Weekly NewsDrop #32—May 6, 2023

To think that this week would get any further worse is an understatement...

May Day! May Day! Another stressful, eventful week for VTubing.

While hanging out at the nearby business district during the Labor Day holiday, yours truly and Leon Steele were coping, hoping things didn't get worse for KoMETA Virtual Live's Elaine. Wednesday afternoon came, and the inevitable has happened: Elaine, KoMETA's flagship talent, is set to graduate this Monday, May 8.

To think that this week would get any further worse is an understatement...

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Other events happening this weekend include Doujima in Singapore, Rainbow Gala 29 in Hong Kong and Comic Frontier in Indonesia. We teamed up with Nawala Karsa for a special Comifuro post-event report for the worldwide audience, which will be shared next week.

Latest on NewsDrop

  • Ted talks about the latest on Brand VTubers—where are they now?
  • Nyatasha Nyanners is the third VShojo talent to leave following Silvervale and Vei. She eventually joins Mythic Talent.
  • Hololive Indonesia talents Moona Hoshinova, Ayunda Risu and Pavolia Reine are guests for Hololive English's first concert this July.
  • REALITY Studios opens new female character-centric, gaming-focused agency Specialite.
  • Good news: Kawa Entertainment's Gen 2, Abyss, debuts!

As we've just had Golden Week, here's a special release of the VTuber stock market update:

VTuber News of the Week

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Content Warning: This segment involves disclosure of internal matters, as well as self-harm. Please exercise caution as you read through this segment.

Zaion LanZa's story was explained in a 22-page document, which I am still trying to understand as of this writing. Here's an excerpt from Ducky's post:

Zaion LanZa was terminated from Nijisanji on March 10—the first for the Japanese VTuber agency’s English branch. The star was previously suspended indefinitely a month before the notice was released.

To say it ignited social media would be an understatement. The reasons Nijisanji gave extended to copyright issues, offensive remarks, false sponsorship claims, and more.

Two months on, Sayu Okami has released a 22-page dossier outlining Zaion’s experience in Nijisanji. The May 6 document rebutted a number of reasons for the XSOLEIL member’s termination, and also shed light on her general experience with the Japanese agency.

The preliminary Twitlonger from Sayu remarked: “Regardless if you knew me or not, I am and always will be, Sayu.

“Today, I wish to tell the story of a girl named Zaion, who has made mistakes, was shamed online, struggled with mental illness, and simply wished to belong somewhere.”

Other News This Week

  • COVID Watch: Laplus Darkness, ZEA Cornelia and Nara Haramaung got COVID.
  • Now that Liliana Vampaia and Lunaris Urufi are the ones remaining in the then-MonstarZ generation (who by the way had an original song—TRIGGER—released just a few hours ago), they will now be known as KENSOU: "But I am here!"
  • Houshou Marine gets her first experience as a director at the recording studio, working with voice actors in the process.
  • Nijisanji EN talents are ranked based on their English language listening difficulty, prompting others to share their #NijiListeningTier rankings on Twitter.
  • Move over, Nippon TV: Taiwan's SETN gets VTubers to anchor the news.
  • As Lucid Multimedia was sending out emails to its second wave of applicants, some emails were made public to others. Lucid's head XH takes the blame and promises it won't happen again.
  • Filian will soon be managed by Mythic Talent.
  • Marina will soon be represented by Elusive Talent Agency, joining Fennzey and Kari.
  • Meta Quest now lets you access Twitch as of v53.
  • Bushiroad splits its Creative division to form Bushiroad Works.
  • Neo-Porte's 3rd Generation debuts! Meanwhile, Shibuya HAL and Shirayuki Reid get their 3D models.
  • Shylily and Sinder are now affiliated wit-h Gamer Supps... on Twitter.
  • Clear Usui is featured on Japanese space magazine HoshiNavi.
  • COQUI is cast as Ten in the English dub of Urusei Yatsura.
  • Pixiv send an advance notice as they prepare to adjust their terms of service following complaints about misuse of AI art technology in the platform.
  • Discord is set to remove four-digit discriminators in usernames.
  • OBS 29.1 is now out, adds AV1/HEVC streaming to YouTube (beta feature) and more.
  • Fan-made Hololive fighter game Idol Showdown is now on Steam.
  • AnnyTF banned from Twitch for the second time.
  • Philippines: 8THIR3AL Project (EiPro) disbands, citing that "the organization is no longer sustainable," and that the talents will become independent VTubers.
  • Also in the Philippines: A VTuber popularity poll (as well as nominations) are ongoing.
  • Malaysia: Project Orbit set to collab with local telco Yoodo.
  • New addition to brand VTubers: A Vtuber for a motor oil company.

Event Appearances

Streams, Hiatuses, Graduations

  • Project Kavvaii’s Airi Gwynevere (stream break until May 9 due to ‘witch duties’)
  • ShirayuriPro’s Tatsurii (stream break until May 16 due to exam week)
  • Punkalopi (stream break due to personal reasons)
  • Noor (stream break for health reasons)
  • Izanami Kamiko (stream break due to unforeseen circumstances brought by COVID-19)
  • Fulgur Ovid (hiatus due to health reasons)
  • Ahri_VT (hiatus for personal reasons)
  • Reiyu Guigui (hiatus for health reasons)
  • Amatsuka Uto (indefinite hiatus officially started on April 30)
  • Benio Mashiro (indefinite hiatus started on May 2)
  • Iekushi Chapipi (indefinite hiatus starting May 24)
  • YFU BABY (graduated on May 6)
  • Mary Watanabe (graduated from VTuber streaming activities, effective immediately—to focus more on art and video format content)
  • S-Class (graduation of several talents under its umbrella, to transition into indies)

Milestones

Career + Pro Tips + Templates

Let's cap off this edition with #1 Sayaka Maizono fan Tobyn taking Nanashi Mumei to Hooters, and Pipkin Pippa getting into a frenzy with fans at Cyber Sakura.

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