Hello and welcome to the unhinged and fun side of minecraft youtube of Japan - let me introduce you geemu jikkyousha!
Since this is a scene almost unknown overseas and there are pretty much no translations (unless you're a crazy raccoon fan), I'll try my best to make an easy and beginner-friendly resource for people interested in the fandom but lost on where to start.
This blog will mostly focus on kenkou saba (健康鯖), the informal group of some of the most prominent units and streamers, and their associates, but feel free to ask about any group that piqued your interest and I'll try my best to introduce them too!
In japanese mcyt, you'll rarely see individual streamers - most of them operate in groups on their dedicated channels (like mzyb, ntjo or mnps), but that doesn't mean they can't participate in their own activities. Just remember that if you find a streamer you like, it's most likely they're not out there on their own.
Note: my posts will include namedropping, but if you go out into the world, be sure to use anagrams or oshimarks to avoid egosearching!
Index
OO no Shuyaku wa Wareware da! (and why they're gone now)
Majimeni Yabacity
Nichijou Gumi
Radda Unei
Genkai
Monopass (and WhiteTails)
Solo streamers
MSSP
TBA????? (CR? Colorful Peach? STPR?? It's all up to fate...)
Important warning on nmmn
Before you proceed and interact with the fandom, please remember its rules! In the japanese fandom, namamono (nmmn) is the negative term used for treating real people like fictional characters. This includes:
- Shipping (yume too)
- Genderbends
- Most AUs
- Gore and sexual content
- Depicting CCs as animals
- Sometimes cosplays
- Direct namedropping
Unless your drawing is based on an existing video or design, PLEASE refrain from all of that, especially shipping and R18 - that's massive disrespect to your streamer! Or at least make a priv.
If you draw something unrelated to the videos, like original clothing designs or a missing scene, it's tagged as 捏造 (fabrication). Headcanons are 妄想 (delusions), and style imitations (like manga) are 幻覚 (hallucinations).
Hope you'll like it here! In case you're wondering, I'm Yuzu, longtime mzyb fan and zm/sb/cn oshi, so if I sound a bit biased when talking about them, sorry for that.
Been a while! As a little filler post, I thought it was about time to show some useful terms you'll probably encounter in Japanese fandom spaces. Obviously these are mostly from streaming/gaming sphere, but some are fairly common in other otaku and animanga spaces. And just in case - some Minecraft-specific terms as well!
Otaku space as a whole:
捏造 [netsuzou] - lit. fabrication; fanart with headcanons, missing scenes, non-canon clothing and interactions, so literally anything you made up
幻覚 [genkaku] - lit. hallucination; fanart imitating the source material to create a fabricated scene
妄想 [mousou] - lit. delusion; headcanons
パロ [paro] - short from parody; term used for AUs (like 軍パロ is a military AU) or song redraws (曲パロ)
手描き [tegaki] - hand-drawn videos: AMV, PMV, animatics, etc.
rkgk/落書き [rakugaki] - sketch or a quick drawing
🍵 - usually euphemism for e-chat, online canvas
推し [oshi] - self-explainatory, your favorite member, creator or fictional character. Oshikatsu has a lot of inside lingo that you should research yourself, it's a whole different world
Streamer/mcyt lingo:
ゲーム実況者 [geemu jikkyousha] - you're here! lit. game commentators; streamers, letsplayers and such
nmmn/生モノ [namamono] - fandoms around real people and treating them like fictional characters, includes shipping, genderbends, R18, gore and more and is usually very not welcome in public places
2525 - niconico! you'll find this in nicknames and IDs of many creators
配信 [haishin] - lit. delivery; stream
リスナー [risuna] - streamer's audience: in west they're viewers, here they're listeners
雑談/ざつだん [zatsudan] - just chatting streams
切り抜き [kirinuki] - clips from streams and videos, sometimes fanmade
組/コンビ [gumi/conbi] - duo, trio or any other group! suffixes used just like in western mcyt, instead of waffleduo you'd get ワッフル組
こん〇〇/おつ〇〇 [kon__/otsu__] - puns with streamer names you may see as chat greetings and goodbyes, こんにちわ and おつかれ can transform into こんらだ or おつぺん, for example
(and misc: you'll probably notice game titles being shortened to the first two syllables of their words, like minecraft will become マイクラ; it's a common occurance in japanese slang as a whole so you've probably seen this phenomenon many times already, like with the word for karaoke, or karappo orchestra!)
When playing together they're willing to kill and sabotage each other, but against anyone else they're an unstoppable force - enter Genkai Members, a group of six independent streamers and professional trolls. Initially they were fellow streamers Guchitsubo hated playing with the most. 限界 in their name means "limit", as in "I'm literally at my limit with all of you", and they're more often described not as a unit or a team, but rather mortal enemies. But once they find someone they equally hate, all that malice and sabotaging turns into terrifying teamwork, so playing against them in co-op games is a grave mistake. Behind the scenes, they're managed by Radda's subordinate Midori.
Like with Radda Un'ei, I'll go over each member one by one. As per usual, some info was borrowed from shaomiya, but mostly from an incredibly thorough fan wiki project. It's way more indepth than I could hope to be, so check it out too!
