Who Is Nijisanji?

Last updated: October 2026

Name (Japanese)	にじさんじ (Nijisanji)
Category	VTuber agency / livestreamer group
Active since	February 2018
Operated by	Anycolor Inc. (Tokyo; listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange)
Known for	Livestream-first VTubers ("Livers"), one of the industry’s largest rosters
Branches	Japan (main branch) and Nijisanji EN (English)
Main platform	YouTube

Nijisanji (stylized NIJISANJI) is one of the two giants of Japan’s VTuber industry — the world of virtual YouTubers, streamers who sing, chat and play games as animated anime-style characters rather than showing their real faces. Operated by Tokyo-based Anycolor Inc., the group launched in February 2018 and has grown into a roster of roughly 180 active streamers, known as “Livers,” across its Japanese main branch and its English-language branch, Nijisanji EN.

Where early VTuber stars such as Kizuna AI built their followings on heavily edited 3D videos, Nijisanji bet on something simpler and cheaper: Live2D, software that turns a flat illustration into a moving, talking avatar, combined with long, unscripted livestreams. That livestream-first formula went on to become the industry standard, and it made Nijisanji — alongside its great rival Hololive — a dominant force in Japanese internet culture.

Rise to Fame

Anycolor, originally called Ichikara Inc., was founded in May 2017 by Riku Tazumi, then still a university student. Nijisanji began in February 2018 as a Live2D smartphone-app project, and its first eight “official users” — including Tsukino Mito, a prim student-council-president character whose chaotic talk streams quickly went viral — became the agency’s first generation of Livers.

The group then expanded at a pace unmatched in the industry, debuting dozens of new streamers each year. From 2019 it pushed overseas, including VirtuaReal, a joint project with the video platform Bilibili in China, as well as Indonesian, Korean and Indian operations. The English-language branch Nijisanji EN debuted in May 2021 with the three-member wave LazuLight, while the Indonesian and Korean branches were folded into the main branch in April 2022.

Milestones piled up along the way. Kuzuha, a self-styled vampire gamer, became the first male VTuber in the world to pass one million YouTube subscribers in 2021, and the aristocratic Hyakumantenbara Salome became the fastest VTuber ever to reach one million, doing so roughly two weeks after her May 2022 debut. In June 2022, Anycolor listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Growth Market, where its shares opened at more than three times their IPO price.

What Nijisanji Is Known For

Nijisanji’s identity rests on scale and variety rather than on a single star. Its best-known traits include:

A huge roster with broad creative freedom: hundreds of debuted Livers with distinct personas, from elves and vampires to office workers and high-school students.
Livestream culture: marathon gaming streams, “zatsudan” (casual free-talk streams) and chaotic large-group collaborations are the group’s bread and butter.
Strength with male talent: unusually for the industry, several of Nijisanji’s most-subscribed channels belong to male Livers such as Kuzuha, who command large female fanbases.
Big offline events: the Nijisanji Fes festival fills Makuhari Messe, a giant convention center near Tokyo, with concerts, exhibits and merchandise.
Music and media: Livers release original songs and albums, and units such as Nijisanji EN’s boy group BY THE BEAT have signed with major labels — in BY THE BEAT’s case Universal Music Japan, ahead of a major-label debut planned for 2027.

Recent Years

The group’s expansion has not been without turbulence. In February 2024, Anycolor announced it had terminated the contract of Selen Tatsuki, one of Nijisanji EN’s most popular Livers, citing breaches of contract. The decision triggered a major backlash among English-speaking fans and was followed by a wave of departures from the English branch, and the company’s CEO publicly addressed the criticism with a statement on changes to how Nijisanji EN would be run.

By 2026 the picture had largely stabilized. Nijisanji EN, whose roster stood at around 28 Livers, opened rolling auditions with no application deadline in March 2026 — a sign the branch intends to keep recruiting — and in Japan, Nijisanji Fes 2026 took over Makuhari Messe in May 2026 with concerts, exhibits and large-scale fan events.

The business has kept growing too: Anycolor reported record sales of roughly 55.7 billion yen (around 370 million US dollars) for the fiscal year ending April 2026, up about 30 percent from the previous year. The company counted 179 Livers as of that fiscal year-end — with sister project VirtuaReal adding dozens more in China — and new debuts continue on both sides of the Pacific.

FAQ

Is Nijisanji the same as Hololive?

No. They are rival VTuber agencies run by different companies: Nijisanji is operated by Anycolor Inc., while Hololive is operated by Cover Corp. The two are frequently compared as the biggest names in the Japanese VTuber industry.

How many members does Nijisanji have?

As of 2026, Nijisanji has about 180 active Livers across its Japanese main branch and Nijisanji EN — Anycolor counted 179 as of April 2026 — and its Chinese sister project VirtuaReal adds dozens more. Nijisanji EN alone has around 28 active members.

What does "Liver" mean in Nijisanji?

"Liver" (pronounced LIE-ver) is Nijisanji’s in-house term for its talents — a play on "livestreamer." Fans use it the way other agencies’ fans might say "member" or "talent."