Welcome to the Virtual Depths

“Kenmochi Toya is a figure who is made for the purpose of entertainment content"

I have a deep love for the world of "entertainment". The word "entertainment" is a broad term that is widely used in many different ways, but from here on I will treat it as a form of "acting with some kind of "directing" that focuses on entertaining the audience. To put it simply, this "direction" that is given to the actors is a "lie." "Directing" is used in various places in this world, although sometimes it feels like it's being overdone, such as the bad singers on variety shows, the laughter sound effects in foreign comedies, and the reactions on mail-order programs. There is content in the world that is built on the premise of such entertainment, such as professional wrestling. In this age of the internet, no one recognizes professional wrestling as a serious competition. The viewer knows somewhere in their heart that it is definitely a lie, and yet they still enjoy the show with that knowledge. Despite all of this, this margin is seen as good. For those who really love sportsmanship and who only want to enjoy serious competitions, it would be ridiculous to see a sluggish old man beat a big, muscular wrestler, but the absurdity of it is what makes it great. The showmanship of the actors, who put all their energy into entertainment rather than reality, and the fans, who understand everything and can laugh at it all.

There is a pleasant sense of inauthenticity to all of it. And we, VTubers, are no exception to this category of content that is based on entertainment. In 2018, the advancement of virtual technology has brought about an era in which anyone can be whoever they want to be. Nowadays, various people are depicting their new selves in a virtual space and expressing themselves in numerous ways. While there are many cases such as "Nijisanji" who actually live in the virtual world and present their appearance on camera, there are also many individuals who profess that they are VTubers as a hobby while living in the real world.

It feels great to be playing God as a hobby.

The latter of playing God is entertainment in its own right, and the former is entertainment from the perspective of viewers who don't believe in it. We VTubers are so diverse, there are times when we end up "staging" our performances.

For example, let's say you were born as an evil god (what a great sentence I just wrote) and were to give a speech in front of a large crowd of humans, and you said, "Hello everyone~! Thank you for gathering here! I am XX, the evil god!!” Would you start speaking like this? No, that character would definitely say something more along the lines of, "Guwahahahaha!!! You foolish humans!!! Listen to me if you don't want to be extinguished to death!!!”

There must be some kind of service the actors must do that can hold the image of that character being an “evil god”, or else the audience can't stand it with them saying, "The evil god was surprisingly normal.” I don't understand if it is because the audience can't comprehend to be told that they are not human, but it is not uncommon for people who are born outside of the human race (in the virtual world) or who are in the VTuber profession to "act" more than necessary and then be embarrassed when their family members or colleagues find out about it. I feel that it is no wonder that VTubers are lumped in with the entertainment industry, in which people act to approximate their fictional image as though it is the real thing. To begin with, VTubers are in show business. When you are trying to get people to like you, in many cases you have to put on a show.

You can use a cool voice or talk in a cute way and create an elaborate layout of yourself. Yet I haven't done any of that though. So you may ask, Kenmochi isn't directing himself then? The answer to that is no. I, Kenmochi Toya, am a product of content used for your entertainment. I live as a high school boy in the form you are familiar with, but the VTuber Kenmochi Toya's content is staged, and the image you see is not the real me.

When I work as a VTuber, I don't really have a desire to be liked as a person, I just want to provide entertainment, so I sit down and listen to the viewers, whether it's a long, relaxed chat or a stream where I fall asleep. I don’t set up a place to sit down and talk, and although I talk about anecdotes for entertainment, I rarely talk about myself because there is no need for topics such as sad stories, annoying stories, stories about my own life, and my own thoughts. Whenever I have time to talk about what I'm thinking about, I would rather pick up a strange marshmallow (a marshmallow is an anonymous messaging service) and comment on it.

For better or worse, all those people show is that they are trying to entertain. I don’t know what to call this condition, but many actors like me treat humanity as if it was a stage. I do this intentionally, and I personally like my content very much, but this time I am writing a scripture that connects to a void. If what I wrote in my usual flippant manner became a scripture, it would likely become a cult, so here is one thing I want to say to whoever picked up this book:

I would like to show the human side of the VTuber Kenmochi Touya, who has been solidified as a product of your own entertainment.