🌵 Guchitsubo (ぐちつぼ)
Or saboten. Genkai's leader, one of Japan's biggest streamers and a really, really loud cactus. Self-proclaimed troll monster, the loudest, most talkative member with confidence and determination bordering on madness. He's chaotic, often causing mayhem and confusion just for the love of the game, breaking into random fits for a bit and acting completely unpredictably. Many times this seemingly erratic behavior turns out to be a brilliant strategy - he's actually rather intelligent and at times his genius skills make him a formidable force in Jinrou games. To keep the branding, he's averted to dirty jokes and polices himself when it comes to such topics, even though he finds them funny. He's described as being really tall (182 cm!) and having an appearance so menacing even street gangsters won't approach him. Has a habit of singing to himself a lot, but his only proper solo utattemita is a PowerPoint parody of Hated By Life Itself. about him getting banned on Twitter. On Signal Zero he appeared in a giant 2m tall mascot suit, but for Signal One got on stage proper.
Aside from Genkai, he's a member of ZETA Division along with Yakipan (and is actually his kouhai!), associated with Bottom 4 (with Kiriyan, Torippy and Nobaman) and is very close with fellow streamers Radda and Peinto, the three loudest people on the block often streaming together, teaming up at gaming events and hanging out offline. And speaking of events, he has semi-yearly Guchitsubow events for other Genkai Members and World Championships for fellow Kenkou streamers, as well as two Twitch-wide SAVOGE RUST seasons to his name.
*note: you'll probably mostly see him named gutitubo, since japan still commonly uses kunrei-shiki for latin script (hence utu, syaoron, sinigami etc.), but i use hepburn system out of preference
🐰Genpyon (げんぴょん)
Genkai's adult and serious member confidently rocking a bunny suit. He usually speaks in a low, calm voice and is nowhere as loud as Guchitsubo, but has a habit of screaming unexpectedly and suddenly hitting notes so high viewers are warned not to wear headphones. He's described as a tyrant, not shunning away from harsh expressions, but ultimately he is reliable and kind when times need it. He's the only smoker in Genkai, sometimes dubbed Yani Bunny. Aside from streaming, he's doing almost every hobby under the sun - design, DJ-ing (and trying to teach Cino how), singing and meddling with SynthV (he has a VocaDB page!), cooking, building maps and testing his freshly-acquired driving license in GTA 5. He's a backstage helper in many events too, like SAVOGE RUST or Kenkou Minecraft server and even at live shows he tries to give the others a chance to shine - according to Genpyon himself, he likes working behind the scenes.
🌶 Tarako (たらこ）
Don't be fooled like many else, he's a guy and his avatar is a girl just because he feels like it. He's not particularly fond of cod roe (tarako itself) either.
Eccentric self-proclaimed idol whose primary hobbies include gaslighting and mental terrorism. He's an incredibly skilled player in many games and particularly enjoys PVP, plus his... let's say unique way of thinking gives him advantage in puzzles and escape maps. He's also a nightmare of a troll both in games and in real life. During his own streams and even with Genkai members he'll probably be up to random things like brushing his teeth, shuffling cards, clipping nails or cleaning his whole appartment (he takes neatnessvery seriously, even licking the floor to prove how clean it is and coming over to Guchitsubo's house to clean out the mess). Him, Yakipan and Gonkane are collectively called sanbaka (三バカ).
☕️ Nsome (んそめ)
Sometimes still called Consome, since words can't start with N in Japanese, and his character has a consomme cup on his head. Scarily athletic (his divine physique has a mythical status among kenkou members), well-educated, calculating and overall reliable all-rounder. Not only is he great at physical activities and trivia, but FPS, horror and action games are not a problem for him too. For a while him, Yakipan and Gonkane were collectively called "genkai substitutes" and even now they often hang out independently from the other three members. Nsome the only one with common sense out of the bunch and has to keep the other two in bay so they don't combust on spot. Don't let his proper image fool you, that's still a Genkai member: he's a crybaby and a habitual poker player (doesn't bet real money, tho), but his trolling attempts are overshadowed by Tarako and Guchitsubo. His personal project hosted with Hection's help, Seisou o Wataru Yado (星霜を渡る宿), revealed his abilities at project organisation and even roleplay (highly recommend!!).
💰 Gonkane (ごんかね)
Gonkane is... truly an enigma. He's airheaded and out of this world in a sense that understanding him, his motives is challenging even for other members and he's been called the worst out of Genkai members a few times. A lot of his remarks and actions come off as bizarre, not helped by his abysmal skill at reading kanji and a soft high voice similar to Yakipan. In public, he's actually very nervous and reserved, relying on his groupmates for support. He's the only member not from around Kanto, so he barely appears in hangouts and live-action videos. His alien character and name are derived from an Ultra character named Kanegon that got verlan-ed for legal reasons. Also, he has three cats who interrupt him during streams sometimes and he makes sure to meow back.
