Anya Kumori Sings Through the Night, Close to 12 Hours, in Bid for 28,888 Subscribers

REACT — Anya Kumori, a VTuber with the agency ReAcT, sang through the night on her channel, streaming for 11 hours 53 minutes in a bid to push her subscriber count to 28,888. The stream began at 11:07 p.m. Japan time on Tuesday, and its title said she could not finish until the number was reached. She was still short when the archive approached the 12-hour limit she said it allows, and she signed off Wednesday morning.

The first hour went to talk: the agency’s latest announcements, a running debate over whether she is an angel or a little devil, and the question of what type of Pokémon gym leader she would be. She settled on Normal and Dark. Then she told viewers this was a singing stream, not a chat stream, and said she hoped to hit the target by the time the broadcast ended. She also said her aim is to reach 30,000 subscribers by the end of the year, and that she sets smaller targets along the way.

“If we don’t get there, we don’t get there. We didn’t make it, thank you, that’s how it goes.” — Anya Kumori, as the stream neared its 12-hour limit

Singing began about an hour in with “Yoru ni Kakeru” and “Fiction,” and ran through anime themes and pop songs, among them “Kyukurarin,” the Pokémon anime theme “Mezase Pokémon Master,” “Sparkle,” “Zankoku na Tenshi no Te-ze” and “World Is Mine.” Partway through she polled viewers on whether they wanted upbeat songs or ballads, and upbeat won. She also took on enka as a challenge and finished that run with “Tsugaru Strait Winter Scene,” which she said her grandparents used to hum.

Around six hours in, she said she would step away to eat and left the stream running. She came back about an hour later, saying she had had hot pot, and restarted the morning with the upbeat “Happy Jam Jam,” then the Pajama Party song, “RPG” and the Hamtaro theme, for which she asked chat to be ready with call-and-response shouts. Later songs included “Hoshi ga Matataku Konna Yoru ni” and “Jūgatsu Mukuchi na Kimi o Wasureru.”

As the hours ran out, she told viewers the goal looked out of reach and put the gap at about 20 subscribers. She said she had to rest her voice before her 3D debut stream on Nov. 4 at 9 p.m., and signed off hoping the number would be reached while she slept, apologizing for falling short. Ten Super Chats came in over the night, and chat kept cheering her on into the morning.