Virtual Girl Nem

As the self-professed world's first independent Vtuber, バーチャル美少女ねむ Virtual Girl Nem has carved out a unique niche for herself in the last five years. Some of our readers may recall when we interviewed her in 2020. She is not only active through live streams and creative projects, but has also been at the forefront of research into the potential of the metaverse, particularly its social aspects.

Having made her writing debut with the novel 『仮想美少女シンギュラリティ』"Virtual Bishojo Singularity," her non-fiction 『メタバース進化論』"Metaverse Evolutionary Theory" has been hailed as one of the best introductions to the metaverse in the Japanese language. Moreover, the groundbreaking "Social VR Lifestyle Survey" which she co-authored with Swiss cultural anthropologist and Vtuber researcher Ludmila Bredikhina in 2021 provided much-needed insight into the social lives of metaverse users.

As a musical artist, she made her debut with 『ココロコスプレ』 "Kokoro Cosplay" in 2020, and has regularly produced songs since then, collaborating with other metaverse artists and creators along the way, pushing the envelope further each time with VR tech, the expressive capabilities of models and virtual worlds and metaverse videography. For example, in her music video for 『ファントムセンス』 "Phantom Sense" last year, she not only used full body tracking and facial tracking but also created a 360° music video allowing users to experience a remarkable sense of immersion.

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Music Video for 『メタバースデイ』 "Meta Birthday"

Social VR is currently attracting a great deal of attention worldwide as a new technologically mediated living space within the metaverse. However, the fact that there are users who are already "living" in this nascent metaverse and creating a new culture within it is still largely unknown to the general public. In her book "Metaverse Evolutionary Theory," Virtual Girl Nem refers to such users as "metaverse natives."

On August 30th, 2022, Virtual Girl Nem released a new music video for her 7th original song 『メタバースデイ』 "Meta Birthday" * shot entirely inside the next-generation social VR platform Neos VR and featuring raw footage of metaverse natives. The "Meta Birthday" project aims to promote their existence and suggest the possibility of a "new human evolution" as people are "reborn" in the metaverse. To help raise awareness, the video will be broadcast on the giant Onoden MX Vision screen in front of Akihabara Station throughout the month of October.

* Since the third syllable in "metaverse" is spelled identically to "birth" in the katakana syllabary used for foreign words in Japanese, the title of the song cleverly fuses "metaverse" メタバース with "birthday" バースデイ to form the portmanteau term メタバースデイ "MetaBirthday." There is no intended connection with the company Meta.

"Meta Birthday" / Virtual Girl Nem (Music by Kapruit) 4K

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"Meta Birthday" in Akihabara

From July 8th to 30th, 2022, Virtual Girl Nem conducted a successful crowdfunding project aimed at airing "Meta Birthday" on the giant "Onoden MX Vision" in front of Akihabara Station. The project achieved 454% of its target amount, earning over JPY 1,360,000 (about USD 9,820 at today's rates). From October 1st to October 30th between the hours of 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM, a 15-second digest version of the video will play on the giant screen.

"Meta Birthday" singing contest

In commemoration of the completion of the music video and the decision to air it on a giant video screen in Akihabara, Virtual Girl Nem is organizing a singing contest. All entries will be featured in Nem's livestream. The staff will present an award for excellence, and viewers will vote on their favorites too. In addition, the grand prize winner will have a chance to appear in the planned 3D live performance of "Meta Birthday." Those interested can submit entries between now and September 24th, 2022. A karaoke version of the song and a costume (see below) is offered to participants. See Virtual Girl Nem's Twitter account for details.

"Meta Birthday" dress is now available for free!

If you appreciated the dress worn by the metaverse natives in the video, it was designed and created especially for "Meta Birthday" for the video shoot. If you have an avatar, you can download it free of charge. You're free to use it in monetized videos, streams and events, and modify or arrange it as you wish. A campaign is also underway in which Nem will respond if you take a photo of yourself wearing it in the metaverse and upload the image to Twitter.

The "Meta Birthday Dress" asset includes a one-piece dress and matching shoes [VRoid] and is available on Virtual Girl Nem's Booth store here.