Brave Group Inc., formerly known as Unlimited Inc. (株式会社Unlimited Kabushiki Gaisha Unlimited), is a Japanese holding company dedicated to the creation and production of animated content.
The company owns many other businesses, but the ones related to managing and producing VTuber groups are Virtual Entertainment Inc., RIOT MUSIC Inc., MateReal Inc., And Epoch Inc., ENILIS Inc., Studio Lara, Brave Group US and Brave group Europe.
Virtual Entertainment manages VSPO!, RIOT MUSIC manages Riot Music and StarryResonance, MateReal manages Palette Project, And Epoch manages Mugen Live, Studio Lara manages HIMEHINA, ENILIS manages HareVare, Vlash and Uniraid, Brave Group US manages V4Mirai and Brave Group Europe manages globie.
With all of its subsidiaries, they have over 10 million subscribers on YouTube, with VSPO! having 5 million out of those.
History[]
Former Logo before rebranding
Unlimited Inc. was created on 2017 with goal of creating an array of animated characters and animated content. They took advantage of the advent of the Virtual Youtubers (in particular 3D models) for the conception and production of characters and series based on the same technology. Their first successful project and most memorable is the Game Club Project, an ensemble of characters who make content around videogames with a combination of livestreams and episodic videos.
2021[]
On 18 September, it was announced that Sakuragi Miria and Teacher Claire would be transferred to Highway Star, a talent agency under Bandai Namco Arts.[1]
2022[]
On 22 March, a new project was teased during Re:Volt 2022 live event held at LINE CUBE SHIBUYA. The new project was left unnamed at the time.
On 7 June, Brave Group announced the acquisition of Virtual Entertainment Co., Ltd., the company behind VSPO! and MateReal Co., Ltd., the company behind virtual idol group Palette Project.[2] Although the business management department and system department would be integrated, the business operation would be operated independently with the discretion of each company as before.
On 22 July, Brave Group announced a sub-label project under the Riot Music music label named, "Meteopolis". Similar to Blitz Wing, it will comprise of already existing Riot Music members, Suzuna Nagahara and Miona Sumeragi. Along with this, two teaser trailers for the project were posted on both Suzuna and Miona's channels and Suzuna's YouTube channel has been renamed "Meteopolis from RIOT MUSIC" and will function as their joint YouTube channel from then on. They also announced that they will be gradually reuploading Miona's pre-existing YouTube videos to the new channel over the course of the following months and her channel will be deleted/archived afterward.[3][4]
On 17 November, Ashizawa Saki held what would become her final stream on her main channel as later that day RIOT announced on its Twitter account the termination of Saki's activities due to a breach of contract. RIOT also announced that various accounts associated with Saki would be deleted on 31 December.
On 1 December, RIOT MUSIC announced auditions for StarryResonance, the second music project from the music agency, this time focused on virtual idols.[5]
2023[]
On 16 January, Brave Group announced the transfer of its VTuber group Aogiri High School managed by its subsidiary CreateRing Inc. to entertainment and content creation company viviON. The IP transfer would take effect on 1 April 2023. [6]
On 10 April, Brave Group announced the opening of company wide auditions for all genders and the opening of a subsidiary called ENILIS, to manage a new VTuber group called HareVare, a talent training academy for amateurs. The company-wide auditions will include candidates focusing on a specific group under Brave Group or any if the candidate is undecided. The projects available for audition are VSPO!, RIOT Music, Palette Project, Mugen Live, StarryResonance, HareVare and a new Brave group project.[7]
On 1 June, Brave Group announced that SuperYellow Inc., the company who manages the virtual music agency Riot Music, will change its name to RIOT MUSIC Inc., sharing the title of the company with its Virtual Music Agency.[8]
On 1 June, Brave Group announced the establishment of Brave Group US and the launch of V4Mirai, their first English-language VTuber group, and their inaugural talents Abi Kadabura and Serina Maiko. Both talents would debut on 10 June.[9]
On 14 June, Brave Group announced the establishment of Brave Group Europe Limited, a new subsidiary located in Europe based in London, with a new VTuber group called globie, with auditions opening in the same day. This marks the first time a Japanese VTuber company opens a project focused specifically on Europe, with this VTuber group focused on English, Spanish, French and German-speaking VTubers with the objective to debut in the end of 2023.[10]
On 29 June, ENILIS announced the first five members of HareVare, a VTuber training academy where no previous streaming experience is necessary to audition for it. The plan for the academy is to have at least 30 up to 100 VTubers until the end of the year. The first five members will debut on 1 July, while eleven more will debut on August.[11]
On 27 July, ENILIS announced two new VTuber projects after the establishment of HareVare: to debut in the fall, Vlash, a group said to blend the real and virtual and perform around the world, and to come in winter 2024, Uniraid, an isekai VTuber concept to bring viewers under their own world. These two projects along HareVare will be cross-project collaborations including transfers to other VTuber groups under Brave Group and between projects.[12]
On 31 October, Brave Group announced the acquisition of Studio LaRa, the company behind the virtual artist duo HIMEHINA.[13]
On 18 December, Brave Group announced that it has established local subsidiaries in Thailand and China, following the U.K. and U.S. In November 2023, Brave Group APAC (Thailand) was established in Bangkok, Thailand, and in December 2023, Brave group China was established in Shenzhen, China.[14]
On 28 December, Brave Group and idol Corp announced they opened a strategic partnership.
