I know that it's been a while since I've last updated this blog. Last time I talked, it was around the ending of April mostly compiled on how this blog is dead and said that I would make one last post. If I'm ending this blog with a bang, it might as well be this because for the past couple of days, drama itself had unfolded with this company. For this we have Vshojo which is an agency that specializes in VTubers similar to some others like Nijisanji, Hololive and PhaseConnect but immediately fell down the ladder after the agency was withholding money for charity and not paying the talents. Perhaps, many people would say that this is just as bad or equally as bad as Nijisanji.
Brief History / Origin:
Vshojo was founded on November 24, 2020 in San Francisco, California by Justin Ignacio (theGunrun and one of Twitch's CEO's), Phillip Fortunat and Daniel Sanders. Even though VTubing isn't new and is well known in the country of Japan, Vshojo specializes in VTubers/VTubing and it was around the time when the exposure to VTubers was beginning to be known in western countries, making it the first big agency in North America. Apart from that, they also have a division called Vshojo Japan based in Japan. Vshojo relies on being 'talent first' with the main notaries focusing on merchandise and advertising. Few of the talents range from Ironmouse, Projekt Melody and Zentreya part of the English branch to Japanese VTubers like Kson, Henya the Genius and Yutori Peke (Part of the NOVA category). They were nominated for both VTuber and Streamer Awards for 2022, 2023 and 2024 combined.
Ironmouse's Condition / Charities:
For the past many years (even before Vshojo and VTubing in general), one of the main talents Ironmouse has been suffering a condition known as Common Variable Immunodeficiency (or CVID for short). CVID is long to explain it thoroughly but to put it in simpler terms, you're immune system builds up antibodies to help fight viruses and bacteria but with a person who's diagnosed with CVID won't have the ability to produce antibodies or the body doesn't have the strength to fight the diseases. This can cause infections with the majority happening in the respiratory or the gastrointestinal system. While it mostly happens in adulthood, it can happen in childhood also. Ironmouse's common goal is to help people learn about these diseases and what you can do to help the cause. The first one being to donate plasma (also known as Plasma Exchange) which can help reduce infections and other complications, similar to the regeneration of the antibodies and the other being to donate money for the Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF).
Ironmouse along with her friend/partner Connor (or CDawgVA) would run charity events for the Immune Deficiency Foundation. In 2022, Connor along with his friends would host the Cyclethon (2, 3 and 4) in which they travel from one city of Japan to the other while raising money for the Immune Deficiency Foundation. Because what Ironmouse is going through, Connor brings her along via Ipad to experience the world as Connor travels. Both use a legitimate service called Tiltify. Whatever money gets donated will automatically be sent to the charity of a streamers choice. Streamers can also offer items in the form of an auction on Tiltify. The winner of the item who bid the most will receive the item and the money through the auction will also be sent to the charity.
The Absolute Downfall:
Withholding Money, Not Paying Talents / Departures / Aftermath / Behind The Scenes:
So, where does this lead to the downfall and the shutdown of Vshojo? Well, to start off this isn't really that important but there was a wave of departures from April of 2023 to December of 2023. Veibae, Silvervale and Nyatasha Nyanners announce their exits and not renewing the contracts, remaining independent and keeping their IP's as solo. Amemiya Nazuna would also announce her exit with the agency in December of the same year with the same reason being the contract. Once again, Vshojo allows them to keep the IP's but the reason why the message was so short was because they were under the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) and couldn't speak about what really happened, more on that later. After that, new talents like Henya the Genius, Kuro Kurenai and Matara Kan would join the agency in 2023.
On April 28, 2025, Matara Kan announced her departure from Vshojo starting on May 5. It wasn't really explained that much either but she thanked all the other talents and wishing Vshojo the best of luck. It was probably the same thing as the other talents departures; not renewing the contract and keeping the IP's. A month later on June 26, GEEGA would also announce her departure from the agency on June 27. That following day, Zentreya (one of the original talents) announced her departure as well leaving on July 11 once again wishing Vshojo the best of luck. With all the recent exits, it makes you wonder what exactly is going on with the agency. Why are there more departures happening? Some things really aren't adding up here. Nobody really knew what was going on. That is until a week later that the cracks cracks were beginning to show.
On July 21, 2025, Ironmouse posts a video titled "Why I Left Vshojo." In the video she explains that for the past few months, she was never paid anything and that they owed her quite a lot of money and how Vshojo did not pay the $500,000 that was supposed to go to the Immune Deficiency Foundation on Ironmouse's behalf regarding her Subathon. For over a year, Vshojo has not paid that money to the Immune Deficiency Foundation and pulled a tactic that was similar to The Completionist that happened in 2023. The following day on July 22, both Maid Mint and Henya made videos with Henya explaining her exit regarding Vshojo as well as Maid Mint talking about her experiences being part of the agency and met with overwhelming support.
On the same day, Kson (on the Japanese Division side) posted a tweet about her going live and talking to the CEO on the JP Division. The stream which is 1 hour and 33 minutes long involves her talking about the situation, having a call with the CEO, quitting on the spot and giving her final thoughts and remarks. The stream is still available to watch, but there is a short version of the stream here. There was also a discussion between not paying the talents due to the US branch only having control of the money compared to the JP branch, however both branches weren't paying anything out and so Kson mentioned that she hasn't been paid since September.
