PRISM’s Ami Amami, Kou Tsubame & Lana Shikami on debuting for a VTuber agency
YouTube: Kou TsubameThey are “the music loving generation of PRISM Project.” Ami Amami, Kou Tsubame, and Lana Shikami broke the VTuber agency’s long drought of debuts when they stepped onto the scene in April 2023. Now, they open up on what that pressure was like.
Ami Amami, Kou Tsubame, and Lana Shikami broke one of VTubing’s longest debut droughts.
The trio were PRISM Project’s first releases in 18 months. It was the agency’s first reveal since joining Sony Music Entertainment Japan nearly 12 months earlier. Those two facts made their first impressions even more important than your usual VTuber debut.
But such is the lighthearted nature of PRISM Project Gen 5, codenamed Forecast, that this was nothing more than water off their back. The trio (now duo following the graduation of Lana Shikami due to health reasons) are bright and bubbly — even the electrifying Kou Tsubame has a bit of ‘gap moe’ going on — and have put their best foot forward in these first three months.
Right off the bat, they were bouncing off each other like longtime pals when reflecting on what led them here.
Music, for one, is a core part of each of their identities. Ami leans more into the Japanese idol culture, while Kou is more hardened on the EDM scene. Lana was a self-professed musical theater nerd.
They’re all into various types of games, like most streamers are.
And they all made it through a pretty strenuous audition process that saw eight stars, spaced out across three generations, make the cut out of more than 3000 applicants.
But all of that was truly tested when the cameras turned on them for the first time on April 29, 2023.
Writer’s note: This interview was conducted in June 2023, before Lana Shikami’s graduation from PRISM Project due to health reasons.
PRISM ProjectWhat goes into a VTuber debut?
A VTuber’s debut is one of the most important streams they’ll ever do. They do say first impressions count. That pressure is only compounded when you’ve got the eyes and hopes of an agency on your back.
PRISM Gen 5 launched a months-long process to get ready for debut from the moment they auditioned in August 2022. Sure, casting the talents to the character models is one thing, but finer details like graphics, background music, and the iconic Powerpoint have to be prepared.
For all three of Forecast, they prepared a musical number and basically rehearsed a run sheet in their head ahead of time.
“The whole debut day was a rollercoaster of emotions,” Lana explained. “There were times I was super nervous about it — we all get nervous before a performance. There were times I was super calm about it — yeah no, I’ve got this as long as my cat doesn’t jump on my table.
“There’s so much prep that goes into it. You practice and you practice, you go over everything and get it all set up and sorted. On the day, you just have to give into it and go with the moment and hope you remembered everything you planned.”
Even the best preparation can be soiled by nerves though. And you could cut the tension with a knife in the hours leading up to Gen 5’s debuts.
“There was a meeting we had right before debut, maybe an hour before we started,” Ami explained. “It was us three, plus Shogun and the rest of management. They said some wonderful things to us, some really uplifting and encouraging messages.
“Then we sat in silence — me, Kou, and Lana — the entire time. Afterwards they were like, ‘Do you guys have anything you want to say?’ And we were like ‘No, no thanks.’ We were so nervous! That was what it was like right before.
“Being in anticipation that long and then releasing it in one instant in front of hundreds of people… for me, if I was on stage in front of that number of people, I probably would have fainted. I don’t think the nerves went away, maybe it was the adrenaline [kicking in].”
Kou was quick to jump in with a pained scream.
“I was quaking in my boots,” she laughed. “I was stressed the moment we got announced and I did not stop shaking until I hit the end stream button [on my debut] and I could finally release all the tension.
“Up until that moment I was so stressed. It’s scary to have that many eyes on you at once. You can see the chat moving quickly in the corner of your eye. You’re trying to make a really good first impression. It’s just scary. It gets to you. I’m not good with crowds so…”
However, the pressure subsided when they each went live. Without a hitch, they flowed seamlessly in a three-hour relay full of little gems of content.
Each stream peaked at more than 1,000 viewers as each talent approached it with a different act. Ami had a cute visual novel-slash-journal walkthrough. Kou brought back the iconic rolling hills of Windows XP’s iconic Bliss background to share her lore. And Lana, well, she broke out the ASMR before her debut — and launched right into it on the day.
VTuber fans couldn’t get enough, but it was an even bigger moment for those behind the scenes at PRISM.
“I wanted us to do a good job for a lot of different reasons,” Ami said. “I wanted to make Shogun [the group’s producer] and management not regret having hired me. I wanted to make a good impression on the higher-ups at Sony. I wanted to make a good impression on the VTuber community. Also myself.
“There was a good balance between feeling pressured negatively, and feeling pushed forward in a positive way by it.”
And even the sickly-nervous Kou could see the faith many had in them to perform when it mattered: “For us to pass, that alone was a huge honor. Sony Music people were there from different departments — music directors, VA managers — and they all greenlit us.”
Trying to fit in
PRISM had remained unchanged for 18 months — barring one departure — before Gen 5 came along. The VTubers had all gotten to not just know each other, but truly bond.
The Forecast trio had to get along themselves. After all, collabing with your genmates is a pretty core part of the agency VTubing experience. And while there was initial apprehension, they pretty quickly got over it.