(i try my best to use illustrations from stream backgrounds/channel headers but i swear this man has NOTHING so sorry if this looks clunky i'm working with what i have. also theres like zero merch from him cuz he doesn't work with shops like village vanguard so he's the first one to get sold out at most events ww)
🍞 Yakipan (焼きパン)
Aka Varvalian. Very naive and charming, he really is like a soft warm bun! He's absolutely adorable both in games and real life, other members have commented on his disarming cuteness more than once. He's a ditzy airhead who gets lost easily and is the primary target of other members' pranks. Some say it's a miracle a pure soul like him ended up in this marginal gang, but don't let his cutesy aloofness fool you - he can turn into a relentless psychopath in time's notice without even going out of character. He's also pretty smart and the one holding academic exams for other members (which they usually fail spectacularly). He's a professional cyber athlete associated with ZETA Division and a common guest on cybersport events for Valorant and APEX, and outside of that he has been ranked a number one osu! player in Japan. His mascot is a tiny penguin with a red scarf, and his name is shortened from "yakisoba pan".
Notable projects and associates
As I said, Genkai aren't strictly bound to each other and most of the time wander off to do their own things, but they're still a tight friend (or nemesis) group and they're very entertaining together - personally I loved Lounge and Pico Park series, as well as many projects I mentioned above (especially Yakipan's tests and Seisou, they're amazing!!). Up until White Tails disbanding, they crossed over as Donupon Egachi (ド～ヌポンヱガーチ) for showdowns in poker, Mario Cart or, most commonly, Minecraft Jinrou.
They don't let anyone into their hater club, though, and Shobosuke attempting to join their Discord server led to creating Genkai Mizugawa (限界水際), a server specifically made to keep Shobosuke away turned a sub-group where people like Hection, Sakana, Combex and such hang out with the main members (probably that's how they all got roped into Heckshot's first round wwww).
And that's not to mention several live events they had, including two rounds of a stage show Genkai Revolver (one with Radda coming out of nowhere as he does). Even though they're seen as MCYTs, Genkai's range of activities is remarkably vast, and there's probably something for everyone - if you're down to watch them hating each others' guts.
So - you want to post fanart of your oshi or browse through endless pieces fans have made before. Most groups and streamers have personalized Twitter tags, some limited to specific series/iterations.
I've been sitting on a biiig list of tags I've encountered over the years, so just in case I figured they should be catalogued here.
All are under cut, as usual!
Wareware Da! #wrwrd_FA
Majimeni Yabacity #mzyb_FA
Moritaka Cola #もりたかーと
Cino #ちーの絵さんぽ
Hyoutarou #ひょう画廊
Monopass #モノパスケッチ
White Tails #しろっぽ
Nakamu #ArtForNakamu
Kintoki #きんときぇ
WT Misc:
Handmade goods #白尾学園手芸
Daydream Circus #DDCの語り場
Hotel Petrichor #ホテペトのラウンジ
Hualong Ressha #花龍列車の待合室
(Hualong Sharken and Kintoki specifically #兄弟を幸せにし隊)
What happened to wrwrd? | 〇〇の主役は我々だ！/ OO no Shuyaku wa Wareware da!
This is quite unexpected, but this might be the most important post on the blog, since for many people (myself included) fan content for wrwrd is their first and last exposure to jikkyousha at all and after certain events it became even harder for newbies to navigate through their legacy. An English wiki is luckily still up as the time of writing, but it's been vandalized in certain places and was barely updated even when the channel was still going.
TLDR: wrwrd is a gaming group that doesn't exist anymore, its former members are all active elsewhere (mostly as mzyb) after leaving due to a legal dispute. Their old videos are still up on the main channel, but with legally 3 members to its name none of which actually film videos it functions more like an archive.
Long version will be a history lesson for all who came late - this info can be found on Pixiv Dictionary, but my retelling will be a bit more personal, touching on what happened on my side of fandom too. So even though I'll try to follow a matter-of-fact narration, this post will likely sound a bit opinionated at times. Sorry.
Disclaimer: the only reason this post exists is to clear the air for all the fans who came in late. It's seen as rude to bring it up in the fandom, some people will even scrutinize others for mentioning wrwrd and mzyb in the same breath. Legally, wrwrd have nothing to do with mzyb. It's fine to acknowledge that mzyb and kougai had history before going their separate ways, but please respect the creators' wishes and don't mash them together in discussions.
This is also not an attack on any parties mentioned, just a retelling of events in retrospect. Do not harass the members, whether you agree with their decisions or not. But that should go without saying.
So, what was wrwrd?
〇〇の主役は我々だ！, usually shortened to wrwrd or just d!, was a gaming group mostly focused on Minecraft and variety skits. Their history goes a long way - they're the mainstays of NicoNico Douga, and initially the group was just a yukkuri gaming channel ran by Gruppen Furher, focusing primarily on Hearts of Iron letsplays. Slowly but surely, more members joined, starting with Osuman, who brought Tonton, then Hitoranran, then it just kept going until on its peak the group had 15 named members! wrwrd was absolutely packed, even if technically only 12 of them were considered active at the time of the crash. And they were incredibly popular, gaining over a million on their main channel, having FIVE MANGA SERIES running at the same time, and that's not to say of their frequent collaborations with other streamers.
Of course, the group's image shifted over time. Minecraft became their main game of choice, focusing primarily on different variations of the Jinrou mode, and every Monday Utsu hosted their version of the Japanese comedy show Shouten. Alongside that, some became more active than others, Gruppen and Osuman slowly fading into the background and only working backstage, Hitoranran disappearing from the Internet completely just like Nii-san and Shinpei Shin barely even being a proper member to begin with, only appearing a handful of times. By the end of 2023 Koneshima, one of the main active members who represented the group alongside Utsu, went on a hiatus due to health problems. Other members jokingly described it as him being sent to prison over tax fraud, and put a pin in that, it will become surprisingly relevant.
