A Hololive fan’s first steps into the new world of VShojo

I decided to check out VShojo, and that’s what today’s piece is going to revolve around. My adventure into VShojo began with a unique little demon gremlin and only spread from there. And now here we are, waiting eagerly for Nyanners’ next toilet review stream. (Welcome to the club – Ed.) 

My journey with VTubers began sometime around January of 2020; it all started with a video of Shirakami Fubuki doing an acapella version of Scatman — never in my life has my opinion of something gone from “I’m on that weird part of the Internet aren’t I?” to “this is the best thing I have ever seen”.

Since then, I have fallen ever deeper into the VTuber rabbit hole, but to date it’s been mostly confined to the Japanese-speaking ones or Hololive EN.

Altogether there are 8 members of VShojo — Nyanners, Silvervale, IronMouse, Veibae, Froot, Zentreya, Hajime Hime, and Projekt Melody — but I will be focusing on three of the members for this piece. They are the three that I have watched the most and opened my eyes to the possibility that “dubbed” (or, indeed, English-first) truly is just as good as subbed.

Veibae

Oh lord, how do I even begin with this one without sounding like a complete degenerate? (You don’t. Embrace it – Ed.) Veibae is a succubus and good God does she play the role to absolute perfection; this girl has a lot of things going for her and I am here for all of it.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Veibae is not afraid to let herself be horny on stream and honestly, it’s one of the most hilarious aspects of her personality; she speaks exactly what’s on her mind and hides nothing from her audience. The greatest part of this is that she can do an instant 180 and start talking about how her morning poop was.

For a girl who lets everything out there, she holds a serious mystery — a mystery to me anyways: her voice. Not only does it make me feel things I didn’t know I could feel, but it baffles me every single time I hear her. As someone from the UK, the same country Veibae is from, I need to know where her accent is from! 

Veibae is a VShojo streamer that I really respect and always enjoy tuning in to watch. Not only is she open, but she doesn’t take any shit from her viewers either, which I find extremely admirable. 

Nyanners

Nyanners is probably the VShojo member that I watch the most of at the moment; she has a stream schedule that’s quite nice for someone UK-based like myself, but I genuinely love her personality and content so damn much! 

I usually find it hard to watch “cringe” content; it just doesn’t sit with me and I find it difficult to enjoy. Now Nyanners will describe herself as being a “cringe” person, but I don’t see it that way — it’s more like watching a creator who is just vocalising all of the silly and odd things that pop into their brain. This only makes her more endearing, however, as you can tell she was the type that probably kept to herself a lot growing up.

She’s almost too adorable and her apparent nervousness only adds to it; despite her being a part of VShojo and friends with the members for a long time now, she still gets anxious when collaborating with them and it’s just so wholesome. Similar to Veibae though, sometimes Nyanners can suddenly come out with some wonderfully horny or hilarious comments and topics. 

Ironmouse

Finally, we have arrived at the girl that introduced me to the world of VShojo, and my Lord am I so happy I found her. Ironmouse to me is not only a fantastic entertainer, but she is an inspirational human being that genuinely sparked a stronger sense of motivation within myself. I’ve never come across a content creator who has been more than just someone I can escape to after a long day; Ironmouse truly makes me want to work harder.

Why do I say this? For those of you who don’t know, Ironmouse suffers from Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID), which is a disorder that impairs the immune system to the point where even something as simple as a cold could be potentially life-threatening. This disease isn’t something contagious, it’s either genetic or can just suddenly arise in people. But as a result of it, Ironmouse is forced to remain indoors and often bedridden. And you thought you had problems having to stay inside for a year with the whole COVID-19 pandemic; Ironmouse has had to do it for most of her life. Knowing this is a valuable perspective to have.

This girl has gone through so much shit and all because of an unfortunate roll of the cosmic dice — it’s heartbreaking! She was a performing arts student before she became ill, and just imagining the state she was in when she was first stricken with her condition makes me want to cry. But! It’s in knowing all of this that makes her determination all the more inspirational!

There is a video where she makes her first donation goal — $2,000 for a new workspace. Mouse is bedridden, but to help her feel more “normal” she refers to her bed as her workspace. Just think about that for a second: all the things we take for granted, like sitting in a chair, she can’t even do. Of course, the donation goal is smashed within minutes of being posted, and her response? “Thank you for letting me feel human”.

God fucking bless VShojo, VTubers and the incredible communities that surround them. The phenomenon has literally given people like Ironmouse a second chance at life and allows them the ability to achieve something that she may have thought was completely unattainable. These aren’t next-level anime E-girls as some might assume — they are real people, who sometimes have it way harder than any of us can imagine. And we love ’em.

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