Translator’s note: This article appeared in the first issue of Vティーク (VTIQ) magazine – Sora’s name appears on the cover in a list along the spine along with Hime/Hina, Natori Sana and others, and with Mirai Akari featured as the cover girl. By issue #3 Sora herself would appear on the cover alongside fellow performer Fuji Aoi. The magazine is two years old, one year younger than Sora’s debut as a VTuber.
Subscribe to her YouTube channel here and follow her on Twitter here!
Happy 3 year anniversary, Sora-chan! 3周年おめでとう！
VTIQ Magazine #1, September 2018, p.066-068
I’m Tokino Sora!
The first interview with the virtual YouTuber world’s most traditional idol, Tokino Sora!!
Tokino Sora
A high school girl VTuber who turned 18 on May 15th of this year. She’s loved singing since she was little, and she’s moving forward with her dream of becoming a singer!
Who is Tokino Sora?
Tokino Sora, an exclusive member of Hololive, debuted in September of 2017. Focusing on weekly Saturday livestreams, she brings her fans (called Sora-tomo) smiles and relaxation. And there’s her indispensable partner who works behind the scenes as support staff, Yuujin-A. As such, we asked her about her “VTuber activities and feelings about her fans.” What inspired Sora-chan’s dream of a “solo performance at Yokohama Arena”…?
Ankimo
A stuffed bear that appears with Tokino Sora. His name’s a little unique, but he’s become familiar as a mascot-like being.
Tokino Sora special interview: Everything up to now and what happens next. The way forward for Tokino Sora!
Let’s start with introductions
Tokino Sora (Sora): What should I say for an introduction?
Yuujin-A (A): You do this all the time, don’t you (laughing)?
Sora: Sora-tomo! How’s everybody doing? I’m Tokino Sora. I love music, and though I love singing most of all, I play all sorts of instruments in clubs and out of school. I’ve got a piano, and a flute, and I like playing around on the flute. I had ten cats when I was small so I love cats, and every animals too. I like Japanese class in school. I like reading books, when I was small I’d carry novels with me, and I liked reading whole books before I went to bed at night. That’s me!
A: Um, I’m Yuujin-A. I go to the same high school as Sora, we’ve been friends for a long time, and I mainly work behind the scenes on Tokino Sora Channel. In the beginning I wasn’t doing videos in particular. I was just poking around with the computer and doing programming, so when Sora, who loves singing, told me she was starting these activities, it was my opportunity to start thinking about what I could do to assist. I learned how to make videos by myself, but working hard as Sora’s person behind the scenes, it was like we were both taking a step forward.
Looking back together,
Tokino Sora’s road so far
When Tokino Sora debuted, she billed herself as a “Virtual JK [high school girl]”
Sora: At that time, Kizuna AI was using the term “Virtual YouTuber.” I didn’t really have that kind of personality, and I figured JK would be the most easily understandable… so it became “Virtual JK.” I was mainly streaming on Nico [Nico Douga], so it also would’ve been strange to say I was a YouTuber…
A: The YouTube channel at that point was just used for posting the Nico streams for people to watch. The thing that might have made us switch to YouTube as the main place for streaming might have been last year’s Christmas stream, after which Sora became a virtual YouTuber.
December [2017] was pretty early for virtual YouTubers, though.
Sora: Yeah, I think that was early.
And then you posted a retrospective video on New Years beginning with the subtitle “The girl who was slow to catch the big wave.” It was then you decided on your current style of doing “streams and videos.”
Sora: Yeah, up until December we hadn’t posted any videos at all to YouTube, we’d just been doing the weekly Nico streams.
It seems like you were concerned that you were getting more subscribers on YouTube because even though you had the channel, you weren’t posting videos on it. Was that because, at that time, YouTube had the strong reputation for being a place for posting short videos?
A: Yes, it certainly did. During streams the gap between us and the fans is much closer, there were some difficulties but both then and now we’ve had fun.
Sora: Yeah!
A: Yeah, so because the fans were happy too, we planned to not stop streaming.
