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VTuber

Kizuna AI was the first VTuber to become very popular.

A VTuber (Japanese: ブイチューバー, Hepburn: BuiChūbā) or virtual YouTuber (バーチャルユーチューバー, bācharu YūChūbā) is an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar made using computer graphics. Real-time motion capture software or technology are often used to make the avatar move. VTubers originated in Japan in the mid-2010s, and have become internationally popular in the 2020s.[1][2] Most VTubers are English- and Japanese-speaking YouTubers or live streamers who use avatars. By 2020, there were more than 10,000 active VTubers.[3]

The first entertainer to use the phrase "virtual YouTuber", Kizuna AI, began making videos on YouTube in late 2016. Her popularity inspired several other VTubers in Japan. Several agencies were created to promote them, including Hololive Production, Nijisanji, and VShojo. Fan translations and foreign-language VTubers have caused VTubers to become internationally popular.[4]

VTuber Media

  • Screenshot of a VTuber stream, with viewers communicating live with the character. The character/performer shown is Fushimi Gaku of Nijisanji.

  • A VTuber presented in the animal form of a toco toucan

  • A VTuber using hand tracking

  • Hololive Production, under Cover Corporation, manages over 90 VTubers from around the world across six branches; hololive, hololive ID, hololive EN, HOLOSTARS, HOLOSTARS EN and hololive DEV_IS.

  • Nijisanji, under AnyColor Inc., manages over 160 VTubers from around the world across two branches; NIJISANJI and NIJISANJI EN.

  • VShojo was founded in November 2020 as one of the first VTuber agencies based in the Western world.

  • Nebasei Cocoro [ja], a VTuber and representative for Japanese corporation Rohto Pharmaceutical

  • Inugami Korone has been the offical brand ambassador for Sonic the Hedgehog in Japan since 2022

References

  1. ↑ Japan's virtual YouTubers have millions of real subscribers — and make millions of real dollars. Rest of World. July 26, 2021. https://restofworld.org/2021/vtubers/. Retrieved March 28, 2023. 
  2. ↑ Virtual YouTubers behind famous avatars in Japan make millions from superfans. South China Morning Post (9 May 2022).
  3. ↑ ユーザーローカル、バーチャルYouTuberの1万人突破を発表 9000人から4ヵ月で1000人増 (January 15, 2020)PANORA. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  4. ↑ Chen, James. The Vtuber takeover of 2020 (in en). Polygon (November 30, 2020). Retrieved December 14, 2020.
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