#circuit 16

[stxrfuxker]

after like over 5 hours. behold. my fan units

clearly i got a little lazy near the end lmao

a little bit of info abt them below the cut! (i have lots more fun details but this doesn’t need to be an essay)

first group: KUDATOMO (“kudamono” / “tomodachi,” pun on “fruit” and “friend)

this is the group i have the most nailed down about. they are independent vtubers! their sekai is orchard sekai & their VS are miku, gumi, teto, IA, tei, and nana! from left to right—

hinako riyona is the unit lead and she is bright, outgoing, but quick to anger and assumption. still, she has a huge heart. (pose ref: airi)

yukimura kiku is a driven and incredibly caring girl who won’t stop until the work is done, but she speaks bluntly, and she’s done things in her past she never wants to speak of again. (pose ref: an)

that’s orchard sekai miku (pose ref: saki)

rinzaki yae is a talented writer with a tendency to escape into her storybooks. she’s very nervous about like everything. she’s also half korean! (pose ref: mafuyu)

hinomori saba is shiho’s twin and, no matter how hard she tries, she can never seem to live up to her sisters. she’s skilled with social media tactics, and she brings joy and light to every room. (pose ref: emu)

second group: mirai no merodii (melody of the future)

i’ve been working this group essentially all day and, though i don’t have everything figured out, i’m getting there. maybe. they are a performance group that originated as cosplay idols who perform at conventions— now, they play their own characters and tell their own stories through every show. costumes, storylines, and everything in between are all handmade. their sekai is stained glass sekai & their VS are miku, luka, seeu, flower, and hime and mikoto!

there is no real unit lead, but for game purposes, katsukawa yukina can be the leader. she works with her twin sister shiori to write the stories. (pose ref: ena & haruka)

yoshioka suisei does most of the crafts and costuming! she’s also croatian. (pose ref: minori)

shiina azimova ilya is a russian immigrant, whose name was loanworded to iriya when she arrived. she handles a lot of the more technical stuff — bookings, events, etc. (pose ref: honami)

third group: CIRCUIT 16

i don’t know what’s going on with these guys any more than you do. they’re kinda… secretive? underground, tech-y, anonymous… idk. ZUTOMAYO-esque, maybe. their sekai is arcade sekai and i don’t have any idea who their VS are yet lmao

fukumura mayu is the unit lead! she’s also kiku’s younger cousin. they have a lot of lore. mayu also has a ton of cameos in tcom if you’re familiar with that (pose ref: shiho)

yoshioka sora is suisei’s brother and at this point i’m forgetting if i decided croatian or indian for the two of them. EITHER WAY. idk anything about him yet but i guess he’s probably cool (pose ref: akito)

kotetsu ryōsuke is also here (pose ref: nene)

“boy 3” is uhhh. transgender and mexican. that’s literally all i’ve got (pose ref: rin)

also side note finding costumes for these guys was SO HARD. kdtm and miramero have been super easy for me to conceptualise and sketch costumes for (usually starting with an idea and then referencing in-game outfits—) but idk if it’s the men or proseka’s lack of good alt/scene clothes but MAN. this has been rough lmao

all these are their brand new world outfits! i have different concepts for release :]

[stxrfuxker]

continued progress on c16

[stxrfuxker]

you guys should send me asks with questions about my fan units

[stxrfuxker]

sketches from the middle of theology class (can we tell i’m not much of a traditional artist)

[stxrfuxker]

back again!! (i dont mean to spam your inbox or anything im just really interested lol)

what would you say your favourite character relationships/dynamics are with the fanunits?

you are not spamming me i promise!!! i really like talking about this… thank u…. :>

this is kinda tricky only because i’ve only really fully developed characters for kudatomo and a bit of miramero (even less of kirakirai). BUT. i can talk about the stuff i do have!!!

i think the relationship between riyona and yae is very cute, both from kdtm… they were the first two members, working together to build up the agency before it was even off the ground. yae was creating personas while riyona was looking over audition tapes, and they grew super close in the quiet nights when it was just the two of them, up late in a discord call trying to work out logistics.

riyona and kiku are also some of my favs. simply put. they’re besties. they hang out twice or three times a week just to be in each other’s company. they both admire each other a ton and have incredible gratitude for each other — they both know the other is reliable and dependable, and their friendship feels more removed from work, while their relationships with other girls have a tiiiiny touch of “company assignment” to them.