So, in 2024, we had nine active members: Tonton, Utsu-sensei, Shaoron, Roboro, Zomu, Emile, Shoppi, Cino and the recently added Reparou. Reparou himself was a bit of a sudden addition, appearing right after the group's 8th anniversary - it should be noted that he was met with slight controversy, since by that moment Koneshima had been abscent for almost a year and he was initially interpreted by some as his replacement. Still, the fan reception was mostly warm, and he was being very slowly introduced to the videos to get acclimated to his groupmates' wild temper. Very, very slowly I must admit, only having a handful of videos to his name by the moment he was forced out alongside everyone else.
But really, everything boded well. Aside from the group announcing a slight change to their schedule and NND going down for the whole summer, their output was stable, the fans were delighted to see Reparou adjusting to the group - him finally being added to the intro, after a few months of adapting! - and anticipating Queue's yearly horror event, Minecraft Kimodameshi, where wrwrd members were scheduled to appear. And it all seemed fine, until one fateful night.
And here, everything goes to hell
The moment it turned September 1st, all active members changed their Twitter icons and IDs, suspiciously removing _wrwrd from all of them and replacing their sonas with crude MS Paint drawings of things loosely associated with their characters. Fans immediately got to speculating: was this a bit? A setup for a video? Was this promotion for Emile's Twitter, since by then he was the only one without an account? Moreover, Roboro was now following a mysterious account Moritaka Cola, who had a dark silhouette with a question mark as his pfp - what was that about?! It got even more confusing when Utsu posted a video on a burner account, where him and all the other active members explained that they can't continue their activities as wrwrd due to... copyright dispute? They couldn't share all info yet, but declared that they're not resigning from content creation and will return whenever they can.
And while the larger fandom was theorizing who could've claimed the right to their sonas (and ru fans tarot-reading what on earth was going on), a really strange thing was bothering the English-speaking fandom specifically. An account dedicated to anime leaks posted about a new season of the Iruma-kun anime in production, claiming it's the adaptation of Makai no Shuyaku wa Wareware da! aka the crossover manga between wrwrd and Iruma-kun. The possibility of the members losing their sonas seemed absurd and plausible at the same time, but luckily the leaks turned out to be a red herring. A really terrifying one at that, mind you. As this debacle was going down, Moritaka Cola debuted and proved to be Roboro himself, taking on a new v-tuber persona, and proceeding to stream with Shaoron and newly reincarnated Hyoutaro, formerly Reparou. The YouTube channel staff was explaining the irregular videos by their "performers'" conflicting schedules, but seeing how they were all getting back to streaming already, something seemed off.
Oh, right, they had staff now. wrwrd having a management was actually huge news to everyone, since it was commonly assumed that all the inner business was ran by Gruppen. But now they came forward to explain that they were going through an internal reorganization and their performers just had to renew their contracts. And while the main channel kept posting older videos, the runaways posted another announcement on the burner, announcing the creation of a new channel - Majimeni Yabacity. People assumed it'd be a temporary name, but as we know, it ended up sticking.
On September 19, the management announces that Koneshima and Gruppen have renewed their contracts and the former will soon return on his new solo channel. This made fans hopeful, but alas, the next day, for the last time, Utsu declared that the members had no intentions of returning to wrwrd. The main reason is that their channel was transfered to new management amidst of negotiating with the previous team, and new staff demanded they get all the copyright from their content, which the members refused by exposing all of this on their burner. Six of them would move on as mzyb, while Roboro, Cino and Reparou will go their separate ways as indies. Initially Cino went on a short hiatus, posting drawings on Twitter instead of streaming, but after a nudge from Tonton he started up his own Twitch account and went back to business. The next morning Osuman suddenly reappears on Twitter for the last time to declare retiring from being an online creator for good.
(one detail that really stick out to many people is that the day koneshima's return was announced, the editors accidentally used an opening without reparou in it - a coincidence for sure, but it had people talking nonetheless given how his initial reception was like.)
And seemingly, that was it for wrwrd. Mzyb quietly kept growing their channel from scratch, while the old channel just fell into radio silence after their pre-recorded videos ran out. When suddenly, on his solo channel, Koneshima announced that he's looking forward to finding new members for his activities - as many as he can. And so, by the end of October, Koneshima EX becomes a hub for Prison Friends, his new unit that's not technically "new wrwrd" but is still closely related to their activities. On top of all of that - Hitoranran suddenly came back after seven years! And is still somewhat alive on Twitter, which for all the fans was a literal miracle, since seemingly all hope for his return had been long lost.
And, finally, there we have it. Formerly one incredibly popular gaming group, presently three people with the channel now serving as merely an archive. Almost a year and a half have passed since then, and a whole new wave of fans have been discovering the remains of a group that once was - so I hope this cleared up the timeline of one incredible autumn when everything was on fire every single day. I omitted some details, obviously, but with some research, I'm sure you can piece the puzzle together yourself.
Again, do not harass or seek out any of the parties mentioned. Enough time has passed for everyone to go their separate paths, and if anything, treat this post as simply a missing piece for new fans lost on where to go with wrwrd.
