Weekly NewsDrop #30—April 22, 2023

Happy Eid al-Fitr to all of our Muslim friends, especially those from the Southeast Asian region.

• Several agencies in the region including MyHolo TV, Re:Memories, MAHA5, Projek Hikayat, Hololive Indonesia and Project Kavvaii have conveyed their festivity wishes.
• As part of their Eid al-Fitr activities, VTubers Elaine Celestia and Karissa Sharlotte donated to their chosen charities.

This weekend, our editor Jay went to ONLive Con in San Juan City (Metro Manila), Philippines—arguably the first VTuber-centric event in the country. VTuber NewsDrop is a proud media partner, so look forward to our special coverage of the event.

For now, we're back with our weekly news round-up offering, covering technology, industry, and community news within the VTubing space. Without further ado, let's begin.

Latest on NewsDrop

• Sony Music Entertainment Japan continues to beef up its VTuber lineup across its several projects. Coincidentally, both VEE and PRISM Project are introducing their fifth generation VTuber lineups days apart.
• The lineup of VTuber guests at CONQuest 2023 just doesn't stop: we now have Bao the Whale, Shoto, and Demenishki.
• Last, but not the least: we have VEE Project's Kitashirakawa Kakapo tapped by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in Japan for its latest Ikkan Ichimai science communication campaign this year.

Here's the latest weekly stock market update for the week of April 17 to 21:

VTuber News of the Week

We hate to be the bringer of bad news from the VTubing community, but there have been notable incidents that we couldn't just fail to notice:

A recent announcement from Production Kawaii has stated that several people are violating the safety and privacy of its talent Isla Coleman.

• According to the agency, several perpetrators have attempted to obtain and disclose some of the talent's personal information. As a result, the agency has promised fans to take both criminal and legal actions against the accused.
• In a tearful stream, Isla states that the perpetrators were 'regulars' in the community, and even retweeted the announcement from the agency. She has since then blocked several accused as per legal advice, and more will be blocked. There have been talks as well of 'rebuilding the community', as she will try to regain the trust of her fanbase. "I can’t count how many times I cried during the investigation reading receipts," Isla said.

Meanwhile, as VSaikyo 5 concluded, Nijisanji's Selen Tatsuki took to Twitter on her frustrations on her performance on the popular APEX tourney.

• In a Twitter thread, she explained that she has underperformed in her recent plays, despite hours of personal coaching. She also added that she acknowledges the frustration viewers and her in-game leader (IGL) have expressed during the tourney. "Although the ending was bittersweet, at least we had one hell of a journey," said the lunar sky dragon.
• TSB teammate Axel Syrios has also shared his thoughts on the tourney, also calling the journey 'bittersweet' but is thankful that he was able to part of the team.
• Following the event, Selen has been featured as the one of the VTubers in the roster for Apex Rising Charity ProAm event, alongside VShojo's FROOT. The grind never stops.

Over to the Malaysian VTuber scene, we have been seeing reports of a particular individual harassing several VTubers in regard to joining into the MYVTubers Twitch Team.

• This all started off when Yue tweeted out that a particular 'Luca Maple' flooded the VTuber's emails, sending out online tips with messages, and even using the VTuber's email to be signed in various gaming forums. The messages: just to get him signed into the Twitch team.
• This further escalated when Yue had received an email from Luca, saying that he filed a complaint at the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for "alleged cyberbullying".
• The story goes deeper when another local VTuber named Luther Akio from HoloDream said that he received a Discord message from said person as well, asking him if he can send an envelope with cash to the headquarters of local agency Projek Hikayat.
• Following the news, Projek Hikayat has once again reiterated to fans to not visit their offices unless given prior approval. Moreover, the agency has stressed that it is not accepting bribes from fans.
• Local blog Pokde.net has released a detailed report on the situation, while also revealing that the person has long been outed in harassing cosplayers and online personalities in Malaysia.

Omaru Polka, Sakura Miko and Hakui Koyori join Houshou Marine in a voice actor audition session.

• Long story short (based on this r/hololive thread): In the past, Marine created her own RPGmaker game called The Second World inspired by Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Tales of series among others. (Here's Marine mentioning it on stream.)
• Fans got interested in the self-made game that she played it on stream. Even Koyori got interested on it as well, as she sought permission from Marine to play it on her own stream.
• Koyori impressed Marine with her playthrough, voicing the characters there, which went on for eight hours. They set up another stream to finish the game.
• Here's the fun part: Koyori and Marine played around the idea of having fellow Hololive members voice the characters in the game—but voice actress Marina Inoue (of whom Marine is a huge fan) tweeted that she's interested to voice act on it as well.
• This brings us into a voice cast audition organized between Hololive members and professional voice actors. Here's the game's trailer.
• We are continuing to learn from this development, which started from a popular VTuber's passion project.

