bc vtubing seems to be the hot new thing people are misunderstanding and i've written about it several times while also talking to mainstream talents for agencies like NIJISANJI --- most corpo vtubers do NOT pick their models. they audition for a generation and then get assigned a model. - ThreadSky

kazuma.bsky.social • 34 days ago

bc vtubing seems to be the hot new thing people are misunderstanding and i've written about it several times while also talking to mainstream talents for agencies like NIJISANJI --- most corpo vtubers do NOT pick their models. they audition for a generation and then get assigned a model.

Comments

duckmer.bsky.social•34 days ago

not judging, but as a neutral outside observer this just makes it sound MORE weird than I assumed imo. like oh I didn't even realize there was a whole agency racket going on behind this

joshthefunkdoc.bsky.social•33 days ago

My understanding is this is because the companies that originally developed the tech for vtubing saw the potential (after Kizuna Ai blew up in Japan) and pivoted to becoming talent agencies

Hololive is the most explicit about its influences, calling its members "Virtual Idols"

joshthefunkdoc.bsky.social•33 days ago

Basically, the agencies are kind of a holdover from a time when a vtuber model wasn't accessible to everyone, and over the past year there's been a lot of discourse on how necessary they really are. We've seen a bunch of people leave agencies, go out on their own, and enjoy major success

joshthefunkdoc.bsky.social•33 days ago

Thing is, the agencies are still the easiest way to get your foot in the door as they have their built-in fanbase ready to eat up your content...but it appears more and more that the play is to use them as a stepping stone and go indie once you have enough people who will follow you

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

it's just a talent agency like any other

xjustified.bsky.social•34 days ago

Wild that more people don't understand this.

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

i think it's bc this information is not readily accessible but also..

xjustified.bsky.social•34 days ago

I might have something coming out soon with some open clarification...

socostx.bsky.social•34 days ago

it's hard to miss the reflections with the idol industry there, where a lot of the, well *industry* aspects of it are just unspoken understandings rather than critically understood aspects.

we will, inevitably, have to explain what "graduation" means again, after all.

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

indie vtuber talents that have gone on to join the likes of smaller agencies like VSHOJO have already established a presence and are not forced to give up previous activities and can just keep their models. and a lot of vtubers, like genuine vtubers, use models for anonymity.

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

this was more or less a big deal in the JP scene for awhile that a large talent even expressed that she was happy she could stream this way and connect w/ other people and keep her identity safe. i used a vtubing model for the same reason! and bc of gender expression (model below)

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

vtuber models/png models have become a way for people to stream without the pressure to have a camera on. it's mainstream now. even sodapoppin has a fucking vtuber avatar lmao and for indies, they do get to decide how they want to present. so like, that is what it is.

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

there will always be bad faith actors in any community. for example: a good amount of asian diaspora vtubers take umbrage with non-asian vtubers using east asian motifs and culture in a purely orientalist way for their persona. it sucks. this doesn't mean all vtubers are like that.

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

because of it's popularity stemming from japanese vtubers associated w/ HOLOLIVE/COVER and NIJI the adoption of "anime"-esque avatars is the norm. however, other vtubers have bucked that trend. i watch one who does book reviews and has a rococo style avatar. it's not as isolated as it used to be.

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

vtubers are just another brand of content creator at this point. if large, mainstream influencers have models, you can't really say this is an isolated phenomenon anymore and you have to accept the diversity of talents that are filling out this space. but yeah lol idk

suzushiiro.bsky.social•32 days ago

Hololive seems to now pick the talents first and make the designs with them in mind (hard to imagine they just happened to have twin models on hand rather than making them after picking up Fuwamoco, at any rate) but I doubt the girls are given that much control over how they look even then.

yesthatkefke.bsky.social•34 days ago

Oh wow. So basically, they're hired to be the actor behind the highly marketable characters the corporate design team comes up with.

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

yep! for corpo vtubing this is often the case! generally each generation has a theme and a a talent is hired to be part of that generation to either assume a character made for them, or sometimes make one that fits in line w/ the theme

dschinde.bsky.social•26 days ago

Hololive talents from the most recent generations have talked about working with artists to create their models and have said that the models weren't created until after they passed the auditions. For example, Nerissa's missing horn is a reference to an IRL injury.

plake.bsky.social•33 days ago

Sorta, it depends, in hololive seem to collaborate a lot more with the talents to come up with the design, otherwise you'd never get something like fuwamoco

applecider.bsky.social•34 days ago

are we having this convo again!

theswweet.bsky.social•34 days ago

Unfortunately!

kazuma.bsky.social•34 days ago

yep lol

clearspies.bsky.social•33 days ago

Oh shit, this is too niche. I can’t. I’m almost terminally online as it is (I’m actually terminally online).

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply