Shiver

“	You think you're cool? Sharks call ME cold-blooded. But you can call me Shiver!	”
— Return of the Mammalians

Shiver is a character in Splatoon 3 and one of the three members of the band Deep Cut, alongside Frye and Big Man, with whom she co-hosts both Anarchy Splatcast, the news show of Splatsville, and Splatfests. She is also the third boss of Return of the Mammalians. Her signature color is a saturated purple-blue.

Appearance

Shiver is an Octoling with pale skin and a wide, oval-shaped face, with slender eyes under sharp blue triangle eyebrows. Her irises are red, with light red pupils in the shape of an infinity symbol, similar to Marina's pupils, (and matching octopuses in real life). Her Octoling eye mask is thin and sharp, almost appearing to be cat-eyeliner makeup, with red eye shadow blended underneath.

Shiver's tentacles are shoulder length, with the left side styled over her face, hiding her left eye from view. Her tentacles have a slight gradient from a light blue to navy blue, and are curled upwards slightly at the ends. In addition to the eye makeup, Shiver also appears to be wearing a light red lip gloss.

Shiver has a cool, yet rebellious sense of fashion, with a clear root in traditional Japanese culture. She wears a white sarashi chest wrap, under a long purple shawl made from a shiny translucent material. Attached to the left side of the shawl is a large silver octopus charm with two red tassels tied through holes in the ornament. On her legs are low-cut black leggings decorated with two slashes on her right thigh, and she wears black tabi-like shoes with red wedge heels on her feet. Additionally, Shiver's fingertips are dyed a bright red color. Her right ear is pierced with three shark tooth-shaped earrings. On the back of her head, circling a large suction cup on one of her tentacles, is a length of white twisted cloth tied in a knot; not unlike the traditional Japanese hachimaki headband. Hachimaki have a variety of styles, and the one worn by Shiver in particular is a common sight during certain Japanese festivals.

During the Anarchy Splatcast and Splatfest performances, Shiver can be seen holding a white sensu fan, painted with a blue symbol in the center. In certain circumstances she also wears a shark mask, which takes inspiration from Japanese kitsune masks with it's characteristic red and white design.

During Splatfests, any part of Shiver's appearance that is normally blue changes to match the color of her Splatfest team, with the exception of her fingertips and octopus charm tassels, which in general are painted to match Frye's team color.

Return of the Mammalians

Shiver and the rest of Deep Cut are initially hostile to Agent 3 and the New Squidbeak Splatoon, declaring that all the treasure in Alterna is theirs to plunder and that they won't let anyone else have it. Later, when the Squidbeak Splatoon team agrees to give Deep Cut the treasure (after using it to remove Fuzzy Ooze), they decide to become the player's ally and help them in defeating Mr. Grizz. Shiver personally lends her rocket-propelled pet shark to the player, to help give them boost into outer space.

Boss

Main article: The Pursuit of the Precious.

Shiver is the third boss of the single-player campaign, Return of the Mammalians, and the second Deep Cut boss. She fights along her pet shark, Master Mega.

Gender

When Shiver was first revealed in the Splatoon 3 Direct, neither the presentation nor any promotional material (such as the announcement dialogue for the Splatoon 3 Splatfest World Premiere and references to Deep Cut on the official website) specifically referred to Shiver's gender. This was consistent across all languages, and dialogue in languages that are heavily gendered (French, Italian, and Spanish), did not refer to Shiver in ways that would require inflecting adjectives or verbs for gender. This did not apply to Shiver's bandmates Frye and Big Man, who were referred to explicitly as female and male, respectively.

When referring to herself, Shiver's dialogue used plural forms, as part of the group, or used the passive voice. The Japanese text did not have Shiver use any common first-person pronouns that traditionally connote gender (such as atashi or boku). In the Direct, Shiver used the pronouns "uchi" (an informal pronoun usually used by younger women, especially in Kansai dialects) and "onore" (an archaic pronoun used poetically meaning "oneself" or "yourself"). In game, "onore" was used only in one occasion, in which Shiver talks about a general "oneself", rather than using the pronoun for herself. These pronouns may be portraying Shiver's Kansai dialect through the use of yakuwarigo ("role language"). Most official social media posts referring to Shiver also made no mention of her gender, except for one Nintendo Portugal message that used "pela", implying Shiver to be female.

