I have been writing on popular YouTube content since around August of 2020 (maybe April?). I watch some content creators (my favorite Chris O’Neill of OneyPlays) and have stated since the beginning that I think many content creators who stream are the new variety shows of our age. I’d also like to add, they are the new late night talk show hosts.
(On a side note: Nina is about to reach 400k subscribers. Please go over and subscribe – she’s awesomely sweet as honey.)
I realize the world is so BIG and there is so much competition of talent.
There are great vocalists with perfect pitch who might only have 4K subscribers. Musicians and composers with only a few thousand views. Animators who push out 2 – 10 min. cartoons and only have a handful of viewers and subscribers.
These people are all very talented but in this ocean of so much talent, they just haven’t gotten the buzz or hype. But when you find that special one who’s character and personality enthralls you? You stick around.
Because of OneyPlays, I probably wouldn’t have started following Zach Hadel, a.k.a. psychicpebbles, and his uniquely hilarious voice and style of humor. It brought me to Zach’s show, Smiling Friends (one of the absolutely best shows right now).
And so, as a content creator you have to find the place to show off that talent with a myriad of choices.
Should you stream on Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, or somewhere else? Should you get a big music producer to back you or do it on your own, busking through music venues until you are “discovered.” Should you self-publish or keep sending out those queries. Publishing has changed in 20 years so much they ask you first: How many followers do you have? Do you use SEO? They don’t want to publish someone who doesn’t already have a good-sized following of readers.
Who is watching yo stuff, bro? Do followers mean talent? Do readers mean good writing? I mean, we sometimes cringe at what is selling off the bookshelves or being listened to on the airwaves.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
But that is because music, art, film, writing is all subjective… to some extent.
Do critics tell us what is the best out there? We all question if that is real, since professional critics get paid by the big studios. So, do we trust our peers? Depends on the peers, am I right?
TikTok is the next big thing. Young people entertain in small, quick segments. That’s our attention today – small, quick segments. Twitter tweets for attention and instant gratification, and instant activism. Love my Instagram photos? Follow and retweet and re-blog and repeat.
I hope I don’t sound negative. I think its fantastic there is a wealth of ways a creative person can now be noticed.
Photo by NOHK on Pexels.com
As of October, 2021 there were at least 16,000 V-tubers. I’d imagine there are quite a bit more in May of 2022. The top Twitch channel can get over 700 million views in a month. That’s a lot of eyes watching one content creator.
Is this the world today? No more three major TV stations that take your creative outtake (intake?) attention. You have streaming services that can keep you occupied every second of your day if you like to binge.
We are on talent overload. How do you know which ones to follow and enjoy? You don’t. And we like what we like, unless someone tells you not to like what you like because they were just “canceled.”
Am I moving too fast?
It is just very…. overwhelming.
What am I saying? Not much so, stop reading now.
Nah, go ahead and keep reading if you’re curious and like a blog filled with rhetorical questions and very little necessary information for life.
I hope I don’t sound critical. I have been thinking about this a lot. Why? Do you ever just wonder?
I wonder, who do you follow? What content is out there? And, do characters still matter?
Yes, they do matter.
Characters are what we follow.
Internet Historian is hilarious because of the Internet Historian’s British accent, edits, and way of explaining. Zefrank1 is hilarious because of the cadence of Frank’s voice when he teaches in a very comical manner, all about the animal kingdom. Chills is comically entertaining with the scary videos because of Dylan’s one-of-a-kind voice.
And so, we have V-tubers because they have an avatar and presentation with their own unique voice. They are the character we follow. This is the age of V-tubers. Why? Because we follow “characters.”
Comedy is all about vocal acuity and timing your pauses, and when it’s viewed? It’s all in the editing.
These are the characters we love – V-Tubers (for now)
V-shoujo, Prism Project, Indie, Hololive, Nijisanji and all its branches, and the ones who paved the way for the V-Tubers of the future, and those who continue to promote the up-and-coming V-Tubers.
Right now, the most viewed V-tuber has been Ironmouse, a.k.a. Mousy, of V-Shoujo. Her Twitch channel was in the top 10 for views, and then she has nearly 800K subscribers on YouTube. By the way, she’s a pretty amazing vocalist.
Selen Tatsuki is possibly one of the most watched female Apex playing V-tubers in the top 100. She is popular on both YouTube and Twitch.
Vox Akuma is now consistently the top Superchat money-maker since Luxiem of Nijisanji EN branch came on the scene barely a few months ago. He is daily in the top 5, if not the top super-chatted. In fact, all of Luxiem: Vox Akuma, Mysta Rias, Ike Eveland, Shu Yamino and Luca Kaneshiro have grown at an amazing rate in popularity and making money consistently in the top 10 or 20 every day.
V-Tubers are out there and pretty big right now. They are obviously not the only thing, but they are a substantial “thing” that are being watched. They have grown especially fast and that, in my opinion, is because people follow “characters.” An avatar and how it looks can only take you so far. If the personality of character hasn’t sold you, you’ll probably stop watching.
