Tomari Mari

Tomari Mari (Japanese: 兎鞠まり) is a Japanese VTuber who works independently. She was formerly affiliated with upd8. She is known as one of the best-known "babiniku" VTubers, meaning a male creator who uses a voice changer to perform as a girl character, and she has openly said she is male since her debut.

Profile

Item	Detail
Debut	July 1, 2018 (YouTube)
Birthday	November 5
Agency	Independent (formerly upd8)
Fan name	Ninjin-domo
Stream tag	#とまライブ
Character designer	Tomari Mari (original design), later Natsume Eri
Live2D	rariemonn
3D model	Halfsode

Career

Tomari Mari debuted on YouTube on July 1, 2018. According to Otapedia, the debut of Magurona the Demon King inspired her to become a VTuber. Like her, Magurona was a male illustrator voicing a female character. Mari designed her first avatar herself, and the character was redesigned several times after that. In 2018 she joined upd8, a VTuber support project run by Activ8, the company behind Kizuna AI. Otapedia dates the announcement to September 2018. On October 31, 2018, she took part in the event "Babiniku Nightclub in Shibuya" with Takehana Note and Magurona.

Her model was updated on May 16, 2020, with changes to her design and outfit. On November 1, 2020, upd8 announced that the project would end on December 31, 2020. Like most of the project's other talents, Mari kept streaming as an independent creator after it closed. In January 2021 she took part in an Apex Legends tournament. In 2022 she appeared in the book "VTuber Style AllGuys BOOK", released on April 20. Her 3D model's face was updated two days later, and the outfit from the book was added to the 3D model on August 26, 2022, together with a long-hair version. She later held an eighth-anniversary stream on July 1, 2026.

Activities

Streaming style

Mari mainly streams games, chats with viewers and does art streams. She has played a wide range of titles, including Outlast, Dead by Daylight, Human: Fall Flat, Dark Souls, Splatoon 2, Apex Legends, Minecraft, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Sekiro. Many of her streams feature other VTubers. She often collaborates with Amano Pikamee and Izumi Yunohara, and she has appeared on chat streams with Inuyama Tamaki and Ange Katrina. Kizuna AI has played Super Mario Party with her. Mari has also hosted community events, such as a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tournament and a Gartic Phone collaboration with several other VTubers.

Characteristics

Mari presents herself as a "self-proclaimed beautiful girl" who uses a voice changer. She is a pink-haired rabbit girl with twin tails, animal ears, pink eyes and striped hair ribbons. She has said she kept the original design simple so it would stand out among the many VTubers of the time. Her usual greeting is "Konmari." Outside of streaming, she is an illustrator and has designed avatars for other VTubers. Japanese Wikipedia describes her as among the best-known babiniku VTubers. When the TV Asahi program "Kinyōbi no Metaverse" featured her, Igari Sōya of HiHi Jets called her an original figure of the genre. She has also run a VTuber workshop as a guest lecturer at an open campus event of Tokyo School of Music and Dance (TSM).