Split VirtuaReal off of Nijisanji

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taso

BUR #63333 is pending approval.

remove implication virtuareal -> nijisanji
mass update favgroup:59477 -> -nijisanji

VirtuaReal is closer to a separate project under AnyColor than a branch under Nijisanji, similar to other AnyColor projects like Yumenographia. Also similar to how Brave Group owns multiple vtuber groups/brands/projects.

https://www.anycolor.co.jp/news/365
This official announcement from 2019 clarifies that VirtuaReal is a separate project from Nijisanji.

The implication doesn't make sense to me, and it makes tag gardening more difficult than it has to be. :shrug:
They're not even virtual youtubers, more like virtual bilibiliers

Updated by taso

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gyaruzuki MyonMyonMyonMyonMyonMyon fuzzbawlz taso TheGamingRodent wispydreamer Damian0358 ArcieA fairn Mexiguy
Damian0358

taso said in forum #457232:

This doesn't really prove your point, you realize? All you've highlighted is that Danbooru lacks any fanart featuring them intermingling, nothing more. The absence of fanart here doesn't mean the absence of fanart generally, especially with how much art gets uploaded elsewhere online, and high-quality art at that, that just never makes it way over here for one reason or another.

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wispydreamer

I don't know about the JP members but there are a couple of collabs between Nijisanji EN and Virtuareal members (typically with Nox (Vtuber) who has quite a few) I've also seen collabs including them be explicitly called "Nijisanji" collabs by the organizers and members. This being the first one I could find just from a quick search so it seems that Nijisanji and Virtuareal members themselves consider Virtuareal a part of Nijisanji, even if unofficially.

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taso

Damian0358 said in forum #457463:

This doesn't really prove your point, you realize?

It does prove my point.
VR members never appeared in Nijisanji Koshien.
There are no Nijisanji-branded concerts including VR members, there are no Nijisanji idol outfits for VR members.
Nijisanji stopped featuring VR members in official events years ago.
If the communities did overlap, AnyColor would continue organizing events with both groups.

Damian0358 said in forum #457463:

The absence of fanart here doesn't mean the absence of fanart generally, especially with how much art gets uploaded elsewhere online, and high-quality art at that, that just never makes it way over here for one reason or another.

I'm not following this line of reasoning...
Should we start adding tags and implications on the off-chance there may be an unearthed treasure trove of fan art that we just haven't found yet? Just in case?
I can understand adding tags for substantial intra-agency units like sanbaka_(nijisanji) or rrr_(nijisanji), or broader units like 芸人旅団 (post #10744467), but I'm not aware of any such units between Niji and VR.
If there are posts of such units we can add new tags, but...

What justifies keeping the VirtuaReal -> Nijisanji implication? They're sister projects at best.
Yumenographia doesn't imply Nijisanji.
Virtual Talent Academy doesn't imply Nijisanji either, and it's more closely tied to Nijisanji than VirtuaReal is.

As another data point: searching for [にじさんじ VirtuaReal] fan art on Pixiv results almost exclusively in fan art of VirtuaReal members without any Nijisanji members:

  • The most recent post with Nijisanji members is from November 2025, but it's a compilation and they all appear separately. Doesn't count.
  • The second most recent post is... official art... from September 2023. Doesn't count.
  • The third most recent post is from January 2023, it's 14 Nijisanji EN illustrations, and 1 separate VirtuaReal illustration. Doesn't count.
  • The first real example is a post from August 2022, themed after Nijifes. The artist's comment specifically mentions hoping the members can get along, as they don't interact together otherwise... i.e. fan fiction.

I can't find the treasure trove of intermingling fan art on Pixiv at least. Maybe that community exists elsewhere.

On X, the official Niji/Niji EN accounts haven't mentioned VirtuaReal since 2022. VirtuaReal wasn't mentioned much before either.
https://x.com/search?q=from%3Anijisanji_app%20%22virtuareal%22&src=typed_query&f=live
https://x.com/search?q=from%3ANIJISANJI_World%20%22virtuareal%22&src=typed_query&f=live

I could only find 1 news piece in Japanese on Nijisanji's website mentioning "VirtuaReal", from 2019.
It clearly makes the distiction between the two groups, with them being under AnyColor (then Ichikara) instead of VirtuaReal being Nijisanji's Chinese branch.

Looking at the VR talents on the Niji website, they don't even bother translating the chinese profiles into Japanese/English...
https://www.nijisanji.jp/talents/l/eine
https://www.nijisanji.jp/en/talents/l/eine
The Nijisanji website is only available in Japanese or English, not in Chinese.
Kinda awkward if they were truly the Niji CN branch.

