(This is a more refined, better-sourced version of the one that
u/tipidpn posted)
(NECESSARY DISCLAIMER: Everything written on this document is what I believe is factual. There are many sources and references throughout the document, and to the best of my knowledge, they are accurate and true. However, do read this document with a healthy dose of skepticism. It is still a WIP and entire sections may be changed with newly uncovered information.)
TLDR is on the BOTTOM. ALL KNOWN NIJISANJI CONTROVERSIES ARE ALSO TOWARDS THE END (INCLUDING KR, JP, and EN). READ HEADINGS IF YOU WANT TO JUMP TO A SPECIFIC SECTION
Financial Issues (A Severe Lack of Spending from Nijisanji):
In December 2023/January 2024, Niji bought back 2.5 BILLION yen worth of stock to artificially inflate their stock price (stock buyback). This comes out to around 18 million USD, about the cost of Hololive's 3D studio.
(Buyback info here: https://www.anycolor.co.jp/en/ir/news)
("The progress of Treasury Stock Repurchase...
Total number of shares repurchased in accordance with the resolution at the Board of Directors meeting held onDecember 18, 2023(1) Total number of shares repurchased 775,200 shares(2) Total amount of repurchase cost 2,499,980,997 JPY")
What do stock buybacks and such have to do with the company? The answer may surprise you.
Hololive is Niji’s main competitor, and on top of investing in the company by building the biggest 3D Mocap studio in Japan (which finished last year), they outspent Niji over 6 to 1 in terms of funding per talent (management and salary): 86k USD to 14k USD (upper estimate). Keep in mind, that Niji has almost twice the number of talents. See the problem already?
(Note: this is NOT the payout to talents, this is the amount of money each company has invested in their respective talents through management and salary [Hololive members get a base salary if their earnings are low, Nijisanji livers don’t]. This is also the HIGHEST estimate for Nijisanji, and most likely wrong, since other expenses are not covered, as mentioned below)
(Anycolor spending: https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/5032/ir_material_for_fiscal_ym2/137288/00.pdf
Hololive spending: https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/AS05169/8b8f1dd7/e496/4759/be9d/d0b615b2b131/20230612180242646s.pdf
Hololive’s end of year report stated approximately 6 billion Yen for SG&A (selling, general, and administrative) costs. On the flip side, Anycolor spent 2.2 billion Yen for SG&A costs in the same fiscal year (their selling/general/administrative expenses) (pg 10 of Anycolor’s financial report).
Nijisanji’s:
Hololive’s:
According to Hololive’s own graphs/data [Pg 8 of the Financial Report for the 2023 Fiscal Year], approximately a third of that 6 billion yen operating expense was used for personnel expenses (salaries of staff and management). This places the approximate spending at 2 billion yen, about $15 million in 2023. About 50% of employees are directly related to management and the such. ($7.5 million).
Hololive’s company structure:
Niji’s 2022 and 2023 (left and right respectively) liabilities:
Subtracting all of Niji’s selling and general expenses from that 2.2 billion yen total comes out to 300 million yen for administrative expenses [1.42 billion for accounts payable-trade, 390 million for accrued expenses, 111 million for contract liabilities] (Pg 9 of the Anycolor report]. For a grand total of $2.5 million USD spent on administrative expenses.
$2.5 million divided between 180 talents for administrative expenses… is a pitiful $14,000 USD per year per talent for management.
Yet Cover still spent $7.5 million (specifically on management) on their 87 talents, meaning $86,000 per talent for management.
(This was done with the conversion rate of the yen/usd in April of 2023)
And keep in mind, this is IF all the administrative expenses are spent on just management. Administrative expenses also has LAYWER FEES, insurance, rent, AND supplies/utilities. Cover’s data specifically mentions that their spending is on personnel expenses for the number mentioned above ($15 million), and I deducted the non-management portions ($7.5 million).
In that case (if we take out about half of the administrative expenses and claim that the remaining is for management)... That leaves us with a whopping $7,000 USD per year per talent. So about 7 to 1 ratio between talent and management if managers are paid average salaries.
It’s likely that not all personnel within Nijisanji are management. Since Hololive has a dedicated team for Holoearth, it’s likely that the percentage of management among staff is higher within Nijisanji. Even so, with a generous estimate of 2/3 rd of staff being management… the numbers still look daunting.
Assuming that $14K per year per talent for Niji is true, and assuming that the talent managers get paid about average salary in Japan ($41K USD), we’re looking at a talent to manager ratio of 4 to 1 (the highest estimate).
If we take the lowest estimate (about $4,600 USD per year, per talent considering that third of their staff isn’t management), it comes out to…. 12 to 1. 12 talents for 1 manager. In an entertainment company.
(https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/5032/ir_material_for_fiscal_ym3/146950/00.pdf)
A 6 times difference between Hololive and Nijisanji when it comes to spending on personnel (if operating under the highest estimate of Nijisanji’s personnel costs)…
Anycolor’s balance sheet does not separate the expenses between JP and EN (nor do they give us an exact number for personnel expenses). It may be possible (especially looking at Niji’s recent job postings in Canada), the actual expenses for management in NijiEN is worse than its JP counterpart.
Undeniable Financial Proof of the Difference in Management:
Cover increased their personnel spending from 1.1 billion yen to 2 billion yen between 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, Nijisanji only increased their SG&A spending from 1.8 billion to 2.2 billion. The percentage of cover staff being management did not change much between the year, meaning Cover effectively doubled their management budget in a year’s time (about 450 million yen, $3 million USD). Meanwhile, Nijisanji increased only by 400 million yen in total SG&A expenses (about $2.67 million).
Considering what I estimated above (remember, SG&A covers a lot of areas, including lawyer fees), it is possible that there was less than 100 million yen ($660,000) increase in management fees, despite Nijisanji debuting THIRTEEN new livers (TWENTY SEVEN if counting the VTA graduates moving to Nijisanji). There were 9 new livers in the latter half of 2022 in just NijiEN.
TLDR: Nijisanji hired/promoted twenty seven new livers into Nijisanji, yet spent only about 100-200 million (200 million being the generous estimate) yen for new management to compensate. Hololive spent about 450 million yen for half the amount of talents entering the company. Even if we only count the totally new livers, that's still 13 vs 14 (and we're also counting Hololive's new gen management being hired several months prior to their debut). 100-200 mil vs 450 million yen…
More Financial Comparisons Between Hololive and Nijisanji:
(As a result of the above, the operating results for the current fiscal year (for Nijisanji) were net sales of 25,341,711 thousand yen (up 78.9% from the year-earlier period), operating profit of 9,410,018 thousand yen (up 124.5% from the yearearlier period), ordinary profit of 9,448,489 thousand yen (up 127.7% from the year-earlier period) and net profit of 6,698,710 thousand yen (up 139.8% from the year-earlier period)
Net sales are up 80%... yet operating profit are up 125%. There’s a severe imbalance of actually reinvesting into the company and spending money for their own talents, just by the numbers alone. Profits grew from 14 billion yen to 25 billion yen, but operating costs only went up from 10 billion yen to 16 billion yen (this is despite a sharp increase of JP and EN livers in the same period in 2022/2023).
On top of this, Nijisanji only spent $500k on new equipment, machinery, buildings, and vehicles in 2023. For a tech company, that is surprisingly low. In comparison, Hololive spent $13 million in the same area for 2023.
Compared to Cover, which increased its revenue from 13.7 billion yen to 20.5 billion yen. On the flip side, their operating cost went from 11.8 billion to 17 billion (basically, keeping a consistent % of operating cost even with the revenue increase).
Also another to note, just a physical difference between the two companies that fans can easily see:
Merchandise, the bread and butter revenue source for any Vtuber company.
If you are not aware, Nijisanji only gives talents about 1-2% of their merch sales (as referenced by Mysta in the past). Hololive gives 50% (as mentioned by Coco, in a response to Mysta’s comments about the 2%) to the talents, allows the talents to select the type of merch they want (these have included anything from Coco’s famous “butt plug” plushie, sake, shot glasses, entire tables, giant plushies, and most recently Ame’s milk carton and a full illustration rubber mat with a poncho blanket), and offer a chance for them to invest in the merch (for bigger splits and more promotions for better sales). They do still need to pay for half of the merch cost, but have an opportunity to make them more individualized, and better selling, merch.
https://files.catbox.moe/jvvrgw.jpg
(Birthday merch from Nijisanji on the left, birthday merch from Hololive on the right)
You can just see the difference in the type of merch the companies produce. And it’s clear which one is spending more, on the talents and on the actual goods themselves. That is why despite the sheer number of livers that Nijisanji has (180 livers vs 87 talents), Revenue and Gross Profits are pretty close in comparison.
(Revenue: 20.45 billion yen for Hololive 2023, 25 billion for Nijisanji
Gross Profit is 9.4 billion yen for Hololive, 11.6 billion for Nijisanji)
(That is not to say Hololive is free from their own controversies or problems. You can search up the Coco Taiwan incident [in which one of their top streamers displayed "Taiwan" in her stream while looking at a stream analysis of her own streams, which caused the Chinese antis to swarm her for the better part of a year], the Rushia incident and termination [NDA breach that involved a dramatuber getting private info], and the Mel termination [NDA breach] that happened in January of 2024. However, compared to Nijisanji's current situation, all of these were handled professionally and Mel left with a farewell message and most of the staff/talent wishing her the best of luck in her future endeavors. These did have public backlash, but overall, the situation was handled professionally and Cover didn't slander the talents as they left).
Spending Issues… Except When It Comes to Manipulating the Company’s Value:
Niji is sitting on a big ol' pile of cash (supposedly). Early 2023 had them at approximately $82 million... Hololive has similar numbers (Anycolor does have an edge in income and net profit especially... since they cut costs as much as they can). So... why can't they hire management or the such (https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/5032.T/balance-sheet)?
(Working Capital (liquid assets/assets that can be quickly converted to liquid assets) is at 12.5 billion Yen, which is about $82 million)
I mean, there has to be a reason why they're looking for "Part Time Bi-lingual translators for the EN branch" while offering only $8 USD (1,180 Yen per hour), right? (https://www.reddit.com/r/Nijisanji/comments/1are6mu/anycolor_nijisanji_is_lowballing_parttime/)
(https://www.reddit.com/r/Nijisanji/comments/1b13qqg/looks_whos_hiring/)
The buyback. It’s certain that they spent a good portion of their liquid assets... on the buyback. To appease the shareholders (about a sixth of their total supposed liquid assets).
They still have a good amount of money (over $60 million if numbers are to be believed), but it’s clear that for the past several years, they don’t like spending money, unless it’s inflating the company’s value.
Buybacks are usually what large established companies carry out since they have enough money to carry out such an action. Buybacks pump up the price of the stock, but it’s usually not long-term (basically buying more => higher demand => higher price).
A company that is hedging its bet on rapid future growth usually invests the funds they have to expand more, or at least the traditional theory goes (ie Hololive).
This recent controversy (Selen's termination) has crashed their stock prices into the gutter. Prebuy back, Anycolor's stock was hovering around 3150 JPY. After the buyback was completed in early January, it shot up to 3800 JPY. Now, it has crashed and is barely staying above the 3000 Yen line (a psychological line that will lead to mass sell-offs if they cross the threshold) at 3040 Yen.
Why 3000 yen? Because that was the lowest point for a year pre-buyback. And if it goes under 3000, it means bigger shareholders that were keeping the stock price alive, have given up. There is some evidence to support that this may happen when the Japanese stock market reopens next Monday, as the stock crashed from 3180 at open to 3040 by close on Thursday alone.
(Since then, as of 2/28, the stock has recovered and climbed away from the 3000 floor. However, it is hovering at the price of the stock before the buyback.)
This is the lowest price in half a year (June 2023), even lower than before the buyback. This is devastating financially. (https://finance.yahoo.co.jp/quote/5032.T/chart)
(It was expected that the stock price would drop eventually, but not until March when Nijisanji would release its earnings reports. This controversy has killed their buyback’s stock price inflation way earlier than expected, and in a much more disastrous fashion as well).
The company just blew $18 million into nothingness with jack to show for it. And the stock is even LOWER than before. Even worse, they can no longer buy back stocks, as they'll be unlisted if they do. So they can't pump their stock price anymore, and now they're stuck with whatever controversy hits their stock price.
(Total ownership between executives, investment firms, and corporations is now at 73%. Nikkei Exchange requires at least 25% to be on the market. Nijisanji is overleveraged https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ANYCOLOR-INC-137315116/company/)
And since the price is now lower than the pre-buyback, it means they lost money from that $18 million buyback, as the stock price they bought at is higher than the current price (the average price of the buyback was 3200, so they pissed a full million into the wind).
Funnily enough, the Japanese stock exchange just hit their highest value that same day (Thursday, 2/22), meanwhile Anycolor's stock reached its lowest in half a year.
(It's like you buy up a bunch of items in MapleStory, betting on the item's price inflating so you can sell high. But the price crashes, you lose money from the purchase, and nobody wants to buy your items.)
So while their main competitor is showing tangible results with a brand new studio, an upcoming VR platform, and more events… Niji spent all that money that Holo spent on a buyback… that failed.
Even worse, remember that Niji also carried out a stock split last year (15 to 1). So while Niji has pulled off every trick in the book to artificially inflate their stock price (except a dividened)... the end result is a stock that has barely risen since last year.
(YoY stock price change as of 2/26:
Cover (Hololive): +83%
Anycolor (Nijisanji): +40%
Basically, Cover’s stock price has actually increased more steadily than Anycolor’s, even though Cover hasn’t done much to artificially inflate its value)
https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/5032/ir_material_for_fiscal_ym2/137288/00.pdf
This is not to mention that Niji's IR statement last year mentioned how NijiEN would be the "pillar of their business." Currently, Japan's economy is in a recession (or set to be) and the yen is extremely weak. Not only that but the JP market for Vtubers is oversaturated. Nijisanji NEEDS to show solid future growth potential to appease its investors but with this recent controversy…
(“In the fiscal year through April 30, 2024, we aim to actively pursue debuts of both NIJISANJI and NIJISANJI EN VTubers on an ongoing basis and strengthen existing units. In terms of business segments, we expect commerce and promotion will remain a growth driver. We will put effort into expanding fan segments overseas through such measures as exhibits of both NIJISANJI and NIJISANJI EN at overseas events and business with overseas companies.”
This is from Niji’s own yearly fiscal report in 2023)
It's looking extremely unlikely.
Overseas Branches Controversies, and Nijisanji’s Cover Ups:
Here's some information about their other branches; this is not the first time the company has blown up its overseas expansion routes. This is pretty on par with Nijisanji. This is the fourth branch they've blown up in the last two years.
NijiIN (India branch) was a mess from the beginning. They had no proper support and the company tried to rebrand them as “EN” right before Hololive debuted Myth (Hololive’s first EN gen). They immediately terminated the entire branch after that fumble.
NijiID (Indonesia) was shot because the parent company pulled out any and all support (for no discernable reason, as NijilD was doing fine and HoloID is even thriving). Niji ID HAD a good management. Arguably one of the best managed branch even including JP. The staff didn't shy away from appearing on stream and they even created a dakimakura out of the chief staff member. Nijisanji fired management to… you guessed it, cut costs. The entire branch was folded into JP, but most have either left or were terminated.
And NijiKR (Korea) was why Elira's clique theory caught on in the first place since KR was run by a female Vtuber with an actual clique that doxxed the other talents. Her name was Ara, and she was a bully who slandered the entire branch, pretty much everyone in Niji KR. Ara was suspended towards the end of NijiKR as a result of a lot of her conversations slandering Niji KR was leaked, and she was sued by Yuya (another NijiKR member).
Good management would have suspended Ara while trying to confirm facts and firing her once confirmed. Instead, KR management protected her and went after the forums that were exposing this info (dcinside virtual streamer gallery). The timing is incredibly on point - Yami tweeted out a message of exasperation when this happened and much of NijiKR took a lengthy break in January of 2022 (right before the termination of the branch), likely in protest. It's not a coincidence that these two graduation announcements happened at the same time.
This is not including one of the first people they hired in Korea who had an EXTENSIVE background in being a bully (TLDR, she worked for another company and abandoned them when Niji moved into Korea, and she sabotaged her own genmates to get a leg up). Said liver (Moarin) bullied people viciously enough that it caused one of her high school classmates to end up in the hospital (which required surgery). It wasn't just bullying: it was straight-up WW2 Japanese-styled torture (ironic) according to reports.