They are usually either great in gaming, singing, or comedy and assets. Or, they suck at everything and just know how to spin a tale and talk off the cuff, with word-play, innuendo, and monologue. They are the new late night talk show hosts and variety specials.
Forget about Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien. This is the new wave we’re watching in the wee hours of the night.
Because I can’t watch all 1600+ V-Tubers I stick to a few I do watch. Lately, its been Nijisanji’s EN branch. I can’t get enough of them. (I’ll do a vanity plug, as I did for Enna Alouette, for a few in the coming weeks.)
Right now, I mainly watch Pomu Rainpuff, Millie Parfait, Enna Alouette, and Selen Tatsuki. I will always catch Lazulight stuff. But I do watch all of them via collabs, with all the Niji EN switching in and out. At one point or another, I have caught all the female member’s streams. I haven’t quite gotten into the male V-Tubers but I plan on watching them a bit more.
Their collabs are the biggest selling point because this is chaos, fun, and organic comedy gold. I love the hopcons, and drunken streams at Uki’s bar. The rando Minecraft sus attacks and silly pranks. It is all enjoyable.
Vox Akuma, Fulgar Ovid and Luca Kaneshiro are the dudes I probably watch the most, via clippers.
Amazingly Talented Vocalists and Musicians in Niji EN
I love listening to Yugo Asuma. He is truly a talented musician/singer. He used to record professionally. And if they have a truly good voice I’m listening to the talent. Ike Eveland, many know his old persona (one of his songs had over 30M views), was kind of a popular singer on the YouTubes. But their personality gets showcased a bit better as a Niji EN member. I know many who might have had quite a bit of popularity joined Niji EN because they wanted to join in the chaotic fun. It’s a family and they all just drop by uninvited and unexpected.
I believe Nina Kosaka joined because she just wanted to join in the warm family atmosphere of these talented and truly generous content creators.
I rarely catch a live stream unless its karaoke or Pomu playing some Metal Gear Solid series. I love my Solid Pomu. If she is singing, I have an alarm set because I don’t want to miss my Oshi, Pomu. She sings incredibly well.
I wish Reimu Endou would sing more. I think you have to join her membership to catch her singing. She has this amazing voice that many don’t realize she started as a singer a decade before with multiple covers in four languages. (She started at a very young age.)
Millie Parfait and Enna Alouette, despite sounding like gremlins during streams, actually have professional singing chops. Elira Pendora has sung in the past with them, and her ability to sing for hours and hours is pretty amazing. Her Shoujo Rei cover is really good.
Pomu Rainpuff is a trained theater performer. Rarely, could someone have sung God Knows over 100 times without losing the quality. She has an amazing strength within vocally. Her crazy rants and her “taiga taiga” chant has spread throughout all of the V-tuber world. She started a craze that many don’t realize began with her. She is also the one who started the term “Oshi” being used by everyone in the English-speaking V-tuber fandom (I think).
Luca Kaneshiro, of course, started everyone saying, “POG!” And you now describe your love for anything with his Australian accent, “I looooooooooove V-tubers.” Plus, his Mafia cover is pretty awesome.
See? I’m’ a Nijisanji EN geek.
But these performers who became content creators on YouTube, Twitch and Tik Tok are the new hosts to a new era of entertainment.
They have a lot of “character.”
And because of these characters, you’ll keep coming back.
Next post will be about the amazing Witch of Calamity, Millie Parfait of Nijisanji EN. Thanks for reading.
Please enjoy the rest of your day of seeking, searching and finding what you love.
Hi Gracie! 🙂 ❤
the unlit cigarette 
I was thinking of doing a sort of VTuber “update” since my original post on the subject from back in late 2020 is pretty out of date now, but I think you’re doing the work for me. Great look at Niji EN especially here and what makes it special. I also respect the drive and talent of the bits I’ve seen of Prism and similar smaller agencies — being in streams like that feel like being in a small underground club with 50 or 100 spectators, as opposed to a theater of several hundred to a few thousand for most Niji streams or a stadium for the very largest (which I guess is still Hololive, though I don’t know whether they’ve been as ground-shaking lately as they were in 2020. Doesn’t seem that way, especially with Niji’s success with their new male streamers.)
But then of course time constraints mean you have to pick your streams, as you say. Pomu is the one I’ll watch first assuming I’m free, which is a big assumption of course, so that has to make her my oshi. She can even make a five hour-long Minecraft stream entertaining, which I’d normally be bored to tears by.
Very good point as well about characters (and seconded on Internet Historian, big fan of his videos as well.) I look forward to your post on Millie!
Thanks AK. By the way, have you caught onto the Desuwa virus? You should catch the new Niji JP member, Hyakumantenbara Salome. It is rumored she was created in a secret Anycolor lab to encapsulate everything that makes a great V-Tuber. 😉 😉
I haven’t, but I’ll have to check it out! I was wondering what those “desu wa”s I was hearing were about.
She has become the fastest growing V-tuber in history. Within this week she is now at 666K subs. By next week she’ll probably be at 1M. And, she only has hour long streams. I think you’ll find her interesting. 🙂
Thanks! Can’t believe I missed out, but I’ll have to check her out today while I have an actual break from work.