When speaking about japanese gaming, there's no way you can go without mentioning Radda. He's everywhere, he's beloved and beloathed by fans, and his schenanigans constantly breach containment and find their way into the broader web. Unei are a special case compared to other units - in a sense that they're not a strictly organized group, but rather Radda's emotional support team who are just as active independently as they are on his channel. Still, it's hard to overlook them, since much like Radda himself, they're almost everywhere across the japanese gaming world.
This time my ghostwriters are color and chrisgalante, so as usual, huge shoutout to them! And since our streamers are more independent, formating will be a bit different this time.
🧣 Radda (らっだぁ)
The Blue Thing itself, NicoNico's cryptid. Officially romanized as RADER, initially based on the band RADWIMPS. Radda is an incredibly popular creator, having almost 1.5 million YouTube subscribes and gathering tens of thousands viewers on Twitch before temporarily taking a break from it after his 15th anniversary (currently still very active on YT!). Characterized by a soft and emotionless voice contrasted by really loud screaming from fear and frustration, he's a streamer in constant war with his own viewers, who love using him in MADs and shitpost edits while Radda himeself loves provoking them. He has a ridiculously short attention span, often dropping games halfway through (a notable exeption being Undertale), and that's the reason why he keeps going back to Minecraft. Horror games seem to be his favorite genre, though, and his ear-piercing reaction to jumpscares makes all the letsplays worth it. He's also often described as a psychopath, attacking people in games and making violent comments with little to no emotion in his voice - these moments can get actually emotionally tense and scary. Fitting, since his character is based on Ao Oni, and he's mainly known for playing with his viewers and other streamers in a themed onigokko game mode. His character is usually seen with his signature ^ら^ face, and the listeners are represented by these blue toothy things. Many speculate whether he's actually a human or... something else?
Radda is very, very social, interacting with his viewers and other creators alike. He constantly hosts events for fans to join, and that's how he initially formed Unei - they were all fans playing on his map before eventually sticking around to help him out with future projects. He's very close with equally popular and loud Guchitsubo and Peinto, infiltrating Genkai and Nichijou Gumi like he's their own member, constantly hangs around cybersports agency Crazy Raccoon members or popular vtubers from Nijisanji and hololive. That's not to mention other jikkyousha - whatever event there is, he's always out there teasing his peers and being awkward around their seniors.
He was a very prominent member of Street Graffiti (STGR), a GTA5 roleplay project by Shobosuke, where his characters proved to be some of the most beloved by fans, on par with Guchi and Peinto. He's usually accompanied by them on Queue's Minecraft Kimodameshi for the main quest, but for the lobby map he brings Unei along, asking to whitelist them even though they don't participate in the main event every year. Aside from STGR, he has many other characters that fans sometimes treat like their own people, from Radda-sensei in wrwrd's Mashuyaku manga to the universally beloved Saruyama Radao, the main villain of Noroi Oni 2 and the angst darling of every twitter illustrator. He was also one of the headliners for Signal Zero and Signal One, incredibly huge offline events where many popular jikkyousha got on stage together.
👻 Midorikun (緑色)
Usually just called Midori, or Midorikuso by his peers whenever he's being a little shit. Initially a long-time Radda fan, one of the OG Unei members and the manager for Genkai Members. He's shy and a little socially awkward ghost that starts making small weird noises when startled, and his lack of communication makes him totally unpredictable. He's a huge lover of pranks and making people's lives harder, and if he can explode something, he certainly will - that's why he's always seen with a piece of TNT on fanart. Midori is actually well-versed in coding, so he's often taken along to look for bugs and glitches in new projects. He initially lied his way into helping Radda by pretending he knows what he's talking about, but actually managed to stick around to prove himself. On his solo channel, he usually plays through really small and obscure horror games or hosts Midoronpa, a game combining mechanics from Danganronpa and Jinrou, that was very well-recieved by Radda and his fans. Out of all the Unei, he's pretty close with Contami, tagging along with him on co-op games. Sometimes he also hangs out with Zomu and Akagami no Tomo, their trio known as Cream Soda as a nod to their colors.
🐖 Badkyo/Kinbutakyo (金豚きょー)
Also known as Kyo-san or Bado-san. Mature, responsible but rude to listeners and other members alike, Kyo is Unei's unofficial leader when Radda isn't around, hosting their collaborations on his YouTube channel. He's also the one managing all the servers and actually holds the keys to all of them, so technically it's him and Midori who manage their projects' technical side. He has a strong kansaiben that translates into him being very harsh with words, reacting sharply to his listeners' comments and losing his temper even more when Radda calmly remarks that that's just how he is. Also a heavy smoker, obvious from fan artwork, and is also colorblind - that's why some artists give him heterochromia. In Minecraft he usually hosts parkour courses, and outside of that he's pretty active on his own, appearing individually in collab projects, events like Signal One and even Tomo's big Sakura no Ame utattemita collab - Midori was there too!
☁️ Reu Cloud (レウクラウド)
Usually refered to as just Reu. The group's tsukkomi with sensitive personality, love for cute emoticons (ヽ´ω`) and really low self-esteem, constantly mentioning being tired and overworked in real life. He's the builder of the management, fixing everything Kyo and Midori broke down and exploded and filling chests with resources for players to find. His Minecraft skin is his original character, a black ghast from his OC setting of human versions of Minecraft mobs. Why does he have the hammer and sickle on his back tho? No idea. Reu is actually a decent artist and often shares his sketches on Twitter! That's where he also has plenty of photos of his mascot's plushie. Every week he hosts a radio show for fan mail, and he's still pretty active with the STGR squad, appearing on their collab streams.
