VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream

Episode 12

The legend, as they say, is just getting started. This finale for the season of VTuber Legend doesn't end on any majorly splashy revelations or status quo shifts. It briefly teases at that sort of thing, but what's ultimately here is more of a reinforcement of everything the series has been doing since it started. It's not even entirely focused on Awa; instead, it views her through the lens of Hareru (and vice-versa) to ruminate on the act of VTubing itself as a creative force. It's putting the passion out there to try to communicate it to anyone who might have made it all the way through this anime and somehow still not fully "get" VTubing. It mostly works.

Hareru's concert and Awa's collab are the center of this episode, though not an entirely active event. Large swaths of the show wind up simply skipped over, with only Hareru's special song communicated in spirit, before the team-up performance is shown at the end. That's probably for the best, as VTuber Legend is instead able to allocate the space to that character and conceptual analyses. But it is one more choice that diminishes this episode feeling like a barn-burner of a finale. They barely even scorch the barn.

What is shown at the concert seems nice, though. The anime's ongoing artistic choices obscure just how "real" this performance in its venue is—Hareru and Awa seem to be using a screened, streamed virtual performance as so many "real" Vtubers do. This lets them play with established medium elements like their invisible drinks that their character models pantomime with, and mine humor out of Awa's still-integral drinking habits. The banter is all very on-point if you've seen any actual performances like this. And it's neat to see some of the VTubers in this show get "upgraded" to 3D models, another hallmark of progress in the medium.

That's all presentational fluff, though—the meat of this material is finding out Hareru's intent and motivation for doing this concert, in this way, with Awa. The answer is perhaps unsurprisingly simple given what VTuber Legend has always been about. Hareru might have initially intended to use the performance as a swan song, announcing her "graduation" and passing the baton onto the next generation as represented by Awa. However, as Awa's influence has been wont to do, she re-imparted to Hareru just how fun and engaging VTubing could be. Performance, and the collaborative aspect between fellow streamers and the audience, is its own engaging reward.

One thing that's been interesting about this anime's framing of VTubing is that its reverence for the medium comes from the point-of-view of the streamers themselves, rather than the fans. There is still reverence for VTubers in there, apparent in this episode's final moments when it tours a bunch of real-life streamers who have defined the scene of this new media over its young history. But the appreciation is written through the eyes of fellow creatives inspiring each other, raising each other, and building on their success. VTubing's value is shown to be the creative space it provides for these people. It gives them a community where they're supported and able to further their art—with that "art" being the act of being yourself, whatever "yourself" truly happens to be in that moment.

Building and supporting that community was Hareru's primary drive. The song-framed flashback of how she and the others who started Live-On is poignant, but it also reinforces how the collaborative aspect was so important even at the beginning of this venture. There's a reason collabs are such a fundamental element of VTubing, after all. That collaboration and inspiration cross generational lines of mentorship, with Hareru confirming that the younger-generation Awa inspired her to continue streaming after all. Hareru actually telling that to Awa is more important than in its own recursive inspiration.

There are people in our craft who impact us and the creation of that craft, who might never know of that effect lest we actually tell them. It can be easy to decide to go for a big, final send-off on our careers and treat that as the earned legacy of those who influenced us. But in truth, it's much more powerful to acknowledge everything our peers did for us in situ. Let that continue to drive us forward in creating.

The sincerely portrayed power of that reciprocal creative energy has regularly infused just enough rawness into what is, ostensibly, a very silly show. At the end of it all, Awa continues to incrementally increase her popularity and hone her craft while inspiring others, and she'll continue to be inspired herself. As that final montage shows, the lineage of VTubers, from Ai Kizuna to Aoi Sakura, has already encompassed so much even as it's just getting started. I don't know that VTuber Legend is going to be for everyone, least of all if you just have zero patience or interest in VTubing as an art form. But it was a breezy watch that occasionally shone brighter thanks to its sincere love for its material. That's worth cracking open a cold Strong Zero to toast with, I think.

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VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris actually tried streaming himself, for a little bit. It went about as well as you could expect. He's since resigned himself to words, which you can see more of over on his blog, while watching his Twitter for any ill-advised Strong-Zero-influenced posts.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.