Japanese independent musicians IOSYS (ee-oh-she-su) have a treat in store for us this Christmas.  They created a concept album titled Teach me Shiri Sensei! starring everyone’s favorite virtual assistant who only knows what you’re saying half of the time, Siri.

You might be wondering from the image above why anthropomorphic moé Siri (yes, that’s her) has a severe case of plumber’s crack. It’s not just pervy for the sake of being pervy. In Japanese, there isn’t really a “see/si” sound. Instead, it’s a “she” sound.

First, this can make it very funny when a Japanese person asks “May I take a seat?” Second, this changes the pronunciation of Siri to “Shiri”, which is the Japanese word for “buttocks.”  This word play is a major theme in the album.

IOSYS are a dōjin circle who specialize in taking the music from independent video games and remixing it into things like this.

The seed for this album was a short track, Hello Siri-tan, uploaded to NicoNico by IOSYS in March. Thanks to the warm reception it got, the group decided to work on an entire album.

The concept of Teach Me Shiri Sensei is a fictional smartphone producer Ringo (Japanese for “apple”) headed by “Tim”, who produces the fifth iteration of Ringo Phone. This new phone comes with the feature, Shiri Sensei (Teacher Shiri) who has the power to touch our hearts and maybe… change our lives.

Here’s the official story from the IOSYS website:

STORY
Takashi was your regular, run-of-the-mill guy, who went out and bought the new product by Ringo, Ringo Phone 5. However, will encountering Teacher Shiri, change his everyday life to something wilder?
Foreign student Alex also gets sucked in, and a wonderful time with the Ringo Phone begins.
What to do for this coming Christmas!?
The anguish of Tim from Ringo is also discovered.

The album features 6 songs sung by Shiri Sensei intermingled with 5 (an homage to iPhone5) comedy skits featuring Takashi, Alex, and Tim talking to Shiri. The voice of Shiri Sensei is provided by the Japanese language version of Siri, comically edited by IOSYS and apparently run through that Auto-Tune thing pop stars use nowadays.

The tracks are as follows:

01 – We ♥ Ringo
Music: D.watt  Lyrics: Shichijo Lettuce  Vocals: Shiri Sensei

02 – “Totally new, Ringo Phone”
Tim & Shiri Sensei

03 – Hello Shiri-tan
Music & Lyrics: ARM Vocals: Shiri Sensei

04 – “Teach me Shiri Sensei!” Japanese Class Edit
Takashi, Alex, & Siri

05 – Language ASSistance
Music: ARM   Lyrics: Shichijo Lettuce & ARM   Vocals: Shiri Sensei

06 – “Takashi’s Christmas”
Takashi, Momma, & Shiri Sensei

07 – No plans for Christmas
Music: ARM   Lyrics: Shichijo Lettuce & ARM  Vocals: Shiri Sensei

08 – “Totally new, Ringo Maps”
Takashi, Alex & Shiri Sensei

09 – It’s weird here! Smartphone feat. Ginga [Galaxy] Phone
Music: D.watt   Lyrics: Shichijo Lettuce   Vocals: Shiri Sensei

10 – “An apology from Tim.”
Tim, Store Clerk, Shiri Sensei

11 – Shiri’s Lullaby
Music: ARM   Lyrics: Shichijo Lettuce   Vocals: Shiri Sensei

12 – Thingy 1

13 – Thingy 2

14 – Thingy 3

Although the songs are in Japanese you can still appreciate the work that must have gone into recording an entire album with Siri.  My favorite part was the voice of Alex, which seems to be an English text-to-voice program reading Japanese words.

The official release of the album is 8 December for 1,260 yen (US$15), but you will probably be able to get your hands on a 1,000 yen (US$12) copy at the upcoming Comiket next month so keep an eye on their website!

Source: IOSYSY

▼ The first track, We ♥ Ringo, followed by samples of the other tracks.