🐙 Contami (コンタミ)
(illust by color - i'm not sure his self-portraits will do...)
Or Kon-chan! Totally sane, totally reliable lovecraftian eldrich nightmare. His fanbase is literally called the mental asylum and whenever someone subscribes it's narrated as "___ has gone insane". He's never actually met other members offline due to being busy in real life, but he has an insanely dense streaming schedule, starting his day at 5AM. On his solo streams he usually talks to his listeners about questionable topics or draws unrecognizable nightmare creatures in e-chat. He's a good artist, really, it's just that he chooses to use his artistic abilities for something fitting for a Picasso collection. His character is based on Cthulhu, and his name is derived from "contamination" - the story goes, he was the last one to join Unei and did so by just sticking around and pretending he was supposed to be there all along. He's maniacal, sadistic and really, really weird, but still very cute and approaches his beloved cosmic nightmares with such a geniune joy that it's hard to be afraid of him. But you probably should.
Something extra
If you browse the fanart tag, you'll notice a weird purple figure I haven't mentioned - that's Kinkai no Saba (近海の鯖), the backstage moderator that never actually shows up but does a lot of work for the projects nonetheless, and he's been described as a live shield from DDoS attacks on the servers. Uneis themselves are much more active, since their role is to not only help Radda with technical projects, but also to liven up the players and make the whole event more fun.
So, for someone who's now familiar with Radda and is interested in his henchmen too, you should definitely look at their Pico Park series or almost any cooperative or horror game. And once you're familiar with them and learn a bit about Radda's old projects, I urge you to check out Tokumei Kibou Yori - an insane fan map that's based on their group's history with a really heartfelt story and a chilling twist in the end. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.
Next up on our list is a gaming group that might as well be THE most relevant and popular in the country, so much so that two of its members got cameos in the Minecraft movie dub! And I think that if you're truly interested in local mcyt and slowly improving your language skills, they could be the best place to start. And-and, moreover, they're having their first live event this winter, so there's no better time to get to know them. I'm, of course, talking about Nichijou Gumi!
This time I heavily referenced my friend Color's introduction that they worked on quite some time ago, so credits to them!
Nichijou Gumi (ntjo/ntj for short) have been formally active since 2012. The channel that initially started as Peinto's RPG Maker letsplays eventually shifted to mainly Minecraft survival content with friends, giving them their name - "nichijou", or daily life, is the name for the game's survival mode. Their first proper videos featured Peinto, Shinigami and Kuronoa with Torazo joining later on.
If I were to describe their vibe, they're very fun, chill and friendly, definitely fitting family-friendly demographics. Usually. Their primary focus is Minecraft, although they do hop on other games from time to time, either for collabs or just for streams. Usually they post long 40-60 minute videos every Friday, each week playing around a mod, a minigame or any fun activity they came up with. They also have a monthly radio program where they read fan letters and chat about their daily life. Their usual speech is noticeably formal, so beginner learners more acquainted with keigo should feel comfortable with their conversations!
However, they also love story-driven series, their first ever survival letsplay even having its plot elements that are still relevant to this day! Ongoing manga series, two original Minecraft series and even more if you're counting cameos, including the iconic Noroi Oni which is a must-watch for anyone in the fandom - trust me, people love their Kaito angst. But more on these later, let's focus on the members first!
Members
🍤 Peinto (ぺいんと)
ntjo's yellow member and one of Japan's most important mcyts! He's a sociable and friendly extravert and the one who founded the group, but don't confuse him for their leader. EXTREMELY loud, screaming so loud and so often one can only hope he has no neighbours, and can't read kanji to save his life. Peinto is also responsible for all the editing and usually represents their group at events. On top of all of that, he's a guitar player and a really good singer - his Charles cover has over 10 million views for a reason!
He's a strong chuunibyou and a natural actor, even having his dark demon alter ego, Dark Peinto, who originally manifested in their first letsplay as his spite and anger at his friends for abandoning him. In most of their story series, his characters strive to be the hero, but often suffer and go through horrible things trying to do that. Most notably - Amano Kaito, his character from Noroi Oni 2, the series co-produced with wrwrd and Radda and widely beloved by the fandom to this day.
And since I've mentioned Radda - their radapen duo is almost inseparable, you can often see them together on streams or collab projects, even in stgr. So often that Radda is basically fifth ntjo member at this point! Their gakuyuudan walkthrough is definitely worth of note, artists still adore sailor fuku radapen in torture labyrinth. They often collab with Guchitsubo as a really loud and really charismatic trio, and sometimes they're joined by... nqrse of utaite fame! If you've ever wondered why he's not that active as a singer right now, here's your answer, he's too busy GTA5 roleplaying.
