Akabane Youko

Akabane Youko (Japanese: 赤羽葉子) is a female Japanese VTuber affiliated with NIJISANJI, operated by ANYCOLOR (formerly Ichikara Inc.). She was a founding member of NIJISANJI Gamers, a branch that no longer exists. She is known for streaming horror games, FPS titles and Pokémon, and for a character concept built around the occult.

Profile

Item	Detail
Debut	May 19, 2018
Birthday	April 5
Height	168 cm
Agency	NIJISANJI
Former group	NIJISANJI Gamers
Nicknames	Bane-chan, Baneko, Banego
Fan name	Shikabane
General tag	#赤羽葉子
Stream tag	#赤羽絶況チュウ
Fan-art tag	#赤羽絵葉書
Character designer	Nagomi

Career

Akabane Youko set up her Twitter account in April 2018 and posted her first tweet on May 2, 2018. Her YouTube channel was created the same day. She debuted on May 19, 2018, as one of the first members of NIJISANJI Gamers, a gaming-focused branch of Ichikara Inc.'s NIJISANJI project. In her debut she said that her friends called her Bane-chan and Baneko.

On December 13, 2018, Ichikara Inc. announced that NIJISANJI Gamers and NIJISANJI SEEDs would merge into NIJISANJI by the end of that month. After the merger, Akabane Youko became an official member of NIJISANJI. She has had both 2D and 3D models during her career. Her official profile text was revised in August 2021. She still streams on YouTube and also has a channel on the Japanese streaming site OPENREC.

Activities

Streaming style

Her content mostly consists of gaming, free talk and singing. Early on she streamed horror and survival games such as Postal 2, The Forest and Don't Knock Twice, as well as the battle royale PUBG. Her first collaboration was with fellow NIJISANJI member Honma Himawari. Pokémon is her favorite game series, and her favorite Pokémon is Houndoom. She is also known for FPS titles and puzzle horror games.

More recently she has joined NIJISANJI-wide events, including a Pokémon Champions tournament held inside the agency and a team-based PUBG MOBILE event. She has also streamed collaborative talk content with other members and posted short-form videos, including dance shorts.

Characteristics

Her original character profile described her as an 18-year-old student at a high school in Shibuya. In this story she led the Occult Research Club and loved ghost stories and spiritualism. Her school was the subject of strange rumors about old chimes heard ringing after classes ended. This profile was used until August 12, 2021.

Her current profile describes her as an 18-year-old third-year high school student. She dresses and acts like a gyaru at school but is secretly an otaku who loves anime, manga, video games and yuri. Her character design, by illustrator Nagomi, has long, light pinkish-brown hair in a single side ponytail with a pink scrunchie, and light green eyes. Her outfit is a school-style uniform: a pink long-sleeved shirt with a white collar, a loose pink plaid bow and a grey and black plaid skirt.