Nijisanji EN AR Live "Colors" Was Pretty Good
The EN livers of Nijisanji are still fighting on.
It’s been a tough time to be a Nijisanji EN fan lately. The accumulation of upsetting incidents and the surrounding talk have left a dark cloud of uncertainty. Wherever things go, they’re never going to be what they were. But against all odds, the remaining livers are pushing on and trying to lift spirits. Nijisanji EN AR Live “Colors” feels like an affirmation of that. It’s a little messy and fragmented, but it’s the most pure expression of joy and unity I’ve felt as a Niji EN fan in a long time.
The first thing I noticed is how much this clearly means to the livers. They’re really giving it their all, and the passion is infectious. They’re also just having a lot of fun. Ethyria and Luxiem in particular feel like kids in a candy store, giddy to jump around and be goofy with their entire bodies.
3D also gives them a literal new dimension. Seeing how they move and interact with their full bodies is extremely endearing. On top of that, it shines a light on their personalities. Some are more shy and understated like Finana, some are bouncing off the walls like Vox and some can convey beautiful poise like Enna and Uki. I will admit going into this that I was a little peeved about the no screenshots rule. But seeing fan-artists go to town drawing all the different moments and poses was a delight.
If I had to pick an individual MVP, it would be Shu Yamino. He proves himself to be incredibly versatile across his performances. He can match the quirky vibes of his fellow Luxiem members on ‘Jazz on the Clock’. He can be cute and bubbly in an idol-like way, as seen in his ‘One, Two, Three’ duet with Luca. He can also dial up the cool and sexy factor, which comes out in his stunning cover of ‘Shanti’. Shu was really the whole package here.
AR Live also has the welcome addition of a live band (link with their names here, they appear to be a one-off collective of musicians and it would take too long to list off all their names). Their presence really elevates songs that I already enjoyed greatly. The driving guitars backing Finana on ‘Tsunami’ in particular give it a whole new energy.
Speaking of energy, there’s a bunch of different energies going on here. We get high energy songs, gentle songs, epic songs, silly songs, sexy songs, and silly sexy songs. Zuttomo stole the show for me with their quirky seductive rendition of ‘Ifuudoudou’, complete with heart eyes and all manner of spicy poses. To top it off, the camera work is fantastic. It really brings out the different vibes of each song and enhances them. There’s a bit of everything here, and it feels like every song and moment is in the right place. It made AR Live a very easy watch.
Putting the AR in AR Live, there was a lot of experiments with lighting effects. It’s really impressive seeing how the lights from the real life venue come down on the virtual models. I’ll admit it wasn’t always pretty. The hot pink lights in particular were unflattering, especially on models that had cool colour schemes. At the same time, there were some stunning highs. Special shout-out to Ethyria’s performance of ‘God Sees All’.
Let’s get to one of the hotly debated topics: the models themselves. They were subject to a lot of comments, and quite frankly it’s a bit confusing. Something that apparently needs to be stressed a lot when talking about Nijisanji in the western fandom is that it’s NOT Hololive. These models are built on a different design philosophy. Less glossy and seamless, but more animated on finer details. It’s up to you which style you prefer (personally I like both styles).
The way Uki and Reimu’s sleeves flutter is really beautiful, and the models capture delicate hand and finger movements with great precision. Some moments are a bit shaky because of unflattering angles or the aforementioned lighting issues, but the lows were vastly overstated. If you’re actively looking for fault you’re going to find it. Given a good faith watch, I have no hesitation in saying that these are pretty great models that have a lot more positives than negatives.
For better or worse, this isn’t HoloFes. This isn’t the big idol spectacle at Makuhari Messe, as much as I love that and gladly fork over cash to watch it every year. There are people in EN who want to do stuff like that (like Maria) and that’s awesome. There are performances here that come with fun and meticulously planned dances, and no shortage of incredible vocal performances. But I can’t stress enough that Nijisanji isn’t Hololive.
Nijisanji EN is its own collective of uniquely talented entertainers. It shows in the diversity of AR Live. The comedy leaning performances, the game show segments, the moments where they’re just flexing tricks and gimmicks their models can do. Those aren’t idol performances, but they’re extremely entertaining and require planning and passion. To me they’re just as valuable a part of VTuber culture and just as worthy of your time as seeing Laplus Darkness or Hakos Baelz blow people away with their insane moves. Personally I think it would be boring if every company just wanted to be the same thing. The VTuber world is at its best when it embraces a wide range of creative skills and ideas.
AR Live was split into two parts: Pastel Stage for the female livers and Vivid Stage for the male livers. Pastel Stage was a lot of fun, but significantly shorter (only 45 minutes of a nearly 3 hour concert). There was likely a good amount of cut content, most likely pertaining to the termination of Selen Tatsuki. Regardless of the reason, I was disappointed by it. It doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of what we got, but it clearly left a void.
The absence of a lot of people definitely hurt the show. Despite that, AR Live still feels like a unifying moment. Hearing the stories of former livers getting codes from current livers to watch the show, seeing them openly tweet about the show, hearing their voices fully intact on the songs they did. It was genuinely heartwarming. A lot has been projected onto them regarding their feelings about Nijisanji and their former coworkers. Many of them had serious issues and seem a lot happier doing what they’re doing now. But they’re not the perfect objects of fandom outrage that people want them to be. The time they had and the people they met in Nijisanji still mean a lot to them. Whatever problems there may have been, there was something special there.
I fully believe that special thing is still alive in the people continuing on. I felt it most of all in the finale performance of ‘Virtual To Live’. It’s a smaller cast, but it’s no small number of people. 15 of their 31 diverse and insanely talented livers who are still here, busting their asses for something that means the world to them. If not for Nijisanji EN as a brand or company then for the people they’ve met and the communities who’ve stood by them. I don’t want to pretend things are perfect, or avoid speaking up when there are problems. But if the people in the middle of all of this can still offer something so joyful and earnest, maybe we can learn to appreciate the good things we still have a bit more.
I stumbled on Nijisanji EN at the very beginning of Lazulight’s appearance on the scene. It was my first real trip down the VTuber rabbit hole, and gave me something to look forward to during a hard time in my life. A whole world of cool talented people with so many different vibes who showed me what VTubers could be. To this day, they’re still showing me that.
Nijisanji EN AR Live “Colors” is far from perfect. It has its shaky moments and it’s surrounded by difficult circumstances. Despite all that, I had an incredible time. AR Live was full of stunning highs and laughs and moments of warmth. It stands as a symbol of hope in a time when things feel really hard. A sign that maybe things will get better.