nikkitranslates | [NJSJ EN] Shu Yamino PASH June 2022 Interview

Shu Yamino

The kind-hearted sorcerer who loves Nijisanji

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A member of Nijisanji EN, a sorcerer with a gentle personality. It seems he'd been a fan of Nijisanji since way back. He usually streams in English as he is from North America, but he also does streams in fluent Japanese. He also participates in multi-national collabs and is a liver that attracts attention all over the world. He is a member of the five-person unit LUXIEM, and crosses over the barriers of distance and time in order to collab with them.

Q: How was your debut as liver/vtuber?

Shu: It felt like time suddenly flowed more slowly for me. There's a saying that the older you get, the shorter the days feel, but for me I feel like each day is considerably more condensed and longer compared to life itself. I receive a lot of fanart from people and it takes me forever to browse them, so I'm thankful. The amount of information that can be obtained from the 'net in just one day is steadily increasing, too.

Q: What were some of your achievements in your three months of being an active liver/vtuber?

Shu: LUXIEM has released our first original song, Hope in the Dark. It makes me really happy that we have our own song.

Q: How did you feel during your debut?

Shu: I was worried about my genmates. Ike Eveland got jailed on twitter, then during rehearsals his channel won't broadcast the stream, and other problems. During those times, I usually offer help so viewers have started calling me "Shupport" (LOL). During my debut stream, I was nervous about singing but after that I somehow got "streamer's high." My nervousness disappeared and I was able to speak well for the rest of the stream.

Q: In all your activites up to the present, which ones were draining and which ones were fulfilling?

Shu: I think the most draining one would be my "Jump King" stream...That endurance stream ran for around 13 hours and 80% of that time I wasn't thinking much about what I was doing (LOL). According to the fans that compile records, apparently my time was 3rd among all Nijisanji members (who attempted the game). And then, since I've been a fan of Nijisanji since before, so whenever I nervously reply to another Nijisanji liver or when I see a liver's comment in my replies, it makes me very happy.

Q: How did you get into Nijisanji?

Shu: I have liked Japan's entire Vtuber culture since way back. I watched a lot of vtubers/livers, and I felt that Nijisanji has condensed what I like about Japanese net culture, so I got into it.

Q: How did you watch streams from Nijisanji livers?

Shu: There were some livers who stream at convenient times even for where I live, so I was able to watch them live. I also watch a lot of clips. I think the reason why Nijisanji didn't have much recognition outside Japan is primarily because of the language barrier. I always believe that language aside, Nijisanji's contents would be popular even outside Japan. That's why I was very happy when they developed Nijisanji EN.

Q: Were you able to understand the Japanese memes that livers use?

Shu: Even before, I have always been interested in Japanese internet culture, and when I started to be interested in Nijisanji, I've been immersed in it for several years already so I'm able to understand the memes. Sometimes in my stream, I take up a Japanese net meme and someone from the chat would comment something like, "Why do you know that!?" (LOL).

Q: Please tell us some of the interesting streams you have watched among Nijisanji JP livers.

Shu: I found the mood/vibe of the (former) Nijisanji SEEDs to be the most interesting. A stream I liked would be "Watashi mo Irete Yotte Iwaseru Game" (2019). I thought everyone who appeared in it were all funny and interesting.

Q: Among your Nijisanji EN senpai, are there ones who you found funny or interesting when you watch them?

Shu: I think Pomu Rainpuff does a lot of edgy and outstanding content. Also, Rosemi Lovelock had a stream wherein other EN livers participated and had to do impromptu skits live. That was also very funny, I liked it.

Q: You have also been involved with Nijisanji JP and ID livers, haven't you?

Shu: I don't think I have a sense of being within or outside a country anymore, to be honest. Every person is a human...though there are also (livers) that aren't human...We regard each person as an individual (with their own uniqueness).

Q: What kind of people watches your streams?

Shu: Normally, I think there are a lot of English speakers, but there are also a lot viewers when I sometimes do Japanese streams. I think the viewers are increasing because they watch the streams even when they don't understand English that much.

