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Let me be clear, I didn’t mean to become something of a specialist on Vtubers and the various Vtuber agencies over the years. You watch a few streams. People seem interesting. You notice others are talking, and the next thing you know, you realize there’s a strong response to coverage of them and fall down the rabbit hole. The one thing I have noticed, due to covering and editing news is that Anycolor doesn’t seem to be the best or most supportive place to be. Which is why upon seeing the recent advertisement about Nijisanji English regular auditions for Vtubers being perpetually open, I can’t help but wonder who would ignore the warning signs and try to join up.
Now first, to be clear, I’m certain there are good people at or involved with Anycolor. While there’s been a lot of controversy if you check online communities about which Nijisanji English Vtubers could be “good” or “bad,” I suspect it’s more of a situation where people went in with high hopes and good intentions, probably found it wasn’t what they expected it would be, and could be at a point where they are getting by, doing what they can to survive, or biding their time until they can graduate and move onto other projects. People react differently under pressure and bad situations. Corporations can exploit employees and favor others, resulting in the experience differing as a result of favoritism or abandonment.
Following the Selen Tatsuki termination and Pomu Rainpuff graduation, I started looking back at Anycolor and its talents. It was shocking and depressing to see how far back into 2022 this went. When I put together a timeline in the hopes of helping people keep track of the situation, it seemed to all start to unravel once Nijisanji Indonesia (ID) and Korea (KR) were folded into the Japanese branch of the company. But there’s more to it than that. I probably could have gone back further, but even just covering about two years between February 2022 to March 2024 was incredibly depressing.
There’s the track record of actions that kept striking me as unprofessional as they’d happen. When the Zaion Lanza termination was announced, I remember discussing it with colleagues and coworkers. I felt like I was reading the airing of public laundry and, as a result of paying attention to other Nijisanji English Vtubers, wondered why some of them who also engaged in similar sorts of activities never experienced the same sort of censure. There’s the constant stream of graduations and terminations. While many of the 2023 ones had to do with Nijisanji ID, we also saw the start of major Nijisanji English departures like Nina Kosaka and Mysta Rias. I also felt like we could start to see hints of other sorts of mismanagement, such as the cancellation of the Selen Tatsuki Fall Guys International Tournament. By the time we get to the Selen termination and Pomu and Kyo Kaneko graduations, it feels like all of the red flags were hoisted and on display.
I also feel like the response from Anycolor with regards to Nijisanji English comes across as poorly. Instead of a corporate response, what happened? The company had Elira Pendora, Vox Akuma, and Ike Eveland get involved in and release a statement on a situation I felt they had no right or reason to discuss. Which, again, should be a red flag to anyone considering taking part in the Nijisanji English Vtuber auditions. If a company will put its existing talents in the line of fire in a situation, one that could turn dangerous, then it is a pretty clear indication nobody would be safe. The CEO Riku Tazumi issued a statement, but since then we’ve seen no plan of action to explain how issues of harassment, favoritism, crunch, or other toxic work elements would be addressed. There’s no clear plan or action for how to ensure the situation that happened to Selen won’t happen to anyone else.
If anything, I’m almost tempted to suggest recent actions fall under the love bombing abuse tactic. A lot of Nijisanji English Vtubers who should have had 3D debuts or gotten extra opportunities, like Rosemi Lovelock, finally got one. The AR Live finally happened on April 8-9, 2024. There were also no graduations since Kyo Kaneko’s on February 17, 2024. I feel it almost comes across as a bit desperate. Like Anycolor is attempting to make people outside the company forget by making the performance happen, while also trying to install a false sense of security in the people still there by giving them things like 3D or a chance to perform.
Though honestly, I feel like the now open auditions to become a Nijisanji English Vtuber may even feel like another part of the unsettling puzzle. If you are doing well, you don’t need to constantly keep searching for new applicants. Also, it makes me wonder if we could see more graduations on the horizon as those still with the company prepare to bow out, necessitating a more constant stream of potential replacements.
Yes, debuting with an established company like Anycolor and joining Nijisanji English would mean a chance to more easily build an audience. It could mean working alongside other people to collaborate and draw more attention to yourself. But I feel like people shouldn’t ignore the warning signs. Look at how the company treated people who fell from favor, like Zaion Lanza and Selen Tatsuki. Consider how many English branch members chose to leave, like Mysta Rias, Nina Kosaka, Pomu Rainpuff, and Kyo Kaneko. Look at how Anycolor had Vtubers from the branch that it seems to consider valuable, like Elira Pendora, Vox Akuma, and Ike Eveland, and used them to make statements an executive or lawyer should have addressed. It seems like a situation with many risks to consider.
