Komachi Panko Sings ‘Weird Fishes’ for the First Time, Says She Is Not Graduating

PHASE CONNECT — Komachi Panko of Phase Connect (Phase 02 - ALiAS) sang 13 songs on a karaoke stream, including “Weird Fishes,” which she said she had never sung before. She also told viewers that she had had a hard stretch, was feeling better, and was not graduating.

The singing began after a long preamble. Panko talked about the cost of housing in Italy and why she had not moved out, then went through the Halloween pumpkin pictures and recipes that viewers had submitted to her, describing the dishes one by one. After a short vocal warm-up she opened with “Selfless” by The Strokes, which she said she had been listening to a lot and had to sing in a different key because it sits low for her.

“I just want you guys to know that I’m trying my best.” — Komachi Panko, speaking to viewers about the past few months

The set ran through Radiohead’s “15 Step,” which she said she had tried once before without success, two Billie Eilish songs, Alice in Chains’ “Man in the Box,” Placebo’s “This Picture” and “My Sweet Prince,” Nirvana’s “School,” and Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” and “My Iron Lung.” She said she had run out of prepared songs when a viewer requested “Weird Fishes”; she tried it and told chat it was the first time she had ever sung it. Later requests brought “Asphyxia” in its piano version and, as the last song, “Jigsaw Falling into Place.” She said her voice gave out at the start of that final song and she stopped there, noting she had had voice trouble in the days before.

In the middle of the set Panko answered a viewer’s question about whether she felt jaded. She said she could no longer see other VTubers as idols because working in the same job showed her how they think, but that her enthusiasm had not gone. She described the past three months as hard, said her health had affected her content and direction, and said this was the best she had felt in months. “I am not graduating,” she said, adding that she did not want to make promises. She said she wanted to do things the right way.

Chat answered the songs with applause emotes and “pachi pachi” clapping, and viewers sent 29 Super Chats and Stickers over the stream. Panko said she would not stream the next day and would return on Wednesday or Thursday to play what she called a very dumb game.