INTERVIEW: VTuber Noir Vesper on How VTubing Helps His Social Anxiety
This interview is part of our series of articles and interviews with the members of HOLOSTARS English -TEMPUS- and CEO Motoaki Tanigo. This series includes interviews and recommendation lists from some of the world’s most well known VTubers. You can read Noir Vesper’s top anime list here, and you can see all of the upcoming articles below!
As the academic advisor to holoTEMPUS, Noir Vesper brings logic and rationality to temper his fellow guildmates’ personalities. If you’ve seen any of his streams, though, you’ll know that he has a heart of gold and a warmth that connects all of his viewers. In the weeks since his debut, Vesper has streamed games, interviewed other holoTEMPUS members and even undergone the Hot Ones challenge! We got to speak with him about his experiences about all of the above, overcoming social anxiety and what it means to be a VTuber.
Hello! For any of our audience who don’t know you, could you please introduce yourself?
Noir Vesper: Greetings! I am Vesper Noir, the resident scholar of the adventurer’s guild TEMPUS and a member of HOLOSTARS English. I have social anxiety but I’m doing my best.
Congratulations on your debut! How did you feel once you learned that you had been accepted as a member of HOLOSTARS TEMPUS?
Vesper: I was excited and terrified. I’m still terrified, by the way.
As the resident chef of TEMPUS, what is your favorite dish to prepare?
Vesper: Preparing meals out in the field is much different than at home. Curry is a staple camping food, but it requires carrying a lot of perishable ingredients so that’s typically only on the first night out on a quest. Pasta aglio e olio is my go-to because the ingredients are light and don’t need refrigeration. Dry spaghetti noodles, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes. Flat parsley is good but optional. And river water.
One of your main missions as TEMPUS’s Academic Advisor is to teach Axel how to read. So… how is that particular project going?
Vesper: To my dismay I realized that he could already read, and in two languages. The problem is that he does everything within his considerable power never to read anything. I’ve been kicked in the face more than once trying to get him to read what was essentially a picture book.
You have gained a reputation with fans for being “pure,” but Axel seems to disagree. How accurate would you say the fans are in this perception?
Vesper: Compared to the other three I’m pure as the driven snow. Objectively? I’ll leave that to your judgment.
In your debut you talked about a little plastic ball that you made and kept in your car that got you through a lot of tough times. If you could send a message to the you of the past who was struggling through, what would it be?
Vesper: “This is Vesper from the future. To prove it, your favorite stuffed animal as a child was a Koala. VTubing is amazing, get into it earlier if you can. If this message was sent to a time before VTubing existed, INVENT VTUBING YOU FOOL.”
Noir Vesper’s plastic ball story in his debut stream (please listen to it, it’s so cute)
VTubers have become extremely popular in the last few years. What about the medium do you think speaks to people’s hearts so deeply?
Vesper: A VTuber is an anime character or cartoon that can reply back at you in real time, it’s an amazing concept.
What advice would you give to fellow introverts who want to try out VTubing?
Vesper: There’s a huge difference between talking to someone face-to-face and talking to an audience indirectly via live stream. Even as an extreme introvert I find it really enjoyable, I highly recommend at least trying it out once or twice to see if it’s fun for you as well.
If you could ensure your viewers take one feeling or message from your streams, what would it be?
Vesper: Don’t be ashamed of not knowing something. Approach such things as an opportunity to learn and grow, because those who learn earnestly and often will always win in the end.
Do you have anything else you would like to say to your fans and fans of hololive production in general?
Vesper: We attack at dawn. Destroy this message after you’ve read it.
Other articles in this series:
You can watch Noir Vesper’s streams here!
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Cayla Coats tweets @ceicocat.