(More info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/fb0hlo/moarin_quit_nijisanji_kr_for_personal_issues/)
(The Elira clique theory is a conspiracy theory that claims that one of the NijiEN talents took over the management role as they could speak Japanese and management was either terminated or underpaid, hence constant reshuffling)
As expected, the KR branch folded quickly after that scandal (it's rumored that ID was also bundled into the fold since KR and ID died at the same time, so it would look like Niji was "centralizing" rather than killing a branch due to their own incompetence). The female Vtuber (Ara) involved got away scot-free btw, for reasons we can only speculate. If anything, Nijisanji buried her background as deeply as possible.
The Numbers Mason, What Do They Mean (EN Viewership/Superchats)?
2023 Enna: https://postimg.cc/YjsRbWhb (CCV for concert was at 13,218, Zatsudan CCV was 5,373)
2024 Enna: https://postimg.cc/jLyfPwNW (CCV for concert was 7,976, Zatusdan CCV was 3,759)
Now look at Enna's (one of their biggest female streamers) recent concert and bday live (just this week). Compared to last year, views and earnings are down more than half, with most of the donors/viewers from Hong Kong (compared to last year, which was mostly the US).
This is all public info that can be seen on YT analysis websites. 44% of viewers and donations last year were from the US, while only 14% were from HK/China and Japan. Yet this year, it's the reverse: 24% from US, 55% from Japan and China/HK. Total donations are down 50% as well. (https://postimg.cc/5Q0z8nBb)
Enna is a great singer, and she's one of the biggest talents left in EN. She had a lot of fellow livers join her concert/stream... yet her numbers are down massively.
Just this year Nijisanji EN had three talents leave the company (Pomu, Selen, Kyo). Nijisanji's CEO even stated that even if the talents leave, their fans would be "redistributed" among the other talents. Yet, Pomu and Selen were the biggest female talents in EN, while Kyo had a sizeable following as well. So why are the numbers way down, with almost evaporated support from EN nations like the US?
Why are Nijisanji livers, many of them talented in their own right, unable to hit 4 digit CCVs except the select few (with an even steeper falloff for later gens)?
And even worse, abysmal donations from the public? To the point where two members of their newest gen (TTT) earned a grand combined total of $8,000 USD in 4 months (in comparison, the lowest superchatted member of HoloEN’s most recent gen, Advent, is Biboo with $100K in seven months).
(https://www.reddit.com/r/Nijisanji/comments/1aym1hb/i_posted_about_how_ennas_birthdary_superchats/)
Heck, they didn’t even do the bare minimum to promote their newest EN gen (TTT). Hardly any promotions on social media, or even any trailers/songs/promotions on other Niji channels.
Hololive released Advent in the best way possible (all their debut streams peaked at over 100k concurrent watching for the entire stream).
-Hyped for a month in advance (teaser at the end of the first EN concert, Connect the World)
-Radio silence to allow speculation and theories to form, allowing the hype to reach its peak before making the new-gen official (not too long to prevent the hype from dying out too early)
-Channel released several days ahead of debut streams
-Heavily promoted everywhere, even in JP
-A very solid trailer
-More personalized teasers for each member
-A great gen song.
-Lots of covers and streams immediately off the bat.
And this barely costed anything. This was just good internal networking and spreading the news to all existing fans. The only costs involved were for the trailers and the song.
How was Niji unable to match this, at all?
To the point where even one of their top female EN streamers didn’t know about the new gen?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a09YaDIEj5o
Your guess is as good as mine.
ALL KNOWN CONTROVERSIES/SCANDALS/BLACK COMPANY BEHAVIOR HERE (THE AUTHOR HAD AN ANEURYSM SEEING HOW BADLY NIJI IS RUN):
AN: As some people have pointed out, some of these links are Reddit threads or the such. However, said threads have much more context and outside sources to support all these allegations. It is difficult to pin concrete proof, as much of the evidence for these events have either been scrubbed or buried (especially KR’s case). However, there are many witnesses that watched these controversies play out in real time, so they are not baseless speculation.
Also, not every controversy is on here. If they are not explicitly mentioned, it’s because I deemed that they were not due to Nijisanji itself, or I wanted to respect the PLs/identities of the livers involved. There are also rumors/speculations, such as the ones surrounding Finana, but much of them are baseless from what I could find.
I do not support or condone any harassment or taunting of the livers.
Starting with NijiJP:
Shindo Raito Rape Scandal:
AN: I know this is not a new yab, but not all Vtuber fans have been in the know since 2019/2020. Many fans are new, and providing this info gives us a point of reference for just how long Nijisanji has been doing these kinds of things.
Shindo Raito was hired by Nijisanji back in 2019 and still holds the record for the fastest termination of any Niji liver. His background is… extremely controversial and criminal.
Basically, he had an extremely sketchy past in which he claimed that he drugged underage girls (JKs) and raped them. On top of this, he admitted in his PL accounts that he signed up/joined Nijisanji to “drug and rape” female livers and do a lot of off-collab events with them to achieve his goals.
Niji caught on within a few days, but he allegedly doxxed some of the livers and leaked confidential info before being terminated.
By the way, all this information was on his PUBLIC accounts (such as Twitter) before he joined. Why the hell did Nijisanji not check his background? And they seemingly committed the same mistake later on with KR (Ara and Maorin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZHruP8KNuk
+++++
Gundo Mirei’s Joke and “Graduation”
Gundo Mirei was not an unproblematic talent. She had been warned numerous times before by management due to her saying insensitive and inappropriate things. Yet, despite this, she was one of the earlier livers and had been in the company for several years by that point (debuted in 2019 and terminated in 2023). So if she was problematic… why was she still there?
The official reason for her graduation (possibly pressured to graduate by the company) was making a joke about baseball.
The joke in question:
“... Mirei commented on her ignorance of baseball rules while reacting to the World Baseball Classic. Among other jokes about how she does not know what a "Strike" or "Home Run" are, she tweeted: "If a strong person is standing there, can the person who pitches the ball chuck it at their head or body and make them leave the pitch that way?"”
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nijisanji/comments/11zgxyl/mirei_gundou_suspension/
Now, it is fair that there were legitimate concerns that her comment (which sparked viral outrage within Japan) could lead to an end of Niji’s collaboration with Koshien (their big yearly event along with perms to stream PowerPros in conjunction with it).
What is not ok is the company deciding to throw their liver under their bus.
Basically, the company outed all their grievances with her to the public to soothe the public anger. Their statements made it clear that while it wasn’t an outright termination, they were expecting her to leave (in addition to public pressure on this issue). She gave the company the middle finger on her way out (literally).
“The agency added that it had reprimanded the VTuber for inappropriate statements on numerous occasions in the past, and that she posted the tweet without heeding the warnings. The company is currently scrutinizing Gundo Mirei's publicly available content and vowed to ensure that its talents do not step out of bounds in the future.”
Mirei and another former liver (Meiji) also mentioned how working in Nijisanji was like a “prison” after their graduation/termination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68I_3nPx92s (credits to u/nolonger1-A on the Niji reddit)
+++++
Mito’s Revolt Against Nijisanji
This is a pretty significant one as Tsukino Mito was the first Niji liver (similar to how Sora is Hololive’s first). The fact that she took a stand (along with a number of other livers) against management and the company in 2018/2019 should be telling (even calling Nijisanji a “black company).
Due to incompetent management that had lowered the livers’ morale significantly, many talents, including Mito, openly rebelled and demanded better conditions. It started off as a joke, but rolled into an actual union-like group that clamored for improvements to management and standards within the company as a whole.
Some of the worst complaints from the list:
- The company making livers foot the bill for their own model without telling them beforehand.
- Lack of management and support.
- Nijisanji pitting the livers against each other, creating a hostile workplace.
- Really bad quality toilet paper (this is a grave sin in my eyes).