“One of my biggest fears with joining PRISM was, ‘What if my genmates hate me?’ An even bigger fear was, ‘What if I hate them,’” Kou said, to everyone’s laughter. “But oh my god, I love them. They’re so wonderful.
“All the nerves and stress went away and I’m so grateful. It’s truly the dream team here. Every time we end a collab, we just sit on call and just laugh. I’m very grateful for those moments.”
When Gen 5 stepped up to the plate, it also was a bit of a make-or-break moment for the agency.
“The one thing that was stuck in my mind was we couldn’t do anything to change that PRISM family reputation the project had,” producer Shogun said. “That was from the very beginning when we had our first meeting with the talents [before Gen 5 were even auditioning].
“I know a lot of PRISM Agents were waiting a long time for us to arrive, so I worked to make them feel like the wait was worth it,” Kou added.
Three months on, and it’s clear as day that they’ve slotted in smoothly.
Publicly-facing, there are collabs abound. Lana linked up with the likes of Sara Nagare and Rita Kamishiro before her departure. Ami’s short covers have been shared the world over. Kou is already planning a host of musical projects — solo and perhaps with others.
But there’s always got to be favorites right?
“I was going through my journal and telling people about my interests,” Ami laughed, being game enough to answer the question first. “I flipped in my journal to a secret doodle page where I had drawn a picture of myself taking over the world.
“Two of my senpais in particular, Rita-senpai and Iku-senpai [Hoshifuri], were very proud of me, in a horrible yaoi style of art.”
Kou Tsubame resonated with Ami on the Iku sentiment because of “how hard she works and how tirelessly she puts in the effort and how much she cares.” However, she also highlighted Shiki Miyoshino, who has been making waves more broadly in the VTubing space and elevating PRISM with her.
“I’ve looked up to her since way before joining PRISM. She was one of the first people to reach out and say, ‘Welcome, if you need anything just let me know.’
“After being announced to the world, she’s gone out of her way to help me and guide me and make sure I didn’t feel overwhelmed or lost. She didn’t have to do any of those things, but she did because she wanted to and she cared.”
Supplied: PRISM ProjectThe future with PRISM Project
Despite facing adversity early on, the good times are keeping on rolling for the boundlessly positive PRISM Project generation.
The similarities have been highlighted above, but it’s really their differences that have brought them closer together.
“We’re learning so much about things we never thought we’d be interested in or look into,” Ami explained. “I remember we had a meeting after our debut with all of us and the managers. I remember saying ‘Lana, your stream was the first ASMR stream I’ve sat through before, and I didn’t know if ASMR was for me but I enjoyed what you did with it.’
Lana was quick to jump in: “I have apologized for corrupting the frog. I’m really sorry. No one seems to believe me. I’m trying not to!”
Ami laughed, before getting back on point: “Having such different backgrounds and interests could make for rifts between people, but it’s not like that for us.”
Music is a core part of their content to bring them together, but it’s not just the music themselves, or even PRISM’s management, are interested in.
“One of the misconceptions the fanbase had during the audition process was you understand the name Sony Music and it has ‘Music’ in the title,” Shogun explained. “Of course we have the resources within the company like various labels… but it’s not only music.
“There are other areas of the virtual talent space — voice acting, ASMR, gaming content. All of these are positives for our project, and we shouldn’t think it’s limited to musically inclined people just because the name is Sony Music.”
And so their big dreams expand beyond that scope. Sure, Kou Tsubame wants to go to an EDM festival and hear her voice on a track. Ami Amami wants to “reach people the world over with [her] voice” through singing, performing, or voice acting.
But they don’t just want to stick to music, or VTubing for that matter. They want to break through what’s been seen as previously possible in entertainment.
“I think there’s a lot to be said about how the world of VTubing allows you to do things you might not be able to do in the real world,” Ami explained. “But there’s a whole world of virtual entertainment and interconnectivity that we’ve been exploring at PRISM.
“Can we do some of these things that are traditionally limited to the physical world, like performances on stage? We have seen some big companies do 3D concerts. But can we do plays? Make little movies? Go do virtual sports?”
This was backed up by Shogun, who said that while PRISM Project is “one small part” of the giant Sony Music group, those connections could be valuable in pushing the entire industry forward, not just their talents.
“VTubing came up from the grassroots,” he said. “The culture spontaneously developed, got pushed along by other companies, and has found itself struggling to know what comes next. Is there an opportunity to do something that is larger than streaming and gaming content?
“We think we can do that, and using the strengths of the Sony Music group, soon you will be able to see the fruits of that.”
More importantly than the content though, and while it sounds cheesy, they have individually found their family here — just as Shogun hoped when bringing them on in the first place.
“One of the first things I noticed was the camaraderie,” Lana stated. “Everything is easy and smooth sailing because everybody is so onboard and on the same page. Everyone is working towards their individual goals but we’re also connected in how we go about achieving them.”
“I came into it hoping to make friends but with the expectation that it would be mostly professional. It’s been all that and more,” Ami added. “There’s so many brilliant minds throwing ideas out there all the time, and someone is bound to want to join you to make that a reality.
“A lot of companies will tell you ‘we are a family’ but that’s a surface-level thing. For us, it doesn’t feel that way here. It’s real.”