Q: Is there any change in your fan/viewer base when you use a different language in your stream?

Shu: Since Vtubers became more popular in the English fanbase only around 2020, the Japanese comments have more presence to me as I've seen them for a long time (LOL). There are a lot of them who follow proper manners. in EN, there are cultures outside Vtubers that are mixed in. For example, in Luca Kaneshiro's streams, there are Twitch lingo and emotes often mentioned.

Q: In what way do you ensure that you are able to stream easily and without problems?

Shu: For example, if there is an unpleasant comment I immediately comment on it, and I don't overdo it so that streaming will not be a pain or troublesome for me. I think that if I am not able to properly say the things that I want, I will regret it in the future. So I try to say what I don't like as early as possible.

Q: Is there anything you keep in mind while streaming?

Shu: Before the stream, there would be some people waiting in the prechat and it tends to be a little messy. When someone makes a weird comment, I usually comment "What are you saying?" or something like that without touching on it too much. Since it won't appear in the archived VOD, it's only something that those waiting for the stream will know, right? (LOL)

Q: What do you do to prepare for your streams?

Shu: Since hydration is important, I fill my large water bottle. Also, since I presently live with my family, I put a "Streaming" sign on my door. My family members are aware of my streaming activies, and that sign is just a countermeasure against parental interruption(*).

(*) The term Shu used here is "oyafura" which is a streamer's lingo used to indicate that a parent has entered the room during streaming.

Q: Do you have a daily routine?

Shu: The EN members have different time zones, so everyone streams at different times. That's why I don't really have a fixed sleep routine and just adjust my hours flexibly. Sometimes there are days when I stream at 6 am, and there are times I stream late at night until early morning.

[Skipped questions wherein Shu explained the time differences between PDT, GMT, JST]

Q: Do you have difficulties with regards to the differences in time zones?

Shu: Sometimes I forget that it's summertime (daylight saving time), so I make mistakes in my schedule by an hour or so. Even in our EN group chat, there are some who would say, "isn't this time wrong?" because they forget to consider daylight saving time.

Q: You debuted as part of the five-person group LUXIEM. How do you feel upon meeting the other four members?

Shu: My initial thought was being surprised and thinking "Am I the only one from North America?!" (LOL). The other members were from Britain, Scandinavia, and Australia.

Q: Did you have problems regarding time zones whenever you collab with your members, too?

Shu: It's not an exaggeration to say that it's impossible for us to gather except during the stream itself. We make personal calls and send messages to each other, but there are a lot of times wherein even we gather most of the members, there will be one person missing. Well, if ever we are able to do an off collab, time zones won't be an issue. It would be nice if we can do it someday.

Q: Do you have some activities as Luxiem at the moment?

Shu: Even though there are some who have to wake up at 4 in the morning due to time zones, we have a planned collaboration between Luxiem and Noctyx.

Q: You seem to work the most with your Luxiem members, won't you tell us more about them?

Shu: Ike is our tsukkomi (straight man/someone who scolds everyone). However, he also loves old-man gags like I do (LOL). He gives me honest and earnest vibes. As for Mysta (Rias), I think he is someone who has a lot of facets. He has some moments when he is serious and some moments when he makes a lot of jokes. Vox (Akuma) is kind and is probably the best communicator among Luxiem. He is skilled in speaking and would always be the first one to make a group chat. If I have to choose a leader among Luxiem, I would choose Vox to be our leader...though we don't really have one. Luca has quite a mean or savage image, but he is actually very sweet and has his cool and cute sides. He is someone who gives every day his 100%.

Q: What kind of activities would you like to do in the future?

Shu: It's something I've wanted to do since debut. I want to release song covers.

Q: What is your "dream stream" as a Vtuber?

Shu: I want to sing on a big stage. In a real event, I want to sing anime songs. I really love JAM Project, and while I don't have the singing skills to be comparable with them at all, if we are able to do a collaboration that at least won't be difficult on the ears...if I'm able to do something like that then...!

Translator Notes:

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[NJSJ EN] Shu Yamino PASH June 2022 Interview

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