Russian VTubers are getting really interesting, so let me talk about them for real.
Are you enjoying VTuber life?
I’m rooting for Ai-chan and research VTuber information from around the world like crazy. Of course, I also watch Hololive videos in moderation.
“#花咲くホロライブ” has entered the “Trends for Worldwide” section of Twitter at an incredible rate, the second audition for Hololive EN has been held, Hololive Alternative has been announced, and there is a never-ending supply of exciting topics. In a good way, it’s been tough. The popularity of Hololive has also skyrocketed overseas, and the search keyword “Hololive” has even temporarily surpassed that of VTuber.
According to an analysis by a volunteer on Reddit, at least 8% of the chat comments on Hololive are in English, and at most 50% are in English.
Among them, there is one VTuber who has a unique comment structure: Shishiro Botan of Hololive 5th Generation. A whopping 13% of the chat is in Russian! There are many reasons as to why Shishiro Botan is so popular in Russia, such as thanks to his design, the background of his debut video, the fact that Earth-chan introduced her, and her love for his Russian fans.
Now that Shishiro Botan is so popular in Russia, what do you think is going on with the Russian VTuber situation? I think that the situation of VTubers in Russia is very interesting.
A One Minute Introduction to the History of Russian Virtual YouTubers
Before I talk about Russian VTubers being interesting, there are three Russian virtual YouTubers that I really want to introduce to you. They are Russian legends who started Virtual YouTubers when Vtubers first became popular in Japan.
If I were to ask you who the oldest Russian virtual YouTuber is, who would you think of? If you’re an old virtual YouTuber geek, you might answer Chikyu-chan. She was once featured on Nico Nico Douga’s “バーチャルYouTuberよくばりセット” which has now been removed and cannot be viewed. In addition, the original source is Earth-chan, an Internet meme.
Actually, the oldest Russian virtual YouTuber is not Earth-chan. The oldest Russian virtual YouTuber is Alina Vi. I don’t think anyone knows who that is. I didn’t even realize she existed until after Kizuna Ai started to boom. She is the first “virtual YouTuber” in Russia, who started her career as a “virtual YouTuber” in March 2017, when Kizuna Ai was still in the early stages of her career and died a double death without being found.
The third person I really want to introduce to you is Yumeiro Yumemi. She is a VTuber who is trilingual in Russian, English, and Japanese and is a cute girl who likes Japanese anime and is interested in voice acting. She’s really very very very kawaii. When I introduced him to my acquaintance, he was even more fascinated with her than I was. She’s a legend and is definitely loved by Russian VTuber lovers.
What’s going on with VTubers in Russia?
Now it’s time to talk about the situation of Russian VTubers: as of April 24, 2021, there were 200 Russian VTubers, and the number of channel subscribers ranged from a few to several thousand.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 in terms of the number of subscribers.
№5 Alina Witch (11,900 members), VK
From dirty jokes to dramatic dark jokes, Alina Witch’s videos go in all sorts of crazy directions. Her first video as a VTuber was a punchy debut in which she stripped naked because she didn’t have enough money for clothes, and then asked for donations of clothes. Many of her videos are less than a minute long and are available in both English and Japanese, so feel free to watch them!
№4 FRUFRU PROJECT’s FruFru Channel (28,600 followers), VK
FruFruVTubers is the first VTuber group to be formed in Russia. The group consists of Aoi, a demon hunter; Noel, a demon who loves KFC; Nana, a kitten who loves chocolate and oranges; and Eva, a funny, kind, and patient bush. They collaborate not only within the group but also with outside VTubers.
№3 Planya from WePlanet (83,500 members), VK
AIVTuber Planya has a beautiful voice, sings in Russian, and loves jokes. She has a goal of becoming a professional like Kizuna Ai or Hololive, and the strength of her aspirations can be seen in her original Russian song “Button Online”. She used to deliver in 3D models, but recently she has started delivering in 2D models as well, and her behavior is very eccentric. I have not been able to verify this, but my debut was in November 2018, and I have been a part of WePlanet since its inception in September 2020. Personally, I can’t take my eyes off her.
