WACTOR



WACTOR Production (ワクタープロダクション ), also simply known as WACTOR, is a Japan-based agency of VTubers managed by the company of the same name.

Since 2019, WACTOR has expanded towards Chinese streaming on bilibili. On January 2021, WACTOR's talents presented themselves to Spanish-speaking audiences.

Background
WACTOR Production first announced auditions on 25 April, 2018.

The first two members were Hizuki Miu and Irisu Mia, who debuted on 21 October 2018. The third member, Otogi Lilu, debuted on 23 February  2019. However, their affiliations and relationship remained undisclosed at the time.

On 2 March 2019, the VTuber unit "Mirais" managed by WACTOR was formed, with Miu, Mia and Lilu as its first three members, and a staff Twitter account was set up in May.

2019
In July 2019, 株式会社WACTOR was formally established as a company.

On 3 October, WACTOR announced auditions for two new members for Mirais unit (みらいず Miraizu) and four new members for a Sister unit (姉妹ユニット Shimai yunitto).

On 25 October, Otogi Lilu announced her retirement via Twitter. She graduated on 16 November.

Eventually, the Sister Unit members debuted: Komori Aina on 28 October, Mashiro Yuyu on 7 November, Mihana Rio on 9 November, and Tsukito Hana on 11 November.

On 20 November, Kogure Piyoko debuted as part of Mirais.

On 12 December, Mihana Rio's contract was cancelled due to an undisclosed breach of contract.

On 15 December, Mitsurugi Lia debuted as part of Mirais.

2020
On 11 January, Irisu Mia announced her retirement via Twitter, and graduated on 29 February.

On 28 January, WACTOR introduced Nanaha Rui, their first Bilibili-exclusive VTuber.

On 2 February, Kokoro Ichiru debuted as part of the Sister Unit.

On 12 March, WACTOR's Twitter account posted a statement regarding the unauthorized deletion of new member data in the company's cloud storage, and it was found that one of the many IPs involved belonged to a former employee. At the same time, Komori Aina's and Mashiro Yuyu's contracts were cancelled due to breach of contract. As of this date, Mirais and her sister unit were merged to form one group simply called "WACTOR".

On 28 September, Kokoro Ichiru's activities were temporarily suspended. After a long hiatus, the cancellation of her contract was announced on 28 December due to management issues.

At some point in 2020 (presumed late December), archives on graduated Otogi Lilu's and Irisu Mia's channels were wiped, leaving their respective Twitter accounts the only official way to view their stream logs.

2021
Throughout January and February, WACTOR's talents began expanding towards Spanish-speaking fanbases, which caused a sudden surge in subscriber numbers. On 16 January, Miu was the first to publish a presentation video in Spanish, followed by Lia on 19 January,, Hana on 24 January, and Piyoko on 10 February.

On 17 March, WACTOR's Twitter account announced auditions sponsored by bilibili for five new members (now known as second generation), from 17 March to 5 April.

On 25 April, a public audition event featuring the 15 finalists was held on bilibili, with Komori Chiyu and Otome Oto as guest commentators.

Throughout May, the second generation debuted: Shino Laila and Hoshina Suzu on 9 May, Kurari Rose on 18 May, and Hina Misora on 25 May. One of the five avatars did not debut.

On 16 June, WACTOR's members were re-organized into generations (0th, 1st, 2nd) according to their audition and debut date.

On 30 June, WACTOR announced auditions for a third generation and opened early registrations.

On 31 July, WACTOR was ranked 8th among the top 10 Japanese vtuber companies with the most overall subscribers. The company also officially announced the start of the third generation auditions and shared the three avatars of its members, one of which was originally released during the previous auditions.

Throughout late 2021, the third generation debuted: Sumeragi Pal on 12 September, Rurine Luna on 15 September, and Inumaki Himari on 15 October.

On 1 November, after a long vacation, Kogure Piyoko announced her retirement, and graduated on 26 November.

On 28 November, Shino Laila was suspended indefinitely due to breach of contract.

