Akio AIR



Akio AIR Corporation is a software company/Vtuber agency based in Taiwan that "aims to assist VTubers to expand their career and develop solutions along with our talents to push and challenge the virtual entertainment industry".

2021
On 26 April, Akio AIR opened VTuber auditions for their first generation that ended on 31 May with a total 486 applicants.

On 21 August, Akio AIR announced the recruitment of managers for their VTubers.

2022
On 13 January, due to an unknown reason, Akio AIR opened a special audition round to find a new VTuber.

On 18 January, Akio AIR announced their first generation called "Season 1" including Athena Nightingale, MEW Horizon, Nonoah, and RoaFen. After the announcement, each member made their first Tweet.

On 3 February, Kion Dojima, the 5th member was officially announced. After the announcement, Kion made her first Tweet.

On 26 February, Akio AIR uploaded a teaser video of Season 1. It also announced that they would debut in March.

On 7 March, Akio AIR uploaded the second teaser video of Season 1 revealing Season 1's official debut date and their official name "REfract". The song used in the video is their first original song "Find Your Light", composed by Athena and performed by REfract's members.

On 9 March, Akio AIR uploaded the official debut trailer of REfract.

On 17 November, Akio AIR announced new auditions for their next generation.

2023
On 6 September, Akio AIR released a debut teaser for their season 2 "In:serenity". Their debuts were scheduled from 15 to 16 September.

On 14 September, they announced season 2 debuts would be delayed by one week.

On 29 September, Akio AIR announced that only two of the six In:serenity members would be able to debut, and would now be part of a separate group, "AkioWATER." An updated trailer was released to coincide with the news. In the same statement, AkioAIR announced that the other four In:serenity members' debuts would be delayed due to "the circumstances and health issues."

Season 1
Also known as REfract. They debuted on 11 and 12 March 2022 (PST time).

Season 2
Also known as AkioWater. Their debuts took place on 30 September 2023.

The following are the members who were initially supposed to debut as part of season 2 under the name In:serenity before their debuts were indefinitely delayed. Except for Vix E. Gray, who decided to withdraw prior to a debut, the status of the others is unclear.

Hiring a minor
On 5 September 2023, not long after releasing the trailer unveiling their season 2, Akio AIR released a notice regarding one of their talents. The notice revealed Nophilia was currently identified as a minor in the majority of jurisdictions worldwide. The reason given behind this notice release was to forbid making NSFW art around Nophilia and so protect her, as the agency decided to hire her despite her young age. This notice was the start of a long list of hostility.

On 10 September, in response to a huge wave of reactions to the prior notice, Akio AIR elaborated on a second notice about why they hired Nophilia despite their application clearly stating that only those aged 18 or over could participate. They assured she would exercise her VTuber activities with her parents' authorization. The talent consented in her contract, as well as her parents. Moreover, Nophilia was supposed to reach the age of majority the following year. In addition, the company condemned harassments towards their talents, while affirming these were not involved in decision process to choose their talents.

Series of departures
On 29 September 2023, hours before the debuts of AkioWATER, REfract member Athena Nightingale announced that she would cease working with Akio AIR and instead become independent, citing professional mismanagement and emotional abuse, including threats to sue from the CEO. Akio AIR released their own statement on the same day, announcing Athena's official termination and listing alleged breaches of contract.

After Athena's message, which already provoked more reactions from the community, notably through the hashtag #AkioUnfAIR, towards Akio AIR, many Twitter users, claiming to be former talents associated with them, manifested their own statements to describe their experience in this context. Each one claims being:
 * Behind Vix E. Grey.
 * Involved in Vyspire, Akio AIR's trainee branch.
 * Behind Nophilia (posted at exactly 3 AM).
 * Behind Azuri Delfi (posted at exactly 3 AM).
 * Behind some unspecified Akio AIR talent.
 * Behind Kion Dojima (original voice before season 1 debut).
 * Behind MEW Horizon, as talent and manager.

All season 1 leaving at once
On 2 October, after the self-proclaimed former Nophilia and Azuri released theirs statements, all remaining members of REfract, Akio AIR season 1, including Athy, who was already out of the corporation, posted at the same moment (5:37 AM) one message starting by "gg" (good game) with no more commentary. MEW Horizon updated her Twitter banner to show off all their posts put together.

Allegations of corporate espionage
An anonymous representative of another unnamed VTuber agency alleged that AkioAir manager Yuufi applied as a talent to that agency without disclosing her ties to AkioAir, a violation of the terms of the application. Yuufi allegedly signed a non-disclosure agreement, and discussed contracts and marketing plans with the agency, and was shown a set of models for the upcoming generation, then relayed this information back to staff at AkioAir. The unnamed VTuber agency was then made aware of the possibility of corporate espionage after comparing Yuufi's voice on a prior stream to that of the audition video and interview, finding that the two were essentially identical. It is unknown whether (if the allegations are true) Yuufi willingly participated in these events or if she was coerced into doing so. Yuufi has denied the allegations.

Media

 * akioair.com - Website
 * AkioAIR - YouTube channel
 * @Akio_Air - Twitter account
 * u/AkioAir - Reddit account
 * AkioAIR S1 Community Server - Discord server (Deleted 10/3/2023)