Rewatching last year’s videos, you can see how the way you interact with your fans gradually changes, and all the different expressions you were making.
A: When you first started off you were nervous, probably totally different from now.
Sora: Ugh, I was doing all I could reading your timetables for the streams, I was totally stiff. (laughter)
A: Looking back at it now, the way you moved looked kinda unnatural (laughter).
Sora: I couldn’t keep my eyes still either… (laughing).
A: “Can they see her? Is the volume level good?” – stuff like that, we each had stuff we were frantic about.
Sora: When we didn’t have background music, it would just be silent… there were a lot of times when I like, couldn’t talk. Even though I was afraid of having pauses, I’d pause a lot.
And then with November’s piano stream, it looked like the distance between you and your fans got shorter.
A: I guess you’d gotten a little used to things around then?
Sora: That may be true, I also love singing and playing the piano, so I might’ve been able to relax doing that too.
Fans began calling you “Piano-sensei” and “Singing onee-chan” after that, and a month later on your Christmas stream, they started seeing you as a “mama” character too…
Sora: I just happened to pick out “mama” from the chat…! After that, they started saying saying “mama!” to me (laughing).
A: You just happened to pick it out (laughing) I think you were frantically trying to follow the chat, and that’s when you happened to find it. I thought it was funny.
Sora-sensei, then Sora-mama, and you can feel a difference between then and now too. Your speech has loosened up, you can be mischievous, there are all sorts of ways you seem different from before.
A: Part of that is her true self continuing to come out. Before, there was a strong sense of “I’ve gotta wrap this up neat and tidy!” but now it feels like she’s getting more space to read and respond to fan comments, and be “free” in how she does things.
Sora: I feel less and less anxious, like I’ve maybe come to think, “I can do this…!”
A: That “This is surprisingly okay” feeling of ease probably increases every time. Keeping your cool even if there’s an accident during a stream, doing stuff like saying “Wait just a sec” and dancing for people until things are fixed (laughing).
Sora: I’ve never even taken dancing lessons~. But I’ve been learning to sing for a long time… ‘cause I like it!
A: I guess you could say you’ve come to have fun with it… And once that’s the case, it might be that people’s impression of your attitude towards it changes too. Though for us, it doesn’t feel like anything in particular has changed.
Sora: Yeah, I don’t think anything’s changed! Everyone’s comments, they’re all so nice, even just responding to them with “Yeah, I agree” is fun.
A: There’s an atmosphere of kindness (laughing).
Sora: When I think how kind everyone is, it relaxes me. Heh heh heh (laughing).
You’ve started talking like you do when it’s conversation between you and Yuujin-A. I noticed because she’s started appearing in streams.
A: Ahh… (laughing). That’s because Sora talks to me as, well, a friend of course, or a good friend. How to put it, I think there’s a certain degree of looseness, because she’s built a relationship of trust with the Sora-tomo too, I think she’s been able to talk with them freely, as if they’re really her friends. There was a distance between the “sensei” and her “fans,” but I think there are times when that distance shrinks to where it doesn’t feel very different from how she interacts with me too. Also, you haven’t been feeling very nervous lately, right?
Sora: I get nervous before big events, but I think that feeling’s gone away before my streams…! Instead it’s everyone else who’s in trouble, heh heh.
A: Sora’s not freaking out five minutes before the stream anymore (laughing). It’s like, as she’s saying “Wow, we’ve still got five minutes!” it’s me freaking out by myself setting everything up.
Tokino Sora’s dream and
the “Sora-tomo”
Day after day, you can really feel the unity between Sora and her fans.
Sora: “We’re not gonna stop!”
There’s a lot of fan art showing the dreams you share together.
Sora: There are lots of people making art of me as if I’m really standing on stage at a concert, or that makes you think, “that’s Yokohama Arena, isn’t it?” too. And people who draw pictures of me and think up different outfits. It’s really cute, and I feel like I’ve said, “Oh wow, I wanna wear that!”
