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VTuber Ironmouse Leaves VShojo, Triggering Exodus of Most of Agency's Talent (Updated)

American virtual VTuber entertainer Ironmouse announced she left her agency VShojo on her YouTube channel on Monday, and most of VShojo's talent lineup have since announced their departures by the following day. Ironmouse's 11-minute announcement video opens with Ironmouse alleging VShojo owes the Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF) over US$500,000 in charitable donations raised by the VTuber. Ironmouse added that she has been instructed by her legal counsel to refrain from revealing further information regarding her decision.

Ironmouse delves into her background for starting VTubing, her decision to sign with VShojo, and her decision to raise funds for the IDF. According to the VTuber, she has Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CIVD), leaving her at risk of illness. As such, her VTubing career began as a method of making friends. Ironmouse then notes she felt pressured to sign with VShojo, but also grateful they handled many of her finances early in her career.

With Ironmouse's growth in viewership, she wished to help boost donations for the IDF through a subathon (a type of streaming marathon originally intended for gaining subscribers, but now also used for raising funds) in 2023. The VTuber stated the charitable donations came through her Twitch streaming platform's revenue and not through the Tiltify fundrasing platform. Because of this, she said the donations had to go through VShojo.

According to Ironmouse, the subathon was a success and prompted her to run a second subathon the following year with the revenue going to the IDF. Ironmouse claims she raise US$515,000 and once again asked VShojo to make the combined donation to the IDF. However, Ironmouse alleges the VTuber agency has not paid the IDF the funds raised during her second subathon as of the posting of her video.

VShojo still listed Ironmouse as one of its signed talents on Monday, but the agency's page for her is no longer online as of press time.

A day after Ironmouse's announcement, more than half of the VTubers in VShojo's stable of talent began announcing their departure from the company. Most do not mention Ironmouse's announcement directly as the reason, but VTuber Kuro Kurenai did mention that he had already met with management to leave the agency "11 days ago." Other notable talent departing VShojo include AmaLee (who only joined VShojo this past January), Kson, Michi Mochievee, Projekt Melody (who debuted alongside Ironmouse as one of the agency's first seven VTuber talents), Henya the Genius, and Hime Hajime.

Notably, Kson quit live on stream while discussing the details of her situation with the head of VShojo's Japan branch. (VShojo is an American company based in San Francisco.)

Some notable talents, such as Geega, Zentraya, and Matara Ken, announced their departure from VShojo in the three months prior to Ironmouse's announcement. Phillip “MowtenDoo” Fortunat, the co-founder of VShojo, left the company on May 11.

Other talents, such as Apricot the Lich, Akatsuki Hotaru, Hestia Happiness, Okamoto Nagi, and Yutori Peke, have removed the VShojo tag on their names on social media, but have otherwise not yet announced an official departure.

VShojo's official X (formerly Twitter) account has removed all of its talent from its affiliates list, and the merchandise store on the company's official website is currently closed.

Update: VShojo's Japanese members Akatsuki Hotaru, Amemiya Nazuna, Hestia Happiness, Okamoto Nagi, and Yutori Peke have announced their departures from the agency on their respective X/Twitter accounts. Apricot the Lich is VShojo's final talent who has not yet announced plans to leave. In a July 22 X/Twitter post, she wrote, “My heart aches for the talent and the hard working talent staff who worked tooth and nail to let us be heard.”

Update 2: Amamiya Nazuna and VShojo ended their contract on December 31, 2023. Source: VShojo's X/Twitter account

Sources: Ironmouse's YouTube channel, Irounmouse's X/Twitter account, VShojo, Sports Illustrated, Siliconera (link 2), @Tyler_462's X/Twitter account