（´・ω・｀）ｼｮﾎﾞｰﾝ

Shobon (ショボーン), or Syobon, is a kaomoji character often used on emails, websites, and heavily used on 2channel since the early 2000s. He's normally used to express disappointment or regret, but plenty of AA has been derived from this emoticon.

　 ∧,,∧
　(；`・ω・）　　｡･ﾟ･⌒） チャーハン作るよ！！
　/　　 ｏ━ヽニニフ))
　しー-Ｊ

Chāhan Tsukuru yo! (チャーハン作るよ！, lit. “I'll make fried rice!”) is artwork of Shobon making fried rice that can go in either direction and there's a 90% chance that he fails. At first glance, you might mistake Shobon for Syakin due to how the eyebrows are arranged, but you'll usually notice that Shobon has commas for hair. By the way, the 'pan' is called a Niniv (ニニフ, Ninifu) and the handle is easy to take off.

　 ∧,,∧ 　・・・
　( ´・ω・）　　　　　　　　　　 　　ﾍ⌒ヽﾌ⌒γ
　/　　 ｏ━ヽニニフ 　　　　　　(・ω・　）　　）
　しー-Ｊ 　　　　　　　　　　　　　しー し─J

In related artwork, you may see a pig character called Tonky (トンキー). Shobon may say that he'll put pork in the rice, but the two end up staring at each other and he decides to go against the idea, sparing Tonky.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　∧,,∧　　It's still delicious with just vegetables.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（・ω・　 ）
　　　　　　　　　　　　　／￣￣￣￣ヽ･ﾟ･ ｡･ﾟ/(_,　　　）
　　　　　　　　　　　 ／　　　　　　　　￣￣￣　＼、＿）
　　　　　　　　　　　|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|
　　　　　　　　　　　 ￣|￣|￣￣￣￣￣￣|￣|￣

　 ε　⌒ﾍ⌒ヽﾌ　ブヒ♪
　（ 　　( 　・ω・）　
　　しー し─Ｊ　ヽ･ﾟ･ ｡･ﾟ/

Most people may remember this from an animation of the Vocaloid song, “Double Lariat” (ダブルラリアット) by “Agoaniki-P” (アゴアニキP), that was illustrated by “Torikara” (とりから) back in February 22, 2009.¹⁾

【審議中】
　　　 ∧,,∧　 ∧,,∧
　∧ (´・ω・) (・ω・｀) ∧∧
(　´・ω)　Ｕ) ( つと ﾉ(ω・｀ )
｜　Ｕ (　　´・) (・｀　　)　と ﾉ
　ｕ-ｕ （l 　　 ) (　　　ﾉu-ｕ
　　　　 `ｕ-ｕ'.　`ｕ-u'

Shingi-chū (審議中, lit. “Under Discussion” or “Under Deliberation”) is text art of multiple Shobons deciding what to do. It's often used in response to dad jokes and lame puns, but might also be a response to a bad posts as well. This artwork is followed by Approval (可決, Kaketsu) or Rejection (否決, Hiketsu), but many other variants result in the scenario going in either direction.

【可決】
　　　　　 ∧,,∧ 　.∧,,∧
　 ∧∧(｀・ω・´)(｀・ω・´)∧∧
　(｀・ω・´).∧∧) (∧∧(｀・ω・´)　
　｜　Ｕ (｀・ω・´)(｀・ω・´) と ﾉ
　　ｕ-ｕ　（l 　　 ) ( 　　　ﾉ u-ｕ
　　　　　　 `ｕ-ｕ'　`ｕ-u'

【否決】
　　　　　 ∧,,∧ 　.∧,,∧
　 ∧∧(´‐ω‐｀)(´‐ω‐｀)∧∧
　(´‐ω‐).∧∧) (∧∧　(‐ω‐｀)　
　｜　Ｕ (´‐ω‐｀)(´‐ω‐｀) と ﾉ
　　ｕ-ｕ　（l 　　 ) ( 　　　ﾉ u-ｕ
　　　　　　 `ｕ-ｕ'　`ｕ-u'

★ Wall-Punching Agency has Begun! ★
Don't have enough muscle? Don't have walls to punch? In that case...
Our staff is trained to punch walls instead of you!
No requirements! Our staff will indiscriminately come to punch your house's walls!
$12/hour, open 24/7 all year! For more information, please ask the nearest pig.

