thoughts on vtubers?

[.: Meri :.]

I'm not super familiar with any, but I think they're a cool concept—though I admit the "VTuber companies" thing kinda goes over my head, and I don't really know much at all about that aspect of it. ^^; But I've watched some of temmie's livestreams before, and she uses a rig she made herself of her persona, which is really cute and well-done! I don't think face cams are necessary in streaming or videos, but the VTuber avatars can be a fun alternative anyway.
As for the more character-based VTuber stuff... I've never watched any of the original character content like Kizuna Ai or Hololive or any of that, but I've watched a few official VTuber videos where the actual voice actors of pre-existing characters do silly motion-capture stuff with rigs of their characters. I remember a couple years ago the official One Piece Youtube channel did a few VTuber videos starring a few of the Strawhats/their Japanese VAs that were really fun! And yes I've also watched some official otome-game-based ones along those same lines.

 

[rip]

…i have no idea what a vtuber is and now i feel old, help

 

[IzzyShika]

I love vtubers theyre really cute! Im an artist myself and I adore the models and rigging that is put into them. Im learning to create Live2D models hopefully in the future! But I think its a great way for streamers to express themselves without having to show their faces ^^

 

[Crowsie]

I've got opinions about Vtubers. TBH the phenomenon is harmless, but I'm not the biggest fan of how they kind of encourage parasocial relationships with vague facsimiles of actual people. I'm also off-put by the sluggish, almost dazed way most of them are animated and rigged. They look like marionettes being animated on 3/4ths speed. The technology isn't quite there yet to make them feel 'alive'. To me, the typical vtuber animation cycle looks like this:

Mouth flap, mouth flap, bob head. Close eyes, smile. Mouth flap, mouth flap.

That, and the typical goo-goo eyed moeblob style the majority of them are rendered in just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not into cult of personality streamers so it's pretty obvious that this trend isn't for me.

 

[Orius]

I find them kinda cringey, not gonna lie. I like anime, but man, to hide your face behind a virtual character like that... I get it, because I have insecurities myself, but that's also why I don't make streaming videos, opting for the behind-the-scene territory.

I prefer live YouTubers who show their face, even though their content is boring and puts me to sleep. At least they're living a lifestyle and gets to show themselves to the world without fear.

 

[neoratz]

i think the concept is really cool!!! it feeds into my love of virtual avatars and it's fun how they can really look like whatever you want. unfortunately i don't have a lot of time to watch streamers, so i can't really keep up with any. i did make my own model! she can do a lot of expressions, but i didn't record them in these test gifs.

i'd expect the vtubing community to be really bad cuz it's sort of linked to anime and anime communities are REALLY REALLY bad...... but it seems like there's nice spaces! it might have do with vtubing becoming more accessible, i think anyone can make a live2D model if they have the patience to draw it and learn the program

 

[windloft]

i think they're great, but there's risks involved : namely the challenge of keeping one's identity a secret and preventing the parasocialism that inevitably happens. i usually watch clips of vtubers i really like on occassion and occasionally check in on news involving them. it really is best if you don't get too attached to them: in the end they're much like entertainers with a personal and animated flavoring who happen to also just be ... y'know, people behind a screen.

 

[Shiluc]

I think they’re pretty fun! I’ve only watched one hololive vtuber, Gura, and I think she’s fun to watch. I mostly watch other vtubers outside of hololive, namely Dollip Daze and imkrisyim. They are much more casual and don’t necessarily have to hide their identities.

 

[th8827]

I don't watch the ones part of large agencies, but some of the smaller streamers who I watch have made their own avatars for fun. I prefer the ones that are not overly sexualized.

 

[dragonair]

I watch a lot of Hololive and Nijisanji but kind of stay away from vtubers outside of those companies. They're not much different than streamers that use cams and I like their character designs a lot! All of the different generations are really sweet to each other as well so I love watching collabs between them.

 

[piichinu]

I’m gonna be honest I have no idea why anyone would watch them

+ I absolutely despise the ones w forced high pitched voices

 

[NovariusHaze]

I think Vtubers are pretty cute tho the MoCap is still very rough. I don’t watch any Vtubers but if the technology gets better, it would be more fun to watch because reactions from people are the best and the MoCap currently doesn’t always emulate the full extent of their reactions.

I am tired of Vtubers saying they are a Billion years old tho.

 

[Skiyoshi]

I absolutely love the concept. As both a vtuber on hiatus and a Live2D modeler, it has given me a new fun path to content creation. The amount of lewdness around it isn't my cup of tea though.

 

[idiotdoomspiral]

TBH i do not mind the concept of vtubering but i steer away from it (hololive etc[???]) since their fanbases are full of "those" anime fans, the slithery creepy ones, i think that's their target audience anyway. Typical weeb behaviour.

 

[tumut]

A lot of them are racist and they generally appeal to smelly weebs.

 

[Licorice]

Pure cringe

 

[Sanaki]

People can do what they want as long as they don't harm anyone, but I think it's pretty cringey, but it depends on the person/audience. I've seen some really nice avatars that are rigged well, well really only one. Sylvee from the FFXIV community's character is stunning.

 

[duckykate]

my skeptical ass assumes that all cute anime girl vtubers are secretly creepy old men using voice changers

 

[Misha]

I'm personally not a fan of the ones who basically play a role. So most actual/mainstream vtubers just aren't for me. The intensity of the fandom and the idolisation makes me feel icky when I watch it, and it's just pretty boring to me. But to a lot of people they are apparently very entertaining, which is fine. I like that people have an alternative for a webcam with this now. I watch some "normal" streamers who mostly never used a cam before and have since switched to a vtuber avatar and it seems to make themselves happy, which is nice to see. It's not a necessity for me though, I think I still prefer streams without any sort of webcam or vtuber rig for the most part.

 

[LynneFae]

i use this myself only because sometimes im lazy before a stream and I dont feel like dressing up/doing my makeup lol