A while ago I covered the expansion of Vtubing and how post-COVID I found myself unable to keep up with the ever-growing lineup from big agencies like Hololive. At the time my ass was blasted a bit in the comments for not being harsher on Nijisanji, but to be honest I didn’t focus on them much simply because I’m more ignorant about that company’s history and talent. That remained true until this massive story recently broke that has thrown the English branch of the Vtuber agency into absolute chaos. This is a big deal that could have lasting implications for the company but I’ll try to condense the story down to its main points.
Selen Tatsuki was one of the most popular Vtubers in the English branch of Nijisanji. She was terminated without prior notice close to a week ago on February 5th by Nijisanji citing issues with her communication. This sudden termination ignited a fire in her fanbase, and fans quickly linked the termination more to do with a music video controversy that happened in December of 2023. Selen had apparently paid $15,000 to create and release a music video herself after Nijisanji had denied the funding. After producing the video and posting it, Nijisanji took it down using their internal access to her accounts. Selen then said it was unfortunate but at least fans can reupload it to enjoy, which Nijisanji also didn’t like. At the time Selen took a break and then tweeted that she had been in the hospital due to an accident on December 27th. Fast forward to after the termination, and Selen has now clarified she was in the hospital due to an “attempt” caused by dealing with internal harassment and bullying from Nijisanji management. That tweet, under her own personal account of @Dokibird, garnished over 13 million views.
After her suicide attempt was made public, fans stepped up their investigation game. They began combing through Nijisanji’s past actions, not only with Selen but other talents in the English branch. Past Vtubers who were previously thought to be selfish or clumsy with sensitive information had their characters reconsidered as perhaps it was Nijisanji who really were in the wrong. Apart from a bunch of suspicious actions, information came to light about just how bad the talents’ contracts are. Vtubers in the agency make very little compared to what portion the company takes, and own almost nothing in terms of intellectual property. That makes sense to some degree, a big part of the popularity comes from the agency’s following. However, even those who typically argue that point were baffled to see wacky splits like 1-5% of merch sales to the talent and 95% or higher going to the company. These ridiculous terms further ignited hatred as a rumor emerged that the CEO was recently spotted on a yacht, though that rumor has yet to be proven. The CEO did in fact release an “apology” for the Selen situation, but some criticized it for sounding more like a business press release urging investors not to worry than an actual apology with admittance of guilt and remorse.
Talk about a free bird.
There’s a lot more to this story, but that’s about all I can squeeze in for one day on a doujins blog. In short, Nijisanji EN is on fire with more talent “graduating” or outright departing by the week. This ordeal has put a microscope on the company, and Vtuber fans can be an obsessive bunch. I’ll be back if the story develops with a major resolution or update, but for the time being I hope Dokibird can relax a little knowing her personal channel has amassed over 500k subscribers on YouTube thanks to the attention this debacle received. Do you watch anyone from Nijisanji? Did you hear about the Selen controversy? Did you suspect such bad deals were on the table for Vtubers? Sync up your 2D model, go live, and earn that sweet sweet 4% of profits in the comments below!