Last but not the least, Luxiem has revealed their new costumes! Even Jay was hearing fans at ONLive scream over Vox Akuma's latest, more traditional get-up.

In Other News

• AI VTuber Neuro-sama has scored another collaboration with Hololive's Takanashi Kiara, where they have to review fans' fridges—and as with any Neuro collab, Kiara isn't safe from the AI VTuber's unfiltered phrases.
• In the recent 12.3 update of World of Warships, it has announced the return of its Hololive collaboration; with talents Shishiro Botan, Moona Hoshinova, Takanashi Kiara, and Watson Amelia lending their voice to become new commanders in the game.  
• Another unlikely cover: this time with Phase Connect's Himemiya Rie and Idol Corp's Rin Penrose. The collab? A diss track on making fun of each other's quirks and accent. The thing is, Rie's winning because Rin's stuck at the Tesco.
• Yukiyatsuki, the dry sake collaboration with Hololive's Yukihana Lamy, has been rereleased for purchase. Surprisingly, Takahiro Kato, the managing director of the sake brewer Meiri Shurui (which the Lamy sake collab is part of), joined the VTuber's YouTube membership.
• In platforms, the controversial streaming platform Kick has stated that it is introducing stringent measures against sexual content and nudity. The platform has long been under fire for hosting streams featuring such content.
• Popular Filipino gaming and variety content creator GLOCO has teased his debut VTuber model.
• Three new Nanasihiinku talents have debuted this weekend: Hinata Mashu, Ina Uruu and Amaui.
• Virtual Cinderella Project's NHOT BOT officially disbands with the rest of its VTubers going independent. The project was a collaboration between Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Bilibili, with actress and talent Rino Sashihara as its creative director until the end. Its Graduation Day concert was held last March 31, and The First Times covered the said event.
• Ahi, a Japanese VTuber music duo, has announced that it is indefinitely suspending its activities starting May 31.
• 774 Inc. has apologized to fans, as they stated that the upcoming solo live of Suou Patra may not reach its original planned state due to operational issues. Moreover, Seshima Rui's 3D birthday live has been postponed as well.
• Popular VTuber-centric YouTuber Koefficient has welcome Nijisanji's Mika Melatika as its newest guest to his podcast In The Hole.
• Japanese music e-commerce platform Sound House introduces its own brand VTuber named Amanofu Stella.
• VReverie teases its second wave of talents, named Odyssey.
• Some interesting endeavors in the VTubing community: we have Lua Lucky actually doing a VTuber stream while kayaking, Uwu_To_Owo building a robot to help him stir fry, and Ate G actually rigging an electric guitar to her VTuber model.
• A very unlikely collaboration: Malaysia-based VTuber agency Projek Hikayat has announced its involvement in the IPSC RMP Open Championship 2023 - Level III Shooting Tournament, hosted by the Royal Malaysian Police (RPC).
• In Idol Corp-related news: it has now teased a second generation which debuts this May, and the company has availed of the 'verified organization' badge on Twitter (which costs $1,000 for the company plus $50 for each affiliate). Its CEO Aviel Basin has stated that it will temporarily suspend its weekly blog in preparation for the second wave.
• VShojo has also availed of the verified organization badge, with Ironmouse, Projekt Melody, Froot, Kson, Zentreya, and Silvervale first to get affiliated.
• In more hilarious Twitter madness, indie VTuber Lenna is surprised that she has received a golden verification mark from Twitter. Seriously, no one can explain why.
• Be warned though: If you tried to avail of it and did not get approved, there are no refunds. Fefe tried, so you don't have to.
• Hololive's La+ Darkness is voicing the character Silver Cat Chelsea in Valkyrie Connect.
• Some stream breaks in the community include Holostars' Aragami Oga, V&U's Amano Serafi, Lucid Multimedia's Angelina Kumalo, indie VTuber Mogu Muge, and Class-S' Seria Hoshineko.

From Jay: By the time you've seen this, this edition has been updated several times—and we just found out that our email setup's not working since we set up our new email address, so we'll make up for it by adding one more item that I overlooked. Newsletters will be shared through social media only for the time being. Thank you for your kind understanding.

Just two days ago, cosplayers from the Philippines produced a cosplay cover of Nijisanji's Virtual to Live. I asked Aicia why they produced this great video:

The idea behind the creation of the [Virtual to Live cosplay cover] is something inspired by the NijiU or Niji Unit Music Festival where livers gather together at the end, and just sing [the song].

But ultimately, the main reason is we want something, like a proof that the shoot DID happen, with all 26 of us cosplaying JP livers, gathered together for a day. And I’m just really happy they were on board with it. 🥹

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Banner Photo: Voc Akuma on YouTube