Weekly NewsDrop #24—March 12, 2023

This Week: We definitely saw it coming. Nijisanji's Zaion LanZa has been officially terminated on multiple grounds of offenses and violations. The announcement is one of the agency's most detailed breakdowns of a talent's offenses as grounds for termination. More on that with our own Ducky's reporting of the announcement.

Nijisanji Star Zaion LanZa Removed After Just 3 Months

Zaion LanZa’s departure is Nijisanji EN’s second in three months, with the XSOLEIL star being terminated after an indefinite suspension.

VTuber NewsDropAndrew Amos

That being said, let's go with what's the latest in the VTubing scene, both corporate and indie, last week.

Latest on NewsDrop

• The popular animation software Live2D has officially responded regarding security concerns of its Cubism Core SDK, and recently releasing a MOC3 Consistency Checker, which allows users if the file has been modified illegally.
• On our newest NewsDrop Spotlight, we did an extensive interview with Pretty Knight Lauri, and learn more from her about the perception of the VTuber fandom, as well as putting the spotlight on diverse VTuber groups.
• On our own latest NecroNews, Elle and Booster tackle a ton of Pokemon DLC leaks, and a review of a Buried Alive Banger, Phantom Brigade.
• Take a look at some of the VTuber stuff present during Comic VKet 3.

Biggest VTuber News of the Week

Shylily announces new wins yet: The popular indie orca VTuber has announced that she has joined the roster of talent management agency Mythic Talent. She is the latest VTuber to join the agency, alongside Buffpup and Fream. This comes after Shylily just reached 700,000 subscribers on YouTube.

VTuber forced to graduate for safety reasons: After leaving WACTOR following multiple agency fiascos, indie Lia Mitsurugi has been forced to graduate from all of her VTuber activities by her family. According to a now-deleted statement, Lia's mental state had taken a drastic downturn, as a result of defamation and slander surrounding certain rumors involving her. We wish her the best as she moves on from this chaos.

Indonesian agencies announce merger: In an unlikely business move, VTuber agency Yorukaze Production has announced the acquisition of local agency Tengoku Live. With that, all Tengoku Live talents will automatically be labeled as Yorukaze talents.

Discord's new update is straight-up eavesdropping: Discord recently launched a slew of AI-powered updates. However, many users pointed out the changes in Discord's privacy policy, which omitted texts about Discord not recording calls or messages of the users. The platform assured later on that their new AI features will not permanently store information of users.

In Other News

• Japanese internet media company GREE has announced the launch of a new company called REALITY Studios, which will handle VTuber business and corporate metaverse business. It already debuted its first unit called "FIRST STAGE PRODUCTION".
• Mythic Talent has also roped in VTuber Captain Hannah as part of its talent roster.
• The VTuber group VSPO has announced a collaboration with Credit Saison which will feature a limited-edition card release with original VSPO artwork.
• Some good and bad news fron YFU BABY. The good news is that her idol competion called "Rising Signs" has officially launched, with some participants including KirakiraKat and Kawa's PiaPiUFO. The bad news is that her upcoming live concert has been cancelled, noting that it will be her last event for the foreseeable future.
• Some discussions in the Malaysian VTuber space: multiple reports were noted of certain religious people harassing and attacking VTubers, saying that according to Islam, VTubing is not halal (lawful). Many local VTubers fired back at saying that it is merely a medium for expression.
• VTuber and voice actress Homicidal Teddy has announced an interview with voice actress Lexi Nieto, the dub VA for Tomo Aizawa in the Tomo-Chan is a Girl anime.
• Utano Pandora has warned fans to refrain from emailing her, stating that she shouldn't collaborate with a certain VTuber. She notes that her emails are business use only.
• NexStage has apologized to fans for the multiple difficulties it received during the debut/live concert of its CodeX generation. It should be recalled that the VTuber company promised a near-simultaneous 2D and 3D debut for its talents. Nonetheless, the agency has been thankful for the support it received, and the effort of the production team.
• Nijisanji's Vox Akuma has launched a charity stream for the non-profite SAVE: Suicide Prevention.
• Phase Connect's Pipkin Pippa has stated publicly that she will block anyone who will be using her as a reason to attack other people. This follows after Pippa streamed the controversial Hogwarts Legacy game, and people using her update to attack others who condone playing the game.
• The first appearance of Hololive's Hoshimachi Suisei on The First Take has finally reached 10 million views.
• Japanese telco Docomo has launched some campaigns involving VTubers: first, it used Tacitly's new song Know Your Heart as a tie-up song for its 30th anniversary; and second, it collaborated with VShojo's KSon for its home 5G plan offering.
• Japanese VTuber Merun Morino has been appointed as an event ambassador by popular store chain Shibuya109.
• Cover Corporation has won the 'Encouragement Award for Startups' at the recently concluded 4th IP BASE AWARD.
• Our favorite rocket launch geek VTuber Clear Rocket has reacted to the recent H3 Rocket launch by JAXA. However, the launch failed and the space agency was forced to 'self-destruct' the rocket on air.
• Here's the lineup for the upcoming Invicta PH Volume 2 tourney.
• Idol Corp has announced new terms of service related to derivative works and community guidelines. Its CEO Aviel Basin has also launched the first installment of its 'idol Weekly' blog, where he will share some of the behind-the-scenes with the agency.
• Special mention as well to Idol Corp's Rin Penrose, who has been creating informative (yet hilarious) shorts on VTubing, ranging from the truth on YouTube superchats to the reason why 'don't mention other VTubers on stream' rule exists.
• On platform news, Twitch has announced policies to ban deepfake content. Meanwhile, YouTube's overlay ads are officially going away on April 6 this year.
• EDMS Channel, a YouTube channel dedicated to promoting electronic music, is on the brink of getting sold off, according to its current handler, VTuber Koro. In response, they launched a month-long fundraiser to come up with ways to save the channel.
• After Harukatsu, Project Solaria officially welcomes Wagashi Trash as part of its roster.
• Want to know how to deal with a hate raid? Kumo Kuddelmuddel has found a genius way to combat it.

We cap off this Weekly Newsdrop with a work-in-progress video from VTuber.Asia database founder Valentino Ringo and his quest to showcase the growth of the Indonesian VTuber scene from 2018 up until now.

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