I woke up to saw my recent recommended YT videos involved a vtuber in hot seat after a recent controversy has blown up. Sadly, it’s one of my favorite streamers.
Here’s the Quick Breakdown of Events:
Vtuber has a collaboration stream with another Vtuber where their screen displays a private discord message from mafumafu which roughly translates to “Just finished streaming. I’m going home now Mii-chan” by accident. Not the exact translation but the thought is there. Calling someone by their nickname already screams intimacy which was previously denied back in 2018 between the two.
The stream was cut off and deleted from archive under the claim of copyright infringement due to the game being stream had songs with copyright protection. This happened as soon as the tweet about the discord message popping up on livestream blown up in real time.
“Fans” suddenly brought back pictures of utensils shared on twitter by the two speculating they are a couple for the coincidences or are living together.
Mafumafu released an apology post on twitter explaining the misunderstanding.
Fans started selling their vtuber merch bought and spreading feelings of betrayal after learning their weren’t “the one”.
It’s been a hot topic on Twitter JP and Yahoo as many youtubers both from the West and JP cover the story showing support for the vtuber.
Waiting for developments on how both parties are going to do damage control.
Of course there’s plenty of stuff happening in between the timelines but those event’s highlight within 24 hours are sufficient to get the gist of what happened. For those who are reading that are still lost about the Vtuber and Idol culture:
Vtubers are streamers using a virtual avatar for streaming. They may have a lore behind their online persona but are not obligated to commit to the fantasy and may often times break the 4th wall during stream. It’s like any other streamer but they got a virtual avatar to show for instead of using their real face.
Idol culture is something that originate in Japan and has been around for decades. The entertainers adhere to strict rules and do their best to avoid taboo just to keep a fantasy for fans to believe in. This means no relationships outside work and must remain “pure” at all times in the public’s eyes. Having a relationship brings scandal and probably lead to a termination of one’s career.
I liken the idol culture as something similar to a simp culture where fans develop parasocial relationships with their favorite streamers. Because the business involves selling a girlfriend or boyfriend experience, it works and people don’t mind throwing in thousands of dollars to this one sided relationship while having absurd amount of expectations on the entertainer.
Rushia and Mafumafu have been linked together as friends around 2018. It was around 2019 when Rushia had her debut on Hololive’s 3rd Gen of vtubers. So it’s possible that the relationship has been going on for years even before committing into the industry, maybe. Both have already been doing well on their solo careers and have denied connections being more than just friends. I personally don’t care about this part as I’m just watching to be entertained but somehow it’s a breach of life contract for some fans. Rushia is the top youtuber talent with the most superchats received raking in more than 3$ million USD on record.
This hits both parties as their fan base exist and thrive in a fantasy of girlfriend/boyfriend experience (some parts of the fan base anyway). Mafumafu’s career was built on singing cover songs and singing in a band, so his fans are made up of women. The news of him having a girlfriend would sting his career.
I’m familiar of both entertainers and didn’t realize there was a connection but like everyone who isn’t invested into the drama, I don’t really care. It becomes problematic when something so benign be the cause of sabotage for their careers and push them to the brink of retirement. That really sucks for people that don’t mind this but there is a section of the fanbase that scream loud the most just enough to make their respective management bend over.
It’s common sense that someone behind the avatar would have a life outside the industry and the culture they’re industry is in does not make it easy to have a healthy relationship in the open. There are really people out there that are engaged in parasocial relationships and are sick in the head for thinking they have a chance and could be “the one”.
When caught, I can understand the need to lie for preserving public image because you got a career and expectations to live up to. It's not just a black or white scenario as trying to double down on your position would mean costing other people their livelihoods. You got a manager, production team and their investment to build up your public image only for you to throw it all away for an oopsie.
The cost of fame is having the borders of your privacy be at the mercy of those that want to interpret where the line is. You can get doxxers, stalkers, and all sorts of attention just because people are curious of what you really look like behind the avatar. For those doxing vtubers, a lot of it stems from just trying to confirm a fantasy that people do look as good as what they appear with their virtual avatar or just want to use the controversy for clout.
It doesn’t matter that it’s a reality that some of the vtubers we see have real romantic relationships outside their jobs, married or just not interested in having any romantic relationships for some of these obsessed fans. They are sold a fantasy and let it lived inside their heads with free rent for years. This is absurd and unhealthy but there are people who actually live this way and spend a lot of time nurturing the fantasy in their own heads. The simp culture is real.
While I know some reading this would agree that in the end of the day, behind the vtuber model is a real person and deserves to live a life they can be happy about without being judged for a silly taboo, there still exists a terrible side of society that fuels the industry and keeps the culture enforced.
If you made it this far reading, thank you for your time.