Those with a fair sum of money and not enough happiness to spend it on are finding their salvation in the recent trend of Virtual YouTubers, better known as VTubers. Fans of such a pastime are often criticized by outside communities, most notably for their overwhelming spendage towards the online personas. Regardless, both the fans and the idols they admire are perfectly worthy of respect as valid entertainment and supporters of such.

To many, VTubers are seen as simple streamers. However, the entire concept has been reinvented—the streamers in question have refashioned themselves to appear as the Japanese anime-style goddesses of your dreams. Cameras and various rigging programs like Live2D allow the avatar on the screen to move just as the talent behind them moves in real life, down to even facial expressions. These personalities closely bond with their fans behind their virtual persona by hosting live gaming streams and talk channels almost daily, slowly unraveling themselves through inside jokes, controversial topics, popular interests with fans and more.

Though many traditional streamers make profit through YouTube’s Super Chat function which allows fans to pay to highlight their stream chat messages, this ability is most dramatically exercised by the VTuber community. For example, Hololive’s leading talent Gawr Gura makes approximately $1,500 in a single stream through Super Chats alone.

By following one’s favorite VTubers daily, from start to end of their four-hour livestreams, a person would develop a strong closeness towards the streamer in question—a liking so strong that they might even feed them their money by purchasing event tickets or Super Chats by bulk: this is the feeling that large agencies such as Hololive or Nijisanji prey upon. With each purchase, the spending gets more and more normalized, until the community thinks nothing of it.

While their corporate backers are blatant money-grubbers and profit-oriented businessmen, time has proven again and again that the talents themselves are much more than just their two-dimensional appearances, easily attracting people to happily give them all they have from their passion to support them. 

Ultimately, the decision to control their money, time and effort is up to the fans’ own love for 2D hunks, but this harsh prejudice reflects poorly on the entire VTuber community when in reality, it should be commonplace in an accepting society with heavy emphasis on emotion. To the fans, buying merch and Super Chats aren’t just a way to receive more love from their favorite VTuber. In exchange for all the entertainment they get, giving their money is also a way to reciprocate and give back to their oshi. Though this may appear unreasonable to outsiders, the consumers are perfectly content with their purchases. 

Most VTubers have their own personas, whether it’s acting overly cutesy or just being themselves. Despite the controversy surrounding, this is a major component of entertainment itself. Results have also proven that their act truly is effective in garnering attention and grabbing money—a plight for their fans, and an agenda for the entertainer. 

These now-ordinary occurrences have easily integrated within the VTuber community, as shown just last month when the jailbird-themed group HoloADVENT released limited merch accompanying their debut single, “Rebellion”. Announced only two hours after their appearance, the merch immediately sold out.

Due to these questionable financial, time and effort decisions, VTuber fans have been widely stigmatized to be eternally loveless shut-ins with awful hygiene and no social lives. Considering their purchases are all made as conscious individuals, the claim is not entirely baseless, but even still, spending money for such an honest cause is not something to be frowned upon by those who aren’t in the know.