VTubers have been trending in Japan since the mid-2010s, but the phenomenon started branching out to other parts of the world in recent years, allowing Americans, Brits, Australians, and more to join the trend. Essentially, VTubers are online entertainers who use computer-generated avatars that sometimes capture real-life movement as a mascot for their channel and videos.
Many VTubers are typically either Japanese or English-speaking streamers who migrate from platforms such as YouTube or Twitch to use animated avatars instead of painstakingly drawing avatars of themselves or their characters for every single video. Once the world caught wind of the trend, there were more than 10,000 active VTubers by 2020, and now, as we’re entering 2023, that number has grown exponentially.
Although VTubers typically use YouTube and Twitch exclusively, other sites — Facebook, Twitter, Niconico — are known to feature these types of influencers. The first person to coin the term “virtual YouTuber” and quite possibly the first VTuber to exist — Kizuna AI —was also the most subscribed at one point during her active period from 2016 to 2021.
Kizuna’s popularity sparked a VTuber trend in Japan and — in turn — the rest of the world. Since their establishment, VTubers have broken streaming records, earned global recognition, and even appeared in online campaigns. The VTuber pool has changed over the years, so there aren’t many originals left anymore, but some breakout stars are still going strong.
Note: all current subscriber values are accurate to the time of writing and are subject to change.
Kanae
Kanae, who is based in Japan, has over 1.22M subscribers on YouTube and is one of the most popular VTubers within the Nijisanji agency. While Kanae is supposedly 20 years old, the exact number of his years is unknown. He is often regarded as a mystery due to his hard-to-read nature, but his charm and sociability have made him quite popular. As a result of Kanae’s skill at holding conversations effortlessly, he has developed a wide social circle. He has worked with gamers, manga artists, voice actors, as well as international Nijisanji members. Kanae’s mascot is Roto, a black cat plushie who is controlled by a cat demon.
In addition to streaming extremely frequently, Kanae has the highest combined streaming hours out of all Nijisanji members. At times, he streams for 11 hours or longer. Most of the games Kanae plays are FPS games, but sometimes, he plays social games, Mahjong, RPGs, etc. However, he does not like horror games. Additionally, Kanae has participated in many gaming tournaments, including those for PUBG, APEX Legends, League of Legends, and Super Smash Brothers.
Shylily
Shylily is a German “Orcat” (a cross between a cat and an orca based on the Akhlut, an Inuit folklore creature from the Arctic) VTuber currently located in the Netherlands. As one of the most well-known and largest Indie VTubers in history, she has been active on Twitch since Aug. 29, 2015. According to her legend, she was playing in a freshly frozen river when the ice gave way, and she fell into it. An orca spirit rescued the girl as she drowned, turning her into an Orcat/mermaid hybrid. She now rescues drowning people as a result.
With over 1.2 million Twitch subscribers and 804K YouTube subscribers, Shylily is one of the most prominent currently active VTubers (corporate or independent). The achievement is impressive, especially given that Shylily did not receive promotional materials like Ironmouse, Mori Calliope, or Gawr Gura, as corporate VTubers do. After starting out as an independent, she has since joined the company Mythic Talent.
Sakura Miko
Like many other VTubers, Sakura Miko is a member of hololive, a Japanese agency that specializes in bringing VTuber avatars to life. With over 50 million fans on YouTube, hololive has allowed many up-and-coming VTubers to join the ranks by holding auditions to choose content creators worthy of their own customized avatar.
According to her biography, Sakura Miko is a self-proclaimed “elite” gamer; the term “elite” earns quotation marks because fans use the term ironically to highlight Sakura’s apparent poor decision-making skills during games. Miko’s content on YouTube ranges from animated music videos to cover songs and 3D-model dance videos. She currently has 1.86M subscribers.
Shirakami Fubuki
Another hololive member, Shirakami Fubuki, debuted on YouTube in 2018. Her official bio reads: “White-haired animal-eared otaku fox. She loves talking with people and will be happy if you give her the time of day. She aims to become a top otaku idol while enjoying each and every day.”
Fubuki is well-known for her short-skit videos, which are posted on both Twitter and YouTube, but her primary content revolves around streaming many video games in a “let’s play” style, even those in the horror genre (such as Resident Evil Village), which she claims to dislike. She has played the likes of Settlement Survival, Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter, Fate/Grand Order, Splatoon 3, and more. Her channel has 2.22M subscribers.
Usada Pekora
Kurousagi is the definition of a cute bunny girl character. Usada Pekora debuted as part of hololive’s third generation of VTubers, known as “hololive Fantasy.” As per her hololive profile, Usada is described as “a lonely rabbit-eared girl who loves carrots. She loves them so much that she always brings a few anywhere she goes.”
In the VTuber world, Usada is known to be — as the kids say — a “troll,” and her primary target is often Sakura Miko, although other VTubers are wary of her mischief. Her Twitter and YouTube channels were opened in May 2019 and July 2019, respectively, but it wasn’t until December 2019 that she received her 3D avatar. Pekora is mostly famous for her animated music videos and cover songs, and her channel has 2.32M subscribers.
