Chainsmoker Cat and Jirai Kei Vlogs Offer a Messier Mental Health Portrayal
The piece argues that jirai kei and messy vlogs put the unappealing side of mental illness on camera alongside a pretty aesthetic, where most media show only a cleaned-up version.
Reporting from 1 source: Anime Herald.
Anime Herald runs an essay by Lettuce on Japanese messy vlogs, a TikTok style in which faceless creators show a day of solitary routine: morning coffee and a cigarette, makeup, pale filters, and whimsical room decor. Creators such as Rin00yu, imlynzzz, and rzkillx tag the videos with jirai kei, a fashion subculture the piece links to mental illness. The essay reads Chainsmoker Cat and jirai kei aesthetics against sanitized depictions of mental illness.
The essay points to the recurring production tics of the form: pale beauty filters, ambient music low enough to keep bedsheet rustle and nail clicks audible, and cigarettes tucked into Iqos devices. Some videos leave pixelated self-harm scars, daily medication, or captions about disliking work and social life in frame.
Lettuce traces the jirai kei tag to jirai onna, a pejorative for women with mood disorders such as borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, and quotes the NUFS Times on the stereotype that people drawn to the style are menhera. The writer then places their own anxiety, depression, and agoraphobia against the bedrooms on screen.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.