Abstract
Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid expansion of live-streaming platforms, the VTuber industry has become an integral part of Japan’s contemporary media landscape and a notably lucrative commercial sector. Common explanations for this rise emphasize the accessibility of streaming technology and the appealing, intentionally stylized design of VTuber avatars. However, the phenomenon can be better understood within a longer cultural and aesthetic history. Rather than a sudden innovation, VTubers emerge from Japan’s established tradition of parasocial relationships with fictional or semi-fictional figures, shaped by moe culture and the idol business model. This paper offers a holistic historical analysis of the cultural conditions that enabled VTubers to achieve mainstream legitimacy. Through discourse analysis and case studies, including early anime character design and reception, Vocaloids, and early VTubers such as Kizuna Ai; it illustrates how mediated emotional intimacy has been normalized in Japanese media throughout the decades. In Europe it can be observed that VTuber style of interaction, storytelling, and marketing has a comparatively smaller industry and fan communities. The findings suggest that Japan’s early embrace of character-driven storytelling, combined with the absence of a comparable idol infrastructure in Europe, are key factors behind its slower mainstream acceptance of this emerging mode of digital performance and interaction, however, adoption is growing rapidly.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
New Media, Technology and the Arts
KEYWORDS
VTuber, Parasocial Relationships, Europe-Japan media comparison, Virtual Idols, Streaming Platforms
