Anime girl VTuber is selling out the concert, but are they “real”? Depends on who you ask

I’m in one In a sold-out concert in Hollywood, I was the only concert in the venue with over 1200 capacity that didn’t know any songs. One of the actions had just been done and everyone around me started shouting and waving the light fixtures. We don’t have to wait long: Kou Mariya, one of the headlines, appeared. Not on the stage itself, but on a huge screen of the entire length. (She will never show up on the stage because she is a sexy 6,669-year-old blonde vampire anime girl who only exists in virtual reality.) Maria starts singing in Japanese. An adult man next to me seemed to be on the verge of tears.

Welcome to the wonderful reality of the mini-festival of Vermont Theatre, which brings eight major Vtuber performances – anime girls with a variety of eyes and hair colors – for the live venue accompanied by IRL musicians. I’m here to learn more about why fans are willing to pay $180 (the cost of VIP passes) for the privilege of watching these actions in person rather than on-screen privileges in their own comfort home.

If you’ve never seen Vtuber before, it might be just a matter of time. VTUBER has been around in Japan for about a decade, from online weather stations to iPhone launches, but during the Covid quarantine, everything outside of Japan was surging. If you like to watch anything online (steal, game, history), there is a VTUBER version. The name is Portmanteau of “Virtual YouTuber”, which, as it suggests, is a live streamer or video creator, but instead of showing off their faces, the audience sees a virtual 2D or 3D Avatar.

Technically, VTUBER can take any look or theme (my favorite: a former Yakuza who talks about real-life organized crime in prison stripes), but the most popular is anime girl with cute voices. Some of these VTubers also sing, with outputs ranging from simple karaoke streams to full music videos. If the Vtuber is big enough, fans can also listen to music on most major streamers. Markets are growing: Last week, Major Vtuber Hololive launched the record company. This brought us back to the concert.

For about three hours of performance, there are three human musicians on the stage: drummer, bassist and guitarist, who are accompanied by anime girls parades who appear on large monitors (one of them is in the center and two hover on the left and right). These two DJs, Mono Monet, a VTUBER with purple hair, from filter house to Gabber, Joenn is a real human DJ who appears on stage and ends the night with a crazier suit, easily blending in with any carnival (musically). However, the meat of the show is a casual listener who may just call “animation music” and occasionally gradually turns into stupid memes (Issa Corva: “” Song (“I hate cilantro, baby/I hate you almost the same / I hate cilantro, baby”) The same stupid Bio-In-Bio Rap (Cottontailva: “”Scream to my fool”).

Mariya is the aforementioned sexy anime vampire who started Vtubing in 2020, just in time for the driving popularity of everyone emitting quarantine when they are looking for a side-social friend. Her content ranges from games to chats to (occasionally members) to karaoke (Karaoke), and she also released singles from streaming services.

I watched some of her streams, but I had no idea what her concert would be like. The promotional material for the event promises that there will be a live human band, but how will she interact with them?

So I arranged to talk to her a few days before the show. The video call started and she looked like she was in a stream. I mean literally: I’m talking to the avatar that her fans see.