Dual Personas - Vtuber Legend How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream

 

In the last few years, VTubing has taken the world of content creation by storm. I even use a VTuber model to create my content outside of the blog. VTubing adds an extra layer of anonymity, which is comforting to people who are shy but still want to create something. It also allows a creator to maintain a more private life if they’re not necessarily looking for viral fame.

With VTubing becoming so popular in the public eye, it was only a matter of time until the topic got its own anime. Enter Vtuber Legend: How I Went Viral After Forgetting To Turn Off My Stream.

Awayuki Kokorone works for a VTubing company as a member of their new creator generation. Awayuki plays the character of a very prim and proper princess and doesn’t stand out much among her peers, having some of the lowest view numbers—a disheartening fact for her, to say the least. She respects her peers and looks up to them, feeling a bit like she’s letting them down by being a weaker member of her generation.

The perfect cure for feeling down about your work performance, as anyone knows, is an ice-cold beer. Awayuki opens her fridge and starts chugging—too bad she never turned her microphone off. Instead, she accidentally created a new persona for herself.

VDen, the thankfully shorthand title, dives deep into the behind-the-scenes world of VTubing. It explores what it’s like working for a company as opposed to being an independent creator, the dynamics of generations and the hierarchies that tend to form between them, and the experience of debuts. I enjoyed that we saw more than just gaming streams—one of the characters had an ASMR stream, and another did art streams.

Every episode includes a collaborative stream that introduces us to the very large and diverse cast of characters. By the end of the show, there are four generations collaborating.

One of my favorite ways that VDen tackled showing livestreams was by not simply cutting between the characters and their computer screens. Instead, they brought the game worlds to life. Awayuki was on a quiz show stage during a trivia game, and in a spooky mansion during a horror stream. My favorite episode had the girls playing Werewolf, turning on each other in a desolate desert wasteland. It was tense trying to guess who the traitor was before the episode ended. I think this perfectly captures the feeling of being a stream viewer. Sometimes you get so wrapped up in the experience that it feels a little like you were there, in that game, or watching a live game show.

The girls don’t stream all the time, though, as they need days off like anyone else. When they’re not streaming, they’re having heartfelt conversations. Behind all the silly jokes and innuendos—which there are a lot of—is some genuine emotion in VDen. When Awayuki comes out of her shell and begins to feel more equal to her coworkers, she starts to see them outside of collaboration streams. Most of the time, the conversations are heartfelt; the girls talk about their aspirations and motivations. They discuss how much creating means to them and how it has helped them in life.

One of the most striking examples is the ASMR VTuber who struggles with crippling anxiety in real life. VTubing gives her the confidence to connect with other people. I think seeing the girls during their off time really drives home the fact that creators aren’t the same people you see online—they can be quite different in their everyday lives. Creators are not their personas.

Awayuki has her pick of personas but struggles to find which one is best for her. There’s the obvious option of going with the popular new persona that caught people off guard. It’s skyrocketing her career and makes the most sense to embrace. However, some of her original fans miss the quiet, sweet, and collected princess they’ve come to know. Awayuki is the first of the girls to really have two different sides to her.

I think she feels more confident in her outspoken persona, which gets dubbed simply Awa, but it’s hard for her to give up completely on something her original fans enjoyed.

I found myself relating to Awayuki as a fellow content creator. Algorithms can be cruel, leaving you feeling like your work isn’t good enough if you don’t get the views you want or the likes you hoped to achieve. Finding your voice as a creator can also be a challenge. I’ve changed my account a few times before becoming the Strawberry Loft you see today, and I’ve experimented with different content styles as well. Social media comes with a surprising amount of self-discovery. There is no getting it right on the first try, and sometimes you need to play around with who you could be until it feels natural.

There were some glitches in this stream, at least for me. I was thrown off at first by the characters being dressed exactly like their VTubers. All in all, not a big criticism, as I understand that it would mean designing a whole new character if they weren’t dressed the same. Plus, it keeps things from getting confusing when we see characters interacting outside of streams—no wonder who is who. Seeing magical girl-style VTuber transformations would be cool, though.

Words of warning: this show dives into fan service at breakneck speed, and I can’t even be mad. There are plenty of clips of VTubers saying things that come out of left field—friendly, flirty back-and-forths, that sort of thing. VDen is maybe a level above the norm.

For me, the worst and biggest criticism I have of VDen is over one specific character. Now, you may not have a problem with them, and that’s fine, but I personally hated when they were on screen. Kaeru Yamatani is the bane of my existence. Her whole VTuber schtick is that she likes to be treated like a literal baby, and she takes it way too far. I couldn’t stand it when she was on screen, which is kind of a shame because we meet her outside of her persona, and I sympathize with her backstory. But did we really have to make her act like a baby?

If you enjoy VTubers, VDen is a cute watch. If you’re not a fan, it’s a “girls being girls” anime that you can probably skip if your watch list is full. I would probably watch a second season if they put one out, though. Once you get past all the dirty jokes, VDen has a really sweet core filled with girls who want to see other girls succeed in their careers. They’re all so supportive of one another. Each character recognizes that they’re on a similar path, and they all want to walk it together and have fun along the way.

If you’re a VTuber yourself, I think this show offers a great lesson about not giving up. Keep putting yourself out there, and you might find a group of streaming friends to call your own.