№2 Mana Renewal from WePlanet (95,500 members), VK
Mana Renewal is a VTuber who was reincarnated from the Earth-chan I introduced earlier. When she was Earth-chan, she was a knowledgeable VTuber who explained how to make an Ahegao and studied Japanese. But since her reincarnation, she has been collaborating with Moona Hoshinova of Hololive ID and is actively working as a VTuber. Also, in the Hololive introduction video from her Earth-chan days that I mentioned earlier, she gave a pretty accurate analysis of VTubers and Hololives and mentioned creating a community with Russian VTubers in mind. It also says “That’ll help make our community as cool as the Hololive community or maybe even cooler!” She showed quite a bit of enthusiasm, and I think she had his eye on the future; Mana is definitely a key person for Russian VTubers.
№1 OrkPodcaster (653,000 members), VK
I mentioned earlier that the oldest virtual YouTuber who speaks Russian is Alina, but OrkPodcaster has been using avatars in the virtual space to broadcast in Russian since 2011. He didn’t call himself a virtual YouTuber, but he continued to deliver her videos using 3D models, and before he knew it, he had become a VTuber. He looks like a scary goblin, but he is very calm and delivers game reviews and news. In terms of words, the nuance of Virtual Video Blogger (VVloger) might be close. He was selfishly regarded as a Russian VTuber by the enthusiasts around him and was invited by a Russian VTuber group to join them. However, he is a person with a strong core who has never wavered and has remained true to himself. The creator of the avatar is Wits Kho, a 3D modeler, and VTuber.
Compared to Japan, the number of Russian-language VTubers is still small. However, the number of Russian-language VTubers has increased 40-fold in three years from three in 2018, and the number of registered users in the hundreds of thousands class, which has not been surpassed even by high-quality 3D models like Chikyu-chan, is a very impressive example of the existence of individual Russian avatar distribution.
There are many anime lovers in Russia. However, the number of VTuber viewers in Russia has not really increased for a long time. There have been so few of them that there have even been articles in Russia discussing the reasons for the lack of increase.
However, that was not to say that they had not touched on the topic of VTubers themselves. By April 2017, Kizuna Ai had been featured by Russian YouTubers and was being searched for.
It took two years for the term “VTuber” to become widely searched in Russia in 2019. By this time, hololive was also being searched. I don’t know if there’s a connection, but around this time there were a lot of topics that seemed to get people excited, such as Akai Haato and Shirakami Fubuki going 3D model. Also on March 8, 2019, FlynnFlyTaggart posted a video explaining about VTubers.
Then, in August 2020, the Hololive 5th Generation, including Shishiro Botan, made their debut. As if pulled by this, the language of “VTuber” also attracted attention. The contribution of the Hololive 5th Generation is immense.
And as of 2021, in Russia, VTuber is searched 10,000 times and Hololive is searched 25,000 times per month. Although the search volume is quite small, it has increased 250 times for VTuber and 550 times for Hololive in the past year.
Without a doubt, the number of VTuber viewers in Russia is starting to increase.
Volunteers from the VTuber fan community have created a VTuber viewing site where you can check the real-time streaming status, and FANDOM also has pages for Russian groups and corporate VTubers in their native languages.
Groups and VTuber’s corporate in Russia
In order for VTubers to take root in a country, it is important to increase the number of VTubers too, but it is also important to have a Hako(a term that considers the entire idol group as a single entity) with high-quality native language VTubers. In the US, this would be HololiveEN and VShojo. In fact, every time HololiveEN or Vshojo is mentioned, attention is drawn to the word VTuber.
Here’s the main point.
Hako of high-quality native language VTubers is starting to be born in Russia.
Moreover, VTubers are debuting one after another at a high speed.
There are three boxes that I was able to find.
The first one is FRUFRU PROJECT (formed on April 30, 2020).
I’ll skip the details since I wrote them earlier. This group was formed at a time when VTubers were beginning to attract attention in Russia, and we can expect to see more of them in the future due to their sensitivity to trends and speed of action. In the beginning, there was only Aoi, but Noel debuted in August 2020, Nana in October 2020, and Eva in December 2020.
