Sad news arrived on September 20th as Shiroi (白い, literally “white”), better known as the cat behind the Longcat meme, passed away. Most famously known in Japan as Nobiko (のび子, literally “stretchy child”), Longcat became a staple of meme culture and a defining pillar of Internet culture — especially helping with propelling cats to mass online fame alongside fellow feline icons such as Keyboard Cat, Ceiling Cat, Grumpy Cat, and many others.
The news initially came from Hong Kong based news outlet, The Stand. According to the article, Shiroi’s owner had discovered the cat in a weakened state at 10 AM local time and rushed her to the veterinary office. The doctor there said that unfortunately the cat was in too poor of a condition to even have X-rays be taken and at 2 PM local time, Shiroi passed away. The news spread onto the rest of the Internet after Twitter account @aerosubaru posted about “Nobiko crossing the rainbow bridge” — the tweet received over 100,000 likes and over 46,000 retweets after a day. Shiroi was at least 18 years old, a much higher age than the average cat’s lifespan, and was the eldest of seven other cats living with their owner. The cat was discovered by her owners in 2002 as a thin and messy kitten on the street who after being taken in, became much healthier in appearance.
https://twitter.com/aerosubaru/status/1307553093681209345
The original photo that would become the Longcat meme was first posted on 2chan sometime in 2005. The cat in the image blew up in popularity and was referred to a multitude of nicknames, most being some form of “nobiiru” (のびーる, to stretch) with Nobiko being the name to stick. The photo later made its way onto 4chan’s /b/ board sometime in 2006 where cat-themed “image macros” (a precursor to what would universally be called memes) reigned supreme. Thanks to Longcat’s exploitable format and general cuteness, her popularity exploded to the point of being a main fixture during many Caturdays (a 4chan tradition of posting cat images on Saturday) and even received her own epic lore known as the “Catnarok” — complete with an archnemesis known as Tacgnol, a reversed and negative colored version of the Longcat photo.
Eventually, Longcat would make its way onto the mainstream, and soon after Longcat would simply become lost in the aether that is cat memes. On the day of Shiroi’s death, her owner tweeted out a somber memorial post for the cat along with multiple personal photos of Shiroi. People replied to the tweet with many of their own memes, loving pictures of their own pets, or simply kind words of condolences. Despite the language barrier, people all around the world could resonate with the loss of a beloved pet icon.
私は弱い人間です。
向き合うといったのに、向き合えないです。
承認欲求の塊です。
のび子さん、いえ、シロちゃんを見てやってください。
彼女は私にとって、とーちゃんにとって、息子にとって、かけがえのない猫です。#のび子さん pic.twitter.com/hqhVmUsPfp— 無冠の女王みーこ＠高知 (@miyabi_2222) September 20, 2020
Even though the Longcat meme has not been in vogue in meme culture for a while, people online still recall the iconic photo enough to feel affected by Shiroi’s passing. The meme itself embodies a time back when the term “meme” was not even conceived of — a novel time where a simple picture of a stretched out cat could jump to heights of fame. Much like Longcat’s infinite length, the heights of humor and were seemingly limitless as the Internet was still untamed and yet somewhat innocent. Nowadays it seems as if memes come and go weekly but there once was a time when memetics would be similar to customs or a language from a distant lost culture that only a rare few would be in the know of yet many could simply view and enjoy. With Shiroi’s passing, it definitely feels as if the memories of those days of the Internet have gotten a bit shorter.
