VIRTUAL TALENT ACADEMY



VIRTUAL TALENT ACADEMY (バーチャル・タレント・アカデミー, stylised in uppercase), also known as VTA, is a Talent Training Project for those who aim to be "Virtual Livers" (バーチャルライバー Bācharu Raibā), or Virtual YouTuber (VTuber).

VIRTUAL TALENT ACADEMY is managed by ANYCOLOR Inc. (formerly known as Ichikara Inc. until 16 May 2021), the same company who also manage NIJISANJI.

VTA is an initiative launched by ANYCOLOR in June 2021 as a vocational course with classes specializing on the skill set required for streaming and overall content production, ranging from planning and production of content, and learn singing, dancing, acting, planning of livestream and content, and much more. Admission to join the project is audition based, while training costs are paid by ANYCOLOR and upon completion, the graduate may be given the offer to debut in NIJISANJI or freely move to other agencies to try to audition to them. Since then, its the only way to join the agency in Japan, as the traditional auditions are closed for the main branch, so everyone goes through the process if they want to join.

Starting from 2022, experienced streamers can also join the project though an "experienced streamer" audition. Unlike the amateurs who auditioned to learn, they do not appear in public before debuting in NIJISANJI, and as such, they do not appear in this page unlike the other students who appear or appeared in public in the channel, and since 2023 they have been debuting in NIJISANJI alongside the public VTA members.

The academy students have their relay stream with their 2D models on VTA official YouTube channel every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday lasting for 30 minutes each students. Weekly schedule are posted on VTA's Twitter one day before the stream schedule.

Background
The project started when they advertised the audition on 18 June 2021 that run until 5 July 2021. VIRTUAL TALENT ACADEMY was officially announced through VTA Official Twitter on 1 November 2021 along with the announcement of the first batch academy students.

2021
On 1 November, VTA announced the 9 names of academy students along with the schedules of their first streams.

On 4 November, Umise Yotsuha, Misono Satoshi, Shikinagi Akira, Suzumiya Sonata, and Kaburaki Roco held their first streams.

On 5 November, Ponto Nei, Fuura Kanato, Amagase Muyu, and Watarai Hibari held their first streams.

2022
On 16 March, ANYCOLOR announced that Ponto Nei, Amagase Muyu, and Umise Yotsuha would be graduating from VIRTUAL TALENT ACADEMY and debuting as Livers in NIJISANJI as the first livers to debut in the branch in 2022 and the first graduates in VTA. Upon graduation, their stream archives on VTA YouTube channel had been made private.

On 22 March, in continuation of the ongoing audition from last November, ANYCOLOR announced VTA 2nd batch audition only for those had experience in streaming in order to make the members more diverse. The audition for 2nd batch were opened until 31 March (JST)

On 20 April, the stream archives of Suzumiya Sonata who went on hiatus since his last stream on 3 February 2022 were made private.

On 1 June, ANYCOLOR announced VTA 3rd batch audition and it would last until 20 June 12PM (JST).

On 21 June, VTA announced the 17 names of 2nd batch academy students. Along with the addition of new academy students, VTA also added Wednesday on to their original stream schedules on Thursday and Friday only.

On 22 June, Kuno Orihito, Tachitsute Toto, and Kuramochi Meruto held their first stream.

On 23 June, Aokiri Mihono, Saiki Ittetsu, Tsuyuzaki Tsuyu, Warabi Raika, Mikoshiba Jin, Ishigami Nozomi, and Usami Rito held their first stream.

On 24 June, Meano, Koyanagi Rou, Mikuni Otoha, Hiyama Ritsu, Kusakabe Azusa, Onibushi Chihaya, and Hoshirube Shou held their first stream.

On 13 July, ANYCOLOR announced that Fura Kanato, Watarai Hibari, Shikinagi Akira, and Misono Satoshi (as Seraph Dazzlegarden) would be graduating from VIRTUAL TALENT ACADEMY and debuting as Livers in NIJISANJI. Shortly before this announcement, their stream archives on the VTA YouTube channel were made private.

On 24 October, Kaburagi Roco, Kuramochi Meruto, and Warabi Raika stopped their activities and their archives were made private.

On 31 October, ANYCOLOR announced the continuity of VTA 3rd batch audition and it would last until 11 November 12PM (JST).

On 22 November, ANYCOLOR announced VTA 4th batch audition which would last until 12 December 12PM (JST).

On 6 December, VTA announced 10 names of 3rd batch academy students.

On 7 December, Naejiro Chiwa and Mizumachi Nako held their first stream.

On 8 December, Himemori Erika, Chigira Kento, and Takiyama Gungnir held their first stream. Due to poor health condition, Miyanaga Yuzuru who also scheduled to have his first stream on the same day would have to be rescheduled to the following week.