The second one is WePlanet (founded on September 2, 2020)
WePlanet is the first VTuber company in Russia. It was founded by Mana and Planya with the goal of bringing high-quality Russian-speaking VTubers to the community. The distribution schedule is well managed, and the fan community is not only on VK but also on discord, with nearly 5,000 participants as of February 2021. The quality of the company is trustworthy even from a simple glance. Also, Lilith made her debut on January 30, 2021, and Amina was delivering her debut as I was writing this article (seriously?). The number of views is also impressive, with 6,000 views after only one day, even though she specializes in Russia.
The third one is VOCALIVE (established on January 8, 2021).
This is the company that made me want to write this article.
VOCALIVE is the second company to be established in Russia. The founder of VOCALIVE, a combination of the English words “Vocal” and “Live” is KIRISHIBA. Even though the company has been in existence for less than two months, it has a total of eight members: seven 3D model VTubers with strong personalities and high quality, and two 2D model VTubers. To put it bluntly, I think it’s crazy. And a new VTuber debuted while I was writing this article.
(In addition, at the time of the translation of this article, five VTubers have become independent. Seriously ?, lol, this is truly an exceptional VTuber company.)
This company was established three months after WePlanet, and although it has only been in existence for a month, there are a lot of things to look out for.
This is the point worth noting: 1)
As you may have noticed from these nine images, the most noteworthy point is that the screen is complete. The information that needs to be shown on the screen, such as the chatbox, subscriptions, accounts, and gives money, is displayed as if it were commonplace. As I mentioned earlier, VTubers are just starting to take off in Russia. In other words, they have been systematically preparing for this even before it became popular. It’s pretty amazing. As far as I can dig up the information, it’s possible that they’ve been preparing for it since 2019.
Looking at the other nine images, don’t you get a sense of their personalities somehow? VTubers are all about symbols that incorporate kawaii, kemomimi, and other sexual proclivities. It’s natural for them to have this, but isn’t everything in the images beautiful? In my opinion, this is because the colors of all the VTubers are separated from each other without any strange overlapping. In other words, the design power is amazing.
Here’s a scene that proves it.
Take a look at KIRISHIBA’s debut video.
The information is so beautifully organized. The introduction of sexuality points, the story behind the character’s colors, the setting, the goals, everything is perfectly designed.
This is the point worth noting: 2)
You may have also noticed this from the nine images I just showed you. All nine VTubers can draw their own pictures. It’s definitely a Hako of a group of creators. This is great.
This is the point worth noting: 3)
KIRISHIBA’s background is very interesting. I would like to introduce that, but I won’t because it is written in the family rules of VOCALIVE not to disclose any information about their private life. This is probably a rule against VOCALIVE, but I dare to follow this rule. What I can say is that the content makes me think that these girls will surely make an interesting Hako.
Anyway, there are only interesting points.
I wanted to write an introduction to each of the VTubers, but there are so many interesting points that while I’m thinking of a sentence, something interesting will happen again and I’ll have to rewrite the article, so I’ll leave it at that. Also, it hasn’t been that long since they started delivering. The amount of video is the amount that is available for viewing. If you’re interested, it’s better to watch it yourself rather than read my poorly written introduction.
Also, WePlanet is quite interesting too, although I’ve only finished praising VOCALIVE. As far as I can tell, they’ve been talking about collaborating with other companies here and there. In addition to Mana, who started her career in the early days of VTubers, Planya’s profile is also very interesting, and if you follow her tweets, you’ll see that she secretly respects Kizuna Ai. There’s no way such a VTuber can end up being ordinary, and it’s definitely interesting. I’ve seen a number of amazing VTubers who have tried to achieve their obsessive love for VTubers, have achieved it, and are still delivering. I don’t know how many times I’ve said “amazing”, but WePlanet is amazing.
If I had infinite time, I would write more because I haven’t told you enough. But the VTubers of the world won’t leave me alone. There are still so many interesting topics to talk about.
Some Japanese VTubers who actively deliver in English are starting to appear little by little. And Russian VTubers have also started to gain momentum. Maybe Japanese VTubers will collaborate with VTubers from other countries, or more unpredictable stories will be waiting for us.
There will be an interesting future ahead!
The author of this article was interviewed by the editors of MoguLive, which writes quality articles on VTubers in Japan.
※2021/02/24 Corrected OrkPodcaster’s introduction. Thank you for Kiblod.
This is a reworked version of an article I wrote on 2021/02/23, using automatic translation.
