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hololive's Momosuzu Nene Makes Surprise Voice Appearance in The World's Finest Assassin Anime—Except in Mainland China
posted on by Kim Morrissy
hololive Virtual YouTuber Momosuzu Nene made a surprise voice actor debut in episode 6 of The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in a Different World as an Aristocrat anime, playing the side character of Kerry. The episode debuted on November 10. Nene's role was not announced beforehand, with the VTuber only commenting on it for her viewers after the fact.
"It's really amazing to not just voice an anime character, but for that character to have a name and appear in the credits," she remarked in a "just chatting" livestream on November 11. She asked her fans to look forward to the character's subsequent appearances in the anime. Nene is also credited for the role in episodes 7 and 8.
Nene's distinctive voice can be hard at around the 3:05 mark of Crunchyroll's stream of episode 6. There is one particular region, however, where her performance and credit are missing: Mainland China. bilibili's stream for that region removes Nene's credit and the corresponding character. (Note that no alterations were made to the stream for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan users.)
In July, hololive's Shirakami Fubuki and Natsuiro Matsuri appeared as themselves in The Detective Is Already Dead anime, but their appearances were also removed from the bilibili streams (including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan).
hololive has been controversial in mainland China in the past. In September 2020, Kiryu Coco was suspended from streaming activities for three weeks alongside Akai Haato due to "inappropriate remarks" and "unauthorized disclosure of YouTube channel analytics" they made in a livestream. During the six minutes of deleted footage from the archived version of the stream, Coco allegedly commented on her channel's viewership demographics by region. YouTube Analytics lists Taiwan and China as separate regions. The VTuber later retired from hololive in July.
Proponents of the One-China principle seek reunification between Taiwan and China under the same sovereign state. This stance is opposed by supporters of the Taiwan independence movement, who seek to establish a Taiwanese identity separate from China.
Momosuzu Nene is a 5th generation hololive talent who debuted in August 2020. Illustrator Nishizawa 5mm provided her character design. The character was originally depicted as a girl in a China dress, but that aspect been absent since her costume makeover in January. According to hololive's current official profile, she is a "girl who came from another world to chase after her idol dream. She likes singing, dancing, and drawing. She trains hard every day in order to win the hearts of even more people."
Last month, she featured in Japan's Weekly Playboy list of "The Next Generation of Beautiful Women."
The television anime of Rui Tsukiyo and Reia's The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in a Different World as an Aristocrat (Sekai Saikō no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei Suru) light novels premiered on October 6.
Source: bilibili