This week’s latest VTuber news round-up is a wild ride for sure. While we have fewer updates for this week, it was certainly a good mix of milestones, latest endeavors, as well as peculiar and bad updates. We are currently on the 21st installment of this article series, and we hope to reach it by the end of this year.
To kick off, we certainly have some light moments to share with, such as Haachama’s latest antics, including messaging everyone to be her ‘girlfriend’ or how this WWE mod gives us a rare glimpse of Watame delivering a powerful kick to ‘obliterate’ Subaru in the process.
Either way, let us dive now into this week’s latest update on the VTubing scene.
What’s In This Issue?
The Ugly and Bad VTuber News: Disappearance, Bot Spams and Impostors
We’ll start off with a true ugly update: word has spread around the community about a Chinese VTuber by the name of Porin who reappeared on her Bilibili channel after six months of disappearance. In a harrowing and gut-wrenching video update, she explained that her abrupt disappearance started off when she was sold off to a middle-aged woman, possibly to be trafficked or sold to a man for a fixed marriage. Six months after that incident, she has been rescued by local police and has stated that she is now doing well and is seeking medical assistance after getting minor injuries.
Stories like this have dominated mainstream media amidst a growing human trafficking economy. In a report by the BBC, three people have been arrested in the city of Xuzhou in February this year in connection to a woman found chained in a village hut. According to the report, officials first dismissed trafficking claims, but outraged netizens had kept up pressure, with some making daily calls for investigation. We hope Porin is doing well at the moment, and for all out there, please keep safe at all times.
Meanwhile, VTuber agency WACTOR has taken to Twitter their sentiments about one of their talents Mireille Kuuma being another victim of bot spam attacks. Looks like the issue is just growing over time, and we also join the rest of the VTuber community for YouTube to take action on these malicious acts.
Speaking of issues, impostors are still on the rise, as Girl_DM has shared that a certain account named “Christine Lopez” is claiming that she wrote the lore story for the VTuber’s recent lore video. What’s worse is that the issue has ballooned, as multiple bot accounts are now claiming that they wrote the lore story.
Lastly, we have a quick COVID-19 check from Project Kavvaii’s Gwynevere Airi, as well as the sudden announcement from Production Kawaii’s Neena Makurano that she will be graduating from the agency on August 2 this year. In an update stream, she explained that the sudden announcement was made due to her recent promotion on her work. We wish Neena all the best in the future.
Interesting VTuber Tidbits: On Thirst Tweets and Workathon
We kick off this segment by putting a focus on our favorite 52-hertz whale VTuber Bao, who recently tweeted a thirst tweet dedicated to Blaidd, a half human, half wolf NPC at the popular game title Elden Ring. Recently, the character’s voice actor Scott Arthur did a segment for BuzzFeed Multiplayer on YouTube where he read thirst tweets for Blaidd. There was this one instance on the video where one tweet made Arthur say ‘no way’ and decided not to read it, raising speculations on what the tweet was about. Kotaku got wind of this hilarious segment, highlighting that the tweet was from Bao herself.
Days later, a fan going by the Twitter username of @Demioh22 paid for a personalized video from Scott Arthur himself through the service Cameo, and of course addressed to Bao. As she caught wind of this update, she cut off her recent streaming of Morbius and instead watched the video on stream. If you want to know what happened, the clip below summarizes how hilarious the saga has ended up to be. On one note, good job Bao.
Meanwhile, fan initiatives in the community are going strong, as Studio Tonton has revealed that they are working on a fan music video featuring members of Hololive’s Myth unit. In addition, a fan initiative has been established to buy a billboard spot for the Korean VTuber Aoi Nabi. Fans in Korea can view the ad on the Lotte Young Plaza in Myeongdong, Seoul, South Korea.
In other news, Japanese professional translator and VTuber Kamishiro Taishi has unveiled in his latest stream that he’s starting a ‘workathon’ as a way to catch up with his pending projects piling up. He has explained that this works that for every objective he has finished for each project, 4 hours are added into the stream. We wish Taishi good luck in this upcoming stream.
Other interesting news are as follows:
- Everyone is saying that fans need to know their oshis well, but what if ‘knowing them inside and out’ is taken in a much literal sense. This is what Nijisanji’s latest VTuber Hyakumantenbara Salome did, as she featured in her debut stream—get this—a latest copy of her endoscopy procedure (deemed as not safe for work by some). Talk about now knowing Salome inside and out.
- Popular streamers and content creators are slowly experimenting in trackable avatars in their latest streams, including Kitboga and DougDoug (who chose a bell pepper as an avatar).
- Content creator Nikoruisu has posted a Twitter thread explaining algorithm strategies for VTubers and clippers to consider, such as using proper SEO measures and upload of YouTube Shorts.
Good VTuber Updates: On More Creative Directions and Spotlights
Let us take a look on some of the more positive updates that we have seen in the VTubing community:
- Over at Hololive, the agency has announced that TikTok accounts for all Hololive English members have been opened, although it is safe to say that they will be managed by each talent’s personal manager.
- At Nijisanji, we learn of the fact that multiple talent assets for their talents have been listed already at the Japan Patent Office, including Shizuka Rin, Honma Himawari, and Higuchi Kaede. The latest search reveals a total of 12 talents have been patented already.
- Staying over at Nijisanji, we have updates including the inclusion of several songs on the karaoke brand DAM, Yugo Asuma doing a livestream for his upcoming original acoustic song, and Enna Alouette taking a three-week break from streaming for the meantime.