mayu and sora (c16) ALSO have a relationship built on mutual admiration. their main story is kinda just the two of them making star eyes at each other. and they basically pull renato out of a hole in the ground (metaphorically) because they kinda need an audio mixer bad and he has no experience but he DOES have passion… so both of them are blown away when he’s fucking incredible at what he does. that’s all of c16 honestly. it’s all just mutual admiration and appreciation. they love each other so much

saba’s dynamic with everyone else in kdtm is tainted by her insecurity and jealousy and i don’t necessarily “like” that but OUGH is it fun to work with… if a little tainted… there’s a part of her that hates all her friends so deeply because they’re doing better than her and it makes me crazy (i say about the characters i developed…)

suisei is childhood friends with the katsukawa twins (miramero) and i love a good childhood friend dynamic. also i just like the twins in general. they’re so fun

kirakirai is built on the feeling of not belonging and so they’re all pretty close and perhaps a tad codependent. very “these people are the only ones who will ever understand/love/see/want me”. but. they work through it. yuuri/hitomi in particular make me crazy — hitomi has never been wanted, and hitomi’s friendliness and genuine interest in others make yuuri’s heart flutter every time they interact since she’s not used to others treating her like a normal friend. which results in yuuri wanting to spend more and more time with hitomi, and hitomi seeing yuuri as the only person who’s ever actually wanted her for who she is… they’re so cute

similarly, mitsu and ahiru (still kirakirai) have shared feelings of being “in between” or not fitting anywhere since mitsu is trans and ahiru’s a transracial adoptee. so. they find solace in that

thank youuuu for letting me ramble i appreciate you so much

[stxrfuxker]

also! for your fanunits! are there many inter-unit relationships + how important are they? also how did you think of their different sekai concepts? (because i think thats really cool)

THANK YOU I LOVE YOU IVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO ASK ABOUT MY GUYS (as is probably clear by the very long response… sorry…)

so a fair amount of the inter unit relationships are just. siblings. or sibling-like because idk what are friends. i’m figuring all this out as i go lol (and i’m still a unit short…) soooo

but uh. mayu (c16) and kiku (kdtm) are cousins and that relationship is very important, it’s essentially the foundation of kiku’s arc. kiku’s area item is “plushie from mayu” so. yeah. sora (c16) and suisei (miramero) are siblings! sora’s existence as a successful musician is essential to suisei’s arc as well, especially in the beginning— the first line of the miramero main story is suisei saying:

my brother has always been an incredible performer.

if that’s any indication lol. sora inspires suisei to perform and then encourages suisei to follow her dreams of being a performer, even though her parents have always told her she can’t “infringe on her brother’s spotlight.”

and this isn’t quite what you’re asking but saba has sisters in leo/need (shiho) and MMJ (shizuku) that are also kind of important in that saba often compares herself to her sisters, seeing herself as “the failure of the family.”

as for the sekai— i often come up with them after everything else. literally dead last. it comes easy for some units (c16’s “arcade sekai” and miramero’s “stained glass sekai” were nearly instant decisions) but dear god picking kudatomo’s sekai was a struggle and a half. it took me AGES. and i still don’t have one for kirakirai lmao

orchard sekai was kind of a desperate grasp at literally anything because at that point i was so lost that i was like “FUCK IT. FRUITS.” and then i realised i actually liked the fruits… i developed it out in about ten minutes, thinking about the areas and the virtual singers and what the girls of kdtm would need. everyone kept suggesting techy stuff because of course, they’re vtubers, but honestly i think their sekai would actually be far removed from social media and live streaming since it dominates so much of their irl lives. their sekai is a place for them to detach and destress, and forget about work for a little while.

arcade sekai was one of the top suggestions for kdtm that i didn’t use, so when i was thinking about c16’s sekai it was still in my mind. but it actually REALLY works for c16. the lights, the noise, the tech, the bustle— it’s perfect. it’s dimly lit and constantly noisy, sort of feeding into that secretive-underground thing c16 has going on.

i still don’t know what the hell stained glass sekai really is. in miramero’s main story, seeu says:

like we said, this is your SEKAI. well, your part of the SEKAI, anyway. made just how you’d like it to be.

which i guess suggests that each member has their own area. in my mind, stained glass sekai is bathed in coloured light, full of ribbons and soft things and colours blending in sunbeams. it’s endless, almost shifting behind you as you move through it— no space ever stays the same. the patterns swirl on the ground, and the glass sparkles with laughter. idk

i have net 0 ideas for kirakirai. my sister suggested psych ward sekai which made me laugh my ass off but i don’t think i’ll actually be doing that