Interview: Kitsui Akira, Virtual YouTuber From the Philippines

Last Saturday, August 14, our very own Tsukimi Lune interviews Virtual YouTuber Kitsui Akira from the Philippines. Kitsui Akira is a Cosmic Fox girl with a variety of content on YouTube. She currently has 14,000 subscribers on the platform, 5,000 followers on Twitch, and more than 3,600 followers on Twitter. She is also open for art commissions.

On this feature, Lune asked Kiichan questions about her VTubing career on her latest Tsuki-Talk Chat Stream, which you can see in full below (Kiichan’s segment starts at 58:03):

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How did Kitsui Akira develop her VTubing interest?

Tsukimi Lune (Lune): What made you develop an interest in VTubing?

Kitsui Akira (Kiichan): As some of you might not know, I have my YouTube for a long time now, and I also had my own OC design already, right?

Since I’m technically already a content creator, the thought of streaming already crossed my mind before. But I’m too shy to actually, you know, show myself in the camera and stuff.

When VTubing became the trend, I was like, “Hey, that definitely looks like something I can do,” I wanted to try out streaming and it looked fun, so here we are.

Streaming seems fun, and VTubing seems fun; I didn’t really start out with the thought of “Hey I wanna be a VTuber,” it’s more like “I want to stream but I’m too shy to show myself.”

Kiichan’s Three VTuber Models

Lune: We’ve noticed you’ve had 3 different designs over the course of your streams, can you explain them individually to us?

Kiichan: When I first started out, the very first one that I used was actually my OC design that I was using as an utaite, as a YouTube singer, the ones in my covers. But it seemed to lack something, it needed some character or something. It’s just like a normal person with random clothes, and it didn’t have the impact that I wanted.

So that’s why the second design was born, this current one, because, I don’t know, I noticed most VTubers are some kind of animal or mythical creature or whatever.

Lune: Yeah, we wanted to be what we couldn’t be–

Kiichan: Exactly… Well, you still adhere to a certain theme, right? Shrine maidens. For me, there was nothing really special about my first design other than it was the OC I was already using. So, I thought to improve on it, so well, here we are.

The other model is basically just a chibi version of (the current) one.

Lune: It’s so cute!

Kiichan: Yeah, it’s a chibi version, basically.

Lune: Actually, I wanted to make my own chibi model, so I’ve been learning on how to make it using previous programs like the very famous VRoid… we’re trying to make some accessories in Unity, and I’ve been trying to craft using Blender, so it was actually a tough way to learn and so…

Kiichan: Yup, making it from scratch is kinda oof, but as with everything, yeah, it’s really hard.

Singer for 9 Years and Counting

Lune: Of all the cover songs you’ve posted on your YouTube channel, which work are you proudest of?

Kiichan: There’s a lot that I’m proud of, because I started making covers in 2011 or 2012, so it’s been 9 years, right? So over the course of the years, as with anything, the longer you do something, you get better at it, right?

The most recent ones, I’m proud of them, but I guess the one that I’m proud of the most is probably “Alice in Musicland.” It’s a Vocaloid musical, and basically I made the musical by myself. I sang every character by myself.

Lune: That’s so good; that’s so pog, actually.

Kiichan: Thank you. Yeah, I think I worked on it 24 hours straight.

Lune: You finished it in 24 hours?–

Kiichan: I think– or maybe at least, 2 days, because there was an event going on and I was trying to submit it on time… I was speedrunning it–

Lune: Was it like for a chorus battle?

Kiichan: It’s not a chorus battle, it’s more of a collection of covers. It had a theme, like “Old Vocaloid Songs from the Early 2000s.”

Lune: That’s actually pog, it’s such a short time; it’s a short time for me, yes. I guess you mentioned that’s a lot of characters, so of course that’s a lot of time spent. That’s actually so pog.

Kiichan: Thank you. That’s one of the things I was really proud of.

Kiichan Eats Legs of Tall People: Lore

Lune: Your Twitch’s channel descriptions say that you are a cosmic kitsune, is there more to your lore that we might not know about?

Kiichan: Yeah, so basically, I came to earth on a shooting star, and then I tried to make friends with the other foxes and people that I found here. Everyone’s making fun of me because I was too small, I’m tiny.

To put it short, I eat the legs of tall people. If you’re taller than me, say bye-bye to your legs.

Lune: I’m shorter. I’m shorter. I’ll be grasshopping to the ground now, sorry guys. I’m scared.

Kiichan: Lune is very kawaii, so she’s exempted.

Lune: Actually, we should sing together sometimes.

Kiichan: I’d love to do that. I really love to do that, it sounds fun.

Lune: Yeah, because I think I can do some voice impressions too.

Kiichan: That would be nice. I think I actually suggested that to manager-sama.

Lune: Yeah, let’s plan that. That would be so nice. finally, someone will sing with me!

Kiichan: I would love to.

Wide Voice Range

Lune: I have been to some of the streams before and you actually do voice impressions, right? Since you’ve done a lot of voice impressions before, can you give a demonstration, one sample for us on stream?

