PRISM\u2019s Ami Amami, Kou Tsubame & Lana Shikami on debuting for a VTuber agency YouTube: Kou TsubameThey are \u201cthe music loving generation of PRISM Project.\u201d Ami Amami, Kou Tsubame, and Lana Shikami broke the VTuber agency\u2019s long drought of debuts when they stepped onto the scene in April 2023. Now, they open up on what that pressure was like. Ami Amami, Kou Tsubame, and Lana Shikami broke one of VTubing\u2019s longest debut droughts. The trio were PRISM Project\u2019s first releases in 18 months. It was the agency\u2019s first reveal since joining Sony Music Entertainment Japan nearly 12 months earlier. Those two facts made their first impressions even more important than your usual VTuber debut. But such is the lighthearted nature of PRISM Project Gen 5, codenamed Forecast, that this was nothing more than water off their back. The trio (now duo following the graduation of Lana Shikami due to health reasons) are bright and bubbly \u2014 even the electrifying Kou Tsubame has a bit of \u2018gap moe\u2019 going on \u2014 and have put their best foot forward in these first three months. Right off the bat, they were bouncing off each other like longtime pals when reflecting on what led them here. Music, for one, is a core part of each of their identities. Ami leans more into the Japanese idol culture, while Kou is more hardened on the EDM scene. Lana was a self-professed musical theater nerd. They\u2019re all into various types of games, like most streamers are. And they all made it through a pretty strenuous audition process that saw eight stars, spaced out across three generations, make the cut out of more than 3000 applicants. But all of that was truly tested when the cameras turned on them for the first time on April 29, 2023. Writer\u2019s note: This interview was conducted in June 2023, before Lana Shikami\u2019s graduation from PRISM Project due to health reasons. What goes into a VTuber debut? A VTuber\u2019s debut is one of the most important streams they\u2019ll ever do. They do say first impressions count. That pressure is only compounded when you\u2019ve got the eyes and hopes of an agency on your back. PRISM Gen 5 launched a months-long process to get ready for debut from the moment they auditioned in August 2022. Sure, casting the talents to the character models is one thing, but finer details like graphics, background music, and the iconic Powerpoint have to be prepared. For all three of Forecast, they prepared a musical number and basically rehearsed a run sheet in their head ahead of time. \u201cThe whole debut day was a rollercoaster of emotions,\u201d Lana explained. \u201cThere were times I was super nervous about it \u2014 we all get nervous before a performance. There were times I was super calm about it \u2014 yeah no, I\u2019ve got this as long as my cat doesn\u2019t jump on my table. \u201cThere\u2019s so much prep that goes into it. You practice and you practice, you go over everything and get it all set up and sorted. On the day, you just have to give into it and go with the moment and hope you remembered everything you planned.\u201d Even the best preparation can be soiled by nerves though. And you could cut the tension with a knife in the hours leading up to Gen 5\u2019s debuts. \u201cThere was a meeting we had right before debut, maybe an hour before we started,\u201d Ami explained. \u201cIt was us three, plus Shogun and the rest of management. They said some wonderful things to us, some really uplifting and encouraging messages. \u201cThen we sat in silence \u2014 me, Kou, and Lana \u2014 the entire time. Afterwards they were like, \u2018Do you guys have anything you want to say?\u2019 And we were like \u2018No, no thanks.\u2019 We were so nervous! That was what it was like right before. \u201cBeing in anticipation that long and then releasing it in one instant in front of hundreds of people\u2026 for me, if I was on stage in front of that number of people, I probably would have fainted. I don\u2019t think the nerves went away, maybe it was the adrenaline [kicking in].