VTuber Face Reveal: The Identities Behind The Avatar

Now that it is widely documented that VTubers are controlled by actual people, it’s led to more and more viewers wanting to find out who they really are. Fans spend hours of their time watching these internet personalities, yet they have no idea what the person behind the avatar actually looks like. Remaining hidden from the public eye is not a new concept as artists such as Marshmello, Sia and Daft Punk have all made extremely successful careers while doing so. 

However, the overwhelming majority of content creators behind their personas decide to remain completely anonymous for one reason or another. This makes the mystery so much more intriguing so it’s no surprise that devoted fans are constantly trying to dig up as much information as possible.

In today’s article, we are going to take a look at some of the most popular VTubers who’ve been brave enough to reveal their true identities.

Why Are VTubers So Popular?

Some speculate that the appeal of VTubers is based on the cultural similarities between the content and the fans.  VTubing originates from Japan so it makes complete sense that they encompass most of the biggest forms of media entertainment to cross over to the western world… anime and JPop. Most of the biggest VTubers take on the form of an anime-style avatar which really hits home with anime fans. Furthermore, VTubers are always creating catchy JPop music with high-budget videos that make them the best of both worlds. Some VTubers such as Kizuna AI, the first VTuber, have even gone on to perform live online concerts. And others, real-life concerts.

The global pandemic also contributed to the massive popularity of VTubers as many people were forced inside and left to seek out alternative forms of entertainment. During 2020 more people turned to gaming, live streams and YouTube content than ever before. The most popular VTuber hobbies are gaming and Let’s Plays, so it was only a matter of time until these anime characters who live stream video games went viral.

VTubers are so popular now that there are numerous multi-million dollar VTuber talent agencies. Just like any other talent agency they host VTuber auditions to find the best content creators all over the world. Signing with one of these agencies is another reason for VTuber’s popularity on the internet. VTubers who are partnered with an agency receive access to professional recording studios to increase the quality of their content. Not to mention collaborations with many of the famous VTubers under the same company.

It’s a lot nicer for VTuber agencies to manage these Virtual characters, as maintaining an image is easier without the “baggage” that real-life celebrities come with.

Why Do VTubers Hide Their Identity?

VTubers hide their face for a whole number of reasons. For one, if VTubers constantly showed who they really are it would detract from the persona that they’re trying to uphold. As we mentioned earlier fans tune in to watch their persona and the content they’ve created, not try to discover their identity. Being aware of their real identity would ruin the illusion of their persona being an independent character.

In fact, talking about a VTubers real identity in chat or mentioning it to them is considered very disrespectful. Fans condemn these kinds of acts and actively searching for their secret life behind the avatar is quite frowned upon. Hence, today we will be discussing mainly VTubers who have voluntarily shown their face and not leaks that nosey fans have gotten their hands on.

Another reason why VTubers don’t show their face is to preserve their anonymity. With millions of viewers and internet fame, some people might not be ready for that level of exposure. Getting recognised constantly and being a figure in the public eye can bring about more concerns for one’s safety. The hugely successful Twitch streamer Amouranth went on to explain that if she could do things over again she would be a VTuber. Anyone who is familiar with her work knows that she is notorious for showing skin, so it’s very surprising that she would make a comment like this.

She stated that it is “the most secure” form of content. Between the safety of remaining anonymous and the diversity of content you can produce as a VTuber, we don’t blame her for having this opinion.

Finally, functioning behind a persona helps people to truly express themselves with a lower risk of embarrassment. Sitting in front of a camera and producing content to publish to the world takes a lot of guts. But VTubing removes the stress of having to show your face and receive backlash from the internet. So many real-life streamers rely on personas like DrDisrespect as a way of creating an exaggerated and more entertaining character. Hence why we have seen so many more independent VTubers pop up in recent years.

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VTubers Who Have Shown Their Identity

Despite all the benefits of remaining anonymous some creators love to engage with their fans personally rather than through their VTuber’s persona. Here we are going to show some of the most popular VTubers who have shown their face to their fans. It’s important to note that these were all done voluntarily and are not leaks of private information. 

Veibae

Veibae is one of the most popular English VTubers renowned for her more adult-friendly sense of humour. Her avatar is a white-haired succubus with pointed ears, horns and a tail. Veibae is frequently drunk on stream, meming and bullying her chat. She even has a VTuber model that holds a beer while she drinks. 

Her 18+ marked streams had made her go viral amassing over 1.5million views for clips that have been translated into Japanese. In April of 2021, she would go on to join VShojo, one of the biggest VTuber agencies out there. Veibae has been known to show her face many times on her Instagram before becoming a VTuber and one viral one after. Fans went crazy over her beauty which served as great promotion for her upcoming merchandise.

