Fubuki Shirakami

Fubuki Shirakami is a virtual YouTuber personality affiliated with the Japanese agency Hololive. Debuting in YouTube on 2018 June 1st, Fubuki is part of Hololive's 1st generation of YouTubers. Her Live2D avatar is a white-haired fox girl, and her associated emoji is a corn (🌽), derived from the Japanese sound of a fox's bark (kon-kon).

In the context of this wiki, Fubuki was one of the first VTubers who debuted in notable saimoe tournaments on 2021; her eligibility as an anime character was based on her cameo appearances in several anime shows, and in a series of web shorts titled Holo no Graffiti. The fox girl entered International Saimoe League's 2021 fall seasonal and VTuber exhibition, and qualified in the main bracket of r/anime's Best Girl 8 as one of the Hololive girls who were deemed eligible from the aforementioned Holo no Graffiti show.

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ISML
Fubuki first appeared in ISML 2021 and stood out as the only VTuber to appear in two contests: first, she appeared in the VTuber exhibition and became the only Hololive girl to reach the final four stage, having beaten three of her friends to get there — especially a 20-vote quarter-final win against Gawr Gura, one of the most recognizable VTubers at the time. She then lost to Kizuna AI, the "mother of all VTubers".



The fox girl then made a cameo appearance in episode 3 of The Detective is Already Dead (Tanmoshi) during the Summer 2021 season. A few minutes into the episode, she is shown on a telescreen alongside Hololive girl Matsuri Natsuiro, reporting about Yui Saikawa's burgeoning idol career and upcoming live tour.

Even though the 2021 charter states that a character must have "more than 20 consecutive minutes or accumulated at least 40 minutes of screen time", that rule didn't apply to Fubuki, despite clearly being a girl from an unusual type of media and made only a brief appearance (around 20 seconds) in an unrelated anime show. The Holo no Graffiti web shorts could be a factor in Fubuki's eligibility, but since no one explicitly confirmed her appearances in the episodes released during the season, that reason was thrown away. Her status is similar to Hatsune Miku, a singing synthesizer program who appeared in saimoe tournaments on 2008 due to briefly appearing in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

Nevertheless, Fubuki proved to be quite popular among ISML voters; in fact, the Hololive duo cameo was one of the most anticipated scenes in the Tanmoshi anime, which was otherwise deemed a shitty adaptation by many users. As a result, she garnered enough nomination votes to qualify for the Summer seasonal. However, since the VTuber exhibition was running during that time, Fubuki was barred from appearing in Summer because a girl cannot appear in multiple contests at the same time. She was assigned instead to the Fall seasonal as a special dispensation after the VTuber contest ended.

In her Fall appearance, the fox girl qualified for the group stage, but only won against Jolyne Cujoh from the ambivalently-received, "Netflix jailed" Jojo Part 6 anime.

Seasonal & Exhibition
ISML 2021: VTubers - seed 18
 * (15) Miko Sakura @ Hololive — 653 - 625
 * (2) Aqua Minato @ Hololive — 770 - 672
 * (10) Gura Gawr @ Hololive — 848 - 828
 * (3) Kizuna AI @ Kizuna AI, Inc. — 813 - 1230
 * 3rd/4th: (21) Mea Kagura @ Independent — 2315 - 1856

ISML 2021: Fall
 * Anime: Tanmoshi (Summer 2021 cameo, special exception )
 * Eliminations (Max 16): 1132 (13th / 32nd)
 * Group stage: 5th, 1W 4L, Out
 * Dia Viekone @ World's Greatest Assassin — 627 - 1185
 * Miko Yotsuya @ Mieruko-chan — 794 - 1187
 * Jolyne Cujoh @ JJBA Part 6 — 1199 - 750
 * Ruti @ Banished From Hero's Party — 985 - 1308
 * Ran Mouri @ Detective Conan — 1109 - 1807

VTubers? In my anime girl tournament??/??
The Best Girl 8 in 2021 saw the successful nomination of Hololive VTubers for the first time, where they were entered under the web short series Holo no Graffiti. Given their recent popularity boom online, they were quickly noticed by commenters, and their eligibility was immediately put into question for several reasons. First, VTubers aren't really considered "anime characters" because they are livestreaming personalities controlled by real people. Second, the Hololive fanbase — or VTuber fans in general — are known for their extreme dedication and loud online presence. Moreover, some users expressed fear that the Hololive subreddit might start canvassing votes so their girls would win, which may possibly destroy the event's purpose as a "best anime waifu tournament".

In response to the contentious reactions in the threads, organizer mpp00 held a Strawpoll during the elimination rounds to decide if Hololive girls would be allowed into the bracket. The poll ended with a majority voting for "Yes".

Fubuki was one of the five Hololive girls who qualified for the main bracket, securing the best seed out of them at #203. In the first round, she easily defeated Rachel from Tower of God, a widely hated character among the show's fans. Unfortunately, Fubuki ran into former Elite Eight contestant Taiga Aisaka in the second round and was soundly eliminated.

Best Girl 8 - seed 203
 * (310) Rachel @ Tower of God — 3849 - 1280
 * (54) Taiga Aisaka @ Toradora! — 956 - 2153

Navigation
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 * YouTube channel (videos)
 * Hololive Wiki
 * VTuber Wikia
 * MyAnimeList
 * Baike Baidu (Chinese)
 * Moegirl (Chinese)
 * NamuWiki (Korean)