\u201d Kou was quick to jump in with a pained scream. \u201cI was quaking in my boots,\u201d she laughed. \u201cI was stressed the moment we got announced and I did not stop shaking until I hit the end stream button [on my debut] and I could finally release all the tension. \u201cUp until that moment I was so stressed. It\u2019s scary to have that many eyes on you at once. You can see the chat moving quickly in the corner of your eye. You\u2019re trying to make a really good first impression. It\u2019s just scary. It gets to you. I\u2019m not good with crowds so\u2026\u201d However, the pressure subsided when they each went live. Without a hitch, they flowed seamlessly in a three-hour relay full of little gems of content. Each stream peaked at more than 1,000 viewers as each talent approached it with a different act. Ami had a cute visual novel-slash-journal walkthrough. Kou brought back the iconic rolling hills of Windows XP\u2019s iconic Bliss background to share her lore. And Lana, well, she broke out the ASMR before her debut \u2014 and launched right into it on the day. VTuber fans couldn\u2019t get enough, but it was an even bigger moment for those behind the scenes at PRISM. \u201cI wanted us to do a good job for a lot of different reasons,\u201d Ami said. \u201cI wanted to make Shogun [the group\u2019s producer] and management not regret having hired me. I wanted to make a good impression on the higher-ups at Sony. I wanted to make a good impression on the VTuber community. Also myself. \u201cThere was a good balance between feeling pressured negatively, and feeling pushed forward in a positive way by it.\u201d And even the sickly-nervous Kou could see the faith many had in them to perform when it mattered: \u201cFor us to pass, that alone was a huge honor. Sony Music people were there from different departments \u2014 music directors, VA managers \u2014 and they all greenlit us.\u201d Trying to fit in PRISM had remained unchanged for 18 months \u2014 barring one departure \u2014 before Gen 5 came along. The VTubers had all gotten to not just know each other, but truly bond. The Forecast trio had to get along themselves. After all, collabing with your genmates is a pretty core part of the agency VTubing experience. And while there was initial apprehension, they pretty quickly got over it. \u201cOne of my biggest fears with joining PRISM was, \u2018What if my genmates hate me?\u2019 An even bigger fear was, \u2018What if I hate them,\u2019\u201d Kou said, to everyone\u2019s laughter. \u201cBut oh my god, I love them. They\u2019re so wonderful. \u201cAll the nerves and stress went away and I\u2019m so grateful. It\u2019s truly the dream team here. Every time we end a collab, we just sit on call and just laugh. I\u2019m very grateful for those moments.\u201d When Gen 5 stepped up to the plate, it also was a bit of a make-or-break moment for the agency. \u201cThe one thing that was stuck in my mind was we couldn\u2019t do anything to change that PRISM family reputation the project had,\u201d producer Shogun said. \u201cThat was from the very beginning when we had our first meeting with the talents [before Gen 5 were even auditioning]. \u201cI know a lot of PRISM Agents were waiting a long time for us to arrive, so I worked to make them feel like the wait was worth it,\u201d Kou added. Three months on, and it\u2019s clear as day that they\u2019ve slotted in smoothly. Publicly-facing, there are collabs abound. Lana linked up with the likes of Sara Nagare and Rita Kamishiro before her departure. Ami\u2019s short covers have been shared the world over. Kou is already planning a host of musical projects \u2014 solo and perhaps with others. But there\u2019s always got to be favorites right? \u201cI was going through my journal and telling people about my interests,\u201d Ami laughed, being game enough to answer the question first. \u201cI flipped in my journal to a secret doodle page where I had drawn a picture of myself taking over the world. \u201cTwo of my senpais in particular, Rita-senpai and Iku-senpai [Hoshifuri], were very proud of me, in a horrible yaoi style of art.\u201d Kou Tsubame resonated with Ami on the Iku sentiment because of \u201chow hard she works and how tirelessly she puts in the effort and how much she cares.\u201d However, she also highlighted Shiki Miyoshino, who has been making waves more broadly in the VTubing space and elevating PRISM with her. \u201cI\u2019ve looked up to her since way before joining PRISM. She was one of the first people to reach out and say, \u2018Welcome, if you need anything just let me know.\u2019 \u201cAfter being announced to the world, she\u2019s gone out of her way to help me and guide me and make sure I didn\u2019t feel overwhelmed or lost. She didn\u2019t have to do any of those things, but she did because she wanted to and she cared.