VTuber Selen Tatsuki speaks out after Nijisanji termination, backlash

On Feb. 5, Japanese VTuber expertise company Nijisanji introduced that it will terminate considered one of its skills: Selen Tatsuki. Nevertheless, not like a normal “commencement,” the industry-embraced time period for the mutually agreed-upon ending of a contract between a VTuber company and a VTuber, Nijisanji made the chief resolution to outright minimize ties with Selen over claims that included breaches of contract and allegations of deceptive statements on social media platforms. With out warning, Selen was faraway from Nijisanji, her X account was instantly locked, and all YouTube movies disappeared from her channel. The transfer from Nijisanji arrives on the heels of Selen’s Dec. 31, 2023, announcement that she had been hospitalized, grinding her social presence to a halt. Solely now has Selen, who’s presently streaming underneath her unique indie VTuber avatar Dokibird and prefers to go by Doki, spoken up concerning the state of affairs.

“For greater than a month, I couldn’t say or do something,” Doki tells Polygon. “I used to be at a really darkish level in my life. I didn’t know what was going to occur ultimately. I wish to depart on mutual grounds. I knew it will be unhealthy for everybody concerned if it went this final, doable route.”

Whereas usually considered as a distinct segment type of leisure, VTubing has exploded on a global scale. Businesses equivalent to Hololive and Nijisanji have dominated the market, creating distinctive, colourful characters to appease an viewers drawn to those designs and the personalities behind them. Nijisanji has been so profitable in its endeavors that Riku Tazumi, founding father of mother or father firm ANYCOLOR, is among the youngest billionaires in Japan. Revenue from VTubing is essentially made via followers who present donations, subscribe to their favourite VTubers, and buy merchandise. Not like with Japanese idol tradition, VTuber followers have a direct hyperlink to their favourite digital stars via social media and dwell chats throughout streams.

However whereas companies have been a safer manner for VTubers to discover a steady earnings, Nijisanji has come underneath hearth a number of instances over abrupt graduations, terminations, and recommendations that the corporate has stymied its expertise’s makes an attempt at potential progress alternatives. And with Selen’s termination, there has now been a public outcry amongst followers and different VTubers inside the English-speaking sphere, criticizing Nijisanji for its skills on a scale that hasn’t been seen earlier than.

Selen will not be the primary VTuber to be abruptly faraway from the Nijisanji roster over murky accusations. In Could 2023, the expertise company eliminated Zaion LanZa over, as stated on an official Nijisanji account, copyright infringement, “offensive remarks,” and “giving ‘likes’ to feedback falling underneath defamation of NIJISANJI Livers [VTuber nomenclature for the real person behind the virtual streamer].” Within the months following, VTuber Sayu Sincro launched a doc refuting a number of of the claims made in opposition to Zaion LanZa. Moreover, it offered extra info as to what was anticipated of Zaion throughout her time as a expertise underneath Nijisanji and ANYCOLOR.

Whereas the cited offenses that prompted the termination of Zaion and Selen aren’t one to at least one, the 2 incidents converse to how Nijisanji treats its expertise and the way the corporate’s decisions bend the VTuber panorama. This has included streamers paying out of pocket for property and supplies which are used for streaming functions. As flagged on her now-private X account and documented in a YouTube video, Selen hosted an outfit design contest in Could 2023 through which she promised to pay the winner and high 5 contestants out of her personal pocket. Initially, Nijisanji protested in opposition to the thought of getting the competition in any respect, although when the thought was given the OK, the corporate’s stipulation was that the prize cash would come out of her private funds. (The stream detailing the situations of the competition and fixed changes created from Nijisanj is not obtainable as a result of her content material being delisted from YouTube.) One of many causes Nijisanji says it selected to terminate its contract with Selen was as a result of “delays in cost” from Selen’s fee cost to creators. However claims that Selen didn’t comply have been refuted by a number of artists she has labored with, who confirm that the VTuber would pay out of pocket for any stream-related expense.

The announcement of Selen’s termination was abrupt, however having spoken with a expertise from inside Nijisanji in 2023, cases like this usually are not solely surprising — a minimum of when it comes to “commencement.” In January 2024, simply earlier than graduating from Nijisanji, VTuber Pomu Rainpuff said on a now delisted stream that she had given up life-changing alternatives underneath her time working with the company, however was within the precarious state of affairs of not having the ability to clarify why.

“For skills themselves, it may be extraordinarily sudden,” an nameless expertise advised Polygon whereas reporting on our earlier take a look at state of the VTuber {industry}. “And generally you possibly can’t even share info that might right any sort of misunderstanding or forestall harassment. It turns right into a advantage of the doubt sort of state of affairs, the place the one factor that may converse for you is your already current content material. Even then, provided that there isn’t any actual clarification, it creates a divide between the buyer and the company.”

The uproar round Selen’s departure appears to have had an impression on Nijisanji. As of Feb. 8, ANYCOLOR’s inventory continues to plummet, with feedback on the Yahoo Finance web page largely speaking concerning the firm’s incapacity to retain its expertise, equivalent to Pomu Rainpuff and Mysta Rias, and mishandling of Tatsuki’s termination. Following the assertion launched by Selen, a number of members of Nijisanji, equivalent to Enna Alouette, Fulgar Ovid, Finana Ryugu, Kyo Kaneko, Uki Violeta, and Meloco Kyoran, introduced that they’d be taking short-term breaks and stepping again from social media.

Nijisanji adopted up with a second assertion in regards to the termination of Selen, sharing that it believes that the choice will negligibly have an effect on its funds. That is the primary time the company has gone to such lengths to defend the termination of considered one of its skills. (Polygon reached out to ANYCOLOR for touch upon the state of affairs, however our request for an interview was declined.) On Tuesday, customized PC case and accent maker HYTE introduced that it had terminated its present initiatives with Nijisanji, stating that it has chosen to “stand alongside many VTuber followers which have ceased assist for the group.”

After her termination, Selen resumed exercise as Doki, or Dokibird, on X and disclosed particulars about what transpired between herself and her former company. Doki revealed that she was hospitalized as a result of poor administration and a poisonous work atmosphere and had supposed to half with Nijisanji amicably on Jan. 26. That didn’t occur.

Doki tells Polygon that she had written her assertion simply in case issues turned out for the more severe, which they sadly did.

“I didn’t even realize it was going to be introduced,” Doki says. “I didn’t know the contents of the bulletins earlier than it was dropped. I didn’t know the date or the time, and I used to be simply fortunate sufficient to be awake when it occurred. I wasn’t conscious this was the route that was going to be taken. I by no means wished to drop the assertion if the announcement didn’t go up the best way it did and I used to be keen to maintain that info hidden, as I didn’t need the general public to know the explanation I used to be within the hospital.”

Doki says that she has chosen to solely share a choose quantity of details about the working situations at Nijisanji for her personal security. “I do know lots of people need extra particulars, however I can’t say extra. I wrote that assertion with my lawyer in a manner that might preserve me protected and transferring ahead so I might restart my life.”

Whereas VTubers have moved on from their respective companies, not all of those transitions are notably clean. Doki has moved again to her earlier alias, instantly attending to work to return to what she loves doing. She shared that she was moved by the huge quantity of assist she’s obtained from buddies she’s made inside the {industry}, numerous builders she is happy to associate with, and, after all, her followers.

“Truthfully,” she says, “the reception to that has been extremely overwhelming and I actually recognize everybody for supporting me all through all of this. It means lots to see so many buddies voicing their assist for me and voicing their testimonies.”