Ch 8: Initial buzz and the next move
I ate some more of the crawfish, ended the stream, went to sleep, and when I woke up, it went crazily viral… and there was a bit of controversy too.
“Seriously…”
While gazing at the increasing numbers, a silly voice spills out. “My oh my, I never thought something like this would happen.”
I was confident that we would achieve a certain level of numbers. Since we executed it believing that pushing it through to the extreme was worth it, it would be more of a problem if it didn’t have an effect.
However, I didn’t expect it to buzz this quickly. I didn’t expect the channel’s number of subscribers to increase so much in such a short period.
“The number of subscribers is about 150,000. Tweetter followers are about the same. I never thought we could get this far with just one stream…”
Following the information trail, it seems that the spread by the members of Denjilas as well as famous clippers clipping and editing yesterday’s stream played a big part in this.
With the rise of VTuber culture, video clipping has become an effective means of promotion. It seems that it worked wonders in this case as well.
The clips were shared on Twitter and other platforms and caught the attention of other influencers in the same industry (explorers), which led to the buzz crossing over into the broader V-tuber community.
Eventually, the buzz even reached overseas, which was particularly significant. It’s incredible how things turned out, and the channel and Twitter numbers are still slowly but steadily increasing.
“And then, here’s the other thing…”
—It’s just that I can’t be entirely happy about it, which makes it feel all too real. We may have gone viral, but at the same time, some people have started causing trouble.
“These guys really don’t learn, do they?”
Troublesome listeners, also known as antis, and unicorns. They are the pests that cannot be avoided when working as a VTuber. Although there may be differences in their thought processes, most of them are scoundrels who act based on their displeasure.
Starting with the senior member who had to leave the agency, many decent VTubers have been manipulated by these scoundrels. Well, not just VTubers, but anyone in the entertainment industry basically has to deal with the negative legacy that comes with it.
And speaking of troublesome listeners, I naturally had my fair share of them. It’s easy to be exasperated by people who bother to stick around even with a small-time streamer like me, but given the nature of the environment, it’s inevitable that they pop up, so I had resigned myself to that fact.
My stance is that there’s no need to worry about backbiting, which doesn’t have any physical harm. I only consider it to the extent that if it turns into a curse or something like that, I’ll deal with it.
“Anyway, you sure do like playing chicken, don’t you…”
That’s just my personal stance. Even though the Denjilas side has suffered real damage in many ways, they surely wouldn’t overlook such a source of anxiety.
If they determine it to be malicious, the current Denjilas will come after them mercilessly with the law. I can’t help but laugh at how they can provoke their opponent, knowing full well that they are getting annoyed.
“Um… huh? Is that Mane-san?”
As a party involved and as a responsibility of our affiliated streamers, I was in the midst of taking screenshots and compiling evidence of the foolish comments made by those troublemakers when I received a call from Manager-san.
What a perfect timing. Of course, the topic of discussion would be the recent buzz, but I’ll also give her this data of the screenshots while I’m at it.
“Yes, this is Yamagami speaking.”
“Oh, it’s Kasai. You did it, Botan-san! It’s getting a great response!”
A wry smile formed on my face as I heard the high-pitched voice coming from the speaker. Even the usually composed career woman, Mane-san, seemed unable to contain her excitement this time.
“Congratulations on the successful overhaul.”
“It’s not just a success! It’s over 150,000 people in just one night!? It’s approaching Ichika-san, the top of the agency!”
“Well, mentioning Tenmei-senpai in that context is a bit… it’s too disrespectful, regardless of the numbers.”
“Oh, sorry. That was very rude of me.”
Speaking of Tenmei-senpai… She’s like the embodiment of purity and adored like a mother or older sister by the fellow streamers she interacts with, and as one of the founding members of Denjilas, she’s like a founding ancestor. She shouldn’t be compared to anyone in the first place.
“However, it’s really amazing. Honestly, I didn’t think we would achieve such results. At first, I thought if we could get over 10,000 people, that would be enough.”
“Well, it’s because our peers and seniors helped spread the word, and we also got lucky. If it weren’t for the Frontier members commenting, we might not have grown this much.”
“Of course, that’s true, but I think it’s also amazing that Botan-san caught the attention of Frontier, which is known as the best in Japan.”
