Weekly NewsDrop #25—March 18, 2023

We've been busy internally this week—we've recently launched our Facebook and LinkedIn pages on top of our other socials (YouTube, Tiktok, Twitter) so you can keep up with the posts we share.

Latest on NewsDrop

• NexStage Project told NewsDrop they continue to provide support to the members of CodeX while working towards re-debuting the project and delivering on what they had promised. We thank them for their prompt reply.
• Just before the Super Expo and 4th Fes., Hololive Production revealed a new ad campaign which puts its VTubers together with their audience.
• D Munkie will go on a long leave of absence, but he did share the good news that is Gundam Evolution Season 3. In addition, NecroNews has parted ways with NewsDrop, and we thank them being part of this huge undertaking and wish them all the best.
• You should not miss the collab stream between voice actress Shu Uchida (please refer to her VTuber self as Siyu) and PRISM Project agents Sara Nagare and Rita Kamishiro.
• Ducky's Spotlight interview with Senz shows an interesting story on how VTubing moved a streamer to join the party.

Biggest VTuber News of the Week

It's Hololive Super Expo / 4th Fes. weekend!

• An addition to the Expo's activities on Day 1 is a Cosplay Talk and Photo segment where the staff roam around and ask cosplayers to introduce themselves. We saw some great moments from that exact segment, so you need to watch the VOD (Starting at 4:00:00).
• New Announcements after the first day of 4th Fes.: Connect the World - Hololive English 1st Concert on July 2 at YouTube Theater in Los Angeles, CA and Project Hololive City this Summer featuring Twinkle 4 You - 5th Generation Live on July 7.
• Earlier: All 35 Hololive Japan members will have their own Nendoroids, Good Smile Company announced.

The latest Anycolor Inc. financial reports revealed that the parent company behind Nijisanji is applying to move to the Prime Market segment (PDF) of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

• Anycolor saw a 91% year-on-year increase in revenue (PDF) with a net profit margin of 5.2 Billion yen (154% increase compared to last year).
• Commerce is a major contributor to Nijisanji Japan's quarterly revenue increase, giving Anycolor 2.88 million yen (FY 2023 Q3) compared to last quarter's 1.99 million (FY 2023 Q2). Commerce is also a valuable part of Nijisanji EN's revenue (1.41 million yen on FY 2023 Q3).
• People watch 193 million hours of Nijisanji content (FY 2023 Q3), with 32 million hours spent on watching EN talents.

In Other News

• SuRge departs from AuroraLiveVR, and Nazellia Ryoku from MetanoiaLive. Both will continue as an independent VTuber.
• Liliana Vampaia returns to streaming—and she's also set to appear at Cyber Sakura in Canada.
• Other VTuber group appearances: V&U at Anime Impulse San Diego (in cooperation with Oshilive), Phase-Connect also at the same event; Kawa and Lucid coming to OffKai Expo 2023 (We'd love to see an executive session).
• Good News: Roza Coatl's intellectual property rights transfer to Lucid from Haven-X has been officially finalized. We asked her Manager-kun about this, and he did say this move did took a while.
• VShojo's Vei, Vyugen's Yoclesh, Captain Hannah, Nux, Fefe and Cy Yu join the Mythic Talent roster.
• Zentreya donates $10,200 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital following her reverse subathon.
• Nijisanji collaborates with UI Bank for a special promotion. The agency is also set to collaborate with Netflix for AnimeJapan 2023, with Ibrahim and Sou Hayase hosting an afterparty on March 28, 7pm JST.
• AZKi's GeoGuessr records gets noticed by Japanese media, with a feature story on Inside Games.
• Hoshimachi Suisei promotes Chill Out, a slightly carbonated drink, in one of her recent streams.
• Minato Aqua's Aquarium game won an award in the Actor Division of Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2022.
• Hololive English fans put Myth and CouncilRys into the screens of popular ad spot Yunika Vision.
• Going back to the recent Hololive ad campaign, home store Nitori is holding a collaboration with the VTuber agency.
• Shylily gets another dub as she gets to collab with Kobo Kanaeru on Overwatch.
• Back to ad campaigns, look at this Nornis ad on a boat.
• Live2D has provided fixed versions of products previously affected by Cubism Core vulnerability.
• Brave Group's Palette Project announces a new sub-unit: RouteHeart featuring Rona Nanami and Kotoha Fujimiya.
• VSPO! collaborates with Nissin Curry Meshi.
• Riot Music's Yuka Nagase is set to hold her Form I concept online live next Saturday.
• Thailand: Polygon Project announces opening of internships.
• VRoyale lists 36 VTubers participating in its Mario Kart tourney.
• Another Cloud9 talent, Depths, has left the esports org.
• Artist EN and VTuber Wrench are teaming up to develop a Discord bot which detects AI art.
• Idol CEO Aviel Basin reveals that it operates on a tight budget as it continues investing for its talents—"In fact, over the past year, February was the only month we managed to see some profit. However, we immediately reinvested those earnings by hiring a team of over 15 video editors to further support our talents."
• Look forward to Season 5 of VSaikyo, featuring 20 teams of 3 VTubers each. team captain Axel Syrios teams up with Regis Altare and Selen Tatsuki.
• Also look forward to the results of Invicta PH's Volume 2 Charity Tournament with 20 teams of 3 VTubers each.
• If you've read our EIEN Project Spotlight feature, watch this interview straight from the source. We consider this as CEO Moeri's first appearance after the group's talents debuted.
• Philippines: YouTube superchat rates have increased by 10%.
• Kamishiro Taishi, Lua Lucky and 4 other VTubers read-along Shakespeare's The Tragefy of Julius Caesar.
• 774 Inc. and Neo-Porte details separate plans to counter slander and defamation against their talents.
• Record label debut: Yupsilon will make a major debut under Pony Canyon.
• Stream Breaks: Scarle Yonaguni, Woozie Wannai.
• Graduations: Freya Fuyuki (March 18), Janu Ranata (April 15), Mireille Kuuma (April 16)

We give our respects to the multi-talented space cat Betsy, as her family has announced her passing. She will be missed.

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