In today's horseshit we have another (nearly) full episode of Nijisanji being garbage with legal malpractice, with an artist getting yelled at by Niji's lawyers, harassed, threatened, traumatized, and belittled.

This is the third or fourth full episode of Nijisanji news, and is the kind of coverage that was last given to WACTOR and AkioAIR, which are both...extremely bad. There's a thread about Wactor here, but I haven't talked about AkioAIR. It ain't good, fam.

"I had a feeling letting the Deputy Chairman start his own vtuber agency was going to end badly."

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I hadn't made that connection before, but now that you've said it, that's....A not entirely unfounded link to make...

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-24 AT 01:16 AM (EST)
 
>I hadn't made that connection before, but now that you've said it,
>that's.....

Wow. What a terrifyingly apt connection. Smarmy, manipulative bastard in charge creating a bad situation to rescue young women, including a minor, from. Named Akio.

Ohtori was a warning, not a strategy guide, dammit. >_<

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

LAST EDITED ON Mar-11-24 AT 01:58 AM (EDT)
 
Do Not Create the Torment Nexus Ohtori Academy

Why is this even happening? At least Cover Corps doing a lot better in this regard.

It's another round of "how can they physically be this bad!?" I know Hanlon's Razor says “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”, but I feel like if they were just stupid they'd do better than this once in a while, on accident.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

Incidentally, two of the Niji talents are getting their 3D models - over two and a half years after debut. They happen to be Selen's old wavemates.

And one of them is getting her 3D debut stream on the SAME DAY as HoloFes. To be exact, Two hours after the venue opens, 30 minutes after the main stage opens up, and an hour before the concert starts.

That's the kind of scheduling that you do when you want to kill a TV show. Except unlike television, they don't HAVE to schedule anything opposite. Yet they did.

This feels like a punishment for Petra Gurin, the one scheduled opposite friggin HOLOFES - maybe she breathed wrong after the Selen thing. Rosemi Lovelock, the other, is scheduled for the 22nd, where the only thing scheduled is the VTuber Koshien, the annual baseball video game tournament - Unlikely to affect her.

Them getting their 3Ds feels like some sort of petty revenge, too - 'Look, they're getting their 3Ds, you could have had yours too, but you fucked it up'.

It's exactly as petty and vengeful as we've come to expect from Nijisanji as of late.

On the other hand, I want to say Petra may have almost gotten hers cancelled, but her 3D was leaked early. I wonder if it was leaked on purpose so they couldn't cancel it saying they didn't make her one.

Lies, lies, and more lies essentially. I'm pretty sure is super illegal to mislead and outright falsify data for investors this hard.

LAST EDITED ON Mar-31-24 AT 05:47 AM (EDT)
 
So, it's not NijisanjiEN *itself* in the crosshairs today, but it's one of their flagship talents, Luca Kanashiro, who has considerable receipts for being a sex pest and generally manipulative and toxic dickhead.

So, I happened to be looking through some vtuber discussion threads on other forums, and ran into some discussion that was taking place around when Zaion Lanza was terminated.

And I remember looking at some of that around the time it was current, as someone who hadn't actually gotten into any vtubers (besides watching some Kizuna Ai videos every now and then), and thinking "wait, this sounds like some incredible malfeasance on management's part, why are you acting like this is okay?"

While I'm not sure I'm entirely proud about it, I have to admit to feeling a certain amount of vindication looking at how attitudes have turned around between then and now.

In more recent news, Nijisanji EN has opened up auditions. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of people going "If you're thinking about applying, my advice is: don't." Though I also ran into this video that makes the case that a lot of aspiring vtubers should just go independent from the start.

-IA.

(received information not interpretable)

The evidence kinda started snowballing after Zaion, before that Niji just had some mildly distasteful wave spamming and favoritism going on. Then Zaion started the ball rolling, but folks didn’t really believe her so much, because it was mostly just a her vs the company thing.

Some of the Niji talents talking about her wasn’t great, but, we had also just recently come off of Rushia at the time, and it was distressingly easy to think that Zaion was a Problem, too.

It’s not a proud moment.

Oh look, a big nail (Warning: A new debut in another company goes even further with winkwink nudgenudge and the clippers break kayfabe harder because everyone knows)

So apparently on a recent stream for an energy drink cross-promotion, they suggested drinking it mixed with a certain kind of alcohol. An idea which was presented as coming from "Nijisanji staff".