2024[]
On 31 July 2024, Brave Group acquired idol Corp.
Members[]
RIOT MUSIC[]
See RIOT MUSIC
VSPO![]
See VSPO!
Palette Project[]
See Palette Project
HareVare[]
ENILIS' VTuber training program that aims to "polish virtual stars" using the Japanese VTuber centric streaming platform, IRIAM.
Vlash[]
A VTuber project bridging the virtual and real worlds.
Uniraid[]
See Uniraid
HIMEHINA[]
See HIMEHINA
YUMENOS[]
See YUMENOS
Mugen Live[]
A Chinese multilingual group streaming since 2021 on BiliBili.
Brave Group China[]
Brave's branch based in China.
VSPO! CN[]
VSPO's Chinese branch, see VSPO!
Brave Group US[]
Brave's branch based in USA.
V4Mirai[]
See V4Mirai
idol Corp[]
See idol Corp
VSPO! EN[]
VSPO's English branch, see VSPO!
Brave Group Europe[]
Brave's branch based in Europe.
globie[]
See globie
Brave Group APAC[]
Brave's branch based in Thailand.
AStars[]
See AStars
Former Groups[]
Game Club Project[]
Original group in the agency that was dissolved after some controversies.
| Sakuragi Miria (transferred to Highway Star) |
Yumesaki Kaede (retired) |
Domyoji Haruto (retired) |
Kazami Ryo (retired) |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Tokyo Cinderella Story[]
Tokyo Cinderella Story (東京シンデレラストーリー), an adult's story about her love life hobby and sharing her own love life story in the form of videos along with her is her love life friend. Her aim is to get a boyfriend that makes 50 million yen a year. they also post romance related topics. The series ended it's activity on 17 January 2020.
| Natsukawa Mirei | Fujimiya Yuno | Nanase Mihiro |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
Folia[]
Folia is a virtual idol group. The group end its activities on 31 October 2019.
| Asabina Hina (retired) |
Amagasaki Chiaki (retired) |
Sakashita Kyoka (retired) |
Haduki Yuka (retired) |
Amemiya Mei (retired) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Tiny Band Story[]
Tiny Band Story (Taiban,タイバン！), a story base around four members of light music club from beat high school, they form a band to enter and win in the live festival in addition to the anime, they will also do various activities such a radio program, live programs and events a well as song covers and original songs. the anime was announced on 16 November 2020. the YouTube channel was created on 2 June 2020 and the first video was posted on 25 December 2020.
| Mizuki Haruno | Kuramochi Nozomi | Kogarashi Ren | Rurigaki Momiji |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
AyaHina Channel[]
AyaHina Channel a channel focus on the daily life of these two, occult stories, gaming streams, singing covers and more. they also have a sub channel related with a virtual pet as it's focus.
| Hiragi Ayaka (retired) |
Asakura Hinata (retired) |
Kinako's journal Related channel |
 |
 |
 |
Claire's English Class[]
Claire's English Class (クレア英会話, Claire Cruller) a channel featuring an english assistant language teacher VTuber that helps teach japanese viewers learn English in a Two-way communication, she also does native singing, daily native english conversation, and gaming streams.
| Claire Cruller (transferred to Highway Star) |
|---|
 |
YUIKA'S ROOM[]
YUIKA'S ROOM a ASMR focus channel that also does some gaming and singing covers at the side. Its host, Kazami Yuika, sister of Kazami Ryo from Game Club Project.
| Kazami Yuika (retired) |
 |
Aogiri High School[]
Originally a spin-off of Game Club Project.
