The weird and wonderful world of virtual YouTubers never seems to slow down, not even for a second. From TV anime to adult goods, their activities seem to be growing almost as fast as the community itself. Now, virtual YouTubers have made their first step into the world of manga, as virtual YouTuber Rin Kurosaki’s new manga started in this week’s Monthly Shonen Champion.
Titled Virtual YouTuber Kurosaki Rin wo Kamattenya! (Look at Me, I’m Virtual YouTuber Rin Kurosaki!), this manga features the titular nekomimi virtual YouTuber in the first official virtual YouTuber serialized manga.
What makes this Rin Kurosaki manga so peculiar is that publisher Akita Shoten have not only picked up the series for publication in Monthly Shonen Champion, the monthly counterpart to their Weekly Shonen Champion, but also in their online Daily Monthly Shonen Champion service (a bit of a mouthful, I know).
Essentially, while the Rin Kurosaki manga will premiere its chapters in the paper Monthly Shonen Champion first, these chapters will also be posted to the Daily Monthly Shonen Champion service one page at a time, every day over the course of a month one week after its release in Monthly Shonen Champion.
This release method certainly isn’t normal practice, but it isn’t without purpose. Rather, it’s supposed to emulate Rin Kurosaki’s own daily release schedule on her second channel, ‘Rin’s “What Day is it Today?”.’
This channel, which is separate from the more typical virtual YouTuber content of Rin’s main channel, sees the nekomimi virtual YouTuber produce daily educational videos that explain historical events that happened on that day, or the origins of celebrations that happen to occur on that day.
These events don’t have to be strictly ‘real,’ as seen in the above video where Rin gives the history of The Beatles’ first Japan tour, which started on that day, July 29, back in 1966.
Rin’s second channel is a really great idea that is surprisingly educational, so it’s a shame that her manga won’t, in turn, take the same format – rather, it will depict her ‘daily life.’
Even so, Rin Kurosaki’s manga does mark the first time a virtual YouTuber has gotten an official serialized manga. Sure, Kizuna AI got her own comic anthology last year, but serialization is a whole different ball game.
It also marks yet another shift on the part of virtual YouTubers away from just the eponymous streaming service and into other mediums. We got a taste of that with the Virtual-san wa Miteiru (VIRTUALSAN – LOOKING) TV anime earlier this year, and – if the Rin Kurosaki manga is anything to go on – don’t expect that trend to slow down any time soon.
You can check out the first chapter of Rin Kurosaki’s manga now in this month’s issue of Monthly Shonen Champion, or follow the daily release via Monthly Daily Shonen Champion as it starts today.