For many anime fans, Crunchyroll is the premier streaming service to catch up on some of the season’s biggest shows — but now there’s another reason to tune in, thanks to its new VTuber mascot.
Crunchyroll offers a slew of anime to watch for free, in addition to providing ad-free viewing experiences for its premium members. In its 15-year-lifespan, the service has become a big name in the anime game, and now, it’s breaking into the world of VTubers.
The anime streaming site has had its own mascot for five years, which was initially a submission to the Anime Industry-tans fanart contest to create a humanoid representation of various anime streaming companies. Dubbed ‘Crunchyroll-Hime’ (or ‘Princess Crunchyroll’ for non-weebs), she’s got a shock of orange hair and a bright orange outfit in keeping with the company’s color scheme.
She’s more than a 2-D drawing, though; on October 12, Crunchyroll debuted the mascot as a 3-D VTuber, in keeping with the ongoing trend that’s taking over streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube.
Crunchyroll’s mascot was originally designed by artist Eunice Dahae Baik for a fanart contest.VTubers, or ‘Virtual YouTubers,’ are real people who stream using a digital avatar, usually an anime-style one. Their movements are captured using motion-capture software, reflecting the streamer’s actions in real time.
VTubers are becoming increasingly popular across social media, with several of the biggest being signed to an agency called ‘Hololive.’ While she’s got her very own company to represent, it looks like Crunchyroll-Hime is joining the ranks of other major VTubers like Gawr Gura and Kizuna Ai.
Crunchyroll-Hime shared her stats with fans, which include her favorite foods and all the languages she speaks.According to her stats sheet, Crunchyroll’s resident VTuber is a staggering 6’1 and speaks both English and Japanese, and is a whopping 115 years old (Princess Crunchyroll apparently roamed Japan as a fox for many years before deciding on a streaming career).
So far, her goals are to collaborate with other VTubers and attend a convention in real life (whenever things open up again, that is).
For now, it seems that Crunchyroll-Hime’s debut was pretty positively received, and fans can’t wait to see what’s in store for her next.
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