Welcome to this week’s edition of the VTuber News Round-Up—Happy April Fool’s Day! This edition will include a dedicated section on some of the cool pranks done by VTubers today.
VTubers sure went all out on their pranks on April Fools’ Day. Some have swapped names and faces with others (like Bao and Vienna, as well as Vox Akuma and Reimu Endou), some gender-bent themselves (like Calliope Mori, Hakos Baelz, Amelia Watson and Ryushen?!) and some announced their application to a major agency (like Amaris Yuri). KoMETA’s Gira jumped in the bandwagon and made a 180-degree statement complete with emojis. Here are the other ones:
The thing is, Liliana Vampaia warned us about this day beforehand. We still had fun nevertheless.
We’ll proceed with the bad ones right away, starting with Nijisanji’s Hyona Eliatora isolating herself as she is tested positive for COVID-19. Worse, an anonymous person accuses her of risking the health of others in a Marshmallow entry, which she denies. Even so, Hyona is built differently as she went on to do a live chat stream—no mic, just chat. Aside from Hyona, Airani Iofifteen and Ike Eveland had to take breaks for sore throat.
Some VTubers are moving on from VTubing and/or streaming, like Zia, Monkechoob, Moonlight, and Plant Kuroba. Mai Melody had her YouTube channel terminated, but thankfully it was restored. Lastly, Tsunomaki Watame reminisces of her first live concert at Zepp Tokyo, which is now demolished after hosting events for almost 23 years.
Here is a list of other Graduation announcements we tracked over the week:
Hoshimachi Suisei’s 4th anniversary 3D live concert, “Selfish of a Rough Stone,” was a blast. There are three important things you need to know, such as the second appearance of Mori Calliope in 3D after Hololive 3rd fes., Suichan’s new single “TEMPLATE” and her upcoming partnership with DJ Taku Inoue, Midnight Grand Orchestra.
AZKi released one more track under INNK Music before fully moving to Hololive, “Overlight,” IRyS puts up her latest song “Akatsuki no Hana” to public, Kobo Kanaeru released her first song coinciding her debut, “Mantra Hujan,” Vestia Zeta covers “Zankyou Sanka,” and Kureiji Ollie does a #MILLIOLLIE Hololive song medley following her 1 million subscriber milestone.
One thing we need to discuss in this section is how 774 Inc’s Virtual eSports Project is managing clippers—they are asking every clipper to get licensed. This allows VSPO to still have certain control over the content being clipped, given that we still have a bad clipper culture in a corner of the internet. What if other agencies implemented this kind of approach to curb speedsubbers?
Interestingly, VTubers have moved places within their agencies this week: AZKi is finally into Hololive, while Ichika Souya departs from her Animare activities at 774 Inc. We’ve also seen the departure of Amaris Yuri and Kaneko Lumi from Cyberlive; as well as Synical and Kiri departing from Tokki Live. These 4 are now independent VTubers.
Sin Chronicle made an extensive promotional campaign at Hololive, being included in Holo no Graffiti as well as having its sponsored stream. Omaru Polka showed the pamphlet from Super Expo on stream with help from her staff. An honorable mention is given to a fan-made “Avoid Hololive Meme” game which is free to download on Itch.io. Still at Hololive, Airani Iofifteen got so curious about the men who greet VTubers through recorded videos so much that she’s going to request them to do something for her 2nd anniversary.
Indie VTubers won’t back down with their ideas: Terumi Koizumi’s been into audio-only roleplay skits which seem realistic and reflective of her story, Rosedoodle decided to accept Throne gift suggestions, which she showed on stream—and we can imagine how odd it has been. Radio station Chofu FM will have a show dedicated to VTubers called V-Raji starting April 4.
In the merch side of things, we spotlight V-DeMAND, an on-demand merchandise service that already has items featuring VTubers. From what we see, the items are made-to-order with pre-made designs available.
Here are some VTuber merch to look out:
In VTuber tech, check your VRoid Studio if it has the latest version (v1.6.0). KevinX gives away a hand trick Live2D asset. Kawa Entertainment releases Klock, a tool which can generate HTML files for your stream layouts. May Kitsune advises VTubers on Twitch to adjust their raid notifications to two or more as bots can flood your notification with 1-person raids. Tantan the Tanuki warns fellow VTubers not to give their newly-acquired PSD models to anyone unless they are rigging it for Live2D use.
Before we move on to Good VTuber News, congratulations to the following for reaching their debuts, milestones and anniversaries:
As we move on to Good VTuber News, let’s talk about my impressions of Hololive Indonesia’s 3rd Generation. Vestia Zeta has a charming personality, Kaela Kovalskia has an easy-to-understand background story, and I believe Kobo Kanaeru is the first VTuber in Hololive to do her debut presentation using a webpage, showing her expertise in programming websites.
Another piece of good news is that after La+ Darkness had an interview with Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz for The Batman, Shirakami Fubuki interviews Jared Leto for Morbius. You can just look at his expression as he is being interviewed by a fox. Meanwhile at Holostars, a mini-manga featuring UPROAR is posted online featuring YAGOO. This adds more content in the Holostars universe, which already includes the mini-anime Stars*Collection. The biggest news in Indonesia is Airani Iofifteen’s Home3D stream, which shows that she is an alien with a nose.
VTuber Fes Japan 2022 is also announced: Set on the weekend of April 29-30 (Friday / Saturday) at Makuhari Messe, this event gathers more than 50 VTubers from various agencies and backgrounds for a two-day extravaganza. This includes Ibara Hiyori, Gold Ship, KMNZ, Mirai Akari, KOKOROYAMI and more.
In law enforcement, Cover Corporation has given recognition to Sendai Minami police station in Miyagi Prefecture for apprehending persons selling bootleg merchandise, a direct violation of copyright laws. We also receive developments on Yuzuki Roa’s ongoing legal proceedings, with the court granting her request for an internet service provider to disclose details of another VTuber in order to file a case. This announcement from Yuzuki Roa’s lawyer means that Roa is one step closer to restoring her honor.
Here are other good VTuber news we logged in this week:
Closing this week’s VTuber News Round-Up is a tribute to Kuli Komis member Ardian Faturrahman (KZAMV), a motion designer who has years of experience in producing motion graphics for commercial and non-commercial videos. He has worked with Hololive Indonesia talents Airani Iofifteen, Pavolia Reine and Anya Melfissa, as well as Pan the Bread. He is dearly missed by his team members, as well as the VTuber community.
For your feedback and suggestions, email jay.agonoy [at] animecorner [dot] me. Follow us on Twitter—@VTuberSection—for VTuber-related updates from Anime Corner News. You can also mention us in any activity you have, and the best ones will be included in the next VTuber News Round-Up. Catch you all next week!
Banner Photo: Yuki and Yuna Astrea © CreatLive LLC, Airani Iofifteen © COVER Corp, collage of April Fools’ Twitter name and profile swaps
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