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VTubing: How a Japanese Phenomenon Is Going Worldwide

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Re: VTubing: How a Japanese Phenomenon Is Going Worldwide

#71

The last section should have been titled “Why Do People Watch It?” because I finished the article still wondering.

I also wondered this before I ever saw any. There is a gradient from someone streaming with no cam, then a non-human vtuber, then human vtuber and finally a real human.

The simplest answer is probably that we all have our likes and dislikes, but personally for me I fall inbetween the non-human and vtuber section. If they stream permanently as e.g. a fish I find it too odd, whereas apparently my brain is perfectly happy seeing any kind of expressive humanoid that I can link to the speaking person.

If they have no cam then its just a voice over which feels too impersonal for the streaming space, which I don't like.

Re: VTubing: How a Japanese Phenomenon Is Going Worldwide

#72
post #28
post #3

The two largest vtuber agencies/companies are publicly traded in Japan. https://finance.yahoo.co.jp/quote/5253.T?term=2y https://finance.yahoo.co.jp/quote/5032.T?term=2y The stock prices are not great all things considered- I think that the vtuber audience needs something new/different to broaden beyond it's current market base AND I think investors would rather put money into AI related stocks than IP/vtuber related…

> The two largest vtuber agencies/companies are publicly traded in Japan. Which makes their popularity as organic as the explosion of the K-Pop mania.

I have extremely bad news for you about the authenticity of pop stars, going back at least to the 1950's.

Re: VTubing: How a Japanese Phenomenon Is Going Worldwide

#74

The olds always told me some day I would be old myself and would be baffled by what the youngs are into, I think that day has arrived. I haven't hit the "afraid" stage yet but I'm guessing that is coming. well at least my generation hasn't destroyed the world, so they weren't completely right. Yet?

I don't understand the draw of video anything at all; I never have. I can read information 100x faster than a video can provide and I just cannot possibly understand why anyone would want to sit through a 45 minute YouTube video that would have taken 1.5 pages of text. That said, I'm not at all opposed to OTHERS getting the information in the delivery method they prefer. Great; good for you. But! I don't want to see…

> I don't understand the draw of video anything at all; I never have. I can read information 100x faster

It's not about information, it's about shared para-socializing. Totally different intent.

Re: VTubing: How a Japanese Phenomenon Is Going Worldwide

#75
Some more interesting topics around the subject that I haven't seen covered in the comments:

- Hololive is huge and they definitely take a decent cut for their efforts. But why do people sign with them? The short answer is that they're a well oiled machine where people go through a sign up process where they create a test video etc. If accepted they're placed into groups (such as Hololive English) etc., but at the same time they also get to interact with all the other groups which immediately raises their popularity significantly.

They also look for some other related skills, for example probably all of the English group can sing semi-professionally on a stage etc.

In general your success is pretty much guaranteed once accepted, it just becomes a question of scale.

- Downsides: Usually the vtuber character, name, image and all other related copyrights belong to them. If there are disagreements then you can leave depending on your contract, but you can no longer use that character in any way. For example Nimi Nightmare used to be Fauna in Hololive, but she left and restarted on her own, whereas some other really popular streamers left but never seemed to resurface.

In general they also don't seem to collaborate much with vtubers outside of their space, so I'm sure there are some rules in play there.

Re: VTubing: How a Japanese Phenomenon Is Going Worldwide

#76
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoy a handful of streamers for a few reasons: * I get to experience games I wouldn't normally have time for: I work full time, and as much as I love games and always make time for them, I still have a finite amount of time to make and a solid chunk of that time has to be devoted to multiplayer games, since it's a big part of how I meet my social needs. And even then, some games that are quite fun to watch for me…

Not the parent, but I have the same question. Your reasons above could be said about streamers in general, but what about VTubers in particular appeals to you?

You all are beating around the bush. Some people like anime girl personas better than 3d girls. It is somewhat similar to the whole furry thing on a few levels. This creates the demand for services/content which we are now discussing. /thread

Re: VTubing: How a Japanese Phenomenon Is Going Worldwide

#79
post #76
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the parent, but I have the same question. Your reasons above could be said about streamers in general, but what about VTubers in particular appeals to you?

You all are beating around the bush. Some people like anime girl personas better than 3d girls. It is somewhat similar to the whole furry thing on a few levels. This creates the demand for services/content which we are now discussing. /thread

Not to mention a small minority act and look like children doing art commissions with pretty vile dialogue. See more: https://piunikaweb.com/2026/05/01/uk-vtuber-arrested-anime-a...
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