Tadano Rei

Tadano Rei (ただのれゐ) is an independent female Japanese Virtual YouTuber. Her identity is a Miko Angel, which drives the look and feel of her character design. When her channel debuted in 2018, her videos were limited to only pre-recorded commentaries while playing video games. She has since evolved multiple times into her current form, where she streams an ever-changing repertoire of content on a daily basis.

Personality
Cheery, high-energy, and always eager to present. Tadano Rei goes in full-swing during her streams, often entertaining viewers by actively responding to their messages and trying her best at video games. She usually streams in a cute, treble voice in standard Japanese throughout most of her streams and videos, but is able to switch registers for dramatic effect. It is not uncommon for Rei to use a rougher voice to emphasize a point, or lapse into Kansai-ben when speaking off-the-cuff. A voice actress with many talents, Rei often shows off her impressions of Kirby, Toad, Pikachu, Togepi, and more characters and archetypes.

Rei started her Vtuber journey to give back to society, as she always had kind people in her life. This is evident in her burning passion to bring smiles to and create energy for her viewers. She explicitly wants to be a bridge that connects Japan with the world, and incorporates both Japanese and English in her streams to that effect. She is a very endearing figure to her fans, often expressing gratitude to them for dropping by to watch her streams, and constantly promises to keep working hard.

Her undying love for all things Dragon Ball is well-known and comes up frequently in streams. Her favorite character is Brolly. She is also very fond of cats, often making cat-like noises as an attempt to entertain her fans.

She dislikes lewd topics, and actively ask her fans to avoid the subject.

Appearance
Tadano Rei's appearance has evolved multiple times since her initial debut. In her 7th and current form, she is 155cm (5'1") tall, donning a frilly Miko outfit with sleeves that resemble a jacket. Her long hair is vibrant raspberry that gets darker at the edges with eyes that share the same color scheme. On her back are a pair of white angelic wings, which harken to her lore as a Miko Angel. She wears a black heart mark under her left eye and a wing hairpin decorated with 2 roses. She often transforms into a cat girl.



1st form
On 15 November, Tadano Rei created her YouTube channel using her 1st form's design focusing on gameplay commentary videos and the occasional livestream of gameplay content. At this point, Tadano Rei's identity was simply a human who played and commentated games.

2nd form
On 11 December, she added her 2nd form to the collection, although it was already shown in an earlier tweet. These first two forms were poorly drawn paper cutouts of characters with shocked facial expressions, and used primarily in video thumbnails and channel assets. She gained a modicum amount of success in her career as a Vtuber, attracting a few hundred viewers to her channel and building a steady viewership.

3rd form
In March, she rebranded her channel's profile picture from the paper cutout forms to a drawing of a young Rei. This 3rd form was the first time she showcased the heart mark under her left eye -- which is an identifying trait she keeps to this day.

4th form
Her 4th form was shown on the first episode of "Tadano Radio" on 14 April and shows the new Rei tearing up over the death of the old Rei.

5th form and official Vtuber debut
She officially debuted her 5th form and first Vtuber model (a 3Tene model) on the 14 May episode of "Tadano Radio" in celebration of reaching 200 subscribers on her channel. In her 5th form, Rei uses a 3D model and wears a modest Miko outfit decorated with flower patterns. At this time, Tadano Rei adopted the identity of a Miko.

On 5 July, she celebrated her achievement of reaching 700 subscribers by releasing a music video showcasing a new outfit she had received 2 days prior. Compared to the previous outfit, this new outfit added touches of blue and had a stronger floral theme.

On 27 August, as part of her celebration stream commemorating 7.5 years of activity, Rei donned a third outfit themed around a medieval bar maid.

On 1 November, Tadano Rei's channel hit 1,000 subscribers.

On 23 December, she wore a red Christmas-themed outfit in the music video for her original song, Baby Jelly Beans.

2020
On 6 January, Rei hosted a New Year celebration stream and showcased a new green kimono.

On 26 September, she received yet another outfit -- a devil-themed dress with black wings.

6th form
In October, Tadano Rei's channel broke 2,000 subscribers. Also in October, her 3Tene model was updated to her 6th form, with deeper shading and a green accessory in her hair, among other changes. The outfits for her 5th form were usable in her 6th form.

On November 15, she used a new pink outfit with a necktie in her commemoration stream to celebrate the 2,000 subscribers.

2021
On 1 January, Rei revealed a new outfit in her New Year stream -- a white, sleeveless Miko garb with red accents. On 15 January, she announced a crowdfunding campaign to upgrade her 3Tene model to a new model that is rigged in Live2D. The campaign raised 364,500¥ compared to the target of 300,000¥.

On 30 March, Rei held a special stream to celebrate achieving 5,000 subscribers and made it an endurance stream. By the end of the stream, Tadano Rei's channel had 10,000 subscribers.

In April, she participated in a meatspace event in Osaka hosted by the Wasabi Music Project.

In July, she voiced the Tadano Rei's Hyper Ultimate Golden Delicious Full Voice Kusoge RPG game developed by NukadukeParipiMan.

On 5 October, Rei was involved in a collaboration with Dokodemo Catcher to celebrate the new harvest of rice. On 11 October, the official debut date of her Live2D model was announced to be 14 November in a teaser video. In the video, the lore of Tadano Rei was updated to show that the Miko was about to evolve into a Miko Angel.

7th form
On 15 November, Rei debuted her new Live2D model in her celebration stream to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of Tadano Rei's online activities. This 7th form is what she uses to this day.

2022
On 6 March, Rei participated in the 2nd Virtual Exhibition: City of Delicious Things produced by uyet.jp. On 10 March, Tadano Rei's channel officially reached 20,000 subscribers after a 14-hour long endurance stream. On 12 March, as part of a birthday collaboration with Dokodemo Catcher that runs until 20 March, users of Dokodemo Catcher can win prizes that are Tadano Rei's goods.

On 20 March, Rei held a 12 hour endurance stream in an effort to raise money for Global Giving's Ukraine Crisis Relief Funds. The stream raised a total of ¥346,187 ($3245) according to a Report Stream she held a few days after the event.

On 1 April, a new model was unveiled as part of an April Fool's joke, featuring Rei's second iteration of her character. The model is fully rigged with facial animations along with additional features for comedic effect. The model continues to see use in a handful of short videos, promotional materials, and livestreams.

Discography
A number of original songs have been released on YouTube by Rei.

Fans
Rei's fans are known as Rei-yans. This was established in reference to the Saiyan race in the Dragon Ball universe.

Trivia

 * Her name, Tadano Rei, means "Just Rei" or "Simply Rei"
 * Favorite anime: Dragon Ball
 * Favorite Dragon Ball character: Brolly
 * Favorite food: Broccoli
 * Favorite Pokémon: Jirachi
 * Disliked foods: Anything spicy
 * Rei shares the same mama as Namiji Freesia. They share a sisterly relationship with each other, and often visits each other's streams
 * In an effort to connect with her viewers, Rei is actively learning other well-known languages.
 * Aforementioned languages include Korean, Indonesian and Spanish.