Weekly NewsDrop #35—May 27, 2023

"Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?"—Maximus, Gladiator (2000)*

* The clip depicts violence and blood. Please be advised.

This week: The community is fighting over the use of a slur, which stemmed from Vei's indie re-debut stream. Anyone who comment for and against it in public, especially on a platform like Twitter, will find itself being put in a blocklist.

• We've seen some VTubers who stopped using "VTuber" to classify themselves, saying that what some popular VTubers are saying are not reflective of what they do or who they are.
• Lucid Multimedia's Roza Coatl, following her take on this, was suspended by her agency for 10 days. Said decision has divided people further, with some questioning the agency's commitment to its talents and the audience while others support the decision to make their talents accountable for their actions.

The last thing we want to hear from this scene alone is that people are willing to hurt each other physically as each opposing view continues to assert their dominance over this conversation.

Will the community get more politically chaotic after this? We certainly hope not. —Jay

Latest on NewsDrop

• Japanese multi-channel network Kiii ventures into the VTubing with Viiins.
• Singapore-based Crazia launches VOLs VTuber project in the Philippines—with a launch party on June 18. (They even have fliers!)
• On the Spotlight: We spoke with true crime VTuber Fear/Sona to learn more of her content direction, and how she is able to do it whilst being mindful of sensitivity of certain topics.
• We attended a Nijisanji Cup Sleeve Event, "One World 243," this weekend. Stay tuned for our short video coming to Tiktok, Reels and Shorts soon!

Here's the latest stock market update of key VTuber players as of Friday, May 26:

Biggest VTuber News of the Week

Setting aside this week's terrible news, here's what we consider as the biggest news in VTubing this week:

Bao the Whale revealed that an animation studio who was supposed to produce music videos for her original songs has received $34,517.86, a huge amount of money gathered from her subathon. On stream, she apologizes to fans as one of her subathon goals have not been met.

• The studio in question has yet to fulfill their responsibility. "The studio in question has refunded me exactly $20 to date. This is how much they owe me," the indie VTuber said.
• She adds: "They saw this post and watched me breakdown from stress on Twitch. I’ve yet to receive a single dime."
• Several VTubers backed her up: Captain Hannah almost lost $3,000 to them if she had not filed for a PayPal dispute, and even Lucius Merryweather knows which studio they are pertaining to.
• Fans are already on the case to find out which studio made Bao break down, as the VTuber would not disclose the studio. Merry explains: "When there's a lot of money and potential legal issues involved, people are often advised by lawyers to veer on the side of caution when revealing names, out of fear it can complicate the process."

There are lots of events happening this weekend, here's what we checked out online:

• In Canada, it's Anime North weekend with 28 guest VTubers including Domo attending.
• In the US, Atlanta's MomoCon hosts VShojo's Ironmouse and Zentreya, as well as Hololive's Nanashi Mumei and Ouro Kronii and Holostars English's Axel Syrios, Josuiji Shinri and Regis Altare.
• Also in the US, North Carolina's Animazement hosts the first part of VTV World (Lily Kanon and loy) ALLVERSE Weekends, featuring a collection of music from virtual personalities.
• Meanwhile, in Taiwan: Comic World Taiwan welcomed Shu Yamino, Mysta Rias and Vox Akuma.

Something fun: Hololive English's Hakos Baelz has jumped on top Hololive's most dangerous after playing Genital Jousting on stream. Axel Syrios followed suit.

In Other News

Ted follows this newsletter with more news in brief.

• Japanese entertainment and content creation company viviON has announced that it has generated ¥45.4 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2022. This was 28% higher than its fiscal year 2021 revenue of ¥35.b billion.
• ANYCOLOR has announced that a local court has approved of disclosing a person’s personal information who committed a rights infringement act against the company. Said perpetrator was asked by the court to pay ANYCOLOR ¥3 million in damages.
• Recent data from the Yano Research Institute reveals that 30% of 894 men and women correspondents in Japan with ages between 15 and 39 are interested in VTubers, and watch VTuber videos at least three hours per week.
• Idol’s Rin Penrose is the latest to be featured on YouTube Creators’ official Twitter.
• Philippine VTuber agency Project Solaria has announced leadership changes within the agency. Its CEO Misaki has officially stepped down from his role on May 19, and was succeeded by Hideki.
• Two months after two talents left the agency days after its debut, NexStage Project is dealing with yet another blow, this time their talent Blair Labri who left the agency on May 26.
• VShojo talent Kson was recently in the tropical country of the Philippines. She even asked her followers what snacks to eat and even took a ride on a banana boat. And while her flight back to Japan was initially canceled due to the upcoming supertyphoon Mawar (local name Betty), she finally managed to return to Japan yesterday.
• Japanese VTuber agency First Stage Production has released a public statement on setting legal actions against perpetrators who are using their copyrighted works without permission, and other malicious nuances against the company and their talents.
• Indonesian VTuber agency Virtunix has announced that its talent Dosei has parted ways with the agency to go indie.
• Thailand agency Virtual Zeven has announced cutting ties with former talent Lunatrix and her manager, following internal conflict and breach of contract.
• Here’s a cute yet enlightening comic strip from artist Lyn on the reality of a VTuber who also does a full-time job behind-the-scenes.
• For Koefficient’s latest installment of “In The Hole”, he speaks with Phase Connect’s Pipkin Pippa.
• KabhaalVT is the latest VTuber jury member at the upcoming Horror Game Awards 2023.
• Check out this interview with LeeYahGrl, a Filipino variety streamer/VTuber, on the digital publication Digital Life Asia.
• Hololive has apologized after errors in its recent products, including the misspelling “Holollive” in some of the merchandise.
• Nijisanji’s Kenmochi Touya has announced that he is publishing his first book on August 21, an essay collection titled The Void Sect. It is now available online for pre-order through Kadokawa, with limited release.
• In more hilarious news, Project Kavvaii’s Airi Gwynevere has found herself lately streaming in–get this–the bathroom during her stay in Venice. She is currently on a European vacation, with France at her next stop.
• Adding to more hilarity is Idol’s Fuyo Cloverfield streaming for 10 hours–just to listen to the now infamous meme song Nyan Cat over and over.
• Want to learn the overview of various VTuber sub-genres? Here’s AlpineShowTime explaining it.
• In terms of VTuber growth, meanwhile, here’s an explainer from Sasabiyuu.
• Three weeks after he started his break, Nijisanji’s Fulgur Ovid returns.
• We have a new up-and-coming streaming service, or is it? Trovo Live promises streamers with a US$245 earning per hour, yet streamer news reporter Zach Bussey remarked how “unbelievable” this claim is.
• AmaLee (Monarch) has announced that she is voicing the characters Marian and Yuri in the game Outerplane.
• A new Philippine agency on the rise: RAISE Entertainment has announced that they are now in the process of registering the agency as a legal entity in the country. Following this, their first talent under the Kouhousei Live Cadets brand Moeneko Von Katze debuts.
• Check out this indie anime project from Japan titled Isekai Yashiki no Yosei Maid.
• Virtual idol group Abyss Idols has announced the departure of the talent behind Yuna Fukunaga.After their successful collaboration with chef VTuber OniGiri, ViteRamen introduces its limited edition Roasted Soy Sauce Chicken flavor in collaboration with Captain Dandyfloss.

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Banner Photo: Ouro Kronii on YouTube