 ∧＿∧
(´・ω・｀)　　 n
⌒｀γ´⌒`ヽ( E) 　　We are also recruiting staff for our wall-punching agency.
(　.人 .人　γ / 　　　You must be confident with your muscles! Why not work with us?
=(こ/こ/　｀^´ 　　　　It's as simple as punching a wall!
)に/こ(

The Wall-Punching Agency (壁殴り代行, Kabenaguri Daikō) is text artwork of an advertisement for a wall-punching service that features a buff Shobon. There are many different forms of buff Shobon that may be attached to this flyer, but the text to the right of him generally stays the same. As a note, the pig you have to ask for details is Ranbuta, essentially an embodiment of video game rage.

　　　　　　　　　　　|
 　　　　　　　　　 　 |　　彡⌒ミ
 　　　　　　　　　　　＼ (´･ω･`)　I'm talking about hair again...
 　　　　　　　　　　　　　(|　　　|)::::
 　　　　　　　　　　　　 　(γ　/:::::::
 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 し ＼:::
 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ＼

“I'm Talking About Hair Again” (また髪の話してる, Mata Kami no Hanashi Teru) is a balding AA character that mysteriously emerged in the mid-2010s and catches himself talking about hair. The exact origins are unknown, but it allegedly came from 2channel's /bgame/ and was based on Kazuki Kimura, a professional Shogi player who is known for his storytelling and self-deprecatory jokes about balding.

　 ∧＿∧　　　／￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
　（`･ω･´)　＜　Syakin once a day!
　（つ旦と）　　 ＼＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
　と＿）＿）

Syakin (シャキーン, Shakīn), or Shakin,²⁾ is the polar opposite of Shobon which is made obvious since his eyebrows are reversed. Instead of disappointment and regrets that Shobon radiates, Syakin represents motivation and high tension. However, he doesn't have that much AA variety by himself, which is why Syakin doesn't a separate article from Shobon.

（´・ω・）

Kawaisosu (カワイソス) is a simple, one-line emoticon used to show sympathy and it first appeared on May 6, 2005. The main difference between Shobon and Kawaisosu is the number of eyebrows.

　　_＿,､＿,､
　(　 ( ´･ω･｀)　This is the new pigpen.
　｀u-｀u--u´

Ranbuta (らん豚, lit. “Ran-pig”) is a pig persona that users put on to bash shitty games. They often gather at a pigsty, pig pen, or pig farm. Historically, the first breed was in a Fantasy Earth: Zero (FEZ) thread.

In the English internet, the emoticon is often associated with the “Denko” (デン子) story that a /news4vip/ user with the tripcode, ◆fqmjWRH5ujSm, began in 2011. The threads were picked up by a matome blog, translated into English by vgperson in 2012 and went viral, then dubbed by a YouTube user who called the emote a “stupid fucking hampster face”,³⁾ thus Shobon was associated with stalking.

The saga lasted over a month on May 2, 2011 and we were led to believe they just stopped posting about it. However, the tripcode was later seen in a /toy/ exchange thread in late 2011,⁴⁾⁵⁾ then it was spotted in the “over 30 and unemployed” thread on /dame/.⁶⁾⁷⁾ There's no way to confirm if these were the same person or if the tripcode was easy to guess, but our “college student” here could be over the age of 30…⁸⁾

• Shobon Action

• Shobon on the 2ch Overall AA Illustration Project
• (´・ω・`) on Niconico Encyclopedia