuber affiliated with NIJISANJI (formerly of NIJISANJI SEEDs).

Profile
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2018
Shiba made her YouTube debut on 25 September.

2020
On 24 January Shiba received her 2.0 model, allowing her to demonstrate more expressions and depth.

From 16 March to 1 April Shiba posted a series of mysterious short clips with an unknown narrator reading diary entries, who was later revealed to be Shiba's owner "Shiho." After Shiho died, her soul manifested within Shiba. On 20 April Shiba's official corporate profile was in correspondence to her lore.

Previous Life
In a previous life, Shiba was a golden retriever dog by the name of "Kuro" and had belonged to Hanabuse Shiho (花伏しほ) and her husband. Having fallen ill, Shiho asks Kuro to stay by the side of her husband before dying at the age of 22. When Kuro eventually dies too, Kuro meets Shiho in the afterlife and two reincarnate into the current Kuroi Shiba, but Shiba is unable to recall her true history until she unearths Shiho's diary entries from 1975.

Upon remembering her previous life, Shiho's spirit was able to reappear by separating from Shiba's consciousness for the first time on 1 April 2020 with an original song called "Statice" and a self-introduction livestream.

Hanabuse Shiho
Hanabuse Shiho (花伏しほ) was the female owner of Kuro (Shiba's previous life) and the soul within Shiba that allowed Shiba to speak. Shiho was an art teacher who loved to read and paint, but she wasn't good with housework. She is calm, speaks softly, and often refers to Shiba as "Kuro-chan" out of habit.

Occasionally Shiho separates her consciousness from Shiba and is able to stream as her spirit self, usually hosting free chats or playing peaceful games on Shiba's YouTube channel. Shiho also has her own Twitter account (@hanabusedesu).

Trivia

 * Color: #585C82
 * Since Hanabuse Shiho is the entity responsible for Shiba's ability to speak, whenever Shiho separates from Shiba's consciousness, Shiba can no longer communicate in the human language.
 * Shiba owns a male Pomeranian named Shirai Pome (白井ぽめ). As an April Fool's joke, on 1 April 2019 Shirai had his first YouTube livestream.
 * Shiba is a talented artist and singer too. Not only does her cover of "Ah, It's a Wonderful Cat Life" demonstrate her wide vocal range, but she also drew all of the video's illustrations.
 * Shiba is a fan of yuri/GL (Girls' Love). When a Marshmallow asked her for yuri recommendations, Shiba replied with "リゼアン (Lizean)," the ship name for fellow NIJISANJI members Lize Helesta and Ange Katrina. Shiba also dedicated a livestream to reacting to Sukoya Kana's and Shirayuki Tomoe's flirtatious and risqué ASMR stream.

Media

 * Kuroi Shiba's corporate profile on the official NIJISANJI website
 * 黒井しば【にじさんじの犬】 - YouTube Channel
 * @BlackShiba_chan - Official Twitter account

Twitter hashtags

 * #しばの世話 - Stream talk
 * #しばのドッグタグ - Fan art
 * #しばのエッチタグ - Fan art (questionable)
 * #きいてよしばちゃん - News
 * #花伏しほ - Hanabuse Shiho

Further readings

 * 黒井しば- Unofficial NIJISANJI Wiki
 * 黒井しば - Nicovideo Encyclopedia
 * 黒井しば - Pixiv Encyclopedia
 * 黑井柴 - Moegirl Encyclopedia
 * 쿠로이 시바 - Namu Wiki