A: For sure… There really are a lot of Sora-tomo that draw fan art in support of her life as an idol, or life as a singer. It feels like they’re really cheering her on and supporting her. There’s a fair amount of this that’d be incomplete without the fans. Comments and fan art, we make sure we see all of it. As the Sora-tomo increase it gets harder to engage with everyone, but we wanna react to as much as possible, and however many Sora-tomo there are, if there’s an opportunity to interact with fans during events such as those on cluster. then we wanna appreciate them.
Sora: We’ve gotta shake hands with everybody~.
A: This wasn’t a handshaking event, but even at the last cluster. there was a cheki picture taking gathering and a bunch of other stuff, and in the future we wanna think of things that people will enjoy and do those too.
Cut-in: [Compilation of January 2018 streams] January with a sleeveless furisode and crying during my first time hosting
Caption: “We’re not gonna stop… Never quit!” A line that expresses the determination to “never give up when you’re aiming for your dream” that gained popularity from Sora’s reaction to a comment by a Sora-tomo. The source material is from a certain mech anime, but Sora herself uses it from what she learned from the Sora-tomo.
And Sora’s original songs, there are a lot where her relationship with her fans has been put into lyrics.
Sora: There are. There are a lot of songs that Sora-tomo have made and given to me. They’re lyrics that they wrote with me in mind, and when I think about things filled with mine and everyone’s thoughts being made naturally, it makes me really happy! It’s like, Sora-tomo means “tomo” [friend], but I see them not just as friends but as cherished family members. Yeah!
Tokino Sora’s companions
Speaking of fan art, there’s an increasing number of drawings of Yuujin–A-san, and now they’re having you host events.
A: That’s true. I’m strictly behind the scenes, but together with Sora, I’m honestly happy that we get to have a sense of affinity. I’ll happily take advantage of doing things like hosting events (laughing)
Did you start out thinking things would turn out like this?
A: Honestly, not at all. It was totally by chance that I appeared on the horror game playthrough, there was an accident during a stream and it just led to us doing it as a punishment game. I thought I might not appear again after that, but everyone ended up enjoying it (laughing)
Sora: It was funny! (laughing)
A: While I thought it was probably alright, I never lost my sense that I was someone behind the scenes (laughing). That way of doing things is what lets me have fun with it.
During streams, you’re close enough to her to hear when she speaks to you, is that right?
A: Oh, I’m right next to her. I’m always within a one meter radius of where she is. I’ll sometimes pull her into position or move her. That’s why they call me a ninja (laughing).
Sora: I feel like I’m beside her, so I’ll just start talking with her, but no-one can see that… (laughing).
Please tell us how you divide up the work.
A: I record and produce the videos, post them, and do the streaming. Sora and I think up and decide on plans for things together. Sora writes the description for video first, I check it and finally post it. Only with the videos for “Amazing Grace” and “Ave Maria” did I write down my thoughts on recording them myself.
A let’s play of the free horror game Honobono. Yuujin-A doesn’t appear while she’s playing next to Sora-chan, but you can tell from Sora’s movements that she’s sometimes hanging onto her because she’s so scared.
Both of you being high school girls, how many adult staffers are supporting you?
Sora: We’ve got staff checking letters we get. Also…
A: Well, there are specialized staff in different areas. But there’s no-one ordering us to do anything. They just reflect on things for us if we ask to do things a certain way. That makes it so we can enjoy ourselves.
Sora: Also, there’s Ankimo…
A: Ankimo was originally a teddy bear Sora had from when she was very small, he was called Teddy-chan.
Sora: That’s right! I thought that, because I called him Teddy-chan, he was a girl!
A: When Ankimo talked, he was a boy (laughing). At first there were some cute names nominated for him, but the one he’s got now brings out his character.
Sora: I’ve become attached to it since then… (laughing)
A: I didn’t think he’d be buried in the floor either (laughing). He was just supposed to lie down peacefully but for some reason he ended up buried.