In AnyColor's investor relationship news, VirtuaReal hasn't been mentioned (outside of recaps of the company's timeline) since this document, published on 2023-07-31.
VirtuaReal is mentioned only once, in a paragraph explaining that some members of Niji (not VR) also stream on Bilibili, and that AnyColor is involved in the operations of the vtuber group "VirtuaReal Project" through a joint venture with Bilibili.
AnyColor doesn't own VirtuaReal directly, if at all at this point.
Bilibili isn't a significant stakeholder of AnyColor anymore either.

https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/VirtuaReal/1427511
According to this Chinese wiki, VR stopped using AnyColor's tech, and Bilibili basically operates VR without AnyColor.
It's even acknowledged that the cooperation faded out in recent years.

wispydreamer said in forum #457482:

I don't know about the JP members but there are a couple of collabs between Nijisanji EN and Virtuareal members (typically with Nox (Vtuber) who has quite a few) I've also seen collabs including them be explicitly called "Nijisanji" collabs by the organizers and members. This being the first one I could find just from a quick search so it seems that Nijisanji and Virtuareal members themselves consider Virtuareal a part of Nijisanji, even if unofficially.

Indeed there are a few collabs, more so with Nijisanji EN I'd wager, but they're not frequent/significant enough to justify keeping the implication on Danbooru IMHO.
These collabs are more akin to NijiJP collabing with Hololive, or NijiEN collabing with VShojo.
If anything, Niji collabs more with other agencies than with VirtuaReal.

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Damian0358

taso said in forum #457594:

I'm not following this line of reasoning...
Should we start adding tags and implications on the off-chance there may be an unearthed treasure trove of fan art that we just haven't found yet? Just in case?

We've done it before, technically speaking.

taso said in forum #457594:

As another data point: searching for [にじさんじ VirtuaReal] fan art on Pixiv results almost exclusively in fan art of VirtuaReal members without any Nijisanji members:

  • The most recent post with Nijisanji members is from November 2025, but it's a compilation and they all appear separately. Doesn't count.
  • The second most recent post is... official art... from September 2023. Doesn't count.
  • The third most recent post is from January 2023, it's 14 Nijisanji EN illustrations, and 1 separate VirtuaReal illustration. Doesn't count.
  • The first real example is a post from August 2022, themed after Nijifes. The artist's comment specifically mentions hoping the members can get along, as they don't interact together otherwise... i.e. fan fiction.

I can't find the treasure trove of intermingling fan art on Pixiv at least. Maybe that community exists elsewhere.

Now this is better evidence, but it's harder to get more data than this because, once you get to Twitter, you'll get into situations where a) acknowledgements of the association can manifest themselves in more than just direct post mentions; b) it's more difficult to search because folks may opt out of tagging, opt out of naming people either directly (shortening names et al) or at all, or even mentioning what they're reacting too (meaning you'd need to actually check their account to see what they're on about). As an example of the first, we have pool #18447, Koutate's Erosanji pool, and there he has counted VirtuaReal as part of Nijisanji even if there's no explicit crossover art, because it's individual art of the girls.

taso said in forum #457594:

The Nijisanji website is only available in Japanese or English, not in Chinese.
Kinda awkward if they were truly the Niji CN branch.

That's also not really an argument either given that the Hololive website didn't have a Chinese language option either when Hololive China was a thing (back when it was hololive.tv), and doesn't have an Indonesian option right now.

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taso

Damian0358 said in forum #457602:

Now this is better evidence, but it's harder to get more data than this because, once you get to Twitter, you'll get into situations where a) acknowledgements of the association can manifest themselves in more than just direct post mentions; b) it's more difficult to search because folks may opt out of tagging, opt out of naming people either directly (shortening names et al) or at all, or even mentioning what they're reacting too (meaning you'd need to actually check their account to see what they're on about). As an example of the first, we have pool #18447, Koutate's Erosanji pool, and there he has counted VirtuaReal as part of Nijisanji even if there's no explicit crossover art, because it's individual art of the girls.

Right. Still, I don't see what proves the hierarchy that would justify keeping the implication.
The Erosanji series could just as well have been named Eroichikara or Eroanycolor or Erotazumi.

As a startup then, now a publicly traded company, of course they'd piggyback off of their biggest "product" to push and promote the company's other business ventures, might even have been a contractual obligation.
That, and with Nijisanji being essentially the only brand Ichikara was known for, I'm not surprised it lead to confusion and people thinking VR is part of Niji.

The implication makes as much sense to me as having imply nijisanji -> virtuareal.
Likewise, Sprite or Fanta don't imply Coca-Cola either, despite being products of the same company.
Niji EN is like Coca-Cola Zero, while VirtuaReal is like Fanta.

At least Niji CN had the Nijisanji branding for a little while, unlike VirtuaReal.
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000019.000030865.html
https://youtu.be/6uR9TI3WCJs (...)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/にじさんじ#にじさんじ上海/にじさんじ台北
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000058.000030865.html

Damian0358 said in forum #457602:

That's also not really an argument either given that the Hololive website didn't have a Chinese language option either when Hololive China was a thing (back when it was hololive.tv), and doesn't have an Indonesian option right now.

Hololive being lazy (in 2020) doesn't excuse Nijisanji being lazy (in 2026).
And Holo ID profiles aren't in Indonesian only, it's more polished than Niji.