I don't drink alcohol or energy drinks (and am officially on the Do Not list for the latter, actually), but apparently this is pretty dangerous. To the point where an actual Japanese government agency posted a Do Not Do This message.

I don't even know what to say about this, it's just bizarre.

-IA.

(received information not interpretable)

Yeeeeeep. And the energy drink company that they were doing the collab with took them to task on twitter for it, too. So that's a company that probably isn't going to work with Anycolor again.

I don't think I've gotten to that part. Last thing I saw coming from the drink company is them going "it's fiiiine, don't worry about it" more or less.

-IA.

(received information not interpretable)

I'm somewhat surprised this ended up being a problem- Vodka+Red Bull has been a thing for some time now without anyone getting too worried. Though Nijisanji has certainly been on the "fuck up a 2-ingredient cocktail" level of stupidity for a while now, so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

I can think of a few possible differences, some of which may not apply.

-Not being promoted by the (or at least a) actual company involved.
-Being promoted to a younger audience. (A group which, as I understand things, is already at higher risk for alcohol overdose.)
-Okay maybe I can only come up with two.

-IA.

(received information not interpretable)

There was a surge of people admitted to hospital with heart palpitations and the like after the stream, I'm given to understand, which is what caused this. Probably effing up the ratio, or just not being used to the caffeine and all like westerners are.

I'm not sure it's the ratio so much as the total amount consumed; the issue seems to be that their effects somewhat counter each other, so if someone's just going by how they feel they can get into overdose territory without realizing it.

-IA.

(received information not interpretable)

Well, I wouldn’t know. I don’t drink, and I think energy drinks taste like windshield wiper fluid.

So, how desperate have things gotten for Anycolor? They've gone scored earth on r/Nijisanji, firebombing the entire subreddit of any posts going back 4 months and then locking it down so only registered users can post. Amusingly, not only have a few anti-Niji posts managed to survive, but one of the few posts on the subreddit still up...is a NSFW Selen Tatsuki fanart.

>Amusingly, not only have a few anti-Niji posts managed to survive, but
>one of the few posts on the subreddit still up...is a NSFW Selen
>Tatsuki fanart.

They can't stop the Internet from carrying out its primary function.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

So in today's episode of "Nijisanji: The Never-Ending Train Wreck," we got more info from Michi Mochievee from VShojo about her time working there and what drove her to quit. And most of the themes of her story are the same as we've heard from fellow survivors (Sayu, Dokibird, Mint Fantome, Matara Kan, & Kuro), but the two big "F this place" moments are towards the end:

- The first is probably the one most are familiar with, namely that after she got a notice from the Indonesian government that she hadn't paid taxes for two years and she owed for those as well as interest, she queried Niji management about their agreement to file and pay her taxes only to be told that the money garnished from her pay had actually gone to pay their taxes. The cost of clearing up the debt by liquidating most everything she had left her with the equivalent of $300 to her name.

- The second is the more consequential but predates the tax issues and happened when Michi visited the Niji HQ for a meeting. She found herself seated in the same hallway where the company has infamously boasted they hang the YT play buttons their talents have received in order to show off to investors. Michi (or Bethany in her "hypothetical dream") saw her silver 100K button on the wall and decided to mime the "Yoink" meme to the manager who was there with her. Instead of a chuckle or a mild rebuke, she was instead given a verbal lashing and the threat of being removed from the building for what was treated as a grave insult. She says that while "Bethany" forgave them for the way they reacted, she never forgot the impression given that she couldn't be trusted and that plus having her money screwed with came together to be the final straw for her.

There's other stuff in the video, enough that it's over an hour long and mentions issues with management, burnout, and collabs that other ex-Niji members have commented upon, but these were the two points that seem to gotten the biggest attention in the wake of this stream.

>hallway where the company has infamously
>boasted they hang the YT play buttons their talents have received

When I heard about that the first thing I thought was "Isn't that theft?"

-IA.

(the part with the taxes is also theft)

Marx does teach us that ownership of YouTube play buttons is theft.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>she queried Niji management about their agreement to file and pay her
>taxes only to be told that the money garnished from her pay had
>actually gone to pay their taxes.

I dunno how this shit works in Indonesia, but here in the US that would be hella illegal. Like, "someone in the company goes to Club Fed" illegal.

