Sometimes, opening up TikTok is like walking into a crime scene and having to piece together what happened. That’s what several users are experiencing right now as they try to sort through how a VTuber concert spawned dozens to hundreds of responses and a new meme format on the platform. If you have been seeing videos of people bopping to the left and right with their eyes covered, then showing their face to roaring applause and are just as confused as I was, here’s a quick explainer of what the hell is going on.
The VTuber performance took place on July 1 at the Cosplay Arts Festival in Thailand. In a video streamed to attendees, the digital performer known as Dacapo was synced up to Shinunoga’s pop song “E-Wa,” and at the beginning of the video, the character’s hair obscures his eyes. As he moves side to side throughout the song, his eyes are gradually revealed, which led to a spike in cheers from the audience in clips of the show.
Because the internet loves to bully others online, the entire display and the crowd reaction have brought upon a new joke format on TikTok, primarily targeted at the stiff animation and the face reveal that prompted such a loud reaction from attendees. On top of this, there’s been specific ridicule aimed at people for paying to go to the event, with many claiming the show cost $300 USD to attend. However, that was not the case. The concert itself was free to attendees of the Cosplay Arts Festival, which cost 300 Baht to enter and equates to roughly $9 USD.
Honestly, I have no horse in this race beyond noting how quickly the internet loves to latch onto misinformation about things they don’t like. “E-Wa” is a pretty catchy song, though.