Holo's website does load using the country code for Indonesia (other country codes lead to a Not Found page), while Niji's doesn't with cn.
https://hololive.hololivepro.com/en/ English
https://hololive.hololivepro.com/id/ Indonesian (Japanese text)
https://www.nijisanji.jp/en English
https://www.nijisanji.jp/cn 404

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Damian0358

taso said in forum #457612:

At least Niji CN had the Nijisanji branding for a little while, unlike VirtuaReal.
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000019.000030865.html
https://youtu.be/6uR9TI3WCJs (...)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/にじさんじ#にじさんじ上海/にじさんじ台北
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000058.000030865.html

And the failure of Niji CN is why VirtuaReal doesn't use the Nijisanji branding, doubly-so when you remember they announced auditions for it within the next month after Niji CN became VEgo, hence why "VirtuaReal doesn't use the Nijisanji branding" isn't an argument by itself without substantiation (like everything else you've been sharing).

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taso

Damian0358 said in forum #457618:

And the failure of Niji CN is why VirtuaReal doesn't use the Nijisanji branding

That's just speculation on your part.

Damian0358 said in forum #457618:

hence why "VirtuaReal doesn't use the Nijisanji branding" isn't an argument by itself without substantiation (like everything else you've been sharing).

?
Substantiation has been provided in my previous messages.
Sorry I can't prove a negative to your satisfaction.

I'm a bit confused though, because you're presenting my argument as fact in the same sentence:

Damian0358 said in forum #457618:

the failure of Niji CN is why VirtuaReal doesn't use the Nijisanji branding, doubly-so when you remember they announced auditions for it within the next month after Niji CN became VEgo

Rewording your message, you're arguing that "VirtuaReal doesn't use the Nijisanji branding, thus it's not substantiated that VirtuaReal doesn't use the Nijisanji branding"...
What's the logic here? Or are we in agreement?

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Damian0358

taso said in forum #457632:

Substantiation has been provided in my previous messages.

...are we in agreement?

You misunderstand, I said that your other arguments were substantive, unlike the ones I was replying to.

taso said in forum #457632:

That's just speculation on your part.

If we're discounting speculation, then:

taso said in forum #457594:

https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/VirtuaReal/1427511
According to this Chinese wiki, VR stopped using AnyColor's tech, and Bilibili basically operates VR without AnyColor.
It's even acknowledged that the cooperation faded out in recent years.

This would be discounted too, as the citation given for that acknowledgement isn't from any official outlets, but a news outlet giving its own opinion on the matter. Chinese users have known since VirtuaReal's auditions that the failure of Nijisanji's original Chinese branch is why VR doesn't use the Nijisanji brand, and that this is the same reason why they're working with Bilibili, a reputable company, to avoid what happened with that original branch - the fact that the auditions came so soon after VEgo separated left a bad taste in many's mouths at the time.

It is as much a acknowledged fact in the community as the fact that Bilibili basically operates VR by themselves (which is why I didn't respond to it earlier, because as much as it isn't formally confirmed, everyone basically knows that's the case).

In turn, because it is a known factor, the lack of Nijisanji branding cannot be used as a relevant indicator for the disassociation of VirtuaReal from Nijisanji. My general point is that you can make your argument for separating VirtuaReal as a tag from Nijisanji without also making bad points. Said bad points allows users to nitpick, and potentially undermine your arguments.

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taso

Damian0358 said in forum #457636:

Chinese users have known since VirtuaReal's auditions that the failure of Nijisanji's original Chinese branch is why VR doesn't use the Nijisanji brand, and that this is the same reason why they're working with Bilibili, a reputable company, to avoid what happened with that original branch

Are Chinese users any more authoritative than news outlets?
I can also speculate that Bilibili wanted their own vtuber agency, with its own brand, Niji CN could have never existed and it wouldn't have made any difference in that scenario.
But that's beyond the point.

Damian0358 said in forum #457636:

because it is a known factor, the lack of Nijisanji branding cannot be used as a relevant indicator for the disassociation of VirtuaReal from Nijisanji.

Why not?
I think many people, like koutate, have strongly associated VR with Niji, so I wouldn't broadly declare the lack of Niji branding as a "known factor".
Even the wiki page for VirtuaReal, as an example, incorrectly establishes it as Niji's "main Chinese branch".
Showing the lack of Niji branding helps illustrate the lack of a meaningful hierarchy between the two groups/tags, not the lack of a relationship.
It's part of what motivated this BUR, just not all of it.

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Damian0358

taso said in forum #457654:

Are Chinese users any more authoritative than news outlets?

Where do you think the news outlets got it from?

Why not?
I think many people, like koutate, have strongly associated VR with Niji, so I wouldn't broadly declare the lack of Niji branding as a "known factor".
Even the wiki page for VirtuaReal, as an example, incorrectly establishes it as Niji's "main Chinese branch".
Showing the lack of Niji branding helps illustrate the lack of a meaningful hierarchy between the two groups/tags, not the lack of a relationship.

You again misunderstand what I'm saying here - I'm saying that VirtuaReal not using Nijisanji branding is not an indication that it isn't meant to be Nijisanji's Chinese branch. Everything else you have pointed too is a stronger argument for that, but not the absence of Nijisanji branding. The lack of branding does not illustrate a lack of meaningful hierarchy at all, so I don't understand why you're doubling down on that point when you've already made your point with far stronger arguments elsewhere.

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