On 23 December, WACTOR announced auditions for a fourth generation sponsored by Bilibili. The new "fantasy"-themed generation is called "GATE" and is comprised of five new members.

On 27 December, after several management issues about uploading a collaboration video of Suzu and Nyaru "冰火歌会", WACTOR temporarily suspended Suzu's activities as a protective measure against slander.

On 28 December, Nanaha Rui announced his retirement.

2022
On 28 January, Tsukito Hana's accounts ceased all activity. In late february Hana decided to cancel her contract with the company due to health reasons.

On 29 January, Nanaha Rui graduated from WACTOR.

In February, WACTOR 4th Generation first members debuted: Saohime Yue on 20 February and Shinonome Ito on 26 February.

On 2 March, WACTOR was involved in a scandal when they revealed in a statement the real name of one of their talents who had been suspended since November 2021. The statement announces the filing of a lawsuit against the person in charge of Shino Laila, by "engaging in Vtuber activities outside the company" and "bringing discredit to the company". Taking legal action against a fan for alleged defamation was also considered. On the same day, Kurari Rose was suspended due to an undisclosed breach of contract.

Shino Laila's and Kurari Rose's contracts were canceled by March.

Eventually, the other members of the 4th generation make their debuts: Himea D'Almaria on 14 March, Kuuma Mireille on 16 April, while Yukinoshita Mimi postponed her debut date due to personal circumstances.

On 5 May, WACTOR announced auditions for an all-male generation of vtubers, a first for the agency.

On 9 May, Hoshina Suzu announced her retirement, and graduated on 29 June.

On 13 July, the 4th generation member who postponed her debut aannounces her name change to "Lea", and finally debuts on 16 July.

Around mid-year, the fifth generation or also called GAMERS debuted: Nemurine Charo on 22 July, Kumaboshi Mahiru on 29 July, and Himeragi Ageha on 3 August.

On 3 August, WACTOR's Twitter account reported that Lea is absent due to illness.

On 3 September 2022, a tweet on the official WACTOR account announces a new WACTOR ES 1st GEN audition for Spanish-speaking members.. On September 17, a new tweet revealed silhouettes for 3 members.

On 27 September, Sumeragi Pal announced her retirement, and graduated on 30 October.

On 8 October, WACTOR debuted its first all-male generation, WACTOR Boys, comprised of Vyse Yagami, Ayato Galilei and Leo Valentino.

On 8 October, Inumaki Himari announced her retirement, and graduated on 26 November.

On 18 October, WACTOR's twitter account announced WACTOR Boys 2nd-Generation audition with pre-entry session, and unveiled the designs for two members on 25 December.

On 8 November, Saohime Yue's activities were suspended for health reasons.

On 12 November, WACTOR's Twitter account announced WACTOR ID 1st-gen audition for their new Indonesian branch with pre-entry session.

On 15 November, WACTOR start auditions for their new Chinese branch WACTOR CN 1st-Gen and unveiled the designs for three new members.

At the end of the year, WACTOR ES 1st-Gen members debuted: Neon Kuroyuri on November 27 and Sezia Haruma on December 18. One of the three avatars did not debut.

2023
On 3 January, WACTOR revealed the designs for 3 members of their new branch WACTOR ID.

On 23 January, Usami Mina (兔美咪奈) debuted as first member of WACTOR CN and Bilibili-exclusive VTuber.

On 28 January, Nekomiya Yumi (猫宮悠米) debuted as part of WACTOR CN.

Throughout January, several members suddenly ceased all activity on their accounts. Hina Misora's last tweet was on January 1. Luna Rurine's last tweet was on January 24. And on January 31, Neon Kuroyuri held her last stream, arguing she's fine. Later, she vanished. Her viewers and fans were concerned and speculated that she might have been forced to stream and to say those words.

On 9 February, Hina Misora's contract was canceled.

On 27 February, WACTOR's Twitter account announced that Mitsurugi Lia would leave the agency and continue her activities as an independent VTuber.