Sora: He got buried during the stream, so I thought, “Oh!” and immediately said, “Ankimo’s got a thing for being buried” and it stuck. The next week, the staff members who were making the stage said, “We buried him for you” (laughing).
What? He’s being buried on purpose? Can we call that a scoop?
A: Yes, that’s a scoop (laughing). Even though it started as bug, “bury” is now an action.
What comes next for Tokino Sora
Tell us what kind of outfits you wanna wear. Outfits you’re not planning to wear are okay too.
A: It seems like it’d be fun to change stage outfits with each song.
Sora: Pink outfits are cute. I like pink. Also, I wanna wear seasonal outfits for each season!
A: Like a white one piece?
Sora: Like a yukata if it’s the summer, or a swimsuit. Skis if it’s the winter.
A: Even though the background is just a regular studio (laughing). Scarves are cute.
Sora: Mountain climbing in the fall?
A: Mountain climbing!? (laughing)
Sora: I was thinking we could see the foliage in the fall!
A: Oh, okay (laughing). We’ve come up with lots of ideas. We definitely wanna make things happen that the Sora-tomo will enjoy too.
We’d like to see things like your normal everyday clothes, or your school uniform too.
A: Everyday clothes is cute so I kinda wanna see that too.
Sora: Ah! How about a blue blazer!
A: Summer school uniforms are good too. Dress shirts with skirts are cute.
Sora: I wanna wear seifuku too! I’ve never worn it in school, but as everyday clothing in the summer, this…
A: Sora’s pointing at the clothing she’s wearing now, but that’s not coming through on the call (laughing).
Sora: I like flower patterned one pieces. And when it’s winter, I’ll wear stuff like a checkered skirt with a pink sweater, a whitish coat, and brown long boots. I like fluffy, girly coats.
Finally, a message please for all of your Sora-tomo.
Sora: Before that, there’s something I haven’t explained yet to my fans.A lot of people ask me, “Why’s your dream to perform at YokoAri?” They say, aren’t there bigger venues close to Tokyo? The reason is, Yokohama Arena’s where my mom took me to my first concert when I was small. She knew I wanted to sing too, so she said to me, “Someday I wanna see you singing on stage here from the front row,” I’ve always remembered that… So my goal became YokoAri. That’s why I wanna go to YokoAri.
A: Yeah. I really think the reason Sora talks so frequently about singing when she’s introducing herself is because her feelings about it have been that strong about it for such a long time.
A message to all my fans ❤️❤️
Um, having everyone supporting me all the time makes me really happy. As the number of people watching me grows, there may be people who feel sad because they think I’m becoming distant, but I don’t think I’m going that far away. I’m getting used to this life, I can now to speak to all sorts of Sora-tomo, and I think I can shorten the distance between us, so those people’s comments included I’m really being supported, and if you feel that way towards me, it’s like, all I am is thankful. All your warm words make me feel like I can put in the effort, and I wanna give back to everyone even more than the spirit you’ve given me, and I’d be happy if from here on out we can have fun and grow together, so thank you for continuing to support me.
(A-chan: Thank you for continuing to support Sora)
Highlighted videos on the bottom of p. 067:
[17/11/21 stream] Tokino Sora VR stream archive [#013]
Her first piano recital, where she brought a piano into the studio. She played and sang “Amazing Grace” and “Ookina Furudokei.” *original video has been made private, you can find “Amazing Grace” here
[2017 compilation/review] What does Tokino Sora want to do?
The last of four review videos posted by Yuujin-A following Christmas and through New Years. The video [Inspection] Is Tokino Sora your mom? Or your older sister? is also a must-watch for looking into Sora-chan’s motherly nature and open-heartedness.
[17/12/25 stream] Tokino Sora VR stream archive [#17]
Streamed on Christmas of 2017, to be remembered as her first stream on YouTube. Before this she was streaming in places like NicoNico, 17Live, and LINE LIVE.
VTube Review 
[…] with Sora’s interview, parts of this will seem dated but should serve as a good introduction for newcomers and for […]
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