\u201d The future with PRISM Project Despite facing adversity early on, the good times are keeping on rolling for the boundlessly positive PRISM Project generation. The similarities have been highlighted above, but it\u2019s really their differences that have brought them closer together. \u201cWe\u2019re learning so much about things we never thought we\u2019d be interested in or look into,\u201d Ami explained. \u201cI remember we had a meeting after our debut with all of us and the managers. I remember saying \u2018Lana, your stream was the first ASMR stream I\u2019ve sat through before, and I didn\u2019t know if ASMR was for me but I enjoyed what you did with it.\u2019 Lana was quick to jump in: \u201cI have apologized for corrupting the frog. I\u2019m really sorry. No one seems to believe me. I\u2019m trying not to!\u201d Ami laughed, before getting back on point: \u201cHaving such different backgrounds and interests could make for rifts between people, but it\u2019s not like that for us.\u201d Music is a core part of their content to bring them together, but it\u2019s not just the music themselves, or even PRISM\u2019s management, are interested in. \u201cOne of the misconceptions the fanbase had during the audition process was you understand the name Sony Music and it has \u2018Music\u2019 in the title,\u201d Shogun explained. \u201cOf course we have the resources within the company like various labels\u2026 but it\u2019s not only music. \u201cThere are other areas of the virtual talent space \u2014 voice acting, ASMR, gaming content. All of these are positives for our project, and we shouldn\u2019t think it\u2019s limited to musically inclined people just because the name is Sony Music.\u201d And so their big dreams expand beyond that scope. Sure, Kou Tsubame wants to go to an EDM festival and hear her voice on a track. Ami Amami wants to \u201creach people the world over with [her] voice\u201d through singing, performing, or voice acting. But they don\u2019t just want to stick to music, or VTubing for that matter. They want to break through what\u2019s been seen as previously possible in entertainment. \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot to be said about how the world of VTubing allows you to do things you might not be able to do in the real world,\u201d Ami explained. \u201cBut there\u2019s a whole world of virtual entertainment and interconnectivity that we\u2019ve been exploring at PRISM. \u201cCan we do some of these things that are traditionally limited to the physical world, like performances on stage? We have seen some big companies do 3D concerts. But can we do plays? Make little movies? Go do virtual sports?\u201d This was backed up by Shogun, who said that while PRISM Project is \u201cone small part\u201d of the giant Sony Music group, those connections could be valuable in pushing the entire industry forward, not just their talents. \u201cVTubing came up from the grassroots,\u201d he said. \u201cThe culture spontaneously developed, got pushed along by other companies, and has found itself struggling to know what comes next. Is there an opportunity to do something that is larger than streaming and gaming content? \u201cWe think we can do that, and using the strengths of the Sony Music group, soon you will be able to see the fruits of that.\u201d More importantly than the content though, and while it sounds cheesy, they have individually found their family here \u2014 just as Shogun hoped when bringing them on in the first place. \u201cOne of the first things I noticed was the camaraderie,\u201d Lana stated. \u201cEverything is easy and smooth sailing because everybody is so onboard and on the same page. Everyone is working towards their individual goals but we\u2019re also connected in how we go about achieving them.\u201d \u201cI came into it hoping to make friends but with the expectation that it would be mostly professional. It\u2019s been all that and more,\u201d Ami added. \u201cThere\u2019s so many brilliant minds throwing ideas out there all the time, and someone is bound to want to join you to make that a reality. \u201cA lot of companies will tell you \u2018we are a family\u2019 but that\u2019s a surface-level thing. For us, it doesn\u2019t feel that way here. It\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PRISM\u2019s Ami Amami, Kou Tsubame & Lana Shikami on debuting for a VTuber agency YouTube: Kou TsubameThey are \u201cthe music loving generation of PRISM Project.\u201d Ami Amami, Kou Tsubame, and Lana Shikami broke the VTuber agency\u2019s long drought of debuts when they stepped onto the scene in April 2023. Now, they open up on what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}