What We Know So Far About Luxion and Its Fallout

Members of Astria, the second generation VTubers of Philippine-based group Luxion have decided to leave as a whole, days just after debuting under the said group. Here s what we know so far.

Luxion, a Philippine-based VTuber group, came under fire after allegations raised by indie VTuber Sawada Kuro when she was approached by LUXION’s manager Yukii Kurayo related to a similar VTuber model.

  • As a matter fact, Kuro was in the right since the model she was using can be purchased by anybody and used freely.
  • The unprofessional behavior shown by the manager related to the issue backfired, and exposed other inconsistencies of Luxion’s management.
  • Luxion's second generation have decided to leave as a whole, days just after debuting under the said group, because of this incident.

How It Ended Like This

A tweet made by Sawada Kuro dated October 24 showed how she was approached by the management of Luxion, asking her why she was ‘using their model’.

  • In response, Kuro responded with the fact that the model can be used by anybody upon purchase. The callout tweet also includes a screenshot of the model artist’s FAQs, including permission to use it upon purchase.
  • Criticisms began to roll in after Luxion’s manager Yukii Kurayo, replying via the Luxion official Twitter account, stating that he was made aware of the situation by their talent Calshe Eloise. However, the wording on the statement was framed in a more ‘unprofessional’ way, with Yukii saying that ‘he forgot about it’.
  • Prior to the whole issue, Calshe had informed management in two separate occasions that she will be using the model she purchased while her actual Live2D model is being made. Yukii requested Calshe to expedite the process without any help.
  • The unprofessionalism shown in the statement caused a massive wave of criticism to not just members of the Philippine VTuber community, but also from other VTubers who view the Luxion response as careless, irresponsible, and unprofessional.
  • A deeper look into the Luxion’s group structure notes that it failed to identify itself as either a VTuber company or group. Moreover, it only promised to talents to only get streaming promotions, with them telling applicants to carry the brunt of their channel in order to have them make revenue.

Climax

With continued criticism still piling on, Luxion’s second generation Astria–who were supposed to properly debut a week later–have announced their departure from the group, expressing their condemnation of the actions made by their former manager. Astria is composed of talents Aoife Cleon, Calshe Eloise, Marina Bluefin, Ruku Natsuki, and Yazumi Nori.

  • The Astria statement, posted by former Luxion talent Yazumi Nori, details what went down, which basically noted that Luxion management pinned down Calshe–who was using the general use model–with all of the mistakes instead of the manager who lacked transparency and accountability for the issue.
  • In addition, Nori also called out Yukii for still keeping the updated rigged model for Calshe, despite Calshe paying for both the model and the rigging.
  • Following that, first generation talent Tokwa Rokwa also announced her departure from the group, citing exhaustion from the issue that has affected the well-being of the talents.

Yukii, who has been at the center of this issue, has announced his resignation as manager from the group. In a Twitter thread he posted more recently, he says that he takes responsibility for his actions as a manager, albeit no concrete plans being laid out.

  • He also notes that he doesn't want to talk about Luxion moving forward. As of this moment, Luxion’s official Twitter account has been deleted, with uncertainty still looming as to the future of the group and its remaining talents.
The final straw: Members of what was then known as Astria released a letter announcing their departure from Luxion. (NewsDrop composite / Yazumi Nori on Twitter)

VTubing Personalities React

  • Co-Dee from the popular VTuber news channel ‘Things VTubers Say’ elaborated in a Twitter thread how he was once approached by a VTuber group who ‘promised the world’ to him. He later learned that the unnamed group that tried to approach him got embroiled in issues related to lack of management experience and complete lack of organization.
  • KoMETA CEO Gira also quipped into the conversation, stating that some VTuber groups pose as ‘registered’ businesses, where in fact the name is only registered under a sole proprietorship.

Spilling More Tea

Following the statement, members Aoife (Eefa) Cleon, Marina Bluefin, Ruku Natsuki, Yazumi Nori went live on mafia cat Lady Kei's Twitch stream to discuss the situation further.

  • Joining them was Leon Steele, who hosted an after-party for them—and eventually became crucial to the said group decision by giving them advice.
  • At Lady Kei's stream, we learned that all Astria members except Ruku have their own assets prior to entering Luxion.
  • The good news is that Ruku's model is now released from Luxion—and the better news is the illustrator was present in the stream to share her experience.

Moving forward, Aoife has this to say regarding themselves:

"We're just going indie—for now—and we're still going to move as a group. We agreed on that, we're not gonna leave each other, we'll be here for each other; but for now, we will be indie VTubers and we do not plan on joining any company, group or agency for now."

Ain't The First Time

Updates related to management causing downfall of their respective agencies unfortunately became common in the Philippines.

  • The Game Crater previously reported in August 2021 the demise of Coral Corporation (formerly Pearl Orient Production) due to its CEO suddenly missing. This caused its talents to do a massive resignation.

Prior to POP, a talent of Deep Sea Production who was about to debut complained that the group "had questionable values and we never saw eye-to-eye." She never debuted following that.

  • Eventually, the group had to close down, graduating its existing VTubers, some of whom debuted three months before the closure. They have since rebuilt themselves as a new organization.

Our Take

  • The demise of the Luxion VTuber group serves yet another unfortunate lesson to the VTubing community to the rise of unorganized VTuber agencies and groups.
  • Most groups fail under circumstances of lack of management, leaks within the talents, allegations of exploitation, among others.
  • This also serves as a lesson for VTuber aspirants to be always on high alert whenever an agency or group approaches them.
  • We encourage everyone to always check the requirements and do a thorough background check of the agency/group you plan to join.

Leon Steele helped with the production of this story.