The Nendoroid series is a brand of plastic figures created by the Japanese Good Smile Company since 2006. They typically depict characters from anime, manga or video games and are designed with a large head and smaller body to give them a cute appearance. Their faces and other body parts are exchangeable, giving them a range of different expressions and poses. The Nendoroid brand spans a variety of different products: the original 10 cm figures, smaller Nendoroid Petite figures, additional display tools known as the Nendoroid More series as well as plushies and play sets. Several video games have also been released based on Nendoroid designs.
Yukiyo Fujii is a Japanese actress who specializes in voice acting. She is affiliated with Aoni Production.
Live2D is an animation technique used to animate static images—usually anime-style characters—that involves separating an image into parts and animating each part accordingly, without the need of frame-by-frame animation or a 3D model. This enables characters to move using 2.5D movement while maintaining the original illustration.
A VTuber or virtual YouTuber is an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics. Real-time motion capture software or technology are often—but not always—used to capture movement. The digital trend originated in Japan in the mid-2010s, and has become an international online phenomenon in the 2020s. A majority of VTubers are English- and Japanese-speaking YouTubers or live streamers who use avatar designs. By 2020, there were more than 10,000 active VTubers. Although the term is an allusion to the video platform YouTube, they also use websites such as Niconico, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, and Bilibili.
Makoto Niijima, whose Phantom Thief code name is Queen, is a character in the Persona series, first appearing in Persona 5 as one of its main characters. She is the student council president of Shujin Academy who lives a double life as a Phantom Thief.
Touhou Spell Bubble is a rhythm based competitive arcade puzzle game developed in 2020 by Taito as an officially licensed spin-off in the Touhou Project series. The gameplay is similar to that of the Puzzle Bobble series, which Taito also developed. The company has referred to the game as "Puzzle Bobble meets Touhou Project," implying that they consider it to also be a spinoff of both series.
Hololive Production is a virtual YouTuber agency owned by Japanese tech entertainment company Cover Corporation. In addition to acting as a multi-channel network, Hololive Production also handles licensing, merchandising, music production and concert organization. As of July 2024, the agency manages 90 VTubers in three target languages, totaling over 80 million subscribers, including several of the most subscribed VTubers on YouTube and some of the most watched female streamers in the world.
Minato Aqua (湊あくあ) is a retired Japanese VTuber affiliated with Hololive Production from 8 August 2018 to 28 August 2024. She was part of Hololive's 2nd Generation. On 6 August 2024, she announced her 'graduation' from Hololive, using terminology from the Japanese idol industry to refer to retirement. Her graduation concert marking the end of her 6-year career, streamed on YouTube on 28 August, attracted 749,854 concurrent viewers, making it the most watched VTuber stream in history.
Natsuiro Matsuri is a Japanese virtual YouTuber (VTuber) affiliated with Hololive Production. She is part of Hololive (Japan) 1st Generation alongside Akai Haato, Shirakami Fubuki and Aki Rosenthal. Matsuri debuted as a VTuber on June 1, 2018, and has since amassed over 1 million subscribers on YouTube.
Gawr Gura (がうる・ぐら) is a virtual YouTuber affiliated with Hololive English. She is a member of Hololive English – Myth, alongside Takanashi Kiara [ja] (小鳥遊キアラ), Mori Calliope, Ninomae Ina'nis [ja] (一伊那尓栖), and Watson Amelia [ja] (ワトソン・アメリア). She debuted on September 13, 2020, and has since become the most subscribed virtual YouTuber, amassing over 4 million subscribers. Her livestreams focus on entertainment, and primarily consist of Let's Plays, karaoke, and chats with the audience. Gura is often called "Same-chan" in Japan, same (サメ) meaning shark.
VShojo is an American talent agency that focuses on promoting VTuber content creators based in San Francisco, California. VShojo bills itself as a "talent first" agency, oriented towards providing resources to its talent.
Houshou Marine (宝鐘マリン) is a Japanese virtual YouTuber affiliated with Hololive Production. She is part of Hololive Japan's 3rd Generation, "hololive Fantasy". On 10 January 2024, she reached 3.01 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, making her the most-subscribed VTuber from Japan on YouTube, surpassing Kizuna AI. She is the second most-subscribed VTuber on YouTube worldwide after Gawr Gura from Hololive English in most metrics.
Nijisanji is a virtual YouTuber agency owned by Anycolor Inc.. The agency was founded in 2018 with the purpose of promoting the use of Live2D models and streaming as opposed to the 3D and clips format popularized by Kizuna AI.
Ironmouse is a Puerto Rican-American VTuber, singer, and Twitch streamer. Active since 2017, she is a founding member of the VTuber group VShojo launched in 2020. With over two million followers on Twitch, she is the most-followed English language VTuber on the platform. She also has the record for most subscribed female streamer on Twitch.
The World Ends with You: The Animation is a 2021 Japanese anime television series adaptation of the action role-playing game The World Ends with You published by Square Enix. The anime was a joint production between Square Enix, DOMERICA, and Shin-Ei Animation.
Mori Calliope is a virtual YouTuber and singer affiliated with Cover Corporation's Hololive Production agency, who first debuted in September 2020 as a member of the Hololive English Myth unit.
Futaba Sakura is a fictional character in the 2016 video game Persona 5 as one of its main characters. She starts the game as a shut-in who does not go to school, leave her house, or have any friends, due to the grief and self-loathing she experienced over her mother, Wakaba Isshiki, seemingly taking her life and blaming Futaba for it. She is adopted by Sojiro Sakura. She is first anonymous, seeking to utilize the protagonist and his group, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, to cure her of her issues, which included suicidal ideation, which is accomplished somewhat by discovering that her mother did not commit suicide. She eventually joins the Phantom Thieves, and is one of multiple female characters the player-character Joker can date. While the others are directly playable, she serves as a navigator who assists them in combat.
Idol Showdown is a 2023 fighting game developed by Besto Games. It is a freeware fan game featuring VTubers from Hololive Production as the playable fighters. The game received positive reception on release, and the developers announced plans to continue adding additional characters to the game in updates.
Usada Pekora (兎田ぺこら) is a Japanese virtual YouTuber affiliated with Hololive Production. She is part of Hololive Japan's 3rd Generation, "hololive Fantasy." In addition to being one of the most-watched members of Hololive, she is one of the most-watched female streamers.
The Vtuber Awards, also styled as The VTuber Awards, are awards presented to the best in the VTuber industry organized by talent management company Mythic Talent. The first ceremony was held in 2023.