>Instead of a chuckle or a mild rebuke, she was instead given a
>verbal lashing and the threat of being removed from the building for
>what was treated as a grave insult.

In my experience, people react like this when they have something on their conscience.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

> I dunno how this shit works in Indonesia, but here in the US that would be hella illegal.
> Like, "someone in the company goes to Club Fed" illegal.

Oh I’m pretty positive it’s illegal there, too. But I presume they just made the excuse of a ‘misunderstanding’ or ‘mistranslation’, since it would ultimately be handled via Anycolor in Japan. They had/have local managers, they don’t have a local headquarters, so everything goes through Japan HQ.

....that’s probably part of why Cover is making that US office, so they can handle things more locally without having to always go through Japan for every little thing.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-30-24 AT 06:09 AM (EDT)
 
'Ha ha! Language is complicated and sometimes we make mistakes, please forgive our massive case of fraud and abuse! Just a silly translation error!'

Yeah, right, you %&*$@s. You knew exactly who you were screwing over. I can practically hear the 'me so solly' dripping off this one.

“Japanese penis, verrrrry small, AmericanIndonesian penis, giant!

>I dunno how this shit works in Indonesia, but here in the US that
>would be hella illegal. Like, "someone in the company goes to
>Club Fed" illegal.

Legal Mindset went through Michi's stream and the general conclusion seems to be that this was another example of Anycolor (intentionally or otherwise) screwing over one of their talents because of cost-cutting. Basically Anycolor doesn't retain the services of lawyers familiar with global tax law and so they applied her deducted pay only towards Japanese income taxes.

The upside is that the father of her friend directed her to a finance lawyer who is familiar with the relevant laws that advised her to pay the taxes owed to the Indonesian gov't but also advised her that Indonesia has a law in place that nationals working for foreign companies (i.e. Japan) only owe income taxes in that country. So she could potentially file to have the 2 years of income taxes paid to the Indonesian gov't refunded.

>In my experience, people react like this when they have something on
>their conscience.

"A thief believes everybody steals."

The story did end on a positive note, with Michi showing a picture of the 100K play button that "Bethany" has earned as a member of VShojo.

If she's a foreign national, living in a foreign country, wouldn't her income taxes only be paid in the country she actually lives in? I could see her having Japanese income taxes if she lived in Japan, but she doesn't.

If I was getting paid by a Japanese company, as a Canadian living in Canada, why would I owe the Japanese government a single yen? My income would be in Canadian funds, paid to a Canadian address, to a Canadian citizen, who has never even set foot in Japan, and I guaran-fuckin-tee that I'd have to pay Canadian income taxes.

>If she's a foreign national, living in a foreign country, wouldn't her
>income taxes only be paid in the country she actually lives in? I
>could see her having Japanese income taxes if she lived in Japan, but
>she doesn't.
>
>If I was getting paid by a Japanese company, as a Canadian living in
>Canada, why would I owe the Japanese government a single yen? My
>income would be in Canadian funds, paid to a Canadian address, to a
>Canadian citizen, who has never even set foot in Japan, and I
>guaran-fuckin-tee that I'd have to pay Canadian income taxes.

...that's how taxes work. Japan taxes non-residents on their Japanese sourced income. The companies are incorporated there.

Countries instead have tax treaties so you declare what funds you paid to Japan and that offsets taxes you own to your country of residence.

That's weird. You should pay your INCOME taxes to the country you live in when you earned the income, not some place you've never spent more than a week (or have ever been) just because they're the ones who pay you.

American expats living abroad need to pay US income taxes, and they can and will issue extradition requests for tax evasion if you don't pay it. (The United States is one of only two countries that taxes based on citizenship, not place of residency. The other is Eritrea. Others have limited versions of it, like Finland taxing you for three years after you move out.) There's a lot of credits you can get to minimize it, but it's possible to owe the Infernal Revenue Service money.

This has been your "if I have to leave this country, this is why I renounce my citizenship as soon as I can" fact of the day.

--
Jen Dantes - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lady of Sith Tech Support.
"This may not be a good idea, but it's the only one I have."

Is THAT why Calli was getting taxed twice??

LAST EDITED ON Aug-23-24 AT 00:55 AM (EDT)
 
>Is THAT why Calli was getting taxed twice??

