VTuber Legend is an anime about a light novel about VTuber culture. It is an interesting take on the media as it showcases various aspects of VTuber culture. Some things that stand out are skits mommy mommy-daughter culture and much more.
The show starts off with the main character Awayuki is a failing third-generation, the generation in which VTubers premiere until they graduate, VTuber at LiveOn. One night she opens up a Strong Zero beverage and forgets to cut her feed. The entire internet watches that night as the veil to her normal lady-like character drops and a new Showa persona premieres.
Stro Zero as the characters call Strong Zero plays a heavy role in Awayuki breaking her comfort zone and becoming famous and the jokes around this are played well in a slapstick comedy style. Shortly after that, the anime takes a short series approach to her interacting with other VTubers from LiveOn who happened to watch the stream.
An event in quest in the first half of the show is answering marshmallows at a local BBQ joint only to have Stro appear and Awayuki to become drunk. Marshmallows are a tactic for interaction that VTubers use to engage with chat so this part takes from real life.
Another fun episode is Awayuki’s redesign by the concept artist and mother for her character Mashiro. VTuber redesigns are interesting and need to flow in software like Live 2D to function on a green screen to give the effect of Vtubing. This can be seen in all the different forms of Iron Mouse and Eroge, erotic gaming, VTuber Cottontail go through. The character Sei in the show can be seen as a reference to VTubers like Cottontail.
Near the end of the first arc, the girls do a LiveOn Album which depending on the company is normal. The second arc has a main focus of collaborations and how it is important to have good bonds with coworkers.
The fourth generation is introduced to LiveOn and the girls have interesting traits to them. Some have a fear of social situations and that of an obsession with Awayuki herself. The girls are mixed into the rest of the cast well. One of the first collaborations that comes to the table is a trivia game over animals. Since this fourth generation girl is a zookeeper it is fitting that her challenge would be a animal themed quiz.
The mother-daughter bonding is focused on as well. It sounds weird for someone who knows nothing about VTuber culture but this aspect is more normal than what it comes off as. The process to be less weird is a mentor program to where a older generation VTuber acts as a mentor for newer generations. There are few episodes that cover this from a girl with a trait focused on being a baby, this is real and done for slapstick.
Punishment games are introduced here in which VTubers have to play something that chat suggests to play. Here we see a collaboration with Awayuki and the Zookeeper Eirai as the latter has failed a challenge to which she has to play something she despises. Eirai can’t stand Horror games which makes for an interesting series of events.
Among Us is still popular in streaming circles and since the second volume was written during the pandemic, the game was even more popular then leading to a group collaboration gaming event.
The game plays out exactly like an Among Us match would just in a different setting. Two characters play the villains while the rest try to escape
Art direction
The art in this show is insituations as the show makes a narrative choice not to show the girls beyond their VTuber persona so when a VTuber is offline they look normal and fit into crowds of people.
There are few shows that can pull off this type of style choice for character narrative.
Grade: B
