Shiratama Utano Sings Through Studio Ghibli Songs on Guitar in Two-Hour Stream

INDEPENDENT — Shiratama Utano, an independent VTuber with unUniVIRTUAL, spent a Thursday-night stream playing acoustic guitar and singing only songs from Studio Ghibli films. The stream, which ran about 136 minutes, was billed as a Ghibli-themed *utawaku*, or singing stream.

The opening did not go smoothly. A guitar connection problem left the start of the broadcast with no background music and unwanted sound, and Shiratama spent several minutes checking cables and levels, worrying aloud over what she might have said while the mix was wrong. She said she would review the opening after the stream before making the archive public, then restarted with a greeting and explained that the theme was Ghibli instead of her usual song choices.

“I may not look it, but I’m a Ghibli nerd. I really love Ghibli. I have figurines all over my house.” — Shiratama Utano, between songs

The set ran from there with songs from My Neighbor Totoro, including its “Kaze no Tōrimichi” insert song, Howl’s Moving Castle (“Sekai no Yakusoku”), Kiki’s Delivery Service, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Whisper of the Heart (“Country Road”) and Pom Poko, which closed the night. Between songs she talked about the films, noting that Howl is written as a far worse character in the original novel than in the film, and that a mother and child she had seen singing Totoro on a walk had made her glad that young children still watch Ghibli. She also remembered mid-stream that a theatrical re-release of Whisper of the Heart was about to start and said she would book a seat in a premium-sound theater.

Near the end she read out Super Chat messages and then addressed a warning a viewer had sent about her coming live event in Taiwan. She said she had passed it to her agency and the organizers, who told her that modified penlights and oversized banners, flags or balloons would be held at the door and returned afterward, and that anyone breaking the rules would be removed, with staff watching the floor. Lifts and moshing are banned at the standing show, she said, though jumping is fine.

She said she would appear in a three-person collaboration the next day, singing anime songs including works by Kalafina, FictionJunction and Walküre.