It is Week 9 of 2022, and VTuber news keeps coming. At this point, we’re going to get used to a lot of announcements from the fast-paced world of Virtual YouTubing. We take a deep breath and look at major events this week.
Before we proceed, let us give a huge shout-out to everyone who has reached their milestones:
Now let’s get to the Ugly VTuber News: WACTOR, a brand popular with the Hispanic audience, is in hot water after posting announcing on Twitter that they will pursue legal charges against its talent Shino Laila, who was part of its second-generation roster.
WACTOR cites “problematic conduct” by engaging in VTuber activities outside of the company as one of the reasons. Aside from this, the company called foul by saying that she is acting as if she was the victim—worse, they revealed her real name in the lawsuit, an unprecedented move in the industry. For the record, Shino Laila’s activities were suspended last November 2021 due to breach of contract.
This announcement prompted a response from the doxxed talent, who is a GL artist by profession: “Am I the first in the VTuber history to be doxxed by her own company?” Here’s the thing: We learned that there was no specific detail on whether she was terminated by the company—which leaves us thinking if Shino Laila’s status in the company is still floating up to this point.
Everyone has questions on their minds regarding this matter, but one thing is clear: They will all have to lawyer up against each other. This is not the only news inside WACTOR, as they suspended activities for another talent of theirs, Kurari Rose.
Nijisanji had a bad week: Eden-gumi’s Lauren Iroas was caught in 4K having illegal materials, prompting him to take a break. Moments after this, a planned Eden-gumi collaboration with NTT docomo’s Ahamo mobile service is cancelled early. Before this, Nijisanji was supposed to have a collaboration stream with J1 League is suspended. Lead organizer and huge baseball fan Maimoto Keisuke is sad knowing the news.
Aside from these, two Nijisanji KR livers announced their graduation as well: Lee On and Shin Kiru, both to graduate March 31.
Meanwhile, at Hololive, we learned that Momosuzu Nene is a huge fan of illustrator Namori (Yuru Yuri), so much that she draws illustrations based on Namori-sensei’s art style, considered as partly tracing by her management at Cover Corp. For example, we can go back to last year when she drew a postcard for her first anniversary.
She apologized formally to everyone, as well as to Namori-sensei directly. The illustrator accepted the apology, her colleague Airani Iofifteen offered to guide her as well, and all is good. This is comforting to know, and it melts our hearts to see that this sis resolved. Please continue to be adorable for us husbands, Nenechi.
Also, Hololive alerts everyone about a fake Hololive Music account which is phishing Twitter users through direct messages. The fake account no longer exists. Meanwhile, Inugami Korone’s hand got injured and so she rested for a day—her yubi hurts that bad.
After quite a while, it has been decided that Production Kawaii’s Gen 2 VTuber Aruru Gray will have a thank-you video instead of a graduation stream, bringing a montage of her moments. We wish Aruru Gray all the best on her future endeavors.
Indonesia’s VTuber community is at a loss as Ryuuki Tatsuya of Yume Reality terminates his activities starting February 28, Monday. Muse Indonesia’s Daem attests to the dragon’s career as a Vtuber: “Tatsuya provides one of the best, if not the best, streaming content as a male VTuber.” Even popular VTuber Evelyn tweeted that he is a hard worker and a good person. His Yume Reality colleague Tsuyu Hortenshia, although shocked and sad, clarifies that he and the agency both agreed on this decision.
In their latest announcement, Indonesian virtual streamer agency Shard Entertainment announces its closure which will happen after the departure of the voices behind its talents Matsumura Akane (March 1) and Fujioka Tomoko (March 7). Its Discord and YouTube channels will be closed on March 13. Shard said that the closure is due to the inability to continue the business operationally and financially.
Despite challenges, Hololive is pushing through with their Super Expo and Link Your Wish concert with a media blitz featuring posters and newspaper ads plus train ads scattered across Japan. Another good news from Hololive is their collaboration with the Tokyo 7th Sisters franchise, featuring Tokino Sora, Hoshimachi Suisei and AZKi.
Also recently, CEO Motoaki Tanigo (YAGOO) is interviewed by the Mainichi Shimbun about Hololive (paywall). Here’s how he recognized fan clipping culture:
[…] In addition, enthusiastic fans have taken the lead in translating Japanese content into other languages, including English, “clipped videos,” in which favorite scenes are cut and edited from YouTube videos, are also attracting new fans. […]
Machine translation of an excerpt from Motoaki Tanigo’s interview with the Mainichi Shimbun
VShojo is not new to holding charity streams, and they are once again making history in support of Project HOPE, which provides essential medicines and medical supplies to assist Ukrainians. Nyanners is the first to host the charity stream for the group.
To close this week’s recap, Twitch clarifies what counts as a stream: Having the stream played in your browser counts. See you in the next recap—and for the love of God, do not open your Discord app on stream unless it’s necessary.
Read more VTuber News Round-Ups here:
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Banner Photo: Momosuzu Nene ©COVER Corp / Aruru Gray ©︎LOY inc. / Lauren Iroas ©ANYCOLOR Inc.