Hikari Shiina

During middle school, Shiina often watched anime and played video games at home due to frequently being suspended for violence, such as destroying property and throwing firecrackers.[3] Shiina admitted at one point in her life, she had suicidal thoughts.[3] After seeing an application for magazine models, she decided to apply to "shine somewhere."[3] In 2009, Shiina began appearing in the fashion magazine Ranzuki as an amateur model,[1] and subsequently began modeling for other gyaru fashion magazines such as Egg and Men's Egg.[3] From 2010 to 2016, she modeled exclusively for the fashion magazine Popteen under the nickname "Pikarin."[4] While modeling for Popteen, Shiina's cosplay photoshoots of anime characters went viral, notably during a time where there was no crossover between gyaru fashion and anime.[3]

In 2012, Shiina made her singing debut under the name Pikarin Shiina and branded herself as an "idol from the Demon World."[5][3] Shiina thought up her Pikarin persona while modeling for Popteen.[3] She released her first single "Shinryaku Pikarin Densetsu" on December 12, 2012, which was used as an ending theme to the television program Happy Music.[6] On October 16, 2013, Shiina released "Toro Amachu" as her second single, which was used as the theme song for Donyatsu, an anime series she also starred in.[6][7] On May 21, 2014, Shiina released her first studio album, titled Shikkoku no Yami ni Somarishi Utagoe ga Kisama ni mo Kikoeru ka...[8] This was followed up with the release of her second album, Makai no Owari, on August 26, 2015.[8]

On May 3, 2016, Shiina released and wrote the lyrics for the song "Makai Shinjū", which was produced by Kenta Matsukura.[6] The single was released with "Mitsu to Batsu" as a double A-side.[6] On December 14, 2016, she released "Dogeza Road" on digital services as a collaboration song with Village Vanguard.[5] On May 3, 2017, she released the song "Ba-Ba-Bah-Ba-Baumkuchen" as her fourth single, which was used as the ending theme to the television program Mutoma 2.[6] The single included the song "Geboku Gebo Gebo!!" as a double A-side.[6] On November 20, 2018, Shiina released her fifth single, "Fukanzen na Boku to Kanseisareta Kaisha", with "Hate! Hate! Hate!" as its leading track.[6]