| Otodama Tamako | Ishikari Akari | Oshiro Mashiro | Yamaguro Nekuro | Kurikoma Komaru | Chiyoura Chiyomi | Minazuki Natsuki (retired) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Controversies[]
After one year of activities, on 5 April 2019 the success of Unlimited with the Game Club Project was immediately overshadowed after it was revealed the staff mistreated and harassed the voice actors, which make them resign. Later on the same month the management of Unlimited apologized and a reorganization of the production took place. Unlimited separated the management of the company from the direction of the voice talents and the cast resumed activities.[15][16][17][18][19]
Eventually towards the end of 2019, all the original cast of the Game Club Project along with the original voice of Domyoji Cocoa left Unlimited.[20] Since then all the channels produced by Unlimited were affected by massive unsubscriptions and a decrease of views per video. The main Channel of the Game Club Project had a net loss of 30,000 subscribers within a week after the departure of the original voice of Damyoji Haruto and since then, they have been suffering a steady loss of subscribers and views, to the point right now Unlimited is unable to reach the same levels of views they used to enjoy before the 2019 mistreatment scandal exposé.
This situation forced Unlimited to switch the goal of their company to "VTuber content" to "character driven content", to the point of calling their characters "CTuber," a self-made portmanteau of Character Youtuber (キャラクターユーチューバー kyarakutaa yuuchuubaa). This move was received with contempt and plain mockery from fans on Twitter, imageboards and community sites in both Japan and the Western Hemisphere.
Trivia[]
- By sense of solidarity, the different branches of Brave US and Europe tend to call each other "cousins" or "Brave cousins", as a huge family.
External Links[]
- Brave Group Official site
- @bravegroup_vt - Twitter account
- @Unlimited_vt - Former Twitter account handle
References[]
- ↑ https://highwaystar.co.jp/news/20210917708/
- ↑ https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000092.000044525.html
- ↑ https://riot-music.com/info/2022/07/22/401/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Meteopolis_proj/status/1550314692500865026
- ↑ https://bravegroup.co.jp/en/news/1609/
- ↑ https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000160.000044525.html
- ↑ https://bravegroup.co.jp/en/news/2476/
- ↑ https://bravegroup.co.jp/en/news/2729/
- ↑ V4Mirai [@V4Mirai]. (2023, June 1). "[🎉Introducing V4Mirai!🎉] Brave Group, known for JP VTuber groups like VSPO!, launches its first English VTuber project! Say hi and follow our 1st Generation, @AbiKadabura and @SerinaMaiko!! Tune into V4Mirai's debut stream on June 10th at 9PM EST to find out why!" [Tweet]. Twitter.
- ↑ https://bravegroup.co.jp/en/news/2887/
- ↑ https://bravegroup.co.jp/en/news/2988/
- ↑ https://bravegroup.co.jp/en/news/3223/
- ↑ https://bravegroup.co.jp/news/3682/
- ↑ https://www.bravegroup.co.jp/en/news/4506/
- ↑ Noguchi, K.. (2019, April 8). ゲーム部プロジェクトに関するご報告. unlimited-ent.co.jp.
- ↑ Yumesaki, K. [@Kaede_gamebu]. (2019, April 15). みなさんお久しぶりです‼️ そしてお待たせしました‼️ ゲーム部の活動を19日から再開したいと思います(*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑ ポケモン動画ももう撮影しました😎 まさか初戦であんなことになるとは…😇😇😇 楽しみにしててくださいね✨✨ [Tweet]. Twitter.
- ↑ @Ryo_gamebu. (2019, April 15). お久しぶりです。長い間お待たせしてしまいごめんなさい。待っていてくれてありがとう😭！しばらくお休みしていましたが、19日から動画の投稿の方を再開したいと思います！！スマブラももうすぐジョーカー解禁だ( ´~` ) [Tweet]. Twitter.
- ↑ @Haruto_gamebu. (2019, April 15). 諸君、待たせてしまってすまない。19日に動画投稿をまた始めたいと思う。 いつぞやの宣言通りApex Legendsの動画もあげるから楽しみにしててくれ。 [Tweet]. Twitter.
- ↑ Sakuragi, M. [@Miria_gamebu]. (2019, April 15). みんなおっひさ～！！元気だった？心配かけちゃってごめんね～💦 金曜日からまた動画の投稿を始めちゃいたいと思います！あともうちょっとだけ待っててぽよ🌸 [Tweet]. Twitter.
- ↑ Noguchi, K. (2019, July 17). 「私たちがゲーム部プロジェクトを立ち上げた経緯と、ゲーム部プロジェクトが目指す未来について」. Retrieved from https://gameclubproject.jp/20190717info/