- Here are some songs that can now be sung on DAM karaoke machines:
- Tremolo Moon by Hayato Kagami
- Ai Yori Ao ku by Ryushen
- Full-Powered Boomerang by Kojirase Harassment (Aibau Uiha, Genzuki Toujirou, Ryushen)
- 6-gatsu no Prelude by Machita Chima
- Diamond City Lights by LazuLight
- Black Out by Obsydia
- God Sees All by Ethyria
- Hope in the Dark by Luxiem
- All for Now!! (Japanese Ver.) by Nijisanji KR
- Internet wa Saiyaku by Kojirase Harrassment (Aibau Uiha, Genzuki Toujirou, Ryushen)
- Here are some songs that can now be sung on DAM karaoke machines:
- Over at VShojo, the agency’s merchandise will be available at the upcoming DoKomi event in Germany. We also learn that Zentreya’s latest stream overlay was conceptualized by gaming-centric creative and marketing agency Paper Crowns, who has clients including 100 Thieves, Activision, and Blizzard. Oh, and how could we forget? As Nyanners recently concluded her “WTF” milking stream, Dexerto interviewed the talent regarding her content direction in streaming over the years.
- As a special segment, the IRL stream between Ironmouse and CDawgVA is back for another round of wholesomeness, and this clip is just one of the many wholesome moments seen when CDawgVA takes Ironmouse to a flower park.
- Bao is doing a giveaway for 10 tickets for the upcoming gaming event Dreamhack Dallas on June 3 to 5.
- Linka Minagi is interviewed by Fuji Television affiliate Fukui TV. Linka’s model is rigged by notable Live2D artist Kanbutsu Himono.
- Fan favorite Ririsya has announced that she will be performing at the Pyrkon event in Poland.
- VTubers Monarch and Cy Yu, who are both voice actors in real life, are doing the “VTubers got Ara-ara~” collab stream.
- We would like to welcome these new debuts and re-debuts in the community!
- Sony Entertainment Japan’s VEE first generation (see our own reportage here)
- Check out these new auditions as well:
- MAHA5 Indonesia is on the hunt for new talents for fifth generation
- WACTOR opens up auditions for male talents.
Sidenote from the Section Editor: Going back to VEE, we wonder how the term “veepigenesis” is pronounced—turns out, we’re not the only ones wondering how should it be spoken. We reached out to our contact at Sony Music to know the origin of the word.
“Veepigenesis” (read: vee-pih-jhen-ih-sihs) is a combination of VEE and the biology term epigenesis. The idea behind the term is that both the VEE project and its VTubers will gradually build themselves up over time, just like how a flower grows first as a seed and eventually bloom.
Other VTuber Drops: Music, Merch, and Events
Check out these new music releases:
- Takanashi Kiara’s fourth single “Fever Night”
- Nekomata Okayu’s new single “Dokuno Oujisama”
- Laplus Darkness’ new single “Aien Jihen”
- Hololive unit NEGI ☆ U releases EP “NEGI☆U NO PANAIUTA”
- Hoshimachi Suisei’s cover of Ayase’s “Ghost City Tokyo”
- Nanashi Mumei’s cover of DECO*27’s “DILEMMA”
- Namiji Freesia’s cover of Yuki Kaijura’s “Sis Puella Magica”
Also, check out these new merch releases:
- FeFe gets a YouTooz collaboration.
- VYUGEN’s Yunii gets a merch release.
- Laplus Darkness’ birthday merch.
- Hyakumantenbara Salome’s welcome merch
- Nendroid figures of Ironmouse, Nyanners, as well as the Omega Sisters (Ray and Rio)
Lastly, make sure to check these upcoming VTuber-related events:
- Call for participants for the Apex tournament “Sh*tty Aim Cup”
- VFesta launches VTuber meet-and-greet event VMeet in Thailand.
- De La Salle University (DLSU) in the Philippines hosted a VTuber-centric webinar featuring talents from KoMETA Virtual Live and Mito Entertainment.
VTuber Milestones
Congratulations to the following VTubers for reaching the following milestones:
- Nijisanji’s Alban Knox (300,000 YouTube subscribers)
- Hololive Indonesia’s Kobu Kanaeru (600,000 YouTube subscribers)
- Production Kawaii’s Lua Asuka (22,000 YouTube subscribers)
- Nijisanji’s Vox Akuma (1,000,000 Bilibili subscribers)
- Nijisanji’s Reimu Endou (250,000 YouTube subscribers)
- Aetheria’s Iekushi Chapipi (birthday)
- WACTOR’s Hina Misora (birthday),
- Nijisanji’s Xia Ekavira (birthday)
- Fairy Princess Ichika (birthday, 2nd year anniversary)
We would like to close off this VTuber news round-up with a tribute to a fan of Ninomae Ina’nis, Nocturn. As shared online by their brother, Nocturn has passed away after complications related to stage 4 intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Thank you for your time and dedication in this community, you will be missed.
See you all next week.
Featured Image: Bao, Tulsi-Nightmare Madness IV (©VEE), Hyakumantenbara Salome (© ANYCOLOR, Inc.)
Read the Previous Editions of the VTuber News Round-Up:
Week of April 17, 2022 · Week of April 24, 2022 · Week of May 01, 2022 · Week of May 08, 2022 · Week of May 15, 2022 · Archives
