Saegusa Akina

Saegusa Akina (三枝明那) is a male Japanese Virtual YouTuber affiliated with NIJISANJI.

Profile
An enthusiastic university student with big ambitions and commitment to everything he does. He dreams to perform live at the Budoukan.

Personality
Akina has a friendly and lively personality. He is known to be very loud and excitable, easily getting caught up in the tension of any games he plays. Staying true to his character bio, he is a highly motivated singer; he often participates in covers with other livers, hosts karaoke streams, and organised the first Nijimen Utaite Relay.

Perhaps more regrettably, he is often said to have a "virgin boy spirit." Around those he isn't well acquainted with he can easily become flustered and apologetic - especially towards women. Despite having known her for 8 months, upon his first offline collaboration with Aizono Manami he struggled to look at her straight.

Background
Akina made his YouTube debut on 7 April 2019.

2019
On 9 October, Akina revealed his 50.000 subscriber commemorative costume.

2020
On 13 January, Akina revealed his winter costume.

On 27 February, Akina debuted the 2.0 brushup of his Live2D model.

On 13 May, Akina debuted in the new NIJISANJI music unit "Rain Drops," which is signed under the major music record label Virgin Records (Universal Music Group). The other members in this unit are Elu, Ryushen, Suzuki Masaru, Joe Rikiichi, and Warabeda Meiji.

On 18 September, Akina revealed his new character visual.

On 18 December, Akina announced on Twitter that he will reveal his 3D Model on 25 December, the tweet was then followed by an announcement from NIJISANJI's official Twitter. A week later, on 25 December 2020, Akina unveils his 3D Model Debut stream with the hashtag #三枝明那3D in collaboration with SEGA.

2022
On 8 May, Akina and Fuwa Minato held FuwaGusa 3D LIVE stream #ふわぐさ3Dライブ titled "Dream that came true" (叶えたかった夢, Kanaetakatta Yume) on Minato's channel with their fellow Mescher's group-mate, Mayuzumi Kai, made appearance as narrator and guest. The live stream generated 15,237,000 Yen worth of superchat.

On 9 May, Akina officially changed his image colour and default outfit to his current model on his corporate profile. The new image colour was also briefly shown on FuwaGusa 3D LIVE stream on the previous day.

On 19 July, Akina reached 500,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.

On 1 September, Akina made a digital release of an original song, "Hanbunko" (はんぶんこ), in commemoration for his birthday.

2019

 * On 2 June, Akina participated on the Vtuber PUBGTournament for the Nagoya Vtuber Festival along with fellow livers Shibuya Hajime and Sakura Ritsuki.
 * On 4 December, Kenmochi Touya announced that he will be hosting the 2nd Mario Kart NIJISANJI Cup on Twitter with 67 participating Livers and among them was Saegusa Akina where he received his nickname, "Red Hot Shotacon".
 * On 21 December, the Qualifiers match was held within 6 different leagues. Akina fell into the C League with 10 other Livers where he won and placed 2nd just 4pts behind Kuzuha. After qualifying, Akina would then proceed to the main tournament.
 * On 28 December, the main tournament (Semi Finals and Finals) has begun with 3 leagues playing in the Semi Finals. Akina is placed in the B league where he gets 3rd place behind Yashiro Kizuku at 2nd and Kanae at 1st place.
 * After placing 3rd Place in the Semi-Finals, Akina enters the final stage that lasted for 6 rounds and takes 8th Place in the overall rankings. After the match, he left the message: "憧れの人達が自分をライバルと認めてくれた事が嬉しい" (I'm glad that the people I admired recognized me as a rival).

2020

 * On 4 May, Akina participated on the 1st NIJISANJI Tetris Grand Prix along with 46 other NIJISANJI livers. The event was organized and hosted by Honma Himawari and Yashiro Kizuku.
 * After getting 1st place in F block qualifiers, Akina advances to the tournament's Semi Finals where he is placed in the B block along with Kaida Haru and Amamiya Kokoro. On the Semi Finals, Akina wins 1st Place with Kaida Haru at 2nd and Amamiya Kokoro at 3rd Place. Placing first meant Akina would be advancing to the Finals.
 * During the Finals, Akina competes with Morinaka Kazaki and Genzuki Tojiro. After taking 1st Place in all three matches, Akina becomes the 1st NIJISANJI Tetris Grand Prix Champion.
 * On 19 December, Akina participated on the 3rd Mario Kart NIJISANJI Cup Qualifying Match. He won through the D League Qualifiers in 3rd Place right after Ienaga Mugi and Yashiro Kizuku.
 * On 26 December, Akina participated on the 2nd Half of the 3rd Mario Kart NIJISANJI Cup.
 * Akina participated on the 3rd Mario Kart NIJISANJI Cup Quarter Finals. He won through the A League Qualifiers in 2nd Place right after Fuwa Minato at 1st Place.
 * After placing 2nd Place on the Quarter Finals, Akina advanced to the Semi Finals B League, where he won 2nd Place ranking behind Ibrahim at 1st Place.