Kiichan: On my stream, the most common one that people make me do is “Pika-pi, pika-pika. Pikachu~”

Lune: That’s so cute! … They usually make me do the more oneesan-like one… I’d say I rarely do imouto-ish ones.

Kiichan: I do have an oneesan voice redeem too, but I can’t sustain it for that long because I keep forgetting that “oh, this is not oneesan enough.” My deeper voice doesn’t come naturally.

Lune: I would say I used to have a very high voice too. People say I speak like a squeaky toy, my voice was really high back then. I can still do it, it’s just that my natural voice was like this now.

I can go deeper or I can go higher. The most comfortable for me is the current one that I do.

Learning How to Animate

Lune: What video do you think is the weirdest you’ve done/posted so far?

Kiichan: I think probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever posted on my YouTube is the very first video that I’ve uploaded. In my defense, I was 9 years old, but it’s called– I don’t know, I don’t know why I did it; it was just a random idea, but it’s called “Pikachu dies with a gun.” I don’t know why.

Lune: What is it about?

Kiichan: It literally what the title says. It was like an “animation,” but it’s more like a slideshow because, yeah, I don’t know. It’s literally just 4 or 5 frames. Yeah, I don’t know why either.

Dakimakura? Oh, they’re saying the weirdest thing is your dakimakura.

Lune: Yeah, but, … I have a dakimakura that I have ever since I was a kid, yeah. I have it on my lap right now, a real one. So, I have it with me.

Kiichan: Does it have any design on it, like your character or–

Lune: It’s just like a random cartoon on it… Yeah, let’s not talk about it.

Kiichan: Why is that weird though?

Lune: Okay, okay, I’ll just say it softly. (whispers) I don’t really wash it.

Kiichan: Ooooohhh… that’s okay. I won’t judge.

Lune: (To chat) See? See, Kiichan doesn’t judge me. See?

Kiichan: Come on guys, don’t you have that one thing that you don’t wash?

Lune: See? They judge me so hard. […]

What Piqued Kiichan’s Interest to Learn Animation?

Lune: Going back to the “Pikachu Slideshow,” I guess that’s your “first animation attempt,” was it?

Kiichan: Yeah, it was, I guess.

Lune: What made you pick animating as an interest?

Kiichan: So, I saw this one YouTube video a long time ago, it was called “The Puddick and Orange Show” and it looked like it was made in Microsoft Paint and Windows Movie Maker? I was like, “Hey, I have MS Paint, and I have Windows Movie Maker – maybe I can do that too!” And so, I did. Unfortunately, the result was “Pikachu dies with a gun.”

Lune: No Pikachu was injured in the process of this movie.

Kiichan: Exactly. Pikachu lives! … It’s an action movie, you know? But yeah, all the subsequent animations from then on was like, MS Paint, drawn with a mouse and then Windows Movie Maker. But then around 5th Grade, we learned Adobe Flash in school. From then on, I started animating using Flash.

Lune: You learned Flash in school?

Kiichan: Kinda. Yeah, yeah. And then I learned more from– because there was a time when Flash animations were really popular on YouTube, like, animation memes; I guess I could say like that’s one of my golden eras – I was super, super productive back then.

I think I pooped out animations more than once a week. Maybe, more than once a day sometimes? I’m so productive, and that was all using a mouse. When I got a tablet, ironically, I stopped drawing.

Lune: I did actually try to learn drawing using my own tablet, I have a very cheap tablet; but then, it sort of lasted like a couple of tracing art for me. Just for me to practice… Too many things to learn, but there’s only one Lune, and 24 hours.

Kiichan: Understandable. I get that feeling a lot. I get it.

Kiichan, the Polyglot?

Lune: You mentioned in your debut stream that you speak many languages, could you tell us all the languages that you know?

Kiichan: So, there’s my mother tongue Filipino, and also English; and then I’ve been learning Japanese for a while, I guess? On and off, maybe 8 years or so, but I’m not good yet because I haven’t been consistent enough in learning it as I should be.

So, Filipino, English, Japanese and currently I’m also trying to learn Italian; and I also tried to learn a little bit of Korean – and I learned a little bit of Mandarin and Spanish at school.

Lune: That’s a lot. That’s a lot more than me. […] For me, I would say, I’m half-Japanese, but I don’t really grew up in Japan. My Japanese actually sucks. I would say I know how to speak it, like in the basic converse level, of course, since I do talk to the cashier in the convenience store nearby. I do talk to them on a daily basis, but it’s like a very, very basic conversation. That’s all that I can do.

Kiichan: I think the same goes for me, level-wise.

Lune: …and then, of course, English. I’ve been to a lot of countries, and of course, one of the “most popular” languages is gonna be English. Then, I also learned Mandarin, because I’ve been in some Mandarin-based country before – so I have to learn Mandarin or else I won’t be able to communicate with everyone at all.

Kiichan: Would you say you’re fluent in it, or also basic conversation level?

Lune: I would say Mandarin is more fluent than my Japanese, because I’ve actually been in a Mandarin school and I’ve stayed there for years.