“Anycolor back in 2018 was run badly with respect to its treatment of staff and talents. It was so bad even Tsukino Mito (the first Niji liver) was calling them out as a “black company.” Needless to say, with Niji members staging a revolt, dubbed the “Nijisanji Resistance,” they called out bad practices, albeit as parody. But the message was sent, and management made changes to improve conditions (don’t remember what they did explicitly, someone please reply). But the thing is, that was 2018, when the company was small and concerns were addressed towards its domestic, main market, that being JP. “
https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/fc0zdf/nijisanji_resistance/
https://cerastes.tumblr.com/post/627992607869599744/how-does-nijisanjiparent-company-keep-its-talent
Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain, as we see today. Nijisanji didn’t change; they just covered everything up better. All those problems still exist within Nijisanji to this day (except the toilet paper one, I really hope they at least fixed THAT).
+++++
Roa/Meiro Accent Controversy
“Yuzuki Roa, a VTuber with Nijisanji, has been on hiatus for more than a year following a dispute in October of 2020 with fellow (now ex) Nijisanji VTuber Kinyozaka Meiro spurred by the latter’s adapting a way of speaking very similar to Roa’s, among other things. Behind-the-scenes chats involving these two and management were leaked by gossip VTuber Narukami Sabaki, whose intervention stoked anger among some viewers with accusations of bullying, something that both Roa and Nijisanji’s management company ANYCOLOR (then Ichikara) have disputed. Meiro, identified as being behind the leaked info and having twice announced her retirement just to take it back, was let go by Ichikara/ANYCOLOR due to “difficulty establishing a relationship of trust” and violation of her nondisclosure agreement in her contract.””
TLDR: Meiro, who was hired after Roa, began to copy a bit of Roa’s mannerism during her streams. Roa asked her to stop imitating her, to which Meiro refused, claiming it was her “natural accent.” This led to a fight between the two (mostly on Meiro’s end), and management failed to settle the issue. A critical issue in this controversy was the fact that the management didn’t allow the two to actually communicate directly with each other, leading to a mess of miscommunication and accusations.
The end result? Confidential info and Discord messages were leaked to an infamous Japanese Keemstar equivalent (Narukami Sabaki). Meiro was confirmed the leaker (she leaked this info to her friend, who leaked it to Sabaki), and tried to portray Roa as a bully, which led to an anti-campaign against her.
Meiro tried to graduate twice (pulling back each time at the last moment), to create a public narrative that she was being “bullied.” Management let her get away with it the first time, but she was fired after the second time after they discovered the NDA breach.
Roa then brought on a lawsuit to stop the slander online, after she was forced to go on hiatus for a year due to the abuse she received.
https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/je2syn/kingyozaka_meiro_megathread/
Which leads to the conclusion that these were two livers going at each other (or in Roa’s case, defending herself from the mobs) and creating a media controversy in the process for a few weeks minimum. Meanwhile, Nijisanji tried to intervene, and possibly worsened the situation due to miscommunication and error (as neither side could clarify their position to the other).
This one was entirely preventable on Nijisanji’s part (unlike Lulu’s case where antis swarmed her due to… pure hatred and even escalated to physical stalking, leading her to leave the company).
Had they released any form of public statement or conducted an internal investigation swiftly (instead of being on the backfoot and allowing the slander against Roa to spread, despite her claims being verifiable), none of this would’ve occurred. Instead, they waited a full two months before actually terminating Meiro (officially letting her “graduate” herself with no chance of contract renewal). And participated in a “he say, she say” game between the two. By the time Meiro was terminated, the outrage campaign against Roa was already in full swing.
(Also, Meiro was lying about her accent. She was copying Roa to eat into her viewerbase, proved by screenshots from her own texts.)
+++++
A Black Eye From Keemstar:
Nijisanji did try to sue Sabaki though! And lost spectacularly. Imagine that; a big billion dollar corporation unable to prove that Sabaki was slandering their own talents, despite Japan’s draconian slander laws (basically, anyone can be sued for slander as long as their statements, even if they are true, “damage” the reputation or image of an individual or organization).
When they had clear cut evidence that he used leaked information to start an anti campaign against one of their talents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_G072sP6ho
+++++
Axia Harassement Controversy:
Axia Krone was a unique case that sounds familiar to some in the vtubing community. Due to his model and personality, he developed a very parasocial and out of control fanbase that infantilized him, harassing his every move and trying to control his actions (including who he collabed with).
When he fought back, he was swarmed with antis for months. It reached a breaking point where his mods were overwhelmed and his antis spread this harassment campaign into the public sphere, brigading streamers outside the company about him. This led to his long hiatus.
“A large portion of his fanbase kept infantilizing him even though he told them to stop and RP'd as his mom or manager. Every time he told them to stop they'd just respond with things like "oh Axia-kun is just in his rebellious phase", they were toxic and controlling too, telling him who he can and can't collab with.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=IARMHF8dxbM
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nijisanji/comments/wr8zb9/axia_krone_to_go_on_indefinite_hiatus_due_to/
https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/nijisanji-star-axia-krone-graduates-harassment-2000237/
And in the end, instead of trying to help him moderate his chat or support his attempt to return, Nijisanji watched with their hands folded and accepted his graduation after he stated that “it was difficult to continue [his] activities because what I wanted to do and the direction of [NIJISANJI] did not match.”
Why is it listed under here? Because again, this one seemed much more preventable compared to Lulu’s case. Nijisanji had every opportunity, every power to help Axia moderate his own chat, set up preventive measures to prevent any harassment towards other livers who associated with him, or cut this issue in the bud early on. Yet, they didn’t. And a talent (multiple talents, considering the previous controversies) suffered for months before finally choosing to graduate himself.
I criticized Hololive for their handling of Coco’s Taiwan incident (similar case where Chinese antis swarmed her chat, which also had the bare minimum preventive measures, and caused her and her associates to suffer from months-long abuse). I will also call out Nijisanji here.
Nijisanji did handle 88 slander cases a month after the harassment campaign started, so I applaud them for becoming harsher on the harassment from antis.
+++++
Niji Antis Harassment Regarding Aloe:
AN: This section has been edited as of 3/2. Due to new information that I have discovered, I will be reverting much of the previous changes, as Aloe herself stated her suicide attempt was due to the harassment and doxxing that occurred..
Aloe was a good friend of Chitose before joining Hololive. Chitose leaked some information about the toxic and poor management issues within Nijisanji to Aloe prior to Aloe’s Hololive debut. During a stream using her PL account, Aloe brought this up in passing, but in a very vague way to steer clear of slandering any talents in Niji or the company itself. She mentioned the potential dangers of working for corporations (such as stalking and harassment) and only mentioned Chitose’s name in passing (as Chitose had been stalked and harassed herself).
This led to Nji antis to swarm her chat after she debuted with Hololive, going as far as to pretend that they were Holo fans to harass her in chat. Shortly after, they doxxed her, tracing her relations with Chitose back to her PL, even going far as to send death threats and spam calls to her house and her step father’s workplace. She left Hololive due to this abuse, stating she was unable to continue mentally or physically. Aloe also mentioned that the doxxing and harassment went too far (in her apology video, which has now been deleted).
Shortly after some time, Aloe attempted to commit suicide, and has thankfully recovered since. Her background is tragic, her household situation was already in a rough place prior (with an abusive father). However, the escalation by the antis, harassing her family members (especially her father), led the situation at home to worsen. She was forced to live off her earnings as a streamer to order food and remain in her room as much as possible, to avoid contact with him. And yet, when she was finally given an opportunity to earn much through Hololive, the Niji antis denied her that opportunity and only worsened the abuse she received at home.
It is clear, through her own words, that the harassment led to her reaching the breaking point and attempting suicide. Her own video mentioned the harassment, and then the following attempt and her admittance into a mental ward.
I can only wish her good health and the best of luck in her future endeavors.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3153165
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hololive/comments/ibaeaw/tled_summary_of_aloes_current_situation/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLRDVCAQ6m0 (Delta/Aloe speaking about her attempt. She mentions constantly throughout the video about “stress from work” and “remaining in a terrible (work) environment.” She reveals her worth moments, and her hospitalization, was in 2020, when she was Aloe.)
+++++
Melissa Kinrenka’s Graduation:
This one is a bit less “eye-catching.” The short version is Melissa Kinrenka was pursuing a more musical aspect to her career. As such, she requested to own the rights to her own music (specifically, two of her original songs that she made/produced). Nijisanji’s management rejected her request, citing the fact that they legally owned her IP (her model, including all her music). This led to her deciding to not renew her contract, and graduating from the company.