In contrast, Shiver's bandmates Big Man and Frye at reveal were referred to with terms connoting male and female grammatical gender. For example, Frye introduces herself in French as "the queen of eels", Spanish as the "[female] marine choreographer", and she uses a feminine definite article in her Portuguese introduction.

This resulted in speculation about Shiver's gender and the possibility of her being non-binary or ambiguously gendered. However, official sources such as interviews with Nintendo of America executives and the media's preview game access soon clarified that Shiver is female and is referred to using the pronouns "she" and "her" in-game.

Trivia

• In Japanese, Shiver behaves and speaks like a Kamigata (Kyoto) rakugoka, a traditional Japanese comic storyteller who specializes in expressing stories with a fan and tilting the head. In line with Splatsville's chaotic nature and Deep Cut's music style, Kamigata rakugo is known for its usage of musical performance and less "refined" style compared to Edo (Tokyo) rakugo. As such, Shiver speaks with a very pronounced Kyoto variant of Kansai dialect, including referring to her Splatfest team with the second-person pronoun あんさんら ansanra, using the idiom おきばりやす okibariyasu ("Hang in there!"), using the copula どす dosu instead of です desu, using 何いうてはん nani iute-han ("What are you saying?"), and many other examples.
• Shiver is described to have a singing style reminiscent of traditional Japanese tastes, and has been know to include kakegoe, a style of traditional shouting, during live performances.
• Shiver is the first Octoling to ever explicitly be shown to have a tongue in-game. The title art of Naughty vs. Nice has an Inkling sticking her tongue out, but until the battle with Shiver, no Octoling has ever been shown to have a tongue. Frye also shows her tongue when she is battling and speaking to the player in the single player mode.
• The hachimaki headband Shiver wears also makes an appearance as Headgear in Splatoon and Splatoon 2, each known as Traditional Headband and Twisty Headband respectively.
• On Shiver's in-game model, the position of her teeth change depending on her facial expressions.
• In Splatoon 3's Sunken Scroll #10, it is hinted at that Shiver is a descendant from a line of shark tamers, much like how Frye is likely descended from the Onaga clan in Sunken Scroll #11. The photo shows an Octoling looking much like Shiver, and their respective shark accomplice (like Shiver's Master Mega).

Gallery

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  Closeup introducing Shiver.

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  2D art of Deep Cut with Shiver on the left.

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  3D art of Deep Cut with Shiver on the left.

• Shiver's character icon.

  Shiver's character icon.

• Shiver's boss introduction.

  Shiver's boss introduction.

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  Shiver's 2D artwork.

• Shiver when Color Lock is enabled.

  Shiver when Color Lock is enabled.

• A Sunken Scroll with a character greatly resembling Shiver.

  A Sunken Scroll with a character greatly resembling Shiver.

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  Shiver performing on stage for a Splatfest.

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  Shiver chatting between takes on the set of Anarchy Splatcast.

• Unofficial render of Shiver's game model on The Models Resource.

  Unofficial render of Shiver's game model on The Models Resource.

• Shiver as she appears on her Tableturf card.

  Shiver as she appears on her Tableturf card.

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  Animation of Shiver dancing during a Splatfest as shown in the Splatoon 3 Direct.

Etymology

"Shivering" refers to the reaction of shaking in response to cold or fear, in contrast to Frye's name, which suggests heat and warmth. A "shiver" is also one of the collective terms for a group of sharks.

"Fūka" is a common Japanese female given name, usually written with kanji 風花 (wind-flower) or 風香 (wind-scent). It is also a pun on 鱶 fuka (with a short u), the Japanese word for "shark". This relates to Shiver being descending from a lineage of shark trainers.