In-person appearances have long been a staple of our industry–a tangible, IRL link between creator and fan that can be fulfilling for both parties. But how do you make an in-person appearance when no one can know who you are? That’s the question facing more and more VTubers, who want fans to see them entirely as their virtual avatars, but also want to make that IRL connection with their millions of audience members.
Tokyo-based VTuber agency Hololive is working on solving this for the 90 creators on its roster. On Aug. 24 and 25, it’s hosting a live, in-person concert at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn featuring 15 VTubers.
This is Hololive’s second U.S. concert; the first took place November 2023 at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles, and was an impressive technological showcase. As you can see in the video below, participating VTubers’ animated avatars were projected onstage where they danced, sang, and emoted pretty fluidly. For the attending concergoer, it didn’t look too different from seeing a performance by a human body. (Just, you know, if that human body was illustrated and animated in 3-D.)
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While Hololive doesn’t disclose the exact tech or process it uses to put these concerts together, a sharp-eyed Redditor noticed augmented reality production companies Lategra and Logic & Magic were both listed as partners for Hololive’s first concert. Our best guess based on these companies’ offerings is that Hololive sets up a motion capture space and has VTubers perform the movement for their dances and songs, either in real-time or beforehand. The recorded movement is then mapped onto their VTuber avatars, which are projected onstage to perform for the audience.
These technological adaptations are necessary for VTubers, many of whom are notably private and do not disclose their faces, bodies, or names. Their avatars–which are sometimes fictionalized versions of themselves, and other times characters they create and puppeteer, kind of like being in cosplay–are how they appear to their fans, and so figuring out how to make their avatars the center of their in-person appearances is a problem they need solved.
We’ve seen lower-tech methods work too: Ironmouse, for example, appears at awards shows via a screen placed at her seat. She simply broadcasts live to that screen as she normally would on Twitch, and is able to accept awards by sending a prerecorded message. Maybe sometime in the future, hologram tech will have become accessible enough that VTubers can pop up at any awards show, or on any stage.
Hololive’s VTuber projections for its concerts are some of the most advanced we’ve seen, and soon it’ll use that tech to bring Mori Calliope (2.4 million subscribers), Takanashi Kiara (1.5 million), Ninomae Ina’nis (1.5M), Gawr Gura (4.5M), Watson Amelia (1.7M), IRyS (1M), Ceres Fauna (872K), Ouro Kronii (982K), Nanashi Mumei (1M), Hakos Baelz (937K), Shiori Novella (547K), Koseki Bijou (636K), Nerissa Ravencroft (740K), and Fuwawa Abyssgard and Mococo Abyssgard (911K) to American audiences.
“We are thrilled to be able to bring hololive English 2nd Concert -Breaking Dimensions to the historical KINGS THEATRE in New York over the span of two days,” Motoaki Tanigo, CEO of Hololive’s parent COVER Corporation, said in a statement. “I hope our East Coast fans and fans around the world can look forward to the 2nd concert at the venue or watch the stream.”
In-person tickets cost between $90 and $140 depending on seating. Streaming tickets cost ¥7,150 per night, or around $50. They’re on sale here.