This one isn’t as bad in comparison to some of the others. However, it’s still a head scratcher that the company is willing to lose some of its most popular livers left and right, over the difference in IP and rights to the music they paid/produced for.
https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/ufr7j0/comment/i6vqjc0/
(credits to u/nolonger1-A on the Niji reddit)
The “Graduation Que”:
From the title, the context should be obvious. Over the course of the last year and a half (starting November 27th, 2022), there have been twenty five graduations and terminations within Nijisanji.
Since the beginning of 2022 (so eleven additional months compared to Nijisanji) Hololive has terminated/graduated five talents, including Holostars (Rushia, Sana, Mel, Magni, Vesper).
Unfortunately, there may be more terminations/graduations yet to come for Nijisanji, as it seems the company purposely spreads out terminations/graduations to promote an image of “order.”
This is supported by the fact that Pomu's graduation was known internally in July of 2023. Maria said she knew about it then, and she implied she was late to the party on learning about it. Pomu didn't get to graduate until January of 2024.
https://youtu.be/bW24zVTsFBI?t=8230 (2:17:10, go back a few minutes and the topic of Pomu comes up)
Also Mysta mentioning it in his stream (16:01): https://youtu.be/JkuIiCRJFQc?t=961
“I had decided to graduate before she (Nina) had. I had already had conversation with management around 5 months ago in regards to graduation. Believe it or not, graduation actually takes quite a long time.”
5% of the talents from both Hololive/Holostars graduated from Holo since January of 2022.
13.8% of the total livers from 2022 graduated from Niji since November of 2022.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nijisanji/comments/1b3q5t7/to_put_the_nijisanji_graduation_queue_into/
Bullying, Toxicity, Clique: All the “Good” Stuff in NijiKR
(Skip this part if you read the previous part about NijiKR above, cause it’s the same thing)
NijiKR (Korea) was why Elira's clique theory caught on in the first place since KR was run by a female Vtuber with an actual clique that doxxed the other talents. Her name was Ara, and she was a bully who slandered the entire branch, pretty much everyone in Niji KR. Ara was suspended towards the end of NijiKR as a result of a lot of her conversations slandering Niji KR was leaked, and she was sued by Yuya (another NijiKR member).
Good management would have suspended Ara while trying to confirm facts and firing her once confirmed. Instead, KR management protected her and went after the forums that were exposing this info (dcinside virtual streamer gallery). In other words, they prioritized the bully/clique leader within the KR branch, the same bully that was doxxing and harassing the talents online by leaking info. The timing is incredibly on point - Yami tweeted out a message of exasperation when this happened and much of NijiKR took a lengthy break in January of 2022 (right before the termination of the branch), likely in protest. It's not a coincidence that these two graduation announcements happened at the same time.
This is not including one of the first people they hired in Korea who had an EXTENSIVE background in being a bully (TLDR, she worked for another company and abandoned them when Niji moved into Korea, and she sabotaged her own genmates to get a leg up). Said liver (Moarin) bullied people viciously enough that it caused one of her high school classmates to end up in the hospital (which required surgery). It wasn't just bullying: it was straight-up WW2 Japanese-styled torture (ironic) according to reports.
(More info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/fb0hlo/moarin_quit_nijisanji_kr_for_personal_issues/)
The Final Yab: NijiEN and Why Overseas Fans are Up in Arms:
There’s a whole separate rentry about the various controversies from NijiEN. Here’s a long list of it: https://rentry.org/exx63
Keep in mind, this does contain some bias, as evidenced by the fact it mentions every single controversial action, no matter how big or small, from NijiEN livers. However it does document pretty much every single controversy from NijiEN to this day (some that are not mentioned in this doc).
But here are some of the major ones, with evidence (or at least, some context).
+++++
Vox Akuma Grooming Allegations:
Vox has had numerous accusations against him. Specifically, accusations of grooming and engaging in inappropriate behavior towards girls as young as 12. I will note, these accusations are mere ACCUSATIONS. They are not the truth, and should NOT be considered “truth” unless settled in a court of law. But these allegations had surfaced since the beginning of his tenure at Nijisanji. Basically, this is not something new that someone published in light of Nijisanji’s recent scandals; this has been around for years.
I will link the said accusations here (which have long been deleted, along with much of Vox’s past life):
+++++
Yugo’s Termination:
Unnamed (formerly known as Yugo) was terminated without any explanation. They were never given a proper farewell, and the reasons for their termination is still unknown to this day. However, their termination was seemingly something he accepted. Regardless, this was seen as the beginning of terminations, graduations, and worrying over NijiEN.
https://x.com/ANYCOLOR_Inc/status/1602936543421005825?s=20
AR Live Cancellation
This is fairly straightforward, and adds onto the “clusterfuck” vibe at Nijisanji.
Basically, there was an AR concert planned for NijiEN. 19 livers were involved, and it was set to be a 3D debut for many of them. After months of effort (with many livers flying to Japan to practice and record for the concert), it was canceled at the last minute.
Que mass protests and snide comments from the livers. It was officially “cancelled,” but many had hoped that it would be an indefinite postponement, rather than a full cancellation. It’s clear that the AR concert is officially canceled, since it has been over a year with no word about any “rescheduling” for this event.
https://news.qoo-app.com/en/post/147250/nijisanji-colors-concert-canceled
+++++
FalseEyeD/Khyo Copyright Struck
Even for newer or casual vtuber fans, this was a well-known event within the community. Basically, Nijisanji decided to copyright strike and shut down FalseEyeD and Khyo, two prominent members that covered vtuber news.
Keep in mind, this was due to Zaion’s termination and the controversy surrounding it. Basically, Nijisanji copy striked them for trying to uncover information about the issue, to silence them.
This almost led to FalseEyeD’s entire channel being taken down due to the rapid succession of copystrikes. Unsurprisingly, this may explain why he’s been more than happy to cover Nijisanji’s recent downfall, and for good reason as well.
While going after Sabaki was commendable, as he was the Japanese version of Keemstar and purposely slandered talents for clicks… False and Khyo were much more impartial and presented news, especially for smaller vtubers as well. The fact that Nijisanji disagreed with their criticism of the company and attempted to silence them, should not be ignored.
They are willing to use every trick in the book to silence opposition and criticism. This should be to the surprise of no one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kayp0jZABes
Hex Haywire Parasocial/Donation Yab
This video covers the entire topic very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbgZj88QGDE
But TLDR: Hex roleplayed as a therapist (according to his lore, he’s an underpaid student therapist). It goes about as well as you would expect; a fan posted a picture of them cutting themselves and posted it publicly while asking for Hex to “cure them.” He did clarify that he wanted to establish a boundary, but then proceeded to tell his fans to trauma dump through his Streamlab. Also, a bit of racism involving sikhs and turbans.
This is just the surface level details of his concerning actions. There is further info, with sources, in that video.
Honestly, are you surprised at this point?
+++++
Millie’s “4Chan” Stream Controversy
The video speaks for itself. Basically, Millie planned a collab with a good chunk of NijiEN and created a “4chan esque” stream where the livers make some very controversial and questionable statements were made.
+++++
Kyo Kaneko Korean Racism Allegations
This one is (thankfully) tame. Kyo mentioned Korea was a medical tourism destination, since it was well known for plastic surgery and the such. A pretty stale stereotype joke, but he was stealth suspended for two weeks regarding this issue.
This is pretty reasonable… which begs the question why NijiEN fired Zaion was fired over a joke and Uki can get away with being racist constantly, for the past several years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq3XUyp1P14
Luca’s Former Mod Scorched Earth Controversy
AN: This part has also been edited as of 3/1 to provide more context (and caution) about the accuser.
This one has been circulating for some time now, especially after Selen’s termination.
Basically, Luca’s former mod (@RazielWarmonic on Twitter) blasted Luca on Twitter during the height of the firestorm that followed with Selen’s termination. Through her Twitter thread, she leaked screenshots and information regarding Luca.
I would like to add a disclaimer (much like Vox’s) that this is the person that potentially groomed/harassed Luca making these accusations (though we will never know the background details for sure). Do take her words with a grain of salt. Since she was a former mod, it is possible that she is making these claims to retaliate against Luca.