On 9 December, Shioriha Ruri, Kitami Yuusei, Akatsuki Reiya, and Nonomiya Mera held their first stream.

On 15 December, Miyanaga Yuzuru held his first stream.

2023
On 9 January, Kusakabe Azusa stopped her activities and her archives were made private.

On 16 January, ANYCOLOR announced that Kaburaki Roco, Ishigami Nozomi and Kuramochi Meruto would be debuting as Livers in NIJISANJI.

On 27 March, Saiki Ittetsu, Usami Rito, Koyanagi Rou and Hoshirube Shou stopped their activities and their archives made private.

On 29 March, ANYCOLOR announced that Saiki Ittetsu and Usami Rito would be debuting as Livers in NIJISANJI.

On 26 April, ANYCOLOR announced that Koyanagi Rou and Hoshirube Sho would be debuting as Livers in NIJISANJI.

On 12 May, ANYCOLOR announced VTA 5th batch audition which would last until 29 May 12PM (JST).

On 3 July, Mikoshiba Jin, Meano, Aokiri Mihono, Onibushi Chihaya, Kuno Orihito, Tachitsute Toto, Tsuyuzaki Tsuyu, and Mikuni Otoha from 2nd batch, and Akatsuki Reiya, Takiyama Gungnir, Himemori Erika, and Mizumachi Nako from 3rd batch stopped their activities and had their archives made private.

On 4 July, VTA announced 16 names and designs of 4th batch academy students

On 5 July, Sasaki Ness and Irisaka Rate held their first stream.

On 6 July, Tachibana Eiji, Aoumi Ukiwa, Kumabi Tokito, Konoe Ichika, Ashiya Taiga, Kinano Kotoha held their first stream. Due to poor health condition, Fujidou Rokucha who also scheduled to have his first stream on the same day would have to be rescheduled to the following week.

On 7 July, Emitsuki Miki, Ikumaru Arina, Kagimura Kairi, Kamiki Shuna, Fujinokawa Itsuki, Kamizono Io, and Kogarashi Filia held their first stream.

On 13 July, Fujidou Rokucha held his first stream.

On 24 July, VTA announced that streams and tweets distribution by students would be suspended due to various undisclosed circumstances until further announcement.

On 3 August, ANYCOLOR released a statement that several students had violated VTA rules and thus their streams and tweets were removed and the members being terminated from the program. It also announced that the VTA program will have an internal reorganization following this incident and the activities will continue suspended until further notice. The students who were terminated from the classes are: Hiyama Ritsu from 2nd batch; Chigira Kento and Nonomiya Mera from 3rd batch; Irisaka Rate, Emitsuki Miki, Fujinokawa Itsuki, Aoumi Ukiwa, Kamizono Io, Kagimura Kairi, Konoe Ichika, Tachibana Eiji, Fujidou Rokucho, and Ashiya Taiga from 4th batch.

On 2 September, students Kogarashi Filia and Naejiro Chiwa stopped their activities and had their archives made private.

On 4 October, ANYCOLOR announced the return of VTA after 2 months of inactivity, with activities returning on 6 October under a new program after reviewing its operation structure. The company announced that under the reorganization, only some of the current students will stream under the Official VTA YouTube channel and the list of current students would be removed from the website.

On 5 October, students Miyanaga Yuzuru, Kumabi Tokito, Ikumaru Arina, Kamiki Shuna, and Kinano Kotoha stopped their activities and had their archives made private.

On 17 November, ANYCOLOR announced the opening of auditions for VTA, this time not only the already traditional audition but also two complete new ones. The second audition intends to hire a "Super Elite Liver", with requirements of debuting as a male (regardless of real life gender), for people with experience or achievement in qualified occupations such as lawyer/businessman/doctor/beautician, or have some sort of notable achievement in regard of song/dance/streaming. The third audition opened refers to an audition for a Mascot Character, showing a design silhouette of a mascot, similar to NIJISANJI very own Debidebi Debiru.

Trivia

 * VTA is represented with "🏫" (school) emoji.
 * The kanji pronunciation on the academy students' names are unusual (commonly referred in Japan as "kira-kira names"), making many Japanese people having trouble reading it, notably Lauren Iroas from NIJISANJI. In one of his stream (Japanese clip), he was checking out the VTA members and completely misread all their names.

Official Channel

 * バーチャル・タレント・アカデミー - YouTube Channel
 * Playlist for current students' first streams

Website

 * ANYCOLOR Website (Japanese)
 * VIRTUAL TALENT ACADEMY Page (Japanese)

Twitter

 * @VTA_ANYCOLOR - Twitter Account (Japanese)

Hashtag

 * #VTA応援中 - General tag