Kiichan: That’s so cool, though. I only learned Mandarin for a year, and it’s only like once a week in school, so I guess that’s not enough time to learn it. And also, I didn’t really have anyone to practice it with so in time I forgot. I only know the basic ones now.

I guess VRChat kind of helps a little bit because it, you know, there are many people from around the world where you can speak with, so it kind of helps. […]

Joining (and learning from) VRChat

Lune: Other than the VRChat, what do you do/use in order to study the different languages?

Kiichan: I guess it differs for the language; like for Japanese, it’s more of a combination of different stuff. I bought books, before, there’s also watching YouTube videos, and there’re also articles online. I guess a little bit of anime also helps, and like, songs.

Lune: I would say songs actually helped me in learning Japanese too.

Kiichan: Oh, yeah, yeah, like you take the words and then learn each word, and so you build up a vocabulary.

Lune: It’s really important for learning, different vocabulary, apart from the ones you usually use.

Kiichan: …and then for Italian, I use Duolingo. For Korean, I also bought books and watched YouTube videos.

Lune: I guess it’s really convenient to learn other languages now, since we have YouTube and other online sources – especially Japanese, actually.

Kiichan: Exactly. I think it’s one of the commonly-learned languages for some reason. When I go in VRChat, everyone knows how to speak Japanese in one way or another.

Lune: Everyone wants to be a weeb.

Kiichan: Yeah, exactly.

Lune: (reads chat) “You should join VRChat, Lune.” Once I’ve tried, attempt to make a model, then we’ll see. I’ll try.

Kiichan: Actually, I think that’s how I started becoming a VTuber. One of the reasons is because I was experimenting on VRoid, and I just wanted to bring it to VRChat. But then I was like, “Hey, I could actually use the model for streaming as well,” so there we go. Yup.

Lune: Did you made your current model from VRoid too?

Kiichan: No, this current one is not in VRoid. It’s just different bits and pieces put together in Blender.

Kiichan’s 3D Tools of the Trade

Lune: What do you use to film your 3D videos? There’s a lot of software we can use to film 3D, right? As what I know, there’s quite a couple of “free” ones, and of course the paid ones.

Kiichan: For the simpler videos, I just use the one that I use to stream, which is VSeeFace; but for the ones that require motion and stuff, hands and everything, that’s got to be VRChat with VR controllers.

Lune: Which controllers are you using?

Kiichan: I use Oculus Quest.

Lune: Ahhh. I’m actually thinking about getting VR after I get my (Nintendo) Switch. I’ve never owned one before.

Kiichan: This is my first one as well; I got it for my birthday last year.

Lune: That’s good. That’s actually so pog. I’ve seen people streaming in that and look so pog, I would want to be in the 3D world too.

Kiichan: Yeah. It’s like so much you can do with it. Soon, I hope to get full body tracking so I could move my legs as well.

Lune: Yeah, that too. I would say if I ever got full body tracking, I would want to do a concert.

Kiichan: Yeah! That’s what I was thinking too, actually.

Bonus: Kiichan’s Favorite Moments with Lune

Lune: Favorite moments with Lune…

Kiichan: You know that time when we played Fall Guys in our first collab? I remember that time when I accidentally yoinked your tail? The betrayal… the accidental betrayal… that’s so funny. I didn’t know it was you. I only realized it after I already yoinked it.

Lune: …that was like the Top 1 Anime Betrayal…

Kiichan: Top 1, oh no… I’m sowwy~

Lune: No, not like this.

Kiichan: That’s always gonna be a memorable moment.

Lune: Oh no… not like this. […] Last Question – Since we’re an anime community, of course we’re gonna ask you anime questions. What is that anime that you will always recommend to everyone?

Kiichan: You know, I actually tried to think of this question a lot, and it’s actually hard, because even now I still haven’t thought of it. “What is my favorite anime?” Every time someone asks me that, it’s a hard question…

Lune: […] It doesn’t have to be like a new one, it can be any, it can be a couple, just the ones that you like.

Kiichan: Okay. Well, I guess the first thing that came to my mind when I was thinking about it was this one anime that I watched and rewatched a couple of times, and that’s Hunter x Hunter. I guess it’s very basic, but you know… at the same time, we can’t deny, it’s also really good.

Lune: Sometimes, the classic is the one that’s good. I agree.

Kiichan: […] (to Lune) what’s your favorite anime?

Lune: Usually, when people ask this question, they are asking for suggestions on what to watch, so I would just tell them what is my current favorite of the season.

For this season, it should be The Duke of Death and His Maid. That one is really good. It’s an ongoing anime, and there’s a lot of heartwarming moments.

Out of this “cliffhanger” season, that anime doesn’t have cliffhangers. That’s why I love it the most.

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Thank you to Kitsui Akira for sharing your time once again to talk with Tsukimi Lune! This has been an extensive interview in the ins and out of VTubing as Kiichan sees it.

We got more VTuber interviews plus major updates coming soon on Anime Corner, so keep it here.