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The story
Popular VTuber Shigure Ui abruptly canceled a collaboration with the girls’ clothing brand “Mezzo Piano,” sparking discussion on 5ch. The cancellation reportedly wasn’t a matter of caving to feminist criticism, but was due to threats made against those involved, including Ui herself. Opinions on the thread were sharply divided — from questions about why a VTuber known for lolicon-adjacent content teamed up with a real girls’ clothing brand in the first place, to condemnation of whoever resorted to threats, to cooler-headed points about whether there was even demand for the collab to begin with.
What people said
Come on, I do shower when there's an actual in-person event
Shower every day. As a human being.
It's not about whether you shower or not, it's about whether you stink or not
They're probably already doing that
It literally says "against those involved, including myself," are you illiterate
If it were just her she'd probably push through, but knowing Ui-mama's personality, she couldn't stand having staff or shop clerks dragged into it
A collab that risks making enemies of parents like that makes zero sense
But the ones actually mad seem to be unrelated old ladies — apparently her art style is popular with people in their 20s and under
Aren't childless guys the main demographic here?
VTubers who can draw and stuff, like Captain Marine or Shigure Ui, are actually popular with young girls too
I went to a live show at K Arena and was shocked at how many elementary/middle school girls ("JS/JC") were there with their moms
Who's this even supposed to be for
And she herself hasn't put out any erotic content at all
Did whoever planned this not see what happened when that guy got flamed for doing the "Loli God Requiem" dance?
And Mezzo Piano is a mid-to-high-end brand where a full outfit runs ¥150,000-200,000 — come on, think a little harder
Who's dropping that much on kids' clothes, only the ultra-rich
Nah, it's nowhere near that
At most a few tens of thousands of yen
Girls' clothes get outgrown so fast that Mercari (Japan's flea-market app) is flooded with them
There are outlets too, where out-of-season stock goes for 50-70% off
Like Digimon, I guess — turn your body into data and fight it out inside the internet
If it were some ordinary VTuber doing the collab, I don't think it would've drawn this much backlash
Even Pekora or Rurun probably wouldn't have blown up like this
This kids' clothing company is the most messed up party here
Don't you get that this happened because it went beyond mere criticism
? How did it go beyond criticism
There are people who lose it and call even a plain statement of fact "slander"
Just like with Genshin Impact, criticism is one thing, but threats and crime notices are just idiotic
Honestly it looked like she just caved over compliance concerns
But they're probably spinning it as "threats" now
By the time it was announced, a bunch of old ladies were already flinging seriously over-the-line slander
If that song isn't aimed at lolicons, who exactly is it for
They should realize that having a fanbase that thinks that way is exactly why this looks dangerous
Though to be fair, even some Shigure Ui fans had a sane take, like "I don't get this collab"
What were all the people making noise about it doing until now
Back then there just wasn't much news coverage, so it wasn't widely known
Once people found out, of course it turned out like this
Someone like Emiko Uenuma, who'll eventually become King of Mie (a running joke about the comedian)
If anything she's strict about lewd content
She's even said that if you're going to post explicit fan art, make sure it doesn't turn up in searches
That's the wrong way to look at it
She's already stuck with the image of a song that riles up so-called "mesugaki" fans (a bratty, provocative young-girl archetype popular in otaku circles), so it doesn't matter how strict she is about regulating lewd fan art
The company that planned this was overwhelmingly thoughtless
There can't be many VTuber fans who also have kids, and demand for it as a collector's buy seems pretty thin too
This VTuber herself is actually pretty popular with young girls, and everything in this line is cheap by the brand's standards — I'd guess they're picturing it as a little reward you buy your kid when she asks for it
Since she's a VTuber popular with kids, this isn't really business aimed at "V-buta" (a derisive term for male VTuber otaku)
Background and Key Points of This Story
What matters most about this cancellation isn’t simply a rise in criticism, but the stated reason: “there were threats made against those involved, including myself.” Projects getting canceled over social media backlash isn’t unusual, but once it escalates into threats or criminal warnings, that’s a different matter entirely — one that could turn into a criminal case. While some on the thread pointed out that “criticism and threats are on completely different levels,” there’s more nuance to the story too: the collab was reportedly announced back in May yet only blew up in September, and past controversies over VTubers’ “loli”-themed expression were brought up as precedent. How much thought the brand actually gave to pairing a real children’s product with this kind of character portrayal can’t be confirmed from the original thread alone.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Breaking] Shigure Ui Abruptly Cancels Girls’ Clothing Brand Collab wwwwwwwwwwwwww.”
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