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Virtual YouTubers Star in TV Tokyo's Watanuki-san Chi no Series in April
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
TV Tokyo announced on Thursday that it will air a new series titled Watanuki-san Chi no (Watanuki's House) that will center on virtual YouTubers or VTubers — characters popularized via videos on streaming services and user-generated content sites. The series will star VTubers Tokino Sora and Hibiki Ao, as well as new VTuber Sarugakuchō Futaba, and will premiere on TV Tokyo's Drama 25 time slot on April 19. TV Tokyo claimed that the show is the first "drama series" to star VTubers (Note: in Japanese the word "drama" in the katakana alphabet is usually used to refer to live-action shows, but the VTubers and the backgrounds in Watanuki-san Chi no are rendered in CG).
In the story, the three VTubers will play the roles of the Watanuki sisters, who live together in one house in the Shitamachi area of Tokyo after they lost their parents. The series will show the heartwarming everyday lives of the sisters.
Takashi Sumida, Hiroaki Yuasa, Takeshi Watanabe, and Yū Ōta are directing the series. Mitsuhiko Fujiki, Jirō, Ryōichi Tsuchiya, Masato Hori, and Hiromu Kumamoto are penning the scripts. Kensaku Sakai is credited for planning. Daisuke Iga is credited for costume design. Kōji Endō is composing the music.
The Virtual-san wa Miteiru (Virtualsan-Looking) anime recently premiered on January 9 and is currently airing. Like Watanuki-san Chi no, the anime series also stars VTubers, including Mirai Akari, Dennō Shōjo Siro, Tsukino Mito, Tanaka Hime, Suzuki Hina, and Nekomiya Hinata. However, in the Virtual-san wa Miteiru anime, the VTubers do not play characters and instead portray themselves.
