Ichigo Lemonade, a sweet Canadian vtuber, sat down with us to answer some of our questions. We asked her a lot, so let’s get right to it!
Quinton: Before we get too ahead of ourselves, could you provide some of your “lore” for the readers who may not be familiar with you?
Ichigo: Hiya, I’m Ichigo Lemonade (but you can call me Ichi), a gyaru rosy maple moth with zero brain cells! A total shut-in who was content being alone until I discovered the world of streaming and found out I could make friends without having to step out into the stressful real world. Sometimes I lose control and consume too much lamp juice, and you’ll be met with a blonde bombshell instead of your usual pink fluffball~
QC: You’ve been at this for two years, going on three this year. What got you into vtubing?
Ichi: I didn’t really know anything about vtubers beyond Kizuna Ai, but one day I saw a bunch of my friends freaking out about the first wave of HoloEN debuts. It was minutes before Mori’s debut so I figured I’d tune in to find out what they were all so hyped about. I was instantly hooked! I went from knowing nothing about vtubers to spending all of my free time watching HoloEN within a matter of days! After a couple months of watching them, I decided I really wanted to give it a shot, and dove in.
QC: Were you nervous about the initial reception?
Ichi: I was so nervous! I felt like the only way to get viewership was to have the perfect sultry or mega-cute voice. I thought “who the heck would want to listen to someone quiet and unconfident?” That’s absolutely not the case, your voice acting doesn’t matter, but it was all I could think about! The moment I ended my debut stream it was all gone from my brain because it was just so scary and overwhelming, even though it went super smoothly. I slept well that night after all that anxiety.
QC: Are you happy with the audience you have now?
Ichi: I’m super happy with the audience I’ve built! I’m very lucky to say I’ve never had any bad experiences within my community, they’re all so supportive and amazing. While having a higher view count while live is something I’d like to work towards, I don’t think I could handle being thrown into a large viewership right from the get-go, so I’m super happy to be taking it at the speