Part
01
of two
Part
01
Digital Celebrities
Some prominent global AI-based digital celebrities are Kaguya Luna, Hacka Doll, Dennou Shojo Siro, Mirai Akari, and Nekomiya Hinata. Others include Tsukino Mito, Nora Cat, Oda Nobuhime, Takehana Note, and Higuchi Kaede. Since the concept of Virtual YouTubers is centered in Japan and has yet to expand outside of the country, all the listed digital celebrities are based in Japan. Below, we have presented a detailed overview of our research strategy, any assumptions we have made, and the findings from our research.
METHODOLOGY
We began our research by seeking to understand the concept of Virtual YouTubers and digital celebrities. During our research, we discovered that this concept began in Japan, but it has not expanded to other nations. Therefore, we restricted our research solely to Japan as the idea does not exist outside of the country. We also noticed that Virtual YouTubers, or VTubers, are characterized as AI-based celebrities because of how they originated and communicated with individuals on social media. Also, we used two separate parameters to decide their prominence due to the absence of any available metric to determine their influence. First, we took a ranking from Goo Rankings, which is a Japanese website that based its findings on survey results.
Second, we selected the celebrities based on the highest YouTube views. For additional credibility, we further cross-checked the individuals using a VTuber website. We then examined the leading social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) in Japan to avoid randomly selecting channels. Further research revealed that channels such as Mixi, Mobage, and Gree serve as local platforms, but most either concentrate on gaming or require a membership by invitation. We then reviewed the social media channels used by the celebrities to obtain their number of followers. However, we were unable to obtain the number of Facebook and Instagram followers for nearly all the celebrities. To find this information, we searched through the Facebook and Instagram pages/handles of each individual.
We also converted their English names into their Japanese counterparts to find their accounts. Nonetheless, the pages for some of the celebrities were unavailable. Next, we searched for their popularity and acceptance levels in Japan to conduct a triangulation. We explored sources such as VTuber, Tamco, and Goboiano, among others for this information. However, the only data that we could locate was limited to the top celebrities according to YouTube subscribers or different survey methodologies. Finally, we searched for third-party sites supplying analytics for Facebook users. We wanted to utilize the websites' available tools to determine the traffic of followers on Facebook and Instagram for celebrities.
We scrutinized credible sources including Hoot Suite, Keyhole, and Brand Watch. Nevertheless, we recognized that either the individuals did not have accounts/pages on Facebook and Instagram or it was out of scope for the websites' tools to be capable of offering analytical data based on the chosen requirements. Additionally, we implemented alternate methods of evaluating their followers by assessing the general popularity of their platforms. We sought survey and research reports published by Nielsen and Ipsos, but it was clear that the sites have not conducted research on the subject and Japan was recognized as restricted geography.
TEN PROMINENT AI-BASED DIGITAL CELEBRITIES
1) KAGUYA LUNA
OVERVIEW: Kaguya Luna is a Japanese Virtual YouTuber. She enjoys chatting, playing video games, blood, and singing. Luna detests dancing. She has a desire to be a YouTuber capable of producing smiles for everyone. She contrasts to several prominent female VTubers as she is rather vulgar and regularly insults her viewers in good-natured amusement. Moreover, Luna is free-spirited and energetic.
2) HACKA DOLL
OVERVIEW: Originating from Japan, Hacka Doll is a group of Virtual YouTubers. They also serve as characters from a popular anime series and navigators from a news application of the same name. Their channel mostly features Hacka Doll #1, which is a female with blonde hair. However, there is a video involving Hacka Doll #3, a male with blue hair, and Hacka Doll #2, which is a female with pink hair. Hacka Doll #1 is confident and vigorous, yet clumsy. Compared to Hacka Doll #1, Hacka Doll #2 is serene and quiet but is a bit of an airhead.
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A
3) DENNOU SHOJO SIRO
OVERVIEW: Debuting on June 28, 2017, Dennou Shojo Siro is a Japanese Virtual YouTuber with numerous appearances. Her most recent appearance involves her wearing blue sow jacket paired with a matching hat. Siro's other appearances resemble a goddess and a girl wearing a blue skirt.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: N/A
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A
4) MIRAI AKARI
OVERVIEW: Mirai Akari is a Virtual YouTuber from Japan who launched on October 27, 2017. She possesses blond hair that is styled into a side ponytail along with a blue butterfly-shaped ribbon. Akari also has a slim yet voluptuous shape and blue eyes.
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A
5) NEKOMIYA HINATA
OVERVIEW: Debuting on February 11, 2018, Nekomiya Hinata is a Virtual YouTuber who is rather lazy. She speaks in a dull tone of voice and sounds as if she is exhausted. Hinata enjoys playing video games, namely FPS games where she demonstrates impressive skills. She is not a fan of horror games, especially those featuring ghosts that cannot be eliminated with guns. For this reason, she does not consider zombie games to be a part of the horror genre.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: N/A
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A
6) TSUKINO MITO
OVERVIEW: Tsukino Mito is a Virtual YouTuber from Japan. At 16 years old, she is an articulate and well-tailored high school "iinchou" (translation: class president). Mito is a part of the Nijisanji group, where she is the most prominent member according to her subscriber count. Along with Higuchi Kaede and Shizuka Rin, she is a member of "JK gumi" (a high school girl group). Mito has a personality that is described as tsundere, seiso (wholesome), though she is an earnest class president. Moreover, she often believes her attempts are insignificant, although she always tries her best. Following a speech, Mito frequently questions if she spoke excessively and becomes depressed.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: N/A
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A
7) NORA CAT
OVERVIEW: First launching on Nicovideo on April 15, 2017, Nora Cat is a Japanese Virtual YouTuber. She later debuted on YouTube on December 23, 2017. She has referred to herself as a "Virtual Sidome Bishojo YouTuber." Nora Cat dawns a dark gothic lolita fashion dress and has silver hair, cat ears, and cold red eyes. She typically conducts her broadcasts on YouTube Live to utilize "Kinect for motion capture, Wii Remote for face controls, Voiceroid for creating voice and real-time auto-subtitles."
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: N/A
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A
8) ODA NOBUHIME
OVERVIEW: Oda Nobuhime is a Japanese Virtual YouTuber inspired by Oda Nobunaga, a feudal lord from the 16th century. Nobuhime has marketed her "QWOP let's play video" using YouTube. By doing this, she has garnered a massive quantity of views and drew several non-VTuber viewers from various languages. Presumably, Nobunaga displays an infatuation with a particular member of the Game Club Project, Haruto Domyoji. Domyoji is mentioned in many of Nobunaga's videos.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: N/A
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A
9) TAKEHANA NOTE
OVERVIEW: Originating from Japan, Takehana Note is a Virtual YouTuber who has been referred to as "mama" as he serves as the illustrator for some famous characters like Lenaga Mugi and Shizuka Rin. Note utilizes a pitch changer to sound like a female. The VTuber does not attempt to suppress this fact and removes it occasionally.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: N/A
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A
10) HIGUCHI KAEDE
OVERVIEW: Like the others, Higuchi Kaede is a Japanese Virtual YouTuber who is also a member of the Nijisanji group. As with VTubers Shizuka Rin and Tsukino Mito, Kaede is also a participating member of "JK gumi." Although she is well-intentioned, she seems doubtful of herself. She is occasionally referred to as "Chotto" (translation: "hetero"). This term originates from a livestream where a fan distributed lesbian-themed fan art, which was a spoof of the Yuri series Citrus, involving the VTuber along with Tsukino Mito. Though the livestream was not publicly recorded, she replied fiercely to the images using the word Chotto.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: N/A
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS: N/A