 Niki Shiina
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An idol who also works as a chef. He used to perform as part of a duo with Rinne Amagi. He's overall sociable and doesn't worry about the finer details in life, but his hunger can turn him into something of a beast. Being a chef used to be his highest priority, but he's started to feel the joy of being an idol. With a cheerful singing voice, his performances are light and fun.
Niki is a member of COSMIC PRODUCTION's Crazy:B. He wants to balance being a chef and an idol, and to spend his days with both his heart and his stomach feeling satisfied. He's been thinking about creating something that combines cooking and idols.[1]
Hello there~. Nice to meet'cha, I'm Niki Shiina from Crazy:B. I'm an idol at CosPro. ...But to be honest, I'm not cut out to be an idol at all. I became an idol 'cause of people like Rinne-kun's honeyed words, but I'm always hungry...! Everyone knows singing and dancing burns calories, right? And I'm nooo good at all when I'm hungry. I would've been better off bein' a chef in a kitchen instead of this~. So, 'cause of that, I hope to workin with you in moderation.[1]
KohakuI actually heard that Niki-han, a member of Crazy:B, was originally a chef and was enticed into bein' an idol by Rinne-han. He's a natural born chef, and is thinkin' about cooking day and night as opposed to idols. They say that God never gives two gifts, but Niki-han has talent as both an idol and as a chef. I always give Niki-han Japanese sweets to show my gratitude, and he's always real happy about it since he's always hungry. ♪ He really is an interestin' fella. ♪[1]
Appearance
Niki is a tall young man with an average build. He has a slightly darker complexion than other students, and blue eyes. He has armpit length, slightly unkempt, dark grey hair, tied off into a low ponytail on his left shoulder. He's usually seen wearing a purple mock turtleneck, with a white, black and green horizontal stripe in the middle. The turtleneck has a zipper going down the middle, with a circular zipper tab. The zipper is open, exposing an orange undershirt he wears underneath. He tucks his shirt into black pants, with a loose white belt.
On stage, Niki wears a white jacket off the shoulder with a houndstooth pattern, that has black and red accents. The jacket has yellow lapels and yellow straps on the sleeves. It has red, white, and black cuffs, as well as a pin in the shape of a bee, with a gold chain connecting it to the jacket. Underneath the jacket is a white t-shirt, with a gray design and a hexagon pattern. The bottom of the shirt is in red and had a small side-split cut, showing the gold chain belt Niki wears with a gold/red jewel accessory. He wears black pants with a gray and yellow side strip, and a hexagon pattern down following the side strip. Niki wears black sneakers with yellow and white accents. He also wears a black choker with a small gold chain dangling from the middle.
Personality
Niki is a very fun, outgoing person with an intense passion for cooking. He usually is super sincere and thinks of himself as nothing more than a “decent chef”.
When it comes to Rinne, due to their long-term friendship, he’s harsher and more straight-to-the-point. He criticizes him about his bad gambling addiction and being a freeloader, and how he leeches off of Niki for food and shelter. But despite how harsh he rubs off as, he still cares for Rinne deeply.
He’s loud and is humble when people compliment him about his cooking. Niki often speaks in “cooking dialect” and in relation to cooking terms, which is why people have a hard time understanding what he means sometimes. This is because of his passion for cooking and his huge knowledge about it.
Judging by how he acts, you can tell that he keeps his unit members close to heart. He treats his friends very well and shows his affection in form of food.
Etymology
Niki's last name, 椎名, contains characters meaning "chinquapin" (a different name for a dwarf chestnut) or "mallet" (椎) (shii) and "name" or "noted" (名) (na).
His first name has significantly more layers of meaning. While still written in katakana, his name means something along the lines of "bro", or, more completely, someone who can be relied upon in internet slang. This is likely a reference to how much the other members of Crazy:B trust him. The other meanings when written with kanji are as follows:
- 2 periods or terms when written as 二期
- 2 forces (of yin and yang) when written as 二気
- 2 seasons or, alternatively, Bon and end-of-year festivals when written as 二季
Family
- For more information, see Niki Shiina/Family.
Niki doesn't speak often of his family, but thinks lowly of his father and seems to care more about his mother's opinion of him by comparison. They moved away at some point following the scandal that happened regarding Niki's father's cooking show, and presumably haven't returned to Japan since, or at least haven't seen Niki. He states that they're traveling around and searching for ingredients in somewhere with a milder climate than Japan.[2]
Trivia
- During the !! Main Story, Niki has a shared ES dorm room with the rest of Crazy:B. However, similarly to the rest of Crazy:B, Niki usually stayed elsewhere during this time; he usually stayed at his apartment with Rinne Amagi.
- He currently shares a dorm room with Hiiro Amagi and Hinata Aoi.
- According to a 4gamer interview with Akira, Niki's character archetype is "a chef" (料理人).
- Niki works part-time at Café Cinnamon.[3]
- Niki only graduated middle school and did not attend high school.[3]
- Niki's parents are constantly traveling.[4]
- Niki has been trained in cooking by his father since a young age.[5]
- Niki's father is a rather well-known chef who used to be popular on TV shows, but he was banned from appearing on television after a certain incident involving meat a few years ago. The specifics of this incident are unknown, barring that Eichi thinks it's not a topic that should be discussed in front of children. However, Eichi also suspects it may have been a falsified incident that idols had orchestrated to get a non-idol off the TV slots and use that time for idols themselves.[6]
- Niki met Rinne when he was 14 and Rinne was 17, and the two have stayed together ever since.[7]
- He suffers from an unexplained chronic disease that makes his intestines less able to absorb nutrients than ordinary people.
- Niki is the only member of Crazy:B that is not right-handed.
- Niki owns a blog called "The Four Seasons of Flavor"[8]
Voice Actor Comment
"Niki Shiina sure loves food! And I love cooking and eating too. The happiest part of being alive is probably mealtime! (Laughs) Niki and I have a lot in common, so playing him has made for really fun recording sessions. I'd like to keep having fun playing him, in a way that brings out his charm!"[1]
 Niki Shiina
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| Crazy:B | Rinne Amagi • HiMERU • Kohaku Oukawa • Niki Shiina | |