Male VTuber Guide

This is a handy guide for male vtubers who are interested in gathering a majority female audience. This document serves as a guideline with helpful tips, but it is not a guarantee for popularity. You still need to put in the work to grow your audience and market yourself. In this guide are frequently asked questions, resources, common terms, and specific examples to use as reference. This document will simply provide the information, but it is up to you what you do with it. This does not guarantee a large female audience, this simply exists to better understand your female fans. Keep in mind that the points stated here is told from a viewer's perspective but will not apply to all women, so be open to different possibilities, tastes, and preferences. In the end you will still have to be yourself and let your natural personality and mannerisms shine through. Your audience will always be able to tell when you are faking something outside of roleplay, so don't try too hard. Your instincts and improv skills will help you more than this guide ever will. Best of luck with your vtubing endeavors!

Disclaimer: *This guide is in no way a guarantee to fame, fortune, *

Warning: This guide will contain mentions and references to dark fictional content. Please read at your own discretion.

Golden Rules
These are Golden Rules you should ALWAYS keep in mind when you are a vtuber of any kind, not just one who wishes to appeal to women.
Rule Number One: Fanbase reflects the oshi.

  • You get back what you put out. If you ever wonder why your fanbase acts a certain way, ask yourself what you did to attract that kind of audience
  • Your fanbase makes a lot of sex jokes? Ask yourself how many sex jokes you make. Your fanbase feels like they're too entitled to your actions? Ask yourself how much you went out of your way to please too many individuals instead of doing what you want. Your fanbase overshares personal information with you too often and treats you like a therapist when they send you superchats? Ask yourself how much you've shared intimate information with them. When in doubt, reiterate and reinforce your rules.

Rule Number Two: The fans are there for you.

  • If you did what every other vtuber did, only played games that everyone else played, did the same jokes, bits, and creative stream ideas that have been done already, why should anyone watch you? Why should anyone choose you as their oshi if they can pick one of the dozens out there that are doing exactly the same thing as you? Share what you like to play, what your hobbies are, and what you are passionate about. Did you choose your oshi because they're like everyone else? Or did you choose them because they have things in common with you and you connect with them because of it?
  • It's okay to take suggestions for games, stream ideas, and even lore, but in the end this isn't Build-An-Oshi Workshop. You are already made, and people are looking to pick you out of a pile of stuffed animals. You may have a button eye and a patch on the left side compared to the pristine teddy bears next to you, but you still fit perfectly in someone's arms.

Rule Number Three Curate your own fanbase.

  • Don't be afraid to filter your fanbase. You want all adults in your chat? Say so. You don't want people bringing up certain subjects and bugging you about it with overused jokes? Speak up when it happens and time out repeat offenders. You want to attract people with the same interests as you? Talk about your interests and play the games you want instead of Chilla's Art kusoge #4378568.
  • It's difficult, but do not worry about numbers when it comes to filtering your fanbase. You will get dedicated fans willing to support you. You do not need to pander to the lowest common denominator just for easy numbers. You will be miserable in the long run

Underlined Text With Color Do not be fooled by big numbers in certain cases.

  • If you collab with a female vtuber, you may get a higher number of concurrent viewers. Do not think this is the case because people necessarily want those kinds of collabs. Keep in mind it could be her fans if you are one of or the only POV. Those people might be just checking out the collab to see who you are but never follow or stay for you. They could be watching just to "own the parasocials" and then never actually support you afterwards.
  • You might gain some fans from her In the end, you'd only be sacrificing your fans that were there for you in the beginning. And for the fans you gained from that female vtuber, they will always prioritize her before you.

Rule Number Four Put yourself in your audience's shoes.

  • If you ever need to ask how your fanbase feels about something, ask it to yourself first. If you want to ask "what if I never collab with women but I talk to and reply to them on social media?" ask yourself how you feel about your female oshi doing that

Rule Number Five Female fans are not a hivemind.

  • Not every female otaku is a fujoshi. This is a common misconception because a lot of fujoshi tend to be very loud and speak up about what they want. A lot are even obnoxious.
  • There are some overlap of fan types. Some women may be a yumejoshi and a fujoshi. Some may be a yumejoshi and a general CBDCT fan. Some may consider themselves fujoshi but don't want to see sexual content, just cute fluffy romance. Some don't put themselves in a category at all and just enjoy watching boys be boys. Never assume your audience is fully one or the other. Just be yourself without worrying about pandering to any one group.