2021

 * On 26 - 28 February, Akina appeared in NIJISANJI ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL 2021 (Known as にじFes2021).
 * On the 26th, Akina participated in the eve of NIJISANJI Anniversary Festival 2021 along with Higuchi Kaede, Kenmochi Touya, Ryushen, Kagami Hayato and Hoshikawa Sara featuring FLOW.
 * On the 27th, Akina participated in Panic Cube in にじFes 2021 along with Gwelu Os Gar, Fuwa Minato, and Mayuzumi Kai. The stream archive is available in Gwelu's chanel.
 * On the 28th, Akina appeared in Tsukino Mito & Higuchi Kaede & Rain Drops Stage.
 * On 15 May, Akina participated in the 5th Apex Legends Crazy Raccoon Cup (Known as CR Cup, an APEX tournament held by Pro-Gaming team Crazy Raccoon) along with Kawase and Stylishnoob. Their team name is called Kitanee Hanabida (きたねえ花火だ) The team won the champion on the first match with a total of 9 kills and finished with 5th place overall. It was the first time he appeared in CR Cup.
 * On 12 June, Akina participated in NIJISANJI APEX Party with DETONATOR (Known as NijiPex) along with Alelu and Shiina Yuika. Their team name is called Turing Alelu (チューリングあれる). The team ranked third with a total of 24 kills.
 * On 22 August, Akina participated in VTuber最協決定戦 (VTuber Saikyō Ketteisen) ver.APEX LEGENDS Season3 (a VTuber APEX tournament organised by Shibuya Hal) along with Fuwa Minato and Naraka. Their team name is called Laugh Maker (ラフメイカー).
 * On 26 August, Akina participated in Rain Drops 1st One Man Live "雨天決行". The event was held in Tokyo Garden Theater.
 * On 18 September, Akina participated in a NIJISANJI Live Event called "文野環をさがせ" (Find Fumino Tamaki) along with fellow NIJISANJI liver Shellin Burgundy and Fumino Tamaki. Debidebi Debiru, Belmond Banderas, Ienaga Mugi, and Morinaka Kazaki would also appear as guests. The event was held in Zepp Osaka Bayside.

2022

 * On 27 February, Akina participated in the NIJISANJI VALORANT Custom event organized by Lauren Iroas and Naraka as team "Noisy Cruise Ship" along with Ban Hada, Yuhi Riri, Morinaka Kazaki, and Yukishiro Mahiro. The team was originally supposed to have Debidebi Debiru in place of Yukishiro Mahiro, but had to step down due to schedule conflict on Debiru's side.


 * On 1 September, Ora2 (read: Ora Two), a dental and oral healthcare products company, announced a collaboration campaign with Akina in commemoration for his birthday by releasing 3 different flavours of toothpaste, mouth spray, and toothbrush. The campaign lasted until 15 October 2022.
 * The campaign also include a special AR contents, including 2 designs for each theme, which include: birthday celebration theme, Ora2 aroma flavour collection theme, and Ora2 premium series theme.

Mascot and Fans

 * Akina's mascot is "Kamekshu" (かめっくしゅ), the spirit of the red highlight in Akina's hair. His verbal tic/suffix after each sentence is "game" (がめ).
 * Akina fans are called "童志（同志)."
 * His catchphrase is "DETAWA NE!" (でたわね！ lit. Finally here!). Viewers will comment this at the start of his livestreams. Ichikara released character merchandise T-shirts featuring this phrase for Akina.

Relationships

 * "Rain Drops" 「レインドロップス」 2434 Rain Drops Logo.jpeg - Akina, Joe Rikiichi, Suzuki Masaru, Elu, Warabeda Meiji and Ryushen.
 * Rain Drops first debuted as an indie group in 2019 during the "Virtual to LIVE in 両国国技館 2019" (Virtual to Live in Ryogoku Kokugikan 2019) one-man live event.
 * They have had a major debut under the label "Virgin Label" of Universal Music.
 * Up until this day (28 September 2021), they have officially released 4 albums that can be acquired in the official Universal Music Store: シナスタジア (Synesthesia), オンソロジー (Onthology), リフレインズ (Refrains), and バイオグラフィ(Biography).


 * "Beni zuwaigani" 「紅ズワイガニ」(Crimson Snow Crab) - Akina and Aizono Manami (These two debuted together.)
 * "Mescher's" 「メッシャーズ」 - Akina, Mayuzumi Kai, and Fuwa Minato (These three all have highlights in their hair.)
 * Akina and Fuwa Minato's duo name is Fuwagusa
 * Akina and Mayuzumi Kai's duo name is Saezumi
 * "Tantei to joshu" 「探偵と助手」(Detective and Assistant) - Akina and Shellin Burgundy
 * "NijiRock" 「にじロック」 - Akina, Ryushen, Todoroki Kyoko, Kagami Hayato, Amemori Sayo, and Joe Rikiichi
 * "Allexceed Familia" (AXF) - Akina, Kuzuha, Ratna Petit, Fuwa Minato, Ars Almal, Amamiya Kokoro, Sakura Ritsuki, and Luis Cammy.
 * Allexceed Familia is their clan name in ARK.
 * They released a cover song of Summertime Record.
 * "Laugh Maker" 「ラフメイカー」- Akina, Fuwa Minato, and Naraka (These three teamed up for VTuber Saikyō Ketteisen Season 3.)

Trivia

 * Color: #392D47 → #F03C31
 * Akina ages depending on his mood. In his 2019 birthday he decided not to age, staying at age 20, but on his 2020 and 2021 birthday celebration, he decided to age by one year making him 22 years old.
 * Akina really likes cats, he dreamed of raising a cat one day.
 * Akina has openly admitted to being a shotacon.

Media

 * Saegusa Akina's corporate profile on NIJISANJI website
 * 三枝明那 / Saegusa Akina - YouTube channel
 * @333akina - Twitter account

Twitter hashtags

 * #でたわね - General
 * #三枝全力配信 - Stream talk
 * #さ絵ぐさ - Fan art
 * #ベッド下のさ絵ぐさ - Fan art (questionable, R15)
 * #できたわよ - Thumbnails

Further readings

 * 三枝明那 - Unofficial NIJISANJI wiki
 * 三枝明那 - Nicovideo Encyclopedia
 * 三枝明那 - Pixiv Encyclopedia
 * 三枝明那 - Moegirl Encylopedia