🐈 Kuronoa (クロノア)
ntjo's blue member and their actual leader. He's a calm, cool-headed man who, like a real cat, can be a bit aloof - he may sometimes disappear during live broadcasts god knows where. He loves cats and has three of them, his very nickname is an homage to his black kitty Noa. You can sometimes hear them meowing when he's streaming! He's a musician and a good clarinet player, you can hear him play in ntjo's original song, Kudaranai Nichijou - really beautiful, by the way. And he's a beast when it comes to shooters and using a bow in Minecraft, when playing FPS he's definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Best friends with Torazo, their duo known as TK Brothers, and they hang out together quite a lot. Sometimes in fanon he's depicted as a shady mastermind pulling all the strings behind the scenes, could that be true?
😈 Shinigami (しにがみ)
ntjo's purple member, the youngest and the one responsible for coding in all of their projects. Despite the age, out of all of the members he's been active online the most. Don't get fooled by that cutey appearance - that's a guy, even though he likes presenting feminine in real life and is remarkably short (like, ~140cm short). He's very silly and charming, often acting before thinking and sometimes being a little brat. As a former theater kid, he also tends to be very emotional, screaming at volumes that beat even Peinto and having powerful anger outbursts when acting or just mildly annoyed by the situation. Streams show him having powerlifting tools in his room, so this tiny creature can beat your ass!
He has an alter-ego named Barusamiko, a bird-themed girl vtuber who he sometimes flirts with in Twitter DMs.
🐯 Torazo (トラゾー)
ntjo's green member and their reliable senior with history in the military. He's a kind extravert and has a lot of friends all around the site, even hanging out with Kurare-sensei. Happily married to Inari-san, who sometimes appears in his videos and is cherished by fans. Outside of ntjo's main channel, he usually films live videos, for example cooking or travelling with fellow jikkyous like Tomo and FB777. He's responsible for organizing all of their collabs and is also a prolific writer: Yume Series, Datsugoku and Noroi Oni all written by him and the first two possibly being in the same continuity. Although his series do get pretty convoluted lore-wise, Noroi Oni still being pieced together by fans despite all of its plot holes and timey-wimey inconsistencies, and Torazo himself is delighted to read fan theories and help them understand his writing better. He's a great actor too - all supporting roles in his series star Torazo himself, even when there's several people! Oh, he also sucks at basic math.
Series and recommendations
I think you can't go wrong when picking a ntjo video to watch - just choose a premise that seems the most fun to you! Maybe something like reviewing new minecraft features, good old dramatic western smp-style roleplaying, or, I don't know, russian roulette? Their collabs with Radda are great too, especially the sniper showdown - that one's just iconic. You'll get to learn him better soon, don't worry.
But you really can't talk about ntjo without bringing up their story projects. Datsugoku, or jailbreak, is a three-part (or five... or six...) story of Peinto, Shinigami and Kuronoa trying to escape their death penalty with Torazo constantly psychologically tormenting them, putting them against each other and making them trust no one, especially their impending fate. Acting is great, story is great, atmosphere is impeccable and the first part's ending is gut-wrenching. The timeline might be a bit convoluted, especially given its spin-off (Touzoku 1 and 2) and the manga adapting it still ongoing, but the series stands strong even by itself.
The Yume Series, composed of Hakuchuumu, Rashomon and Meisekimu, might as well be Torazo's magnum opus. Tense, frightening and psychologically heavy, this is the story of Peinto, Shinigami and Kuronoa being stuck in a time loop, each time dying horribly only to be revived by a phone call from Torazo to do it all again. They dwindle and loose hope before viewers' very eyes, struggling to uncover a long and messy history of families they stay with and to find a way to somehow break this horrible loop. The writing may be challenging, especially all the family shenanigans, but the acting and the pure terror of the situation they found themselves in is such a drastic change of mood from what you usually find with cheerful and happy ntjo that it's bound to leave a strong impression. Once you get acquainted with the members, be sure to give it a watch, you're in for a ride.
Because of course, who else could I start with! Chaotic, fun and iconic group that literally celebrates their first (lmao) anniversary today and are going stronger than ever. Welcome to Yabacity! Time to work on your kansaiben.
(and yes, while it's hard to not mention that they are former wrwrd members who left due to legal reasons, they are not affiliated and shouldn't really be depicted together. wrwrd have a tremendous legacy that you should definitely research, but this blog's goal is to show you creators who could use your love and support here and now!)
So, who are majiyaba?
Mazimeni Yabacity (yeah with a Z, mzyb for short) are a group who debuted on... well, it's complicated since anniversary artworks were going around all September, but October 1st is seemingly the date everyone's the most excited about. They're a gaming group mostly focused on Minecraft, but they often stream really various games from GTA and Terraria to really obscure and fun things you've probably never seen before. Every monday they also release variety series, with members chatting and bullying each other in formats from ranking each other on tier lists to Daisensei teaching them basic etiquette. On saturdays they have subscription-only streams, Maziya-Bar, where members drink alcohol, read fan mail and just have a chill night.
What does "majimeni yabacity" even mean? Not even Utsu knows. Their aesthetic is built around a bustling, neon-lit city where anything could happen. You could bump into a fun baseball match or get attacked by a parasitic mushroom or a sentient bowling ball - who knows? No safety guaranteed~!
Almost all members speak with strong kansai dialect, often swear and make crude or suggestive jokes, but at their core mzyb is a very close group of friends who despite constant bullying and pranks keep a friendly and lighthearted vibe that makes their videos very fun and approachable! mzyb currently consists of six members with two extras, Cino and Hyoutarou, often visiting as "suburbians" (郊外, kougai). But more on them next time!