Yuzu

Sanagi Yuzu is another independent English-based VTuber. She debuted back in June 2021 and quickly became partnered on Twitch. Her rise to fame on social media was fast and like most, was all done without showing her face. Eventually, in July of 2022, she would go on to post a face reveal on Twitter that would understandably go viral. Captioned “Pressed the slay button” Yuzu uploaded two side-by-side selfies of a brown-haired girl in a tank top. One smiling and one straight-faced. 

Again the fans went crazy marvelling at her beauty. We’re beginning to see a pattern here that beautiful VTubers often have beautiful owners. Around the same time as her debut Yuzu Tweeted a side-by-side of her avatar and her face captioned “Icon vs. Owner”. However, this didn’t blow up as much considering she had just started out.

Kson

Kson is an English and Japanese bilingual VTuber who formerly debuted as an independent creator but is now signed to VShojo. Kson takes on the form of a futuristic punk-looking girl with tied-up purple hair and glasses. Kson rose to fame making playthroughs of video games on a Japanese site called Niconico Douga. She would later move into streaming Let’s Plays and various other content that made her successful.

Now Kson has over 1 million subscribers on YouTube and over 250,000 followers on Twitch. Unlike many other VTubers with this level of fame, Kson has regularly shown her face on Twitter and even on stream to all of her viewers.

Apricot The Lich

Apricot The Lich, also known as Apricot, also known as Froot is an English VTuber and illustrator originally from England. Froot debuted on the 27th of November 2020 and is one of the first generations of VTubers from VShojo. Froot appears to be human apart from the four purple horns and bat wings sprouting from her back, but also has a face tattoo that glows green when she channels magic. So then again she probably isn’t human.

Froot is a very softly-spoken and calm VTuber who spends most of her time drawing art on stream. She does so in the hopes of one day having her very own virtual fashion brand. Froot’s face reveal came in the form of a Tweet where she posted a selfie showing a black-haired girl wearing all black with black lipstick to match. Froot went on to explain that she planned on deleting it shortly after the review but decided to leave it up due to the overwhelmingly positive fan response.  

Code Miko

Code Miko is an independent 3D VTuber who primarily streams on Twitch. The interesting thing about Code Miko’s VTuber presence is she doubles up as a duo act with herself and the avatar. She refers to herself as the “Technician” which is pretty cool as she does everything to bring this amazing 3D VTuber model to life. 

Miko creates some really interesting and innovative content, using cool tech tricks to display her phone on screen whilst streaming as her avatar as well as conducting interviews with Twitch stars such as Pokimane. At the moment Miko has only 440,000 subscribers on YouTube but makes up for it by having almost 1 million followers on Twitch.

Bao

Last up on the list we’ve got Bao. She is an English-speaking independent VTuber who takes on the form of a whale deity. Her persona is that of a playful sprite who loves giving genuine compliments to others and chatting with members of her discord. Her face reveal came as part of a milestone when she hit 40,000 followers on Twitch. She gave a partial face reveal by uploading a selfie on Twitter with a triangular object edited on to cover her nose, mouth and lower part of her face.

How Much Money Do VTubers Make?

Obviously, seeing the massive amount of success VTubers can have in the realm of online entertainment, many people wonder how much they make. As an independent VTuber, you’re bound to make the most money as the only overhead you need to worry about is yourself. However, you’ll have to do all the work yourself, which is a problem for people who aren’t too sure how to become a VTuber. Although, not much financial information is disclosed by VTubers who are partnered with agencies. It’s clear that a portion of their earnings goes towards the agency.

VTubers make the bulk of their money from Super Chat donations on YouTube. It was estimated that the top nine VTubers associated with talent agencies in Japan would make between $700,000 and $1.7 million annually in cash gifts. This isn’t the case for every VTuber just starting out but it’s safe to say that the fanbase is very supportive of their favourite creators.

How To Get Started As A VTuber?

So, if you’re looking to get involved in VTubing you’re going to need a few things. First up, you’ll need a VTuber model. Your VTuber model is what will represent your virtual identity, so you need to make sure that it compliments the persona you’re trying to create. Most people like to get a VTuber model commission where professional artists can work alongside their clients to produce a fully functional VTuber model. 

Some experienced members of the community like to make VTuber models from scratch all by themselves. If you’ve got the graphic design and animation know-how then this is definitely a great option to create the VTuber of your dreams. 

Thanks to the development of VTuber maker software it’s relatively easy to start once you’ve got an avatar. Some of the best tracking software to use are programs like PrPrLive, VTubeStudio and Animaze by Facerig.

You’ll also need to make sure that you’ve got a PC that can comfortably handle streaming. You can come by these fairly easily for around $500 if you know what you’re looking for. Once your rig is set up you’ll need to download streaming software. We recommend using OBS Studio or Streamlabs as most VTuber software are optimised for these.

Last but not least, start making content!