Weekly NewsDrop #45—August 6, 2023

VTubers from hololive Production (hololive, holostars) such as the Tempus Guild and Hakos Baelz now have their podcasts.

• Bae talks about anything related to music creation on Brewin' and Groovin' with Bae featuring her "podcast Bae" voice. Hear the first episode.
• National Tempus Radio (abbreviated suspiciously as NTR) gathers the Tempus guild into random discussions.

Aside from hololive, Weekend Gaming hosted by VReverie's Erika Byakko is also a podcast on Spotify. Another one you can add in the queue is The IDF Podcast's Undiagnosed episode featuring VShojo's Ironmouse. Go listen to all these shows.

idol CEO Aviel Basin returns with his idol Weekly blog to talk about the risks associated with running VTuber agencies, adapting to audience feedback, the importance of having the right team, and financial management strategy. We're taking an excerpt from the latest post:

Putting together the right team is, as I see it, key to the success of VTuber agencies. The core team that runs a VTuber agency should have a deep understanding of VTubers, the VTuber community, content creation, startup management, fundraising, marketing, and finance. Without these elements, I believe a VTuber agency won't be able to succeed.

Japan saw another glimpse of VTubers and Baseball altogether as hololive collaborated with Yomiuri Giants for the baseball team's face-off with Tokyo Yakult Swallows Tuesday August 1.

• hololive Today reports: "hololive participated in several on-screen events before, during, and after the game, including speaker introductions by Koyori and Kanata, Koyori reading the starting line-up, several hololive talents singing the team's theme song 'Fighting Spirit,' and, of course, YAGOO's 'no bounce' pitch challenge!"
• The game ended 0-1 in favor of Swallows.

NIJISANJI Fes 2023 is set on the weekend of December 23 and 24 at Tokyo Big Sight East Exhibition Hall. A lot has been announced for this annual event:

• Stage events such as Sakuyui Theater, Kuzuha's solo event "Kaleidoscope" and NIJISANJI 5th Anniversary Live "Symphonia".
• An Eve Festival will be held the night before the weekend, with Nornis, VALZ, Kakeru Yumeoi and Kaede Higuchi lined up.
• Several NIJISANJI EN stars are also set to join: (Day 1) Pomu Rainpuff , Meloco Kyoran, Rosemi Lovelock, Maria Mari0nette, (Day 2) Luca Kaneshiro, Ren Zott0, and Kotoka Torahime.
• If you'd like a brief summary of what has been announced, trust Hikaru's.

Philippine TV channel NET25 aired the pilot episode of its newest Saturday morning show Art Academy featuring two virtual hosts, Art and PJ (Princess Joy).

• Prior to Saturday's pilot, the hosts were interviewed live on its morning shows, showing signs that the characters are rigged with 2D tracking technology.
• We skipped the first five minutes of the show to watch a segment which mimics the self-introduction videos VTubers create.
• Looking at the show's credits at the end of the pilot, we are confident that it is the first show to use such technology.

Latest on NewsDrop

• NIJISANJI's Kuzuha and Nornis are set to perform theme songs for Good Night World anime
• VShojo launches art gallery exhibition
• Virtual Talent Academy terminates several VTubers for violating rules—current list of students is updated
• An interview with VTuber Summit game developer Ren Aevum which was months in the making, is released
• We asked Virtual Market organizer HIKKY what makes it an engaging and enjoyable event—that and our impressions for Vket Summer 2023 in our latest event report
• PLUS: On YouTube—Highlights of Moomin' Manila 2023 in the Philippines, a Jollibee themed party celebrating Nanashi Mumei's birthday

Here is the latest stock market update for select VTuber companies listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange as of August 4, 2023.

In Other News

• Attention, VTubers who stream Minecraft (or has servers): They've just updated their guidelines, which also affect other content creators. This tweet thread explains the changes best: You can’t use ‘Minecraft’ as the primary use Minecraft and their assets in sponsorships and can't charge/paywall Minecraft content.
• Sanrio is set to have another VTuber project—this time, with ClaN Entertainment. (The first one is "real employee" Natsume Renge, who debuted almost 2 years ago.)
• Crunchyroll News interviews hololive English -Advent-, releasing not just interviews but special messages from each member.
• Club Holostars is coming to Animate Girls Festival on the weekend of November 3 to 4—featuring key art from Makoto Senzaki (Gavis Bettel's illustrator mama).
• VTubers with the name "Shiori," the same as the hololive English -Advent- star, are reported to have been harassed just for having such name (for example, Shiori Masayume from Malaysia, who at the moment has locked her account). A quick look at Twitter replies direct us at one user who replies to tweets with a hostile tone. The said user follows several hololive and holostars talents.
• Following up from Koito Ria (Mikeneko)'s entry to VOICE-ORE, the agency for virtual voice actors made it clear that she is under a talent support contract, wherein unlike other members, all earnings from Ria's live streams are paid to her as if she has done her own individual activities.
• Aside from Daily Exercise, NIJISANJI's Fuwa Minato has announced that he's going to form a band—the good news was shared at the end of his live band session with Watarai Hibari.
• DETECT MY LOVE, the new single from NIJISANJI EN's Mysta Rias, was listed in Billboard's Hot Trending Songs list powered by Twitter. Prior to the inclusion, the song was sung by lots of Mystakes at ACGHK 2023, his last event appearance before graduating from the agency.
• Palette Project's Sputrip trio, NoriPro's Tamaki Inuyama, as well as several Hong Kong VTubers were also present at ACGHK, performing their songs on stage. HKVTuber Mya sung Cantonese renditions of popular Jop and anime songs in her 3D form.
• Anime Revolution in Canada will host Phase Connect, EIEN's Kilia Kurayami and Kiki Lockheart, hololive's Ceres Fauna, Moona Hoshinova, Ayunda Risu, and Ninomae Ina'nis.
• Kilia and Skye Shinryu are also set to join Anime Toronto this September.
• Crunchyroll-Hime will appear at this year's Otakuthon.
• Anime Impulse Orange County welcomes the entry of holostars English talents, starting with Regis Altare who had his meet and greet tickets sold out in just 2 minutes.
• The holoID Cup is being held this month alongside the celebration of Indonesian Independence. The participants and game rules are already set.
• holoEN's Mori Calliope landed another major collab—this time with Reol for Carousel of Imaginary Images.
• Top 3 Idol Showdown at EVO 2023 champions hailed: YG kubo, PFGG  Crackin Atkins and PFGG BOOM DIVORCED.
• V4Mirai's Abi Kadabura almost set her bed on fire during her monetization stream. 👀

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