Rule Number Six Have nuance and consider possibilities. Not everything is black and white, left or right, one extreme or the other.

  • Some fans are going to be hornier than others. These types are usually louder and more obnoxious. Same with shippers. This does not mean your entire audience consists of the loud ones. Some are afraid to speak up, even if you encourage it. You can set rules to encourage your fans to provide feedback, but always keep in mind that people will be afraid to speak up and sometimes there will just be nothing you can do about it. What you can do, is what you feel is right and fits you. Refer to Golden Rule #2.

Prerequisites
Before attempting to use this as a guide, it is assumed that you have been an anime fan/otaku/weeb or in some type of media fandom for at least a few years. Following this section are key terms that not all anime fans may be familiar with, but have at least heard of. Knowing common anime and fandom tropes, mannerisms, and personalities will help you a lot to relate to and impress your audience. If you're not a weeb at all, you can still gather a large female fanbase by having some sort of background in fandom (Vox Akuma, Uki Violeta, Josuiji Shinri). Even if you aren't an anime nerd, having a nerdy interest will take you a long way.

Helpful terms that will be used throughout this guide
BL/Yaoi - BL, or Boy's Love, refers to stories involving a romantic relationship between two males. Originally created in the 1970s and marketed towards a female audience and started by female manga artists in Japan. BL or yaoi can refer to anime, manga, television dramas, video games, and original works.
Catering - (taken from Dictionary.com) verb. to provide or supply what amuses, is desired, or gives pleasure, comfort, etc. Usually used with a positive connotation.
Crumbs - In the context of fandom, small bits of content that a fan can use to create a scenario for discussion, fanfiction, or art.
Fanfiction - sometimes shortened to "fanfic", refers to a written fan work based off an existing franchise. Usually involve characters and a setting from the franchise where the fanfiction is written. Stories can range from AU (alternate universe) scenarios to romantic plots between characters.
Fujoshi - consisting of the Japanese kanji for "rotten" and "woman",
Fujobaiting -
Headcannon -
Himbo -
Ikemen -
Joseimuke -
Kayfabe - (taken from Urban Dictionary) noun. Term in pro wrestling. Kayfabe was the unsaid rule that the wrestlers should stay in character during the show and in public appearences in order to maintain a feeling of reality (albeit suspended) among the fans.
Kusogaki -
Kusoge -
Pandering - (taken from Dictionary.com) verb. to cater to or profit from the weaknesses or vices of others. Usually used with a negative connotation
Shipping -
Shota -
Yumejoshi - consisting of the Japanese kanji for "dream" and "woman",
Yumebaiting -

Contents

Introduction

The first thing to know about appealing to a female audience as a male vtuber is that they are all there for

Frequently asked questions

Appealing to audiences

Women tend to like when things are left to the imagination, so there's not much you need to do to appeal to them. This is why a man in uniform is considered sexier to most women than showing skin. And not all instances of showing skin is sexy to women either. This is a very important point to remember when thinking about trying to appeal to your audience, at least when it comes to fanservice. Take these magazine covers of Hugh Jackman as a good example:
Hugh Jackman on the cover of a men's magazine vs. a women's magazine
On the men's magazine he looks manly, strong, and cool. Men usually self-insert into this type of man or use it as motivation to look like him. He may be showing skin, but he's not sexualized nor is this considered fanservice simply because of him being shirtless. Meanwhile on the women's magazine he looks gentle, friendly, and handsome. Women prefer a man who is less intimidating or "safe" looking. He may be wearing more clothes, but this would still be considered a type of fanservice because of how it is presented. There will be more on presentation later in the guide.

While most women prefer things to be left to the imagination, there's no harm in giving your audience something to work with on occasion. be sure ot mention how good Fulgur is at baiting for art and headcanons as an example There will be lots of fans who enjoy being given food on a silver platter, but if you do it too often it can get stale and feel tiring. Savoring a treat once in a while feels more special than having that treat every day.

Who should I appeal to, fujoshi or yumejoshi?