Some of the questionable ones mentioned:
- Luca didn’t actually write his own signed birthday merch and had Raziel write it for him. There are tweets that comment how his hand writing looked “girly” to some of his fans.
- She also wrote the Sakura Bloom and Birthday VP packs for him.
- She also carried out much of the work he took credit for, such as Minecraft projects.
- Allegations of Luca’s sexual harassment towards her and to other girls.
- The fact that Raziel was a married woman and supposedly left her husband for Luca, after meeting each other in VR chat.
The only thing noteworthy about the accuser is that Raziel knew Luca for years and was a mod for him. As mentioned, consider her accusations with caution.
https://twitter.com/RazielWarmonic/status/1755653110347845923
https://x.com/TheDarkEnjoyer/status/1755668557914861926?s=20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1kSjEpNe4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QraZSCJWlTQ&t=907s
Former EN Livers Alluding to a bigger Problem within NijiEN:
Matara (formerly known as Nina) mentioned how the company refused to let her defend her own fans. Also stated how surprised she was that Vshojo’s management was cooperative and helpful, when Nijisanji’s management was the opposite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=qjP3MIzaemESRLYL&t=508&v=VUmk69aK5yU&feature=youtu.be (Nijisanji preventing her from defending her own fans video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If0TxnnrWko (Management video)
Kuro (formerly known as Mysta) was screwed over by Nijisanji’s own incompetent management. He was recommended an accountant by Nijisanji, and that accountant turned out to be… less than useless. Instead of helping him with taxes, the accountant put him in $300K USD debt. It was Vshojo that eventually helped him move on past from it. He has also been vocal about Nijisanji’s mistreatment and terrible management as Kuro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38msQLlN6-c (Tax video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuH4_xj7qsQ (Management video, many more such cases online. Simply search “Kuro or Matara management Niji”)
Pomu (and I will not divulge her current identity, as she wishes to remain anonymous and has not returned to streaming) broke down in tears in one of her streams (still as Pomu), mentioning how management denied her a “once in a lifetime opportunity” (same as Selen) and how tough it was that management kept on rejecting her projects.
By the way, they deleted this video after it started to spread on Youtube… Really telling that management nuked one specific video where she cries about internal issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67DAc2egFmw&t=1s (Denied an once in a lifetime opportunity, cried to her fans about the hardship)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_U5m-mBGwE&t=187s (More videos and mentions here)
KamiiGOO (Mika, Niji Indonesia member) felt as though she was a mere “stepping stone” within the company and felt like she was a “burden.” This also reinforces previous mentions from Kuro and Matara on how Nijisanji makes people feel like they are worthless without the company.
https://twitter.com/KamiiGOO/status/1761978756498071770
When none, not a single former liver, has anything good to say about the workplace… it’s probably not a good sign.
+++++
Zaion was a Prophet:
Sayu (formerly known as Zaion) was eerily similar to Selen in terms of termination: blasted for trumped up charges, slandered by other livers within NijiEN, and silenced thereafter. Her termination letter is VERY similar to Selen’s termination letter; in fact, some of the charges are outright identical, if not copied.
Zaion’s “One Girl’s Story” reveals an abusive workplace with little to no management (her manager was a 2-week old hire, and he was also replaced soon after). She was constantly belittled and harassed, to the point where she believed that she was nothing without the company and was forced to take anti-depressants after her termination.
While the joke she made was in bad taste (it was an implied sexual assault joke) and definitely punishment worthy, the fact that the company created trumped up charges on top of it, such as adding a “deez nuts jokes copyright” for one of the reasons for her termination in the letter is a joke.
Not to mention, just this past week (2/18-24), Uki Violeta was called out for his blatant racism towards white people (not once, not twice, but enough for a five minute video compilation). Even in Zaion’s termination letter, the company claimed that one of the rules she broke was “offensive remarks regarding discrimination.” Even Kyo was suspended for his Korean plastic surgery remarks.
Yet, what was management’s response to Uki’s actions?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAw2eTwirJI (Uki’s racism on full display)
Nothing. That should already alert you on selective enforcement of rules.
https://twitter.com/NIJISANJI_World/status/1634147534795841536 (Zaion’s termination letter, compare it to Selen’s and see the similarities)
https://youtu.be/04O3fFyxP3w?si=2t3YQ9ee5TOHaJlU (Her story)
She warned the public about the core issues within Nijisanji… Yet she was ignored by the majority of the community until Selen’s termination.
+++++
We’re still not done btw.
+++++
Selen’s Termination: The Match that Lit the Firestorm
Context and Intro Regarding Selen’s Situation
Dokibird (fomerly known as Selen) has had her story spread far and wide. Most of it is well-known. But the “short” summary is this:
Very good timeline of events here as well for reference (I will be copying much of the thread mentioned here, all credits to u/_Elatanin_ for the majority of this section): (https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/1alimfx/megathreadcompilation_selen_tatsukis_termination/)
Selen tried to upload a music video (Last Cup of Coffee) in time for Christmas. It is presumed that management knew that the video was being worked on, as she had received the perms for the song from the song owner a year prior (in 2022, written agreement can be found online, it’s on Twitter). The song had been in development for at least several months (from the artists that worked on the actual video), August of 2023 to be precise. It is highly likely that management had to have given permission for the video to begin (otherwise, she wouldn’t have invested $15,000 on it). If management was unaware, that would’ve been a problem in itself.
Selen and the artists legally have to file these perms, since there were art of former and current livers, along with the song perms themselves. Artists confirmed that they shared the sketches and nothing was some bait and switch.
Months had passed and it's now a week until the project goes out yet management still hasn't sent in the final approval. Instead, she’s ghosted for 37 hours when she had most likely warned her upload date ahead of time. If management wasn’t aware, again, this is an even bigger issue. It means the management isn’t doing their job. Instead of giving her the ok to upload, when management finally replies; they send a short message saying that they don’t have perms for the IPS THAT BELONG TO THEIR OWN COMPANY, and leaves her on read again.
Did I say ignoring messages for 37 hours about a project that has been in development for over a year on the internal calendar for which they have received and had to file perms for over a year that is scheduled to come out in less than a week?
Sure, her uploading the video was a big no, and a breach of rules… But considering what else we know, why are we surprised at Selen’s reaction? This brings us to the nitty gritty details of how management constantly sabatoged Selen, to the point where she made a net $0 profit ($200k in expenses in 2023).
In their own termination letter (https://twitter.com/NIJISANJI_World/status/1754459182412222481), Niji claims she was at fault for “lack of communication with artists resulting in delays in Selen Tatsuki’s commission payments to artists.” Their own words. How did the artists respond?
https://twitter.com/weeniedesu/status/1754600196103938462
https://twitter.com/Melonminty_/status/1754582165969678737
@LilyPichu tweets that she already gave Nijisanji permissions to cover her song despite Nijisanji's claims that permissions weren't properly acquired "i let them (niji) know I’m okay with it back in aug 2022. I feel very honored every time someone covers my song, I very much enjoyed Selen’s cover, so it’s sad to see what happened."
(Look at the previous page and the image on it; the person mentioned was literally an artist working on the MV with Selen)
Niji doesn’t pay the artist, and then blames Selen for it. Artists speak up about how Nijisanji not only forgot to pay them (forcing Selen to spend out of pocket, which accrued to $200,000 in expenses, none of which was reimbursed), but also screwed up their NDAs, which allowed them to tell us the public the details in the first place.
This was not the first slight by the way. Management regularly cancelled her projects, passed her up for sponsorships and collabs, and rejected proposals. They also unilaterally moved her schedule up weeks to swamp her with work, screwed over her Fall Guys tournamnet, and walled her out of the Sanrio collab, which was one of her lifelong dreams.
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Nijisanji/comments/1anl1t3/can_someone_remind_me_what_happened_in_may_2023/
- https://youtu.be/cjNiFKV81vE?t=2401 (Sanrio collab)
What we have here is a repeated behavior of a management that is always rushing her and closing down any of her projects (even after she had made significant investments) for unexplained reasons. This had been occurring for years… and considering Selen’s suicide attempt shortly after asking her fans to upload the video, it can be pretty easy to see the conclusion of this mess.
