© Nanatoshi Shio Kazunoko/KADOKAWA/”Buiden” Production Committee
In the world of online creators, time flies. It hasn’t been long since Awa’s unexpected live broadcast propelled her fame to new heights, but now she’s welcomed the next generation of VTubers after her. It’s layered – the previous VTuber inspired Awa to get into practice, and now she’s discovering how she inspires a new crop of talent. Well, “inspired” might be too mild a statement, as at least one new character introduced in this episode takes their admiration for Po to a… intense level.
Last week’s episode teased that Po might have to face an unhinged stalker fan as she prepares to welcome her new junior, and now it turns out it’s all the same. Soma Alice’s only defining gimmick as a VTuber is that she is hopelessly obsessed with another VTuber – Awa, of course. This is already a very insightful analysis of double standards. In her debut as a next-gen streamer, Po admits how much she’s going to crave these adorable new juniors, only to be caught off guard by the sheer deranged stalker status Alice has displayed for herself. This is a very monkey’s paw situation for Po, who wants to be admired by her new streaming partners and at least tacitly hints that her influence will likely grow as her legend continues.
It’s a great way to keep things escalating as they go for so many episodes VTuber legend. Much of the episode is based on prompting Po (and the audience) to react with fear of “oh god” when a new character or situation begins. None of these newbies are “normal,” but each of their debuts is still very much in line with actual “real life” VTuber craziness. Of course, Kaeru is a baby-themed VTuber, and several VTubers cosplay as babies! She also gave up Welcome to NHK ED, as the karaoke ending theme of this episode, is really mouth-watering. That’s not even the tenth most ranting-worthy thing that Po and the audience dealt with in this episode.
Watching weird VTubers is a self-inflicted mental trauma and part of the fun of this particular kind of content. Ava should know what she’s getting into, and she’ll barely talk about how offbeat her new partner is. What will she do when she reacts to her junior’s weird reactions? Along with one other colleague, she live-streamed NSFW art. There’s a sense of going from being shocked by those strange introductions to trying to flesh them out to ensure she stays relevant. In this sense, the influence between creators in the VTuber space is two-way. Brain rot is contagious.
This even extends to Awa effectively influencing Herself through the final segment of the episode. At first, Alice’s claim that they were reliving Po’s live broadcast from the first episode seemed redundant. The season is not even halfway through yet. While it does feel a little too repetitive at first, the writing quickly reveals the importance of the idea. That said: We all have moments where we lose control (chemically induced or otherwise) and say or do something ridiculous. The difference is that instead of being recorded and uploaded for others and ourselves to revisit at any time, it can be streamed forever as long as the internet remains connected. Just imagining how you might appear on too many Strong Zeros is painful, so seeing Ava forced to wallow in her own cringe is hilarious, but also (ironically) thought-provoking.
VTuber legend It’s a bit too much for me to worship at the altar of benevolent streaming production companies, but it does have its own positive points in how and why it’s done. Now, multiple characters’ origin stories are about escaping “regular” jobs and being inspired by others to pursue off-camera work as a career. We’ve all had cringe moments in the past, but these guys agree to embody that cringe for a living. Even though it’s embarrassing every time I rewatch it, it’s still liberating in its own extremely unique way. The story of Ava (now Alice) being inspired to do VTubing by other VTubers is common in real-world VTubing, and this episode goes deeper into the psychology of how it works. Of course, there’s also some well-intentioned lesbian stalker thirst to make things even more interesting.
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VTuber legend: How I became popular after forgetting to turn off my live broadcast Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Chris actually tried live streaming himself for a while. Things went as you’d expect. Since then he has given in to words and you can see more on his blog and watch his Twitter For any ill-advised strong zero impact posts.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the majority shareholder of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