As stated above, women typically prefer things to be left to the imagination. The fun part of shipping characters together is coming up with your own stories and headcannons. Your natural interactions with your collab partners is plenty of ship fuel for fujoshi. However, if your dynamic between your collab partner(s) happen to be on the chaotic and even horny side, there's nothing wrong with that either. Don't feel forced to act a certain way. Do what feels natural, even if that may be overly horny jokes elaborate here more

Fujoshi

To understand fujoshi, you must first understand how shipping works. The very first fujoshi (in the west at least) were shippers of the series Star Trek. Here is a list of the top ships in fandoms. Notice how not a single one is from an actual BL series? Notice how there are lots of sports anime and other series that are generally catered to men both young and older? You're probably wondering "why are there so many women who are into shipping men together watching/reading media with absolutely no shipping in it?" to understand this, you need to look into those series and observe specific moments where things click between two male characters. Let's go over some examples below.
provide examples from Detroit: Become Human, My Hero Academia, Mouthwashing, etc
more detail about how shipping works
Discuss differences in dedication between fujoshi and yumejoshi
discuss monetary differences in fujoshi and yumejoshi
differences in merch, donating directly, etc.
what motivates people to donate, etc.
What if I want to have a natural interaction with my male collab partner(s), but he keeps doing blatant fujobaiting? It's also making me uncomfortable with how aggressive he is with it.
Explain how women are more attracted to emotions and personality over physical things. Compare how even in Free!, they established a bit of a backstory with the main character before showing us his abs. Go into detail about how there must be an emotional connection to warm people up to a ship. Some ships may be popular even though they only say horny things at each other. Refer to Golden Rules #5 and #6

Yumejoshi

refer back to how occasionally giving crumbs can help encourage yumes and make them feel more welcome
Overt yume fanservice (pickup lines, talking about scenarios involving the viewer, comparing a character in a game you're playing to your audience
Subtle yume fanservice (talking about your body (insert how Shinri talks about how naturally warm his body is), creating conversation where your audience can easily self-insert, creating a fun thing to remember throughout the stream (insert how Doppio takes his jacket toggle off at the beginning of the stream, tells his fans to hold onto it, then puts it back on at the end of the stream), even cool lines ("when I'm with (fanbase name), I can do anything!" during a horror game. Refer back to one of Flayon's early streams and how he didn't get scared at a jumpscare because he said he has you by his side) (insert how improv and creativity come into play here).

How do I know which one to appeal to?

touch on the topic of tropes, discuss personality and which ones are compatible with which types of audience
knowledge of some anime tropes comes into play here
discuss some popular anime and even games that help determine different tropes
discuss popular characters that fall into certain tropes and which audience they appeal most to. Note that characters can appeal to boy yume and fujos but certain characters are more fitting to appeal to one over the other.

Important Note: Regardless of who you choose to appeal to, commit to your decision. It is imperative to think about and decide if you want to cater to whichever audience you choose in the long run. Ask yourself if you are willing to cater to your audience in the long run. Think about it for a while and ask yourself if you are going to be comfortable doing this for a long time. No one wants to be hit with a surprise later that you never enjoyed doing this in the first place or changed your mind. You can end up damaging your audience's trust with this. If you aren't sure if you want to commit to how you are catering to your audience, try a little at a time. More details about this later.

What if I'm uncomfortable doing lewd fanservice?

Then don't 4Head
Explain how not all fanservice is lewd and the nuance between different kinds of fanservice

Appealing to a male audience while still having yumes and fujos

Refer back to not needing to pander too heavily to either audience and how you don't need to alter your own goals and and wants to appeal to both. However, keep in mind that there will be conflicts and you can't appeal to everyone (and that's okay).

Playing a character

talk about character tropes, personalities, dialogue, speaking, oral skills, improv, creativity, etc. here. Discuss the types of characters women tend to like (and discuss that women can even be into "bad" and mostly disliked characters and personality types)

What if I'm not good at acting?

What kind of character trope fits me best?

knowledge of tropes and characters comes into play here. Refer back to earlier discussion
talk more in depth about anime and other series popular with women here
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Games that appeal to women
Discussing otomege, gacha, horror, etc.
Talking during certain types of games
Discuss here how a fan seeing their oshi play a game they otherwise wouldn't be interested in would make them more interested in it as long as you show passion and love for the game
Playing popular games but making them interesting
insert discussion on how adding a twist to the stream can make it more interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th0l2if0diQ

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Pub: 24 Jan 2023 12:18 UTC
Edit: 19 Feb 2025 11:29 UTC
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