The MV was going to be her suicide note, or at least the act of asking the fans to reupload it. The MV was made with good intentions at first, but after being denied by management, she asked her fans to reupload it (most likely in her memory) before she attempted to take her life.
After all, management had a pattern of turning down her projects at the last minute, why should she expect anything different?
+++++
Skinwalking and “PR first”:
What gets even more concerning is what follows after (from Selen’s termination letter):
If we consider this statement within the letter, and recognize that Selen most likely attempted shortly after December 25th, this means that Nijisanji locked Selen out of her accounts (in retaliation for releasing the video) shortly after her December 25th tweet.
https://i.imgur.com/0Ckx7Hz.png
Yet… On December 27th, “she” made a tweet.
Unless we’re assuming that management could not respond to an emergency within 24 hours (possible, considering what we know above, but this makes them look even worse), we can assume that management took over her social media… and tweeted that “Selen” was fine.
When she was actually hospitalized for attempted suicide.
This is several different levels of fucked, I can’t even begin to explain how messed up this is.
On TOP OF THIS, their own termination letter mentioned how Selen refused to agree with management’s requests during her recovery. So despite knowing that one of their livers was in the hospital for attempted suicide, they decided to pretend they were her, posted “everything is fine,” and then continued to nag her about accepting their PR. This is also supported by the fact that they specifically mentioned they were unable to reach her while she was hospitalized.
They did this all while she was recovering.
The second attempt on her life should not be surprising at that point. Instead of trying to support or care for one of the biggest livers, who had done much to support the company ($200,000 out of her own pocket to use for projects to promote the branch and her channel), they instead, focused on the PR aspect and skinwalked her to throw off her fans.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1ajdr2r
+++++
Selen’s Termination and Response
And what eventually led to…was the termination itself.
30 minutes before their termination letter was posted, Nijisanji privated all her vods and Twitter. They went full scorched earth blowing up everything related to her, before announcing her termination.
Selen mentioned that they didn’t notify her about this, and she found out about her own termination through her Twitter.
https://twitter.com/dokibird/status/1754459958119432664
She requested to leave on more neutral terms (a simple termination or graduation) on January 26th. After receiving a non-response, she proceeded to send an official complaint (hence her bringing in her lawyer), as proof of breach of conduct/contract to terminate herself from Nijisanji on February 5th. She was immediately terminated within hours.
Knowing about the graduation que, and how it takes months to get “processed,” what likely occurred was her official request for resignation being sent on January 26th (aka requesting a silent termination like Yugo’s). Management refused to terminate (due to penalties or contract conditions), and instead ignored the request until she filed an official complaint through her lawyer.
And after that? We can’t be certain of what happened. Possible miscommunication or mistranslation, we will never know for sure.
Yet, what we DO know was that Nijisanji’s management reacted by going nuclear, releasing their infamous three page character assassination termination letter with MANY similarities to Zaion’s own termination letter.
https://twitter.com/NIJISANJI_World/status/1754459182412222481
Meanwhile, management forgot to remove perms for Selen’s mods, and they promptly revolted by promoting Dokibird. An absolute mess all around, one that could’ve been easily solved by management.
https://nichegamer.com/nijisanji-forgets-to-remove-selen-mods-mods-create-stream-promoting-dokibird/
This entire controversy eventually was leaked to the mainstream, because just how badly Nijisanji fumbled the ball on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofUD7Djo9Z4&t=1279s (Asmongold’s reaction. He has 5 videos about this issue on his channel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90FPv7OwMX0&t=1415s (“This Evil Company is Collapsing” by Penguinz0)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljWVV7ozWaI&t=51s (FalseEyeD’s video, and he also has a series covering every scandal/controversy since)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz0jp0azkDo (DepressedNousagi’s video, he also has a list of videos covering this topic as well)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbMCeIz5pao&t=2s (Khyo’s video, and he also uploaded a series on it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FWsonE3LIA&t=362s (Rima Evenstar’s video on the issue)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwAxBKbjibQ (Lidia Nekozawa and her series on it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZdDpPxp_E4&t=263s (“The Internal Decay of Nijisanji,” Kwite’s video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTAL-8v_HsQ&t=487s (Mujin’s video, part 1 of a two part series)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24DYXq49T9k&t=1238s (“The Downfall of Nijisanji” by Mutahar)
Yes, she disregarded what management told her and uploaded the video… but to burn their public reputation in response to that? It’s mind bogglingly stupid. Jump to the Analysis from Experts section and watch the video from the PR Professor. Nijisanji fired a nuke onto its own foot to squash an ant.
No matter how much blame is on Selen herself, Niji’s reaction was very much over the top, very on par with what they did previously with other talents (like Zaion), and unfortunately, would’ve worked like in Zaion’s case if Selen didn’t have the proof and support from those who knew her.
Some additional reactions to the termination letter:
- Andrew Dice, a veteran editor in the games industry, releases a series of tweets heavily criticizing Nijisanji's public relations posts citing them as "farcial" and "makes mistakes I would expect undergraduate PR students to be able to catch & correct."
- @SpaceDrakeCF - "This document is *appalling*. It's farcial. In isolation, I would think it some kind of parody shit-post, if it hadn't been posted to Nijisanji's official English account at close of business hours JST and left up, flapping in the wind, for fourteen hours straight as of posting." "As a public relations post, this statement makes mistakes I would expect undergraduate PR students to be able to catch & correct. Mistakes I expect of a socially-awkward sole proprietor streamer. That this came from what is ostensibly a publicly-traded 株式会社 is mind blowing."
- @SpaceDrakeCF - "So this is already a very obvious attempt at damage control. Anycolor is aware of some of the negative reaction to Selen's firing and is trying to get ahead of the bad press. Which, of course, this has the opposite effect of doing."
This is not to mention the mass exodus of sponsors, artists, developers, etc. that cut their connection with Niji. Hyte being one of the most prominent ones:
https://twitter.com/hytebrand/status/1755306063115788503
+++++
Which brings us to another questionable move by Nijisanji:
https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/5032/ir_material1/223224/00.pdf
“The impact of this decision on our financial results will be negligible.”
Refer back to above where I discussed how Nijisanji seemingly only cares about shareholders and inflating their company valuation.
After releasing that termination letter, this was what they shared to their investors.
“Negligible.” One of their biggest livers (the biggest EN female streamer) was considered “negligible.” Based on just finances, sure. But considering the firestorm that was burning through the EN sphere?
Why would the company even release this? If it was negligible, why post it to the investors (the first such statement following the termination of a liver)? If she was negligible, then what does that make the other livers that were smaller than her, chopped liver?
If she was negligible, why did the company spend time and effort to terminate her in a spectacular fashion and then run to the investors to calm them down?
Again, your answer is as good as mine. We will never know for sure.
Doki’s Rebirth:
Thankfully, Doki’s attempt at her life failed and she is still with us today. Which brings us to her return stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2YmJL0PX5M
Some key points:
- During the stream, Doki talks about how her suicide attempt was the result of months of build up and stress that lead to a breaking point and that she has medical records and lawyer approved statements about her experience.
- She also revealed about how she tried to leave Nijisanji on more neutral terms (on January 26th) but was denied that privilege. She only found out about her own termination from the twitter announcement.
- She never wanted the public to know about the bullying drama and that she can't legally say anything more in public about it
- Documentation such as therapy sessions and doctor evaluations were kept and she alluded that 'everyone' knew why she was in the hospital and the reason behind it possibly hinting that this information was sent forward to Nijisanji but they chose to disregard it or do anything with it.
- She doesn't want anyone to be harassed or bullied because she went through that herself. She just want people to look towards new beginnings for the Lunar New Year and to make people laugh. She's still the same person and that won't be taken away from her
- This was also where she mentioned that she made a net $0 in 2023 due to her various projects and such. Knowing what conspired with Niji above (management failing to pay artists and give them proper NDAs), we can assume that not all of the $200,000 was meant to be spent in the way that it was.
Anycolor, but Always Black:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o65VwnQvWW4&t=1s
(The infamous “Elira’s Black Video.”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1YCUbQOJB0&t=1s
(Dokibird Neopets stream)
Which leads us to this moment.
Before we dig into the Black Video, I just want to point out something I found peculiar. Nijisanji released this stream right as Doki was starting her first gaming stream as Doki (Neopets). Doki’s stream was planned ahead of time, so it was likely they were aware what she had planned at this time.
