NewsDrop Digest

Weekly NewsDrop #22—February 25, 2023

Can't this month get any worse for VTubing? Our last newsletter for the month reflects the current state of affairs.

Jay Agonoy, Teddy Cambosa

• 4 min read

The word this week is HATE. Well, it's been the word since last week (or the week before). This is by far the worst month of the year, no thanks to several incidents of harassment and vitriol on the bird app, affecting content creators in more ways than one.

Biggest VTuber News of the Week

  • We've heard Sinder cry on stream because she's being dogpiled after releasing her metal cover of CPR. One comment against Sinder's cover weaponizes another VTuber's content, to which the latter calls foul.
  • Also in dogpiling, we understood that Silvervale will not be active on Twitter anymore, only retweeting art or posting her schedules.
  • We can also confirm that Pikamee Amano's Twitch VOD archive shows nothing as of press time. The VTuber has not been active for two weeks.
  • TVS got hit with multiple strikes from Company A, and they're holding the line. They've already sent a message to the company to retract the strikes.
  • We've been informed of two trans VTubers who have graduated this week due to transphobia. (In light of this, our founding partner Kawa Entertainment, a diverse organization, stands up for trans creators.)

We hope to bring you more positive stories after bringing the said items to your attention. Let's go.

Latest on NewsDrop

  • NecroNews features a Buried Alive Banger—Severed Steel! Also, they reported on Overwatch 2's confusing battle pass system. +1 for the Funk-Up Counter!
  • Ducky returns with a Spotlight introduction to Mizuzu Neo, who is currently running her birthday subathon.
  • Also on the Spotlight is EIEN Project, which debuts today.
  • Vienna's contract with Cloud9 ends as she moves to her next adventure.
  • Have you voted for your favorite VTuber at The Streamer Awards today?
  • Rejoice, Kindred: Vox Akuma returns to streaming this March.

In Other News

  • Amber Glow announces the graduation of Nunki Arca; as well as the departure of Xiulan Long from the agency.
  • Shylily joins the growing roster of VTuber guests at the popular German anime and manga convention DoKomi. Nijisanji EN's Alban Knox is also joining the roster as well.
  • A VTuber is in hot water after saying that VTubers should not engage in political discussions. She has then received criticism from other VTubers.
  • Vice News reported an incident where a virtual reality (VR) adult entertainment worker was denied entry into the United States for her own line of work.
  • A man in Nagoya, Japan was recently arrested after complaints from a female VTuber acquaintance, stating that the 41-year-old gaming company employee sexually harassed said female acquaintance.
  • Popular cooking VTuber Onigiri has recently collaborated with the AI VTuber Neuro-sama.
  • In VTuber tech updates, check out this motion sensor design from Diver-X, and the latest update from Shoost which adds automatic camera switching. Meanwhile, Webcam Motion Capture version 1.8.2 is here!
  • Nijisanji EN's Selen Tatsuki is a guest at the upcoming CyberSakura event in Canada.
  • Hololive releases an exclusive interview with its creative production division team, who are responsible for creating new costumes, accessories, and resources for its talents.
  • Twitch streamers can now tag other channels in their stream title, much like how YouTube allows creators to tag other channels. The platform is also launching an experiment that shows the best time to stream based upon category, language and region.
  • Project Solaria finally announces that PHVTuber Harukatsu is joining its talent roster. Harukatsu is also a speaker at an upcoming workshop hosted online by the De La Salle University's Gakuen Anime Soshiki organization.
  • Popular fast-food chain KFC has launched a limited-time campaign with Nijisanji's Luxiem in China.
  • In this interview with Universal Music Japan by Billboard, Hajime Isogai, General Manager of Export Marketing, spoke about the label's overseas strategy, including Mori Calliope and its expansion to the United States.
  • The upcoming Kizuna no Allele anime—based on Kizuna Ai herself—will air in April 3 this year.
  • Speaking of Kizuna Ai, the company of the same name released a video detailing the projects they are doing—and all are described under one "hello, world" umbrella.
  • Hololive's La+ Darkness is set to return to streaming this February 28. It should be recalled that the talent announced her indefinite hiatus on December last year.
  • OffKai Expo 2023 announces Akuma Nihmune as its next guest.
  • Anime Boston 2023 brings back select Hololive talents (from Japan, Indonesia, Hololive English and Holostars English) for stage events and meet-and-greets.
  • Asahi Lina is busy checking reviews on some of her 23 patches for Apple's M1 GPU (and we understand if it felt too technical for the rest of you).

Stream Breaks, Hiatuses and Graduations

  • Nijisanji's Hyakumentabara Salome is taking a break from streaming up until the end of February this year.
  • Indie Stella Luna will return on March 5, citing that the break will be redirected to focus on physical and mental health.
  • Other stream breaks to look out for include Hololive's Takane Lui, Nijisanji's Ver Vermillion, Project Kavvaii's Airi Gwynevere, and Amber Glow's Himeko Kumi.
  • The lifeguard VTuber Tsunari has announced her graduation from VTuber activities on April 1 this year.
  • Virtual idol group V☆irus will be disbanding, with its members to focus on IRL activities.

Milestones

Careers

  • Anycolor is looking for a project manager to promote projects related to Nijisanji and Nijisanji EN (Japanese)
  • Applications to be a volunteer moderator for MyHolo TV is still open until February 27, Monday.
  • Idol is also looking for volunteers to moderate its community.
  • Phase Connect is looking for more video editors until March 17.

Just as we are about to release this edition, we received news that a magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit Hokkaido, Japan with no tsunami warning issued. We hope everyone there is safe.

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Banner Photo: Sinder on Twitter

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