Is NIJISANJI Bigger Than Hololive?NIJISANJI Files Legal Action Against VTuber Harassers and Stalkers

NIJISANJI is putting its foot down when it comes to the harassment of its VTuber talent, with the agency’s dedicated task force handling 88 cases across 12 months since September 2021. This includes filing legal charges against harassers and stalkers.

Harassment is everywhere in the online space, but companies are taking stances against it to protect their talents.

VTuber agency NIJISANJI has taken that one step further with a task force dedicated to stopping offensive and defamatory content, including copyright and privacy infringement, stalking, or threats of such behavior.

An announcement by NIJISANJI owners ANYCOLOR on October 14 pointed towards the task force handling 88 cases across 12 months to September 2022, including a handful of cases going to court.

According to a translation by ‘Hikaru’, the task force tried to handle things outside of the legal system, including requesting people on social media to take down harmful content such as doxxing. Once those avenues were exhausted, some were taken to court.

This includes one defamation case, which NIJISANJI is currently preparing for.

The agency also mentioned “death threats, and other similar threats, that harm our talents will immediately be reported to police. Measures will be taken to prevent harm, such as setting up security around the talent.”

NIJISANJI’s task force was created in September 2021 to stop harassment from boiling over in the community and protect their talents. Despite their efforts, some VTubers have taken hiatuses or graduated because of online vitriol, with Axia Krone being the most recent example.

The company issued a statement following Axia Krone’s indefinite hiatus in August saying “if we confirm any acts of slander or defamation towards our Livers and determine these acts to be criminal or illegal in nature, we will accordingly take steps while consulting with our lawyers.

“These steps may include filing a lawsuit and requesting disclosure of the sender’s information.”

Nijisanji vs Hololive: Who’s the biggest VTuber agency?

Nijisanji are neck-and-neck with Hololive when you run the numbers. While Hololive certainly has notoriety in the West thanks to the explosive launch of their English brand, Nijisanji has strength in numbers.

Across their 156 non-Chinese VTubers, they have more than 30 million YouTube subscribers combined. Hololive does have more ⁠— than 43 million across 57 active channels ⁠— but the sheer reach of Nijisanji’s talent across countries is something Hololive hasn’t got just yet.

Hololive does dominate the Superchat charts too with eight of the top 10 spots, with Nijisanji’s Kuzuha coming in eighth overall.

While Nijisanji doesn’t have the super popular idols that Hololive does ⁠— at least in the West ⁠— with their continued rapid expansion, their numbers will only explode. After all, it only takes one ‘Gawr Gura’-like hype train to completely take over the industry.