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After the whole bombshell, many of the talents including Kuro Kurenai, Projekt Melody, AmaLee, Haruka Karibu, Akatsuki Hotaru, Okamoto Nagi, Hestia Happiness and Yutori Peke announced they would be parting ways with Vshojo and terminating their contracts due to the damage control, removing any mention of Vshojo in their bio. Apricot Froot was the only remaining talent left for the agency and on July 24, she also announced on her Twitter leaving the company. This was just the neverending downfall of the company within a matter of days but it isn't over yet.
Now a lot of people are going to be asking, is there a response to the situation? The answer is yes but just like YouTuber apologies it isn't good. Three days after Ironmouse's video and many talents leaving the company having their say, Justin Ignacio (a.k.a. Gunrun who's part of Twitch's CEO and who also runs Vshojo) responded to the controversy on the official Vshojo's Twitter Account. The statement itself is lackluster but the part of the statement that I highlighted takes the cake. It reads as follows:
"Additionally, I acknowledge that some of the money spent by the company was raised in connection with talent activity, which I later learned was intended for a charitable initiative. At the time, we were working hard to raise additional investment capital to cover our costs, and I firmly believe based on the information available to us, that we would be able to do so and cover all expenses. We were unsuccessful in our funding efforts. I made the decision to pursue funding, and I own it's consequences." - Justin (theGunrun)
This part of the statement goes to show that himself had the money to donate to charity. He just wasn't aware on what the money was for? Going on to say the words "Charitable Initiative" pretty much explains on where the charity money went. As a result, the response was received negativity and it got community noted with him congratulating Ironmouse on the fundraising event and Reposting Ludwigs post about the charity event and how the money would be sent to charity. I do want to mention that Justin removed any mention of Vshojo and being one of Twitch's CEO's from his bio on Twitter. Nothing special there.
Veibae's response / MowtenDoo (MTD):
Now remember what I said earlier about how the talents couldn't talk about their experiences with the company due to them being under the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)? Well, since the NDA is no longer a problem with the company (although can be threatening at the same time) Veibae wrote her own statement in response to Gunrun's statement explaining her experience with Vshojo. This was another bombshell that would further deteriorate the reputation of the company as a whole (except there wasn't anything good about it). Veibae statement ranges from Vshojo taking all the money used for the merch and demanding her to sign an NDA to threaten by lawsuits and having to pay for anniversary assets. Also the company trying to push a narrative because she wanted to join OTK and how the company was trying to compete with the other agencies. Pretty pathetic behavior if you think about it. Also being shittalk at a party the same year as both her and Nyanners were leaving.
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| MowtenDoo leaving Vshojo two months prior. |
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| MowtenDoo's post being community noted. |
Nyanners replies under Veibae's statement discussing on how this MTD guy basically talked shit about Vei and how he acted in front of the group, including him being such a "creepy motherfucker" and spreading narratives around. Now MTD stands for MowtenDoo; a guy who had left the company two months prior. Once the drama was unfolding the same day that Ironmouse posted her video on July 21, he posted on Twitter wanting to know the truth from Gunrun. Right after Veibae's statement, Nyanners reply and the abysmal response from Vshojo MowtenDoo's tweet got community noted linking back to Vei's statement.
The Positive / What You Can do to Help:
After all this has happened, what about the positives? Well as of today of posting on July 27, various communities got together to help smash the goal for the Immune Deficiency Foundation not only the $500,000 but also breaking over $1 million mark surpassing over $1.3 million. If you would like to help out Ironmouse and chip in any money, you can check out and donate here on the Tiltify link. Keep in mind that number is still continuously growing.
I know this post is quite long but if there's anything I miss, I will be sure to update this whenever I get the chance.
UPDATE: August 2, 2025:
It's been roughly almost a week since I last posted on this drama regarding Vshojo with their shady business practices and spending habits. There was some stuff that I missed when I was currently writing the post so this is more of a continuation update. On July 25 (a day after theGunrun's statement on the Vshojo twitter account), A VTuber named Camila comes out with her side of the story. She explains that the severity isn't the same as the others when they had their experience with Gunrun but it was very important to share. Here are some of the takeaways (brief summery) from her statement:
- Camila applied in 2022 under her "Past Life"
- She auditioned, passed and got sent an email moving to the next stage along with her friends.
- Filled out the next part (mostly technical questions), got sent an email back moving on to stage three and then Vshojo ghosted her.
- Days and weeks went by if not Months with no communication or email updates from the Agency.
- Camila grew as a VTuber on her own, met other VTubers who also applied for Vshojo but in the process one of the biggest VTubers got rejected approaching the final round.
- The VTubers who applied and got rejected were given Hush Money and telling them not to talk about the situation.
- Camila closes out with her final statement on Gunrun and linked the Immune Deficiency Foundation Tiltify.
But that didn't stop there. On the same day as Camila's tweet, she posted a music video titled "Dear, Gunrun" which is in response to Gunrun and his behavior. The song she's covering is from Billie Eilish's Your Power and the video itself was well received with over 23k likes and over 211k views at the time I'm making this update. This is just one of the few updates that I wanted to make and if I miss any, I'll be sure to update more whenever I get the chance.
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