Yet they released this stream while she was trying to step away from this entire dumpster fire. And the content of it was severe enough, that it caused Doki to have a panic attack on stream. Thankfully, she composed herself and gave previously planned neutral statements while she recovered (she had planned for it, as if she knew Nijisanji would go full-scorched earth). But it was still an extremely scummy thing to do, and displays a very severe pattern of the company seemingly abusing their livers emotionally.
Now, onto the actual Black Video content:
- In the video statement, Elira claims that what they say on it are their own words and feelings and that she volunteered her channel to be used for this announcement. Everything that was discussed had been approved by their lawyers and were based on their personal experiences.
- Nijisanji staff claims that over the past month, they have received documents from Selen's lawyer containing examples of her claimed experiences while she was working under Anycolor. The documents included personal information of her co-workers. They note that some of the information contained within if publicized runs the risk of their personal safety due to doxxing. " Notably, one section of this document alludes to where Millie, Enna and I (Elira) live. "
- Elira also states that the documents contained information with harmful claims that they believe to be untrue.
- Vox talks about his past experiences with working with Selen and talked about her repeated behaviour with not complying with protocol.
- Vox also alluded to Selen thinking that management played favorites (with Vox being one) and that she secretly recorded their private conversation talking about it which she used as evidence for her documentation. Vox talked about his experience about how this isn't the case and that they were equally reprimanded by staff in similar situations.
- Ike merely reiterates that the documents shown to them had claims that they thought were untrue and potentially harmful.
- All three of them claim to have been hurt or betrayed by the situation.
- A Message from NIJISANJI EN video is now officially the most disliked Nijisanji video of all time at 16,000 thumbs down and first Elira Pendora video where dislikes exceeds likes. 2 hours in posting this video, Elira loses over 7,000 subscribers.
- Fans continue to disapprove of Nijisanji's statements and actions through various social media outlets. Multiple fans have likened the video's contents to DARVO, a reaction that perpetrators of wrongdoing may display in response to being held accountable for their behavior.
DARVO: Manipulating the Argument:
- “DARVO (an acronym for "deny, attack, and reverse victim & offender") is a reaction that perpetrators of wrongdoing, such as sexual offenders, may display in response to being held accountable for their behavior. Some researchers indicate that it is a common manipulation strategy of psychological abusers.”
I would like to point out that Vox, in a previous stream, stated that people could just “leave the company” if they disagreed with the company’s actions.
So considering that he took part in this video and slandered her character, there are three possibilities:
- Vox threw his “friend” under the bus to maintain his current lifestyle and contract with Nijisanji.
- It’s actually not easy to leave Nijisanji, despite his claims. Hence, they pointed a gun to his head and had him read out the prepared statement.
- Nijisanji showed doctored evidence to enrage Vox, basically lying to him.
None of this is favorable to the company or the livers, at all.
There is also the possibility that Doki is lying. However… considering her following statements, I am more inclined to believe her words over a company that has a reputation and track record for doing these kinds of things.
https://twitter.com/NIJISANJI_World/status/1757257329945497672
Nijisanji basically admitted to sharing her private documents, including journal entries of her recollection of being bullied, to the other livers. If the company’s own claims that there were “bullies among livers” were correct (claims that Nijisanij themselves made), then they leaked her private documents, some of her more vulnerable moments, with her potential bullies.
It’s also very much possible, that they leaked her medical documents among the livers as well. Since Vox, in the Elira’s Black Video, admitted he went through all the documents “very thoroughly.”
https://i.imgur.com/Wnk8Yhi.png
Oh, and they violated a Canadian law as well.
https://twitter.com/eviltape/status/1757277954189688899
+++++
Doki’s Response To the Black Video:
Her response was tame compared to the company’s attempt to ruin her character.
https://twitter.com/dokibird/status/1757218064058155099
Through her tweets and the Neopets stream (before it was abruptly ended due to the escalation):
- She (Doki) says that the documents were only meant to be for her, the Nijisanji staff and the lawyers involved. Those documents should have never been shared to the Nijisanji livestreamers and that what Nijisanji did was illegal.
- She also says that she has more statements and receipts to release later on
- “I will say that it never supposed to be shown to anyone other than me, my lawyer and other relevant lawyers. It was a private document with my own personal information and was used as a legal document to help my lawyer and document my thoughts + was never supposed to release anywhere else to any other parties outside of legal department. It makes me wonder if my medical and hospital records was also released without my consent as that was also promised to me to be kept private.”
- “I am currently talking to my lawyer and thankfully only my diagnosis and reason for hospital stay was reported without further private info being disclosed. It was requested that none of this info should be revealed to anyone other than legal. Thank you everyone for the support, I really wish things didn't have to go this way, I didn't say anything more and I was ready to move on and start a new life.
Unfortunately, this is only the end “for now.” It is very much possible the company may escalate, and cause even greater issues.
Search up Uki’s racist tweet, Wilson’s controversial tweet and art stealing scandal, and 39Daph’s claims of seeing some of the documents against Dokibird and slandering her on Twitch. There are more to this drama, but much of it have been extensively covered (FalseEyeD, Khyo, Rima Evenstar, Lidia Nekozawa, along with many other Youtubers have videos on these issues on their channels).
And I am exhausted writing all of this. This was a rough ride.
Afterword from the Author:
If there had been effective management or any sort of quality control from the parent company in Japan, all these controversies, for every overseas branch (especially EN), probably wouldn’t have happened. Yet, the company seems to be very shortsighted, focusing on immediate profits while sacrificing long-term stability and growth.
Q3 might be fine in terms of earnings, due to Nijifes (one of their biggest yearly events). But with their overseas market getting killed one by one, what does Niji have left?
Shareholders do not want to hear the phrase “we’re stagnating” from the company that they own shares of. Yet, due to all the shortsightedness for profit… that is exactly what is about to happen.
If EN was really going to be their "pillar," maybe they should have invested a bit more into it.
Turns out... investments into the company's and talents' futures, along with money for stable management and projects are better than a stock buyback. Who knew?
TLDR:
Nijisanji is facing serious financial and reputational troubles:
Bad Investment: Nijisanji spent $18 million on a stock buyback to boost prices, but it backfired. Their stock price is now even lower, resulting in financial loss. Not to mention, a distinct lack of investment in their own talents and management. The company has focused too much on profit margins and stocks, rather than trying to actually grow stably. While it will remain in the green due to their profitable JP branch, it is unclear if the company can expand any further. Not to mention, a critical lack of funding for its management compared to its main competitor.
Weakening Position: The controversy has damaged their reputation with investors. This is compounded by Japan's struggling economy and an oversaturated VTuber market. EN was declared as Nijisanji’s “pillar” for future growth, yet all evidence points to a decline in EN viewership and revenue.
History of Failed Expansion: Nijisanji has a track record of poorly managed overseas branches (Indonesia, India, Korea), hurting their growth potential.
Declining Popularity: Recent events for key talents like Enna show decreased viewership and earnings, especially in Western markets. Viewership and donations are falling off with each new EN gen.
Conclusion: Nijisanji's path ahead presents significant uncertainties. Rebuilding investor confidence and demonstrating successful global expansion is critical, but recent actions and declining popularity pose formidable challenges.
In short, all these controversies, including the recent Uki Twitter scandal, all lead back to Nijisanji’s model of operation. The company is trying for short-term profit, and axing much of the crucial infrastructure needed to expand/maintain their fan base. This is why it seems like NijiEN is out of control with no management… because from all we know (their own financial data and all the leaks from past livers), there might actually be a lack of one.
Analysis from Experts:
PR professor with a PHD in Mass Media goes over it here:
https://youtu.be/_6RRgGwXqxs?si=ycd-i6-gk3HqKEdT
Corporate lawyer with experience in Japanese and Korean laws (note, he does not specialize in Canadian law): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrhzV7gPjSA&t=1229s
Canadian lawyer analyzing the situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaduN2xjuwg&t=11s
Thank you for reading.
I hope this was helpful. Feel free to source it and spread this far and wide. You have my full permission to quote it, use it, whatever. The people deserve to know what kind of company Nijisanji is: a black one that has not learned for the past 5 years and has committed the same mistakes over, and over, and over again.