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 how to sing, act, dance and live stream. 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.

Since 2022, experienced streamers can also join the project but unlike the amateurs who auditioned to learn, they don't don't appear in public before debuting in NIJISANJI, and as such, dont appear in this page unlike the other students.

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)

In 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.

In early 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
In early 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, Koyanagi Rou and Hoshirube Shou stopped their activities and their were 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).

In early July, Mikoshiba Jin, Kuno Orihito, Onibushi Chihaya, Tsuyuzaki Tsuyu, Mikuni Otoha, Mihono Aokiri, Meano, Tachitsute Toto, Takiyama Gungnir, Himemori Erika, Mizumachi Nako and Akatsuki Reiya stopped their activities and had their archives made private.

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

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

Website

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

Twitter

 * @VTA_ANYCOLOR - Twitter Account (Japanese)

Hashtag

 * #VTA応援中 - General tag