Weekly NewsDrop #36—June 3, 2023

For the first time in a long while, VTuber NewsDrop rolled so well—we covered the details on Bao the Whale's supposed animation production which did not happen.

• Ted first brought in the details about the person behind the fraud, and when Bao dropped the name—a certain James Wicks, who was relieved of his duties at Tonari Animation.
• Wicks, who established Studio Cell, got the nod of other popular indie VTubers due to his previous animation production record—but one thing fell between another, and chaos ensued.
• He, through the Studio Cell Twitter account, released a record-breaking 32-page dossier (beating that of Sayu), and leaked the lyrics to Bao's upcoming song. Our resident dossier-reader Ducky's on the case, reading the document in whole and summarizing it for us.

Another big news this week: KoMETA Virtual Live's Miria and Virgil are set to graduate on Monday, June 26, as both talents did not renew their contracts with the agency. This announcement had led to various jokes and memes against KoMETA management online.

This is important: Filian's interview with the second Twitch CEO, Dan Clancy. Now that we've gone past through the disappointment and the layoffs, what's his role at Twitch?

• Filian has revealed herself to be a hard-hitting interviewer, not pulling any punches as she asks Clancy the hard questions—from the company's sustainability, other platforms that existed with Twitch, and so on.
• The full interview is already up on Filian's channel—with a surprise announcement of the VTuber Awards with Mythic Talent this December.

Good News: Unnamed (U-san), following their Live2D debut earlier this week, met their Filipino U-rei outside CONQuest, just a day before meeting Thai U-rei at MaruYa #34. We were lucky to say hi to them up-close—and together with fans.

In Business: ANYCOLOR, Inc.—the parent company of Nijisanji—is set to enter the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market on June 8, KAI-YOU reports.

I'm turning you over to Ted for the rest of this week's stories—but first:

Other Latest Stories on NewsDrop

• Shizuoka Broadcasting (SBS) gets Konohana Sakuya to host its opening and closing programs, becoming the first VTuber to start and end a TV station's broadcast activities.
• MAHA5 Japan terminates the contract of talents Hinai Roze and Ryou Ryouryouno due to prolonged inactivity.
• VTuber clippers spoke to Ducky about the recent scare endangering their sustainability in the YouTube platform.
• On the Spotlight: Ducky talks to the people behind VStream, a social platform customized for the benefit of VTubers and their fans.
• Also from Ducky: Roy Zoga is back as Roy Chiato—what's next for the barista bunny VTuber?
• Plus: Isaa debuts this weekend, and our interview with her is the first to have its audio accompaniment.
• On Behind the Model: Naya has a prolific history on YouTube, but VTubing let them chase a sense of personal fulfilment beyond content creation.

Here's the latest stock market update of key VTuber players as of Friday, June 02:

As of June, we have added three new companies: Mobcast Group, Anymind Group and GEO Group. Know more about these new additions to the Key Players watchlist.

In Other News

• AI VTuber Neuro-sama recently redebuted: but there’s an interesting update. She recently performed an original song alongside fox VTuber Anny. Here’s an animated rendition of that song.
• A tearful Hana Macchia has released a video looking back at the memories of the trio 3setBBQ (Read: Sunset Barbecue). This follows the recent graduations of Zea Cornelia and Taka Radjiman, the other members of the first Nijisanji ID unit.
• An upcoming event from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization titled Virtual Reality Worlds and the Law: How Judges Can Keep Up with the Rapidly Evolving Technology will be held on July 6, and will tackle how virtual reality will be essential to law entities across the globe.
• Twitter is on the brink of getting banned in Europe, as outlets have reported that Elon Musk has pulled out the platform from European anti-discrimination rules. Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s digital minister, has threatened to block the platform if Musk insists to not follow European regulations.
• Eerie becomes the first VTuber to release a song with popular electronic music label Monstercat. She appears as a feature artist on the track Pirate King by RamesesB.
• The satire VTuber group FlaVR is no more–as it’s now considered as an open source project.
• VTuber and graphic designer Cathrena has announced that they have raised US$610 to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
• Ironmouse started a new subathon on June 1st, with the Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF) receiving all donations and full sales from merchandise during the event.
• We’ve thought we’d never seen someone getting copyright-striked live on stream until we’d seen Phase Connect’s Chisaka Airi getting hit by one. This was after she recently did an AMV review, and at the time was playing Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster Stronger.
• The WorldWide 35P Network fan initiative announces an initiative to put Hololive’s Sakura Miko at the famed New York Times Square.
• Many VTuber art tags have been mass-attacked recently by trolls who upload unrelated images and worse–gory images. This image shows over 200 art-related hashtags being targeted.
• Idol Corp delays the trailer for its idolEN second generation called Endless: "Our team is dedicated to ensuring everything meets the quality you have come to expect from us."
• Multiverse Monarch has announced a 2.0 debut, with a revamped model, a new lore and merchandise set to be released June 3.
• Despite recent talent departures, VShojo’s Ironmouse has teased that “a very interesting era” in VShojo is about to happen.
• Live2D Creative Awards has been announced, with applications starting from June 16.
• ANYCOLOR now asks YouTube channels uploading Nijisanji-related clips to register with them. In addition, Nijisanji has also teased a new batch of talents from VirtuaReal.
• Virtual Market 2023 Winter is set to happen on December 17.
• .LIVE has teased the debut of its sixth generation of VTubers.
• Twitch is working on a new ‘Creator Home’ page dedicated for affiliates and partners. The platform is also running a program on the r/Twitch subreddit where they’ll respond to questions at official capacity.
• Over at YouTube, the platform is experimenting with new features for its Live feature, where chat members can now send emojis directly in reaction to a live video.

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