With the sea of virtual content creators ever so full, and new fish appearing almost every other day, how do you go about your day to day? Do you find it difficult to follow the wave? Furthermore, what’s the scouting process like for when you find someone you deem interesting enough for the show?
In terms of finding and interacting with newcomers, pretty much all of that is through Twitter for me. Generally, they are through mutual interactions or just finding a unique post or clip on my timeline that draws me in to looking at their profile. A lot of people try to ping me to grab my attention, but that rarely works. I’ve found that Twitter’s algorithm has been doing me some justice in helping push those unique personalities my way, but of course I can’t interact with everyone, and I’m really just scraping the tip of the iceberg. There is so much undiscovered talent that I don’t know about, and I’m always on the lookout for that.
In terms of scouting for the show itself, there’s no real method to this madness. If I see someone who I think is interesting and unique, or has an interesting story to tell, or if I simply think we’ll have good chemistry live, then I jot them down in a little notebook I have. Every once in a while, I’ll come back to the notebook and preview some of their popular clips on stream, just to get a feel of their energy on stream and if that’s something I think would fit the show. From then on I’ll lurk their chat, slowly interact with them more and go on from there. There are some exceptions, like Zentreya or Natsumi Moe, that had a large audience and weren’t as easily accessible, but I knew that they would be interesting enough on the show to put that aside.
So now that we know what you do to get people on the show, naturally there’s a follow-up. Is there a list of people you dream of having on your show? If so, what kind of questions would you ask them and why?
A goal that I had back when I initially started the interviews was to interview Pikamee by the end of the year, a handful of my followers that stuck with me from then know this. It was kind of an aimless goal with no real intention at the time, but I feel like the playing field is different for me now. That said, if I had to give a top 3 that I could interview (realistically in English as it’s the only real language I know) I’d say Pikamee, Coco Kiryuu and Hana Macchia.
I think they are all extremely entertaining and chaotic, and they’re VTubers. I would love to ask them what they think of VTubing now versus when they first started and how it changed them as a person behind the avatar. Furthermore, I always loved diving into people’s past lives and seeing how the gears turned before shit hit the fan. The dynamic of how the scene has changed people fascinates me.
Before we wrap things up, let’s ask you an easier question. Who are your favorites among the EN scene? I’m talking the best for banters, your favorites to watch, and maybe your favorite guests?
In terms of some good old fashioned banter, it’d be injustice if I didn’t say Artemis here. Going back to how I lurk small VTubers’ streams, I actually interacted in someone’s stream and another viewer commented, “hey it’s the guy that Artemis bullies,” and I nearly cried. I think from the moment we met we’ve been at each other’s throats, and we’ve been great friends ever since. Another great one is Ewica, she really knows how to land some hard hitting punches and I respect that. I have a whole laundry list that I can air out honestly. I think it’s important to note that I’m friends with pretty much everyone that I grill on Twitter. If I’m ever really going hard, I make sure to DM them to make sure things are okay and that I don’t cross any lines.
In terms of guests on the show, again I have to bring up Ewica. The viewers really love our dynamic and I think it’s hilarious myself. Lyrica was another similar case where I think we have some good on-stream chemistry. Ryusei Nova is a really good storyteller and knows how to really talk to people. I would say she carried my interview I did with her and did most of the heavy lifting. As I type this out, I’m slowly realizing the best interviews were the ones where the both the interviewee and the chat were roasting me the hardest… As the professional VTuber bully himself, I suppose I set myself up for that one.
Finally, and thank you for your time, we’ve reached the end. Do you have any words for the potential fans, not just of you but the virtual EN scene as a whole? Any tips and who would you recommend to them first?
For fans, I hope you are having a good time watching VTubers and watching their content. This community is a warm and welcoming one, and I hope that sentiment is reciprocated. I’d like to add a note here myself to those who want to become a VTuber themselves and join the scene. Please love what you are doing. My greatest fear is that people pick up VTubing and quickly fall out of that passion, and that’ll hurt the community in the long run. I’m not saying you have to take things 100% serious when you get into all of that, but just make sure that if you do decide to jump in the water, it’s something that you will for sure love doing, regardless of the money, or subscribers, or any numbers for that matter.
In terms of recommendations, I would steer you to Haruka Karibu. I think she’s a great example of someone who has an active community, that’s entertaining, and whose content is relatively easy to digest. She was my entry point going into the EN VTuber scene myself. Lastly, I’d like to thank you Diego for giving me the opportunity to let out my voice to others who might be interested in the VTuber scene. It’s a fresh and exciting movement, and I myself can’t wait to see where we all are a year down the road from now.
I will take this time to really emphasize my thanks to Domo for what he does. This is a community that is growing by the minute. These are all incredibly talented individuals who just want to have fun. His efforts make sure they get the recognition they deserve, while providing you with a never-ending list of people to watch. It’s nothing short of amazing, I idolize his efforts and strive to do the same with my time at Operation Rainfall. If you are an EN VTuber and would like to get your name out there, please e-mail me. You can reach me around the clock on my social media. In addition, I also hope you take the time and shoot your shot towards Domo. He’s not that scary. Follow his Twitter and Twitch accounts for more exciting interviews!