Members
🚬 Utsu-sensei (鬱先生)
Also known as Daisensei, mzyb's blue member. Even though they don't have a formal leader, he's their main representative, often appearing in offline events as he's the only active member showing his face.
Even though his character has a constantly depressed and tired aura, he's a natural born performer with an affinity for dirty jokes, wannabe playboy who loves female attention and sometimes just a total loser who messes up and gets disrespected by his fellow members a lot.
Despite this, he's actually a really competent and reliable guy, even though he's fully committed to embarrassing himself at any moment. He's the one hosting all of their programs, appears in almost every video and makes sure that all the members' differences are treated with respect and celebrated.
⚾️ Shaoron (シャオロン)
mzyb's yellow member, his avatar modeled after his love for baseball and overall sports. The tiny baseball's name is Tamao! And he has Shao's signature (^o^) expression, the one you'll find him making way before the new channel.
He's energetic, extraverted and has a habit of being a little shit and intentionally getting on people's nerves. And also an overall attention seeker, especially if that means ragebaiting Daisensei into oblivion. Associated with dogs, specifically pomeranians, and loves TRPGs, often participating in sessions hosted by Mutsu (and pestering Shoppi about hosting one in the past). Him and Emile are considered the rare members, due to being constantly busy in real life.
🍄 Tonton (トントン)
mzyb's red member. His character is actually a parasitic mushroom using a random guy's body as a host. And he won't stop on that, so beware.
Very strict, fierce and assertive, he has the temper of your caring but abrasive dad and is a reliable senior to all the younger members like Cino and Hyoutarou, especially since he's been in this scene for the longest out of the bunch. In gameplay, he's often seen organizing bases, building or tending to farms, and has by the way recently found strong interest in Terraria. I'd say he curses the most, with strong KUTABAREs flying left and right, he's very defensive and quick to resort to violence but still has a big heart. He lives in the country and has shared stories of other members visiting him, even without notice... like Shaoron, of course.
🎳 Zomu (ゾム)
Well, it's "Zom", but overseas fans don't usually call him that. mzyb's green member, his character is a sentient bowling ball floating inside a lush fur coat. What's inside his "head"? God only knows, and with a body like that - or lack there of - you may not want to find out.
Bearing the title of a psychopath, Zomu is seemingly quiet and unassuming, but his love for destruction, chaos and especially explosions becomes apparent very quickly. He's a silent but powerful threat in competitive games and a shy, kind and considerate person off-screen. He loves animals, definitely more than humans, horror games, copious food portions and drawing really... unique artistic renditions in MS Paint. Emile's best friend, hanging out with him a lot both in videos and offline - their duo, ocha doumei, is still sometimes celebrated on April 27th.
🚫 Emile (エーミール)
mzyb's brown member. Chronically offline, highly intelligent and kind but naive old man who's the constant scapegoat and the butt of every joke. He's a former college professor who's really knowledgeable academically but is painfully awkward in real life - despite dreaming of marriage, his love life has been a total flop so far and oh boy do other members not let us forget.
His design references many former anecdotes, like offering a banana to a lost lady or eating a live cicada. Despite constant bullying, he seems to be more confident with himself as of late and is really a very fun and charming creator. Just look at him blowing everything up with a tank in GTA! And don't worry, even the rudest of jokes are all in good faith.
🐦 Shoppi (ショッピ)
mzyb's purple and youngest member. His character is modeled after a pigeon, the arrows on his hoodie referencing his (along with Utsu and Cino's) love for DDR, and his name derived from his favorite cigarette brand, Short Peace.
Usually quiet, calm and straightforward, he finds great joy in nonchalantly ridiculing people or saying the most inappropriate things. Other than his sharp tongue, he's often very chill, but gets really competitive in shooters and rhythm games. He's a motocycle nerd and shares this interest with Emile, and also absolutely adores cats. Utsu, Shoppi and Cino were collectively known as DDR-bu due to hanging out a lot and also all three being heavy smokers. They still often appear together along with Tonton, their quartet named 53 kidan.
Series and recommendations
As mentioned, their main focus is Minecraft, with the main series being majirenbo - your good old hide-and-seek where they usually keep finding new ways to break the game. Every now and then they play through different mods, like Aether or Gravity Mod (yes that one), or check out new updates and just have fun with all the additions. If you're here for the mcyt, definitely check out the majirenbo playlist or the Gravity Mod playthrough!
But if you're already intrigued by their personalities, variety series like okizukaigaku are a must-watch too! Whether it's parodying each other or doubling down on their individual quirks, these videos feel like a really friendly if unhinged chat where every member gets a chance to shine. Featuring guest appearances from kougai too - even when he's not present, they won't let Hyoutarou rest.
As for other games, Woman Communication from Utsu and Tonton is just hilarious, GTA5 is pure fun and destruction, and Kanji de GO really makes you feel more confident in your japanese seeing natives scream in terror over kanji readings. Emile and Zomu's Chigau Hoshi no Bokura has a special place in fandom's heart, too.
Speaking of Cino and Hyoutarou - even though they're an integral part of the channel, they're still solo streamers and sadly their introductions will have to wait. But worry not, I'll get to them soon enough!