Shishiro Botan
Introduced as part of hololive’s fifth generation of VTubers, Shishiro Botan is a white lion girl whose favorite manga include Parasyte, Naniwa Kin’yūdō, and Naruto. She enjoys building PCs, playing first-person shooters and has a keen interest in ancient Chinese history.
Botan’s channel features original and cover songs, while her livestreams typically veer more toward the gaming sector. She has streamed Grand Theft Auto Online, God of War, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, among other famous adventure and shoot ’em up titles. In addition, she has a whole category on her channel dedicated to her Elden Ring playthrough. Botan’s channel has 1.37M subscribers.
Watson Amelia
English-speaking VTuber by the name Watson Amelia, whose content prioritizes gaming, presumably based her character and channel name on the loveable sidekick to the historically famous consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, affectionately called “Watson” but traditionally known as Dr. John Watson. She debuted as part of hololive’s first-ever English generation of VTubers known as “-Myth-” alongside Mori Calliope and Gawr Gura — two names which we’ll get to soon.
Amelia’s official bio reads: “Amelia heard strange rumors online surrounding hololive: talking foxes, magical squirrels, superhuman dogs, and more. Soon after beginning her investigation on hololive, and just out of interest, she decided to become an idol herself!” Following the success of VTubers in Japan, hololive held auditions for English-speaking YouTubers in 2020, thus giving rise to Watson Amelia’s channel, which centers heavily on gaming and has 1.76M subscribers.
Ironmouse
Active since 2017, ironmouse, a Puerto Rican-American VTuber, is the founding member of the VTuber group VShojo, established in 2020. She is known for her singing — hand-in-hand with her high-pitched voice — as well as her crazy yet endearing personality. Her biography labels ironmouse as a “demon queen” who escaped the confines of Hell/the underworld to make new friends and pursue her dream of becoming an idol.
She has “an obsession with the internet, music, lewd stuff, nerd sh*t, and all things cute.” Before migrating to YouTube, ironmouse started out on a smaller streaming platform, YouNow, then made her Twitch and YouTube accounts in September 2017. As one of the only VTubers with English-titled videos, ironmouse usually uploads meme videos, cover songs, “best of” compilations, and more. Her channel has 981K subscribers.
Inugami Korone
Debuting as part of the group “hololive Gamers,” Inugami Korone is — according to her hololive profile — “a dog from a bakery in the city. She likes to play games during her free time while watchdogging.” Korone’s personality is comparable to that of an actual dog: playful, sweet, and goofy. She has a fondness for retro games, especially the poorly-made, more niche ones.
Not only that, but Korone is also an avid lover of splatterhouse-styled horror, such as Human Centipede and Saw. Her most famous videos include her Doom and Mother playthroughs, several animated music videos, anime reactions, and more. Her channel has 2.04M subscribers.
Houshou Marine
Along with Usada Pekora, the red-haired girl Houshou Marine, who cosplays as a pirate, debuted as part of hololive’s third generation “hololive Fantasy.” Marine has heterochromia, meaning her irises are different colors; her left is golden, whereas her right is red. She appeared as a 3D model for the first time in February 2020 after creating both her Twitter and YouTube accounts in July 2019.
Marine’s backstory states that — like most pirates — she loves money, jewels, and treasure, and decided to become a VTuber to get money to buy her own ship. Also, fun fact: she’s allergic to cats! One of Marine’s most popular videos, “I’m Your Treasure Box,” has over 18M views. She is primarily known for her animated music videos, cover songs, and general musical inclination. Her channel has 2.76M subscribers.
Mori Calliope
See? Told you we’d get there. Mori Calliope, whose official bio describes her as “the Grim Reaper’s first apprentice,” might very well be one of the most popular VTubers of all time. She claims to have become a VTuber to “harvest souls” since the reaping business isn’t going so well. She debuted as part of the English-speaking hololive roster known as “-Myth-,” and despite being a sweet, kind-hearted girl, she has a tendency to talk about morbid topics on occasion.
Calliope has a fondness for anime such as Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica and Made in Abyss, as well as video games like Bloodborne and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. She’s a talented musician, as proven by the popularity of her music videos; her debut song “Excuse My Rudeness, But Could You Please RIP?” broke 100k views on its opening day. Aside from music, Calliope dabbles in Pokémon, Persona 5, Elden Ring, and more. Her channel has 2.3M subscribers.
Gawr Gura
Without a doubt, the most famous VTuber currently is Gawr Gura, an English-speaking VTuber who also debuted as part of hololive’s “-Myth-” group. Gura is the most-subscribed VTuber worldwide at the time of writing, taking the spot from the original VTuber and pioneer Kizuna AI in 2021. On average, Gura gains 100,000 new subscribers every two to five days.
On Dec. 21, 2022, Gura announced that she would be taking a break from streaming for health reasons, but her channel generally uploads music videos, Minecraft “let’s plays” and Grand Theft Auto 5 streams. According to her biography, Gura came up to Earth from Atlantis, found herself a shark costume, and the rest is history. Her channel has 4.4M subscribers.