Smol Nozomi

Nozomi Tojo (also spelled Toujou Nozomi; 東條希 Tōjō Nozomi) is a member of the J-Pop idol group μ's from the Love Live! franchise.^[1] On the SiIvaGunner channel, she acts as the personification of the song "Snow halation", and usually appears as a deformed chibi version called "Smol Nozomi". She is usually considered the channel's deuteragonist behind Grand Dad (matching the memes that the characters represent), though in the channel's actual lore, she is the protagonist.

Character[]

Smol Nozomi is a chibi-fied version of Nozomi, with undefined limbs, circular nub hands, and a highly simplified outfit. In The SilvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis, which is heavily inspired by Kirby Planet Robobot, Smol Nozomi is used to fill the role of Kirby. As such, Nozomi is depicted as being a naive-but-capable silent protagonist just like Kirby, both within the Christmas Comeback Crisis series and in her other appearances on the SiIvaGunner channel. To better fit this characterization of her, her face is usually drawn such that it resembles Kirby's face in artwork made for SiIvaGunner, rather than the somewhat dopey expression seen on the original drawing by Triple-Q. Outside of the series, the original art is on rare occasion used as a still to represent her.

Second form[]

PimeTaradox — The two Nozomis in "Title Theme & Ending - 7 GRAND DAD".

In most videos, Smol Nozomi and regular Nozomi are used interchangeably, e.g. in "Trailer Theme (In-Game Mix) - Sonic Mania" where a picture of non-smol Nozomi Toujou is captioned "SMOL Toujou Nozomi" (see #Gallery). Despite looking different, these two forms are most likely supposed to represent the same character in the SiIvaGunner universe, just like how the character Grand Dad is sometimes represented by Fred Flintstone with Mario's head instead of the usual color-swapped Mario, but is still the same character.

However, there are a few exceptions where Smol Nozomi and regular Nozomi are seen separately:

Talk Like a Pirate Day - In the second banner for the event, regular Nozomi is shown in the foreground while Smol Nozomi is seen in the background on a pirate ship. (Though there are also two Tito Dicks.)
Title Theme & Ending - 7 GRAND DAD - In this rip, we mostly see a pixel sprite of Nozomi in her "Snow halation" getup following Grand Dad. However, 30 seconds in, they walk by Smol Nozomi, who appears as a separate entity that is wearing the normal outfit and more closely resembles Triple-Q's artwork. The non-smol Nozomi stops and looks quite confused after seeing her chibi counterpart, but doesn't dwell on it for too long.
SiIvaGunner Art Fusion Collab - The collab includes two artworks of Nozomi, one being Smol Nozomi during the Christmas Comeback Crisis characters section, and the other being Nozomi Tojo as a normal character.
Twin Day - In the banner, the chibi figure of Nozomi in her "Snow halation" getup usually featured on the banner has Triple-Q's original Smol Nozomi added next to it to represent a twin.

When asked about this in a 2018 livestream, Chaze the Chat stated that the two Nozomis being separate was "up in the air".^[2]

History[]

On November 1, 2015, Triple-Q posted a drawing called "very smol nozoomu" on Tumblr.^[3] On December 2015, he posted another drawing of the character on Tumblr^[4] and made a short YouTube video featuring the two Smol Nozomis: "nozoomy's very smol adventure".^[5] On January 31, 2016, he posted a video "How to draw: Smol Nozomi".^[6] The "smol" variations of characters then became popular and Smol Nozomi became associated to Love Live! and Snow halation in the SoundCloud community. Triple-Q has since drawn a "smol" version of every character of the group µ's from Love Live! School Idol Project!.^[7]

On the SiIvaGunner channel, the character Nozomi Tojo has often been used to represent the meme Snow halation, like in Triple-Q's cover of the album GilvaSunner's Highest Quality Video Game Rips: Volume 3 & Knigra. Smol Nozomi has then appeared in videos before The SilvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis a few times, like in Slot Machine (Beta Mix) - Star Fox. She is also featured on the lighthouse next to Grand Dad in most versions of the channel banner.

The SilvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis[]

In The SilvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis, Smol Nozomi acts as the main protagonist after evading The Voice Inside Your Head's takeover (presumably because she was too smol). As several elements from the CCC are inspired by Kirby Planet Robobot, her personality in the series is very similar to Kirby (for example, she is treated as a silent protagonist despite being a singer).

After hearing the Voice's ambitions ("Seasonal Return"), she was determined to save her meme friends. She was however quickly spotted by one Patrol-Bot which sent a Spheric after her. Cornered in an alleyway, she managed to short-circuit the robot ("No Place To Hide"). Then, as a hatch opened on the Spheric, she jumped into it and the Spheric turned into the Smolitzer, a mecha with her palette color that she instinctively knew how to pilot. With her new vehicle, she saved the Rapper's Union from another Spheric.

She later encountered Wood Man ("Will of a Knight"), but the Robot Master fell into pieces before she even attacked him. After that, she met the lonely warrior Meta Knight who explained her that Santa Claus was in danger and that they had to rescue him. They infiltrated Santa's Workshop controlled by the Voice's minions and saved Santa ("Advent of Hell"). They eventually managed to escape the self-destructing facility after defeating the Voice's army and Nathaniel Welchert.

Returning to Grandiose City in Loves the Ladies, they launch an attack on the Voice's barracks to lessen his control on the city, and come face to face with Angry Joe and his new robot Mecha-Dick, managing to destroy it. Nozomi, Santa and Meta Knight the meet up with the Rapper's union to plan an attack on the Voice's headquarters in An Acrimonious Assault. To their surprise, Wood Man and Robbie Rotten have already subdued all the guards, but Angry Joe shows up once again in his newest mech, the Bowflexo Suit. This transformation proves too powerful and manages to overpower every character, even Nozomi and her Smolitzer. After hearing Haruka Amami's cover of "Snow halation" mixed with "GO MY WAY!!" over the loudspeakers, Nozomi's Smolitzer is revitalized and she is able to deal a fatal blow to Angry Joe, putting him out of commission for good.

With Nozomi needing to rest, the group head back to the Rapper's Union HQ in Timbre of a Kazoo to recharge the Smolitzer, but are ambushed again by a mechanized Wood Man and Robbie Rotten. They manage to trap Nozomi in a leaf net, but are fended off by Santa's fire attacks and eventually forced to surrender. Nozomi waves goodbye to them as they sulk off. When the Smolitzer is finally repaired, they make a beeline towards the Voice's Tower, where a large crowd of protesters against President Haltmann are stationed, led by Snoop Dogg and the Rapper's Union ("I Love Her"). Nozomi meets Loud Nigra, and he punches a hole through the base of the Voice's Tower for them to head through. Ending up in the underground labs creating artificial Christmas Spirit, Nozomi, Santa, and Meta Knight encounter JustinRPG, who is attempting to summon his "love" Reshiram via the lab the Voice entrusted him with. After being eaten by the resurrected Reshiram, he mutates into the powerful Ju'Reshoggoth, and fights the trio to the point of exhaustion. They are able to defeat the beast, and proceed onward to the top of the Voice's Tower.

In One Last Chance, Nozomi is able to free the captured Figments, and head to Floor 99 of the Voice's Tower, where President Haltmann awaits. Undeterred, Haltmann unleashes the SiIva A.I. to attack the trio, and despite a prolonged battle, Nozomi manages to shut down the A.I. by overloading it with commands to the point of memory overload. Haltmann is subdued by the Voice, who beckons the trio to meet him in his office. Despite Nozomi, Santa, Meta Knight, and all the figments including Grand Dad challenging the voice, he overpowers them with his forces, expressing his intent to squeeze every last ounce of Christmas Spirit out of Nozomi, her being the Figment with the greatest quantity of Christmas Spirit. Nozomi stood her ground, nervous but courageous, as outside the city, a being stirred...