Game Club Project - VTuber

Game Club Project was one of the most popular experiments during the first VTuber boom. Complaints about management abuses from the original voice actors sparked one of the biggest controversies in VTuber history. The group's collapse set a precedent for VTuber agencies to treat their talent as more than disposable characters.

Game Club Project Background

Game Club Project was a group of four VTubers based on the idea of a high school gaming club. After their debut in early 2018, the group proved immensely popular, peaking at over 450,000 subscribers. They built their reputation on slapstick style comedy found in a popular slice-of-life anime at the time. The group officially disbanded in 2021, with only member Sakuragi Miria continuing as a solo creator.

Game Club Project History

The Game Club Project YouTube channel formed in January 2018, in the rise of the first VTuber boom. The channel's first video introduced member Yumesaki Kaede, the self-proclaimed "club president." Shortly after, Kaede introduced the Club's other members, Sakuragi Miria, Domyoji Haruto, and Kazami Ryo. Within a month, the channel amassed nearly 100,000 subscribers, making it one of the fastest-growing VTuber channels at the time.

Controversy

In April 2019, production members came forward with complaints toward the management company, Unlimited Inc. Fans discovered tweets from voice actors claiming to work on Game Club Project citing Unlimited's abuses of their actors. Within days, Twitter activity exploded with the allegations against Unlimited, and Game Club Project's activity halted. Unlimited publicly responded that they talked with the actors and reached an agreement after self-reflection.

After the statement, the channel's activities resumed on schedule. However, in June 2019, fans noticed that Miria and Haruto's voices changed, leading viewers to believe the original actors left the company. This actor switch resulted in a loss of 30,000 subscribers and the cancellation of standing VTuber collaborations. In September, Kaede and Ryo also received new voice actors. The channel steadily lost subscribers until starting a 9-month hiatus in March 2020. In December 2020, Unlimited announced the retirement of the channel. In February 2021, the group posted their final video together.

Game Club Project Member Physical Descriptions

Yumesaki Kaede is an elegant-looking high school student with long honey blond hair. She wears a sleek, black, and white school uniform with a short dress and cropped blazer. She usually wears a gaming headset featuring a power symbol over her left ear.

Sakuragi Miria is a high school girl designed with a cute appearance. She has chin-length pink hair worn in two high pigtails. Over her school uniform, she wears an oversized pink sweater that emphasizes her small frame.

Domyoji Haruto is a high school boy with a cool, bishounen design. He has shaggy black hair with two notable grey streaks in his bangs. He wears his school uniform properly, with the blazer buttoned and a blue shirt with a white tie underneath.

Kazami Ryo is a cutely designed high schoolboy. Contrasting with Haruto, Ryo has wide eyes and looks younger despite being the same age. His hair is silver and medium length with his bangs clipped to the side away from his face. He wears his blazer open with a white hoodie underneath.

Game Club Project Member Personalities

Despite her role in the Club, Kaede is very gentle and laidback by nature. Her creation of the Club led her to exercise more authority and display her leadership skills. Her favorite game is Pokemon and plays in the competitive meta.

Miria is the club's mood maker. Matching her appearance, she is cute and playful. However, Miria is also cunning and mischievous, often playing pranks and making jokes. Her favorite game is Pokemon and outside of gaming, she's an accomplished illustrator.

Contrasting his appearance, Haruto has an overinflated ego and delusional personality. The Club somewhat tolerates his narcissism since he can back up his bragging with his gaming talent. He specializes in shooting games.

Ryo is the group's positive and energetic voice of reason. He has a complex about his cute appearance, particularly his short stature. He has been friends with Haruto since middle school and the two often play Splatoon 2 together. His favorite game is Smash Bros.

Notable Games and Series

The Game Club Project gained popularity by presenting as a casual gaming group of high schoolers. They tend to play games popular with general audiences rather than niche gamer titles or trendy VTuber games. The Club also posts comedic videos offering views of their club interactions with each other outside of gaming.

Game Club Project Antics

The Club's first popular video deviated from their previous format of game-centric videos. In May 2018, they posted a video discussing their Club's financial troubles. The video resembles slice-of-life high school anime with outlandish humor and more substantial character interactions. Similar videos playing with slapstick humor and friendships prove to be the most popular on the channel. Popular examples include Ryo's nightmare about melonpan and a ghost samurai spoof video. Together, these videos create a more developed context for the channel's gaming videos.

Pokemon

The channel's longest gaming video series features different entries from the Pokemon franchise. Kaede plays Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in the Club's first gaming video, showing her prowess in competitive battling. Miria begins her own series of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon videos as well, making her debut with a competitive battle video. The entire Club competed in online competitions in 2019 aiming to land a spot in the World Tournament. Kaede also plays Let's Go Pikachu while Miria branched off to play Pokemon Sword and Shield before the channel hiatus.

Links

Game Club Project YouTube Channel
Sakuragi Miria Twitter
VTuber Main Page
VTuber Label