NewsDrop Digest

Weekly NewsDrop #33—May 12, 2023

Anti-corporate sentiments grew to become anti-Anycolor sentiments. Meanwhile, Cover is winning as they inaugurate their new studio. That and more on this week's NewsDrop—one day in advance.

Jay Agonoy

• 6 min read

Needless to say, this week has been rough.

  • We started the week talking about the Google Doc Sayu shared (it's now translated to Japanese, by the way),
  • Followed by Elaine's graduation stream, and
  • The strong anti-Anycolor sentiment that's fueled this time by Nijisanji EN's handling of matters such as revenue split for talent merchandise and Selen Tatsuki's struggle with management regarding the terms and conditions of her new costume illustration contest.
  • Not to mention, ZEA Cornelia's graduation stream this Sunday—listen to her last AutomaTalk on Parasocial Breakup; even if she's not a pro, listening to it is worth it.

I looked back at the current data I have and formed a hypothesis, wherein what we VTuber newsmen report has a correlation with Nijisanji's (or even Hololive's) performance in the Japanese stock market. This hypothesis is still not proven right as of this moment.

  • In other words, we can all play with the numbers and speculate based on past records and experiences. Unless the horse opens its mouth as it feels the pain of realizing that they need to address such strong sentiments, I don't think we are going anywhere—and we are just about to punch each other online over numbers.
  • No matter how we flip over and twist this week, it's clear as day that Nijisanji's parent Anycolor is having a bad time.

It's also clear that Hololive's parent Cover Corporation is winning this week by announcing the opening of its new studio which is the size of around 10 tennis courts.

  • Not to mention, HoloCure, a fan-game that swept the VTuber community, announced (in that scary black text on white background template) that aside from Itch.io, the game will be on Steam after getting a pass from Cover.
  • Koefficient interviews the developer of Holocure, Kay Yu: “[…] so, when launched the first demo of HoloCure, I actually had one of the staff members from Hololive reach out to me in 5 hours, asking if the talents can play this game on stream. […]“
  • Idol Showdown, a fusion of VTubers and fighting games which now has 500,000 downloads, is already popular to a point that a tournament for it is being set up.

I close my eyes for a brief moment before prepared this newsletter for you, our dear readers. Strong convictions aside, I pray that after reading this, we continue to stay understanding and kind to our peers. Let's get started.

Latest on NewsDrop

  • Virtual live platform VARK closes its Series C funding with 1 billion yen raised—which means more money to support development of its VARK Shorts application.
  • VShojo will debut its newest talent, Henya the Genius, this weekend.
  • Hololive Japan's Houshou Marine, Hoshimachi Suisei and Tokino Sora will also be guesting at HoloEN's Connect the World concert.
  • Analysis/Opinion: "Data obtained shows that there is no direct correlation between what VTuber News media reports about a listed company and its performance in the stock market."
  • Spotlight: Wonderverse CEO Michael Lin: "We envision a future where everyone would have a personalized virtual character by their side. We want to build Wonderverse into a platform that can provide the best possible experience to achieve this."
  • On Behind the Model with Ducky: Illustrator and VTuber Synical, who has recently joined Twitch stream team VCutiez: "[If] they’re having a bad day, I want to give them that support and safety net. So that, regardless of where you are in the world, at least there’s one person who understands and can tell you things will get better."

Here is your weekly VTuber Stock Update for May 12, 2023, Friday:

In Other News

Technology

  • VStream announces its first wave of VTubers who will stream through the platform.
  • The start of Rin Penrose’s return stream resembles the look and feel of the BBC.
  • Twitter will purge "accounts that have had no activity at all for several years." A new CEO will also be chosen soon.
  • YouTube is now detecting ad blockers, and prohibits access to those who are currently using it (unless you have YouTube in the whitelist).
  • Pixiv Fanbox will warn its users who submit AI-generated art soon, as it addresses concerns over the proliferation of such art on its platform.
  • Pixiv is also set to roll out a new additional monitoring system to help detect malicious use of AI tech in its platform, among other important changes to be applied in the future.
  • Google I/O opened to the public last Wednesday, and among the new tech discussed there is MediaPipe, an easy on-device machine learning model. A motion capture solution for VTubing is ready for you to try.
  • LoRA model + Stable Diffusion (AI) + iFacialMocap = Working Demo of a moving VTuber model using AI tech.
  • Pump It Up Phoenix 2023: Dasu and The Musical Ghost are among several composers and musicians featured in this upcoming edition.
  • Hololive Production now implements Sony’s ToF AR software development kit for face- and hand-tracking.

Industry

  • Patra Suou is now an independent VTuber after leaving Nanashiinku.
  • Bond (Japan) debuts 5 new VTubers.
  • Tori Thaiga leaves Polariz to try new things, but is still in contact with the team.
  • Saika, Ilan and Drawchii leaves YATTA! group. (h/t Pimster)
  • UwU Market sets expectations of lower international shipping rates to its customers.
  • MugiMart (which collaborates with OniGiri), Stellar Paradigm and even FLAVR take a swipe at Nijisanji’s revenue share by announcing theirs.
  • Something to look forward to at OffKai Expo: Das VTuber Kapital (Panel)
  • Anycolor received a report that someone was scammed by a person claiming to be part of the company, and thus released this warning: “Our company's affiliates, including our own personalities, will not demand money from anyone we have no business relationship with.” (Deepl translation)
  • Cover Corporation will deliver updates from the management level to the fans through its letters which will be posted on Note.

Community

  • Kitsui Akira sets up her first community League of Legends tournament, KiiClash.
  • SMITE launches a VShojo crossover featuring select current and former talents.
  • Gamers Outreach’s VTuber Summer Slam returns this June!
  • Weather Report in Oklahoma/Kansas: Tornado/Hail. Stay safe!
  • Sensitive but heartfelt: Delutaya shares her bout with depression, thanking her fans who kept close to her during such critical times—”[…] Yes… that I am able to have the courage to step out into the public like this once again is due to those who supported me all this while… Yes! I was totally saved by my fans! […]” (h/t Yura)
  • "Do not fear the pain," Raian Valerius said as she beats Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy in Elden Ring.
  • Thailand: Algorhythm Project lays out what kind of fan content for their talents is allowed.
  • Mashiro shared a recording of his recent trip to Okinawa’s most terrifying haunted spot. (h/t R Dhaniswara)
  • Koefficient also interviewed Kureiji Ollie for his In the Hole series.
  • Takane Lui asks fans who share art using her art tag on Twitter to indicate if their works are AI or not.

Event Appearances

Graduations / Stream Breaks

Graduations

Stream Breaks

Milestones

Careers

  • Thailand: Guardian Angel AI opens video editor and graphic design internships (work-at-home)
  • Brazil: Neobaka opens auditions for those interested to be the voice of its upcoming VTubers.
  • Japan: Bond opens recruitment for a managerial position.
  • Hong Kong: Love-Chu! opens auditions for its second-generation talents May 15.
  • Princess Mochi’s friend listed down tips on how to spot AI art.
  • Kuromiya Lucien opens applications for new & temporary moderators.
  • Anycolor opens recruitment for merchandise management and planning staff.

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