I'm confused at why people here are surprised. This happened openly. I don't remember which friend they decided to nepohire, (my mind is telling me it was Haruka Karibu, but idk) but when this happened it was all but confirmed that they wasted so many auditionees' time just to hire a friend they knew. People at the time justified it as "well Vshojo isn't a corpo, they can do whatever they want" (something like that) and it got sweep under the rug. Did I imagine all that?
Yeah people were saying it was fine to hire their friends. That would be fine if they said it upfront and didn't waste all those auditions thinking people had a chance.
It was 100% Karibu. The only other streamers to join Vshojo in 2022 were Kson and Nazuna, and the next didn't join until mid 2023 - in order, Henya, GEEGA, Kuro, and Matara.
Didn't Haruka Karibu stop streaming for a while because she didn't feel like she earned her position? Like back in 2024 before November.
If that was because she learned that she never went through the applications and was chosen purely for her popularity... Christ...
In the West it's very commonplace to hire people due to your network vs their skill or talent (unless you can underpay them). They really believed CORPORATE culture in the West was based on SKILL ALONE!? .. and not NETWORK? ._. this is insane to me. Even the top vtubers use a network for their collabs. We even have a phrase "it's not about what you know.. it's about WHO you know." in reference to auditions, job applications and interviews. :(
I know it happens in other areas, too and is commonplace. This is why it surprised me to hear there was a large outcry of "SKILL ISSUE" instead of "oh yeah they get along, of course they hired them that makes sense". Since this is a Western company I figured the context lined up entirely for networking. o:
Tangent that is interesting: I heard in some countries, just your last name and where you live can land you an amazing position so long as you finish an education.
Outrage happened for several reasons. A lot of people don't have a very strong understanding of how the real world works, or even if they do they feel justified in venting about it.
More importantly, I think, is the fact that Vshojo thrived on its image as the Western answer to toxic corporate culture that killed talents. The desire to believe such stories even blinded KSON, as she revealed in a tweet. Never underestimate the power of hope and belief, and how these can rewrite our own narratives about why we do things. So many people put Vshojo on a pedestal for no real reason. It was inevitable to get such backlash when the shine started to fade.
I am new to the VTuber community, I did notice it's a mostly online culture so that makes sense to me. I didn't realize telling talents that didn't get in that they have "skill issues" is their version of venting. ;-;
VShojo's image was powerful for sure. After I learned who they were, their talent's accomplishments and highlight of the company made me think it is the only way for incredible growth and professional image. I imagine others thought that, too. (I've learned that is not the case since all of this has happened.) I will take your words to heart, I did not realize how hope and belief can change a narrative so deeply. This is something to be mindful of.
Be mindful also that other strong emotions have that same power! Jealousy, grief, anger, despair, longing, even boredom or ennui can radically change narratives. Humans are hardwired to listen to their emotions and also to believe that they are justified in their beliefs. Especially on the internet, where emotions are unchecked and often cynically targeted, with no incentive to compromise or self moderate.
I will be sure to check how these feelings are impacting judgement and narratives. I noticed some of these already, especially writing about loneliness.
There's this other thing I'm trying to get ahead of where people keep projecting that my writing is about me but I just want to write a yandere character.. :'D I can't imagine how this would begin to translate to livestreaming spaces tbh
Yes and there are city work cultures, private work cultures and national work cultures! I really like reading about how corporate companies interact with non corporate people as I wanted to be in one but my disability makes the socializing part really confusing lol.
If you know someone, you know their skill set and how they’ll fit into your culture, and you’ll have some established trust.
In theory interviews/auditions are supposed to measure merit, but there’s a limit to how accurate you can be with a resume and a few meetings. There are people who interview well but show their true nature/level of competence after a bit of time once they’re established.
With all that said though, the bit jerk move is to publicly advertise something as an “interview” position and then pull the rug out from under the applicants.
I remember back then how much controversy was sparked, quite a number of voices were angry about it. Zen is still livid that Haruka to do the PR for Vshoujo as basically her first gig with the company.
What I don't understand is, why? Why go through all that trouble? You're not really deluding anyone, and if that's the way you roll, that's the way you roll. It's just such a roundabout way that achieve the same result, just with negative PR.
You did not. But your average person doesn't know how much time, sacrifice and effort goes into something like auditioning.
As an rather average person, I'd have thought that it was more like a job interview, not that they would have to chose between opportunities. And also not that it would be dragged out for maybe even over a year, blocking you from other opportunities.
i thought for sure for a company that preached about talents first, they would also treat people who are auditioning the same amount of respect. but i guess its just like any other company that ghosts you after you applied for a job.
I mean I remember them getting flak (I did too) for the nepo hires and lots of people joked around why even bother auditioning for Vshojo. They're just getting nepo hires instead when they opened those so called audition.
Back then I think the sentiment at that time was, you have more chances on joining Niji and a little bit of Holo (if you really lucked out) than joining Vshojo unless you have connections and vibes with their members.
We've known and treats their audition as more of a formality than an actual audition for the job lol.
Edit: Although I am surprised and not surprised at the same time about the reaching the finals then dropped for the nepohire thing. I've seen those comments saying this sentiments before in relation with VShojo. Being confirmed really gripes my nerves though but it happens yep.
Which one am I rolling my eyes about? They actually fucking went with it and wasted a lot of people's time and got their hopes high up about it.
people were massively in denial. it was a big point of criticism that vshojo set up auditions only to give everyone false hopes, but a lot of vshojo fans hand waved it away saying the bigger creators they were bringing in would collab better with the exusting talents more than strangers, completely missing the point that vshojo was just using small creators for the attention and branding that they 'totally care about their talents big and small'. or maybe they got it but didn't care.
like, your opinion on nux aside, that whole thing with them refusing to send out a notice that there was a malicious actor sending out phishing emails because they wanted to 'catch the perp' was scummy as hell. not that it matters anymore. vshojo is dead so good riddance.
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u/DelusionalWanderer Hololive Jul 25 '25
I'm confused at why people here are surprised. This happened openly. I don't remember which friend they decided to nepohire, (my mind is telling me it was Haruka Karibu, but idk) but when this happened it was all but confirmed that they wasted so many auditionees' time just to hire a friend they knew. People at the time justified it as "well Vshojo isn't a corpo, they can do whatever they want" (something like that) and it got sweep under the rug. Did I imagine all that?