“I haven’t really done anything special though.”
This is my honest opinion. As a streamer, I feel like I did something unique, but as an explorer, I didn’t really achieve that much.
To be honest, I was surprised that Frontier took the bait with just a crawfish. Although it’s true that only a handful of people can do it, there are quite a few explorers who can catch something like that.
“I may have earned some money, but I’m just an unknown and insignificant explorer. Being praised in that area makes me uneasy.”
“…… In spite of that, the analysis that I’ve seen scattered around the Internet is pretty much the same thing. I knew you were an explorer when I hired you, but I didn’t expect you to go that far?”
“What do you think? There are some analyses that may or may not be right, but it’s the Internet after all. It’s all just speculation.”
“I think …… is a bit of a stretch, but that’s OK. As far as the management is concerned, it would be great if they didn’t have to worry about not being able to keep up their activities due to financial reasons.”
Hmm. It was pretty easy to pull the plug. Well, Denjilas was boiled by the “information on the Internet,” so I guess it is to be expected.
It’s a private matter, and as long as there are no problems, I guess they’ll take the stance that it’s all right.
“Now, let’s get back to the subject. Botan-san, what are your plans for the future?”
“Well, you know, they say, “Strike while the iron is hot,” and I think I’ll do something similar today.”
Since the excitement is just getting started, we would like to catch the opportunity at once. Especially now that the topic has reached overseas, this is an opportunity to further increase the number of channel subscribers.
It is difficult to win over foreign fans. The language barrier is always thick. However, if the cuisine does not involve language and is more like a performance, the odds are good.
Using dungeon-derived ingredients that can attract a certain level of interest around the world should also be a perfect boost.
“The management agrees. We should fold up here.”
“Yes. And by the way, I’m thinking of bringing out something more valuable than yesterday’s crawfish, in the name of commemorating the 150,000th visitor.”
Considering the international appeal, I think meat would be the safest choice. Yesterday’s menu was more raw food oriented, and I think it would be better to have a meaty and robust flavour. The impact of meat is universal.
“Is it a commemorative distribution? ……. If possible, I would like to take up that slot with a collaborator. It’s like the last one, but it’s more exciting to do it with a big partner, like waiting for a bump or something.”
“…Ah. No, but wouldn’t that take a lot of time if that were the case? We haven’t collaborated with Raika in the same period, and considering the order …”
I can certainly understand Mane-san’s point, but I think that would be a missed opportunity at the right time.
Until now, we have refrained from collabing because of the circumstances. When it comes to lifting the ban, there is a certain order to it.
First, synchronisation. In my case, it’s Raika-senpaii. I can’t skip her. If I do poorly, there will be a rumour that we don’t get along. No, it will definitely happen.
Next, the seniors. This is, well, there is no such thing as how many seniors to start with. But we should do it with at least some of them. It’s not as obvious a connection as with your peers, but it still has to be done within the same box, or you might get some strange ideas. It is also troublesome that too much …… might burn up.
And after these two steps, it would finally be a collab with an outside party. It is not an absolute, but it should be a risk hedge, or rather, a credible one to follow.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to release the collaboration with the commemorative quota of 150,000 people in mind.
“I think it would be better not to save the commemorative slot, given the timing of the event. This time, let’s just cut the crap and have Raika-senpai and the seniors mention it only in their comments, so that they don’t get into a disagreement.”
“No, but ……”
“It would be a bad idea to be too aggressive here. If we release collaborations one after another, the antis may start to make a fuss. It would be troublesome if other livers took advantage of the buzz to say that we have turned our backs on them, wouldn’t it? Oh, and here’s something else. Here’s a collection of fish prints of the hate-spread comments I’ve gathered.”
“’Thank you for your help … I will pass it on to those in charge.”
Just for the sake of it, I passed the antis’ comments that I had just compiled to Mane-san. And by the way, it’s a good way to make a decision.
“…I can’t say anything if they put this out there. If the antis are out to get us, we’d better proceed with caution.”
“I think it would be natural to release the collab after that. If we also put it in the commemorative frame, it would be a milestone, and it would be natural to lift the collaboration ban from there.”
“I’ll tell the office about that. So, Botan-san, please make the announcement and preparations.”
“Yes, I understand”
And so the call ends. Now, let’s get ready for the stream.
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