Who Is Kuzuha?

Last updated: October 2026

Name (Japanese)	葛葉 (Kuzuha)
Category	VTuber — streamer and singer
Agency	Nijisanji (ANYCOLOR Inc.)
Active since	March 2018
Known for	Gaming streams, ChroNoiR duo with Kanae
Platform	YouTube (Kuzuha Channel)
Birthday	November 10 (character profile)

Kuzuha (葛葉) is one of the most popular male VTubers in Japan — a streamer and singer who performs as a sharp-tongued vampire with messy white hair and glowing red eyes. A VTuber, short for “virtual YouTuber,” is an entertainer who appears online as an animated character instead of showing their face on camera. Kuzuha belongs to Nijisanji, one of Japan’s largest VTuber agencies, and broadcasts on his YouTube channel Kuzuha Channel, where he built his following on marathon late-night gaming streams, quick wit, and a famously unfiltered way of talking to his audience.

His reach now goes far beyond game streams. In June 2025, he became the first male Japanese VTuber — and the first member of Nijisanji — to pass two million YouTube subscribers. He records music under Virgin Music, a Universal Music Japan label, performs in the two-man unit ChroNoiR alongside fellow Nijisanji star Kanae, and hosts his own esports tournament series, KZHCUP. As of October 2026, with more than two million subscribers, he remains one of the defining figures of Japan’s male VTuber scene.

Rise to Fame

Kuzuha debuted as an independent VTuber on March 8, 2018, during the first big wave of the VTuber boom in Japan. His gaming streams quickly drew attention, and on July 30, 2018, he joined Nijisanji Gamers, a game-focused branch of Nijisanji (the agency operated by Tokyo-based company ANYCOLOR). He is noted as the first talent the company actively scouted rather than recruited through auditions. When Nijisanji later unified its branches, Kuzuha moved into the agency’s main roster.

Two early partnerships shaped his career. Soon after his debut, he began streaming with Kanae, a fellow Nijisanji talent, and the pair’s duo ChroNoiR — the name combines “kuro,” the Japanese word for black, with the French “noir” — was officially formed in July 2019. The duo’s chemistry — Kanae’s smooth-talking style against Kuzuha’s blunt humor — made their collaborations some of Nijisanji’s most-watched content, and ChroNoiR later grew into a full-fledged music act with its own YouTube channel. Meanwhile, Kuzuha’s solo singing took off: his 2021 digital single “Contrail” topped Billboard Japan’s download chart, and on November 10, 2021 — his character’s birthday — he held his first solo concert, “Scarlet Invitation,” at Zepp Haneda in Tokyo. His major-label debut under Virgin Music followed, and his first mini album, “Sweet Bite,” arrived in March 2022.

What Kuzuha Is Known For

Kuzuha’s appeal rests on a mix of competitive gaming, music, and a persona fans find bracingly honest. He describes himself as a “lazy gamer vampire,” and in his official character lore he is a vampire more than a century old. His core activities include:

Gaming streams and tournaments: He is best known for shooters and competitive titles such as Apex Legends, and has won some of the biggest VTuber and streamer events — his teams took the VTuber Saikyo Ketteisen Apex Legends tournament in 2022 and 2024, and he won the Crazy Raccoon Cup’s Street Fighter 6 editions in 2023 and 2024.
KZHCUP: His self-hosted tournament series invites popular streamers and VTubers to compete in a chosen game. The Street Fighter 6 edition, “KZHCUP RUMBLE,” held its finals as a live offline event at Pacifico Yokohama in January 2026 — the first in-person KZHCUP.
ChroNoiR: The duo with Kanae releases original songs, holds concerts, and runs regular collaborative shows, operating like a two-man idol-and-comedy unit as much as a streaming pair.
Music: Alongside cover songs in the Japanese “utaite” tradition — amateur-rooted cover singers who built careers online — he releases original music, including “Black Crack” (2023), the opening theme for the anime “Good Night World.”

Recent Years

The mid-2020s brought Kuzuha a string of milestones. On June 3, 2025, his channel crossed two million subscribers, a first for both Nijisanji and male Japanese VTubers. He marked the achievement with a commemorative live stream on June 11, 2025, and a new digital single, “ギミモ” (“Gimimo”), followed the next day.

2026 has been his biggest year as a solo artist. His second mini album, “Adamantite,” was released on July 29, 2026, and as of early October 2026 he is preparing for “Kuzuha One-Man Live ‘Bloody Alexandrite’,” his first solo concert in about three years, set for October 12, 2026, at K-Arena Yokohama, one of Japan’s largest music venues, with a live broadcast on the streaming platform Niconico. To promote the show, train-station posters featuring reproductions of his handwritten messages were placed in all 47 of Japan’s prefectures. In September 2026, he also announced his voice-acting debut, playing Marvin in the Japanese dub of the Hollywood live-action Street Fighter film opening in October 2026. Eight years after his debut, the self-proclaimed lazy vampire has become one of the busiest names in Japanese streaming.

FAQ

Who is Kuzuha?

Kuzuha is a Japanese male VTuber affiliated with the agency Nijisanji. Performing as a vampire character, he is known for competitive gaming streams, his music career under a Universal Music Japan label, and the duo ChroNoiR with fellow VTuber Kanae.

Is Kuzuha the most subscribed male VTuber in Japan?

In June 2025, Kuzuha became the first male Japanese VTuber to reach two million YouTube subscribers, and as of 2026 he remains among the most subscribed male VTubers in the country.

What is ChroNoiR?

ChroNoiR is a two-man unit of Nijisanji VTubers Kuzuha and Kanae, who began collaborating in 2018 and officially formed the unit in 2019. The pair streams together and performs as a music duo, releasing original songs and holding concerts.