Yup. Still is, presumably, as is every other US citizen who works for an overseas corporation. That may change for the ones who live in the States when HoloUS is up and running, if Cover does the right thing and transfers their contracts thither, but Calli will still get screwed as long as she lives over there. She knows that, though, and evidently considers it a worthwhile trade for the career prospects living in Japan affords her.

--G.
turns out that's all wrong, although I could swear I remember the last part coming up in a zatsu once. still, how often does one get the chance to use "thither" in a sentence?
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>Is THAT why Calli was getting taxed twice??
>
>Yup. Still is, presumably, as is every other US citizen who works for
>an overseas corporation. That may change for the ones who live
>in the States when HoloUS is up and running, if Cover does the right
>thing and transfers their contracts thither, but Calli will still get
>screwed as long as she lives over there. She knows that, though, and
>evidently considers it a worthwhile trade for the career prospects
>living in Japan affords her.
>

Calli and everyone else American is fine. Calli specifically was getting bad tax advice previously and was not properly claiming her foreign tax credit (she may have been claiming the exemption instead, which she would hit the cap on, or she may have not claimed at all). America has a tax treaty with Japan (and most other countries you're likely to live in) and specifically if you file correctly you should NOT get double taxed.

>America has a tax treaty with Japan (and most other countries you're
>likely to live in) and specifically if you file correctly you should
>NOT get double taxed.

Do we? Huh, OK. I thought that was one of the many strange holes in American foreign policy, like the fact that we don't have an extradition treaty with Andorra. (I don't know why I know that. I think it must have been a Trivial Pursuit question or something.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>America has a tax treaty with Japan (and most other countries you're
>>likely to live in) and specifically if you file correctly you should
>>NOT get double taxed.
>
>Do we? Huh, OK. I thought that was one of the many strange holes in
>American foreign policy, like the fact that we don't have an
>extradition treaty with Andorra. (I don't know why I know that. I
>think it must have been a Trivial Pursuit question or something.)
>
We do! Now, it's not necessarily simple, so especially for Calli as a contractor and with multiple sources of income across two identities she needs an accountant who knows what the hell they're doing, but she absolutely should not be getting double taxed.

LAST EDITED ON Aug-23-24 AT 07:20 AM (EDT)
 
> Calli specifically was getting bad tax advice previously

Yeah that sounds right. I knew it was happening, but never knew why. She brought it up on stream that she was essentially paying double taxes, and within like a month she said then had been worked out - I presume a bunch of her chat told her that that was wrong and shouldn’t be happening and she looked it up.

It was a thing that happened fairly early on in things - before Council I think, or at least really early in there. I don’t think IRyS existed yet.

>> Calli specifically was getting bad tax advice previously
>
>Yeah that sounds right. I knew it was happening, but never knew why.
>She brought it up on stream that she was essentially paying double
>taxes, and within like a month she said then had been worked out - I
>presume a bunch of her chat told her that that was wrong and
>shouldn’t be happening and she looked it up.
>
>It was a thing that happened fairly early on in things - before
>Council I think, or at least really early in there. I don’t think
>IRyS existed yet.

No, it was way more recent than that which is what makes it so unfortunate. She talked about it mid 2022. Hopefully she should have been able to file amended returns and get that tax back, though.

Really?! Frig!

She’s been living there since like....a while. Well before she was Calli. I suppose she jumped a few tax brackets since then though...

>Michi (or Bethany in her
>"hypothetical dream") saw her silver 100K button on the wall and
>decided to mime the "Yoink" meme to the manager who was there with
>her.

I wonder if this is part of the reasoning for her new persona's background and why her followers are called "scambers", this theft joke. If it is, along with the Niji financial fuckery, it is a wonderful way for her to poke fun at Nijisanji. With a drill.

--
Jen Dantes - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lady of Sith Tech Support.
"This may not be a good idea, but it's the only one I have."

Mint mentioned today that the company was too cheap to cover the bill for feeding their livers in the middle of long recording sessions in the studio.

I saw part of that one. That was ridiculous, asking for their cards to order them food.

--
Jen Dantes - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lady of Sith Tech Support.
"This may not be a good idea, but it's the only one I have."

I legitimately misread that at first as referring to the talents' livers. I figured it out pretty fast because the notion that an internal organ might have specific feeding requirements struck me as arrestingly odd.