On 28 February, WACTOR exposed confidential information about former member Hina Misora in a situation even more serious than Shino Laila's case. WACTOR posted her personal information (like full name, country, city and personal identification) on the Official Wactor Page and Hina's Twitter and also published a video on YouTube revealing the same information. Fans would report the video and Tweet for violating community guidelines on cyberbullying, leading to both being taken down, but the company would double down by posting this same information on the descriptions of her streams.

Reorganization
Also on 28 February, WACTOR announced they will be splitting the various members into various units, conspicuously attempting to distance itself from the brand of WACTOR. The following projects are:


 * "META-MUSIC" as a musical project. Comprised Hizuki Miu.
 * "VV-Gamers" as an E-Sports project. Comprised Himeragi Ageha, Kumaboshi Mahiru and Nemurine Charo.
 * "E-STELLA" as a Spanish language project. Comprised Nekomiya Yumi, Sezia Haruma and Himea D'Almaria.
 * "noVas" as an English language project. Comprised Vyse Yagami, Leo Valentino and Ayato Galilei.
 * "星辰计划" (Star Project) as a Chinese language project. Comprised Nekomiya Yumi, Usami Mina and Kuuma Mireille.

The other members like Saohime Yue, Shinonome Ito, Lea, Rurine Luna and Neon Kuroyuri (some of them having been on indefinite hiatus for months) were not included in this reorganization.

Members
Initially WACTOR members were organized into two groups called units.

In March 2020 this was changed to form a single group.

Subsequently, Wactor was separated into generations starting with the debut of the 2nd Generation in 2021.

In 2022, after some graduations, they would form groups according to the language and/or focus of each member, such as singing and gaming.

In February 2023, its division into new branches with different approaches is announced.

META-MUSIC
Also known as Generation 0, and is composed of the founding member. Debuted in October 2018. As its name suggests, its main focus is musical.

VV-Gamers
Formerly known as 5th Generation Gamers. Debuted in July and August 2022.

noVas
Initially, called WACTOR Boys. Also called VALNEXIA. Debuted in 8 October, 2022.

E-STELLA
It is composed by members of different generations, and focus on the Spanish-speaking public.

星辰计划 (Star Project)
It is composed by members of different generations, and focus on the Chinese-speaking public.

Mirais
Mirais (みらいず Miraizu) was WACTOR's first VTuber Unit formed in March 2019. Originally comprised only Hizuki Miu, Irisu Mia and Otogi Lilu. Two new members joined Mirais in late 2019. All of Mirais were VTubers who streamed from the future.

Sister Unit
Mirais' sister unit, known simply as "Sister Unit" (姉妹ユニット Shimai yunitto), comprised Komori Aina, Mashiro Yuyu, Mihana Rio, Tsukito Hana and Kokoro Ichiru, was the second Unit in charge of WACTOR formed in 2019 throughout October and November. According to some media, it was provisionally called "ケモミーズ" (Kemomizu), but the name was never truly decided.

1st Generation
Debuted from November 2019 to January 2020.

2nd Generation
Debuted in May 2021. Three of the members left the company for different reasons, who have also been sued by the company; two of them suffered from doxxing.

3rd Generation
Debuted in September and October 2021.

4th Generation
Also called GATE. Debuted in February and April 2022.

WACTOR ES
Debuted in November and December 2022.

Trivia

 * WACTOR CEO is Akira Oishi (大石 昂) who plays the role of Maid-chan. He is half-Japanese and half-Chilean.
 * Nana-chan is the name of the staff in charge of managing Spanish-speaking talent.
 * Chinese staff "管家酱" is called Guang Ja Chang.

Media

 * WACTOR Official Website
 * @WACTOR_maidchan - Maid-chan's Twitter (management)
 * WACTOR-女仆酱-官方 - Bilibili channel (management)
 * WACTOR Facebook page
 * WACTOR公式 - Official Booth store
 * WACTOR FanCommunity - Discord server