Translator’s note: This is an article from kai-you.net that uses Lulu’s recent retirement as a springboard to discuss mental health among creators and people in the public eye. While giving credit to organizations like ANYCOLOR for their efforts to counter harassment, the author notes the mental strain that many VTubers experience and says everyone – fans, management and media – need to understand why VTubers may step back or leave entirely and do what they can to give them support.
Suzuhara Lulu, who announced she’d be graduating and then retiring from the virtual liver group Nijisanji at the end of June, streamed for one last time on June 30th.
The stream mainly consisted of introducing outfits and illustrations of outfits she hadn’t been able to reveal, looking back on her almost 2 years of activity, and letting people know things like how long her video archive would be available and what would happen with her Twitter account.
During this stream, she herself spoke about why she was graduating and retiring. According to her, “I received a letter of challenge, went to the demon police, and they dealt with it.”
In March she’d put her activities on hold for a similar reason. Though she’d started streaming again at the end of that month once this was resolved, it appears similar incidents had followed – including “direct” things – and she said that the main reason she’d decided on graduation and retirement was the pain she felt causing her listeners to worry every time she took a break to deal with these things (it seems there were other reasons as well).
Further, she stressed to the utmost that this hadn’t led her to dislike her listeners.
ANYCOLOR and UUUM set up response teams
Nijisanji’s managing company ANYCOLOR set up a response team for dealing with “aggressive actions,” “slander” and the like in September of 2020, calling on fans to help as well.
Other examples include the YouTuber company UUUM, which set up a similar team in June of 2020, and the virtual liver company LiverCity taking preemptive measures against personal data being leaked through the use of “smart tags.”
In recent years we’ve seen various ways in which management has taken a protective stance towards their talents against the ill will felt towards those who take center stage.
It’s at least possible to think that the existence of these kinds of countermeasures from ANYCOLOR was part of what made Lulu’s speedy return from her previously mentioned break in March possible.
This time, however, she graduated and retired.
Constant exposure to inquisitive eyes means the need for care is all the greater
This “letter of challenge” that was Lulu’s main reason for graduating and retiring was something that, “while we discussed dealing with these on a case-by-case basis, I couldn’t stand the idea of stopping every time it happened and doing things half-heartedly.”
“I didn’t want to worry my fans.” Though there were other options available, she spoke of the emotional conflict that came from her concern for her fans, being “unable to bear causing everyone to worry” over things she was going through herself.
Though this started from her being exposed to people’s ill will, she chose her words carefully as she spoke of the psychological pressure of “feelings of regret growing heavier and heavier.”
To begin with, no matter what measures you take, fundamentally there exists no way to completely prevent some amount of ill will, including verbal abuse and more direct “letters of challenge” from fans, antis, and anonymous people who are neither.
Though I’ll be repeating myself here, this isn’t to say that “countermeasures are meaningless,” but rather that people today have higher expectations of management to act as a shield for creators and decrease the chance that ill will reaches the eyes of the person themselves.
With that in mind, psychological care and support for the mental health (literally health of the mind) of creators who are continually exposed to psychological burdens has become a demand in many fields.
The NBA, Kodansha… the worldwide focus on mental healthcare
Care for the mind and body, mental healthcare included, is a field that’s received fresh attention with the social division brought about by the COVID-19 crisis.
For creators, actors, sports players, and everyone working where they’re frequently exposed to inquisitive eyes and verbal abuse, the need for care is all the greater, and for that reason there’s an ongoing trial-and-error process with countermeasures in these various businesses.
Kodansha, for example, opened an online health counseling service in May for mangaka and other workers in that field.
This service, targeted towards some 1,000 mangaka and their families and assistants, allows them to chat or video chat with a specialist at any time about their questions or concerns about medical treatment and health related to the prolonged spread of COVID-19.
And for another example, take sports. In a world where it’s thought that showing weakness creates a chance for your opponent to take advantage of you, the question of mental healthcare wasn’t taken seriously for a long time.
But with research results going around in recent years showing that sports players are more prone to mental anguish than the general population, the NBA and International Association of Professional Footballers have begun engaging in countermeasures, and we have increasing examples of various teams and individual players employing mental health specialists and staffers.
From the solidarity shown with tennis player Osaka Naomi’s courage to open up about her mental health issues by many athletes off the court, you get the sense that sports players themselves are trying to escape the fixed idea that “athletes must be strong.”
It’s the same with the music world, where there have always been troubled artists. In the proactive sharing of personal mental health issues by artists like Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber you can see signs that things are changing.
The pains of a VTuber scene that’s achieved rapid growth
It took only a few years for Virtual YouTubers (VTubers) to rise to prominence. Given how fast this culture has grown, you can feel the various ways in which that sense of speed has impacted its creators lately.
Though these are just what stand out, there’s no end to VTubers who cease their activities citing poor health, and you can see examples here and there of VTubers disappearing from the stage for no clear reason at all.
During Suzuhara Lulu’s graduation stream, she herself clearly explained that she was choosing a new path, and that graduation was a “positive” choice for her.
Moreover, the fact is that the reason she gave for why she graduated has made such waves that sports magazines and more have even reported her statement that she’d “gone to the demon police.”
Whether this VTuber net culture scene that’s experienced such rapid growth is sustainable or not will likely depend on management, fans and the media coming to grips with these various cases and gradually improving things from their respective positions.
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