20 hours ago
1
July 21, 2025 will stick in the minds of the Vtuber community forever. Ironmouse, one of the founding members of the San Francisco-based Vtuber Agency, Vshojo, announced her departure via her official YouTube channel. In her announcement video, Ironmouse says the agency owes her money, which she later reveals is also true for other talent signed with the agency.
However, the main reason for her departure is that Vshojo allegedly embezzled $500 thousand from funds she raised for the Immune Deficiency Foundation.
Ironmouse says she raised donations for the organization in part because of her own experiences being diagnosed with Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID) years before her start as a popular Twitch content creator and Vtuber. CVID prevented her from pursuing a career as an opera singer and has left her mostly isolated in her home.
During the pandemic, when many people were in lockdown and at home, many Vtubers rose to prominence around the globe as they could stream to their viewers while keeping their anonymity as fictional characters or personalities for entertainment purposes. In Ironmouse’s case, it was an opportunity to help revitalize her passion for singing. She performs covers and original songs and streams various topics and content.
Vshojo imploded over the allegations
The news of Ironmouse’s departure from Vshojo comes not too long after former Vshojo members Matara Kan and Zentreya left on May 5 and July 11, respectfully, to pursue new opportunities and follow new paths as independent Vtubers.
After Ironmouse announced her departure and news spread across social media, the rest of the founding members left Vshojo as well, citing the company’s indebtedness to them and its alleged embezzlement as their reasons. One of Vshojo’s Japanese talents, Kson, told the CEO of Vshojo Japan that she quit during a livestream.
The next day, July 22, many Vtubers from the agency—Projekt Melody, Hime Hajime, Henya The genius, Michi Mochievee, Kuro, Haruka Karibu, and AmaLee (Monarch)—announced their departures and removed all traces of Vshojo from their social media accounts. On July 23, Akatsuki Hotaru, Hestia Happiness, Yutori Peke, and Okamoto Nagi also left.
On July 24, the final founding member of the company, Apricot The Lich a.k.a. Froot announced her departure. In only three days, Vshojo effectively lost all of its founding members and almost all of its talent. In addition, several of the Vshojo staff across the North American and Japanese divisions were fired and posted about looking for work, including the company’s former outreach/social manager, Ryo; JP staff, Highgai a.k.a. AJ; and talent managers Maiko and Kenzo.
That same day, Vshojo CEO the Gunrun/Justin finally put out an official statement on X/Twitter claiming mismanagement of the company and unsuccessful fundraising. He announced that as of July 24, the company is shutting down. He also claimed the $500 thousand Ironmouse raised for the Immune Deficiency Foundation was spent by Vshojo “in connection with talent activity, which I later learned was intended for a charitable initiative.” 
Some claim that the Gunrun knew the purpose of the funds, which would make his claim false. Vtuber Thafnine replied to the statement, “you didn’t know it was for charity. you were on mousey’s charity subathon. it’s not looking good brev.”
How the Vtuber community reacted to the Vshojo news
The statement has received significant ire on Twitter, from former Vshojo talent and others in the Vtuber community. Kson wrote, “Why didn’t you let us know the moment you realized this situation? Why did I get the information 2weeks ago not from the company but from my home girls?? Why did you lie to the JP branch A WEEK AGO that everything was good and taken care of?????”
Vtuber MissLalaVT tweeted, “‘which I later learned was intended for a charitable cause…” Give me a f*cking break. How DARE you feign ignorance. You expect anyone to believe that caca after ADMITTING you were plugging holes uses talents trust and money?! You actively made the choice to take advantage of the trust of your talents. You took advantage of their loving communities. Took advantage of the people they worked with. Every dollar communities spent supporting the talents was a declaration of love and support and you didn’t understand the responsibility to be transparent??!! To communicate trouble on the horizon?? and then continue to take advantage of people’s hard work and good natures??? How could you sleep at night?!???”
Vtuber Saruei said, “Blowing your own money is reckless, but blowing other people’s money, especially charity funds? That’s not just a mistake, it’s disgraceful. You don’t get to play with trust like that.”
What happens next
At time of writing, the Agency’s main site still exists and has removed Ironmouse from the main page art as well as the talent roster, but oddly enough has kept the other members of Vshojo who have since left the company.
The shutdown of Vshojo, which was founded in November 2020, marks the end of an era in the Vtuber community. Many of Vshojo’s former members will continue their careers as independent streamers and maintain all IP rights to their unique character designs and assets used for streaming and promotion.
Other Vtuber agencies like Hololive continue to operate, though it also saw several talents depart from the company such as Amelia Watson (now Dooby3D) and Gawr Gura (now Sameko Saba). The latter left due to disagreements with management and the company’s direction. Hopefully, these agencies do not repeat the same mistakes as Vshojo with mismanagement of funds and failure to pay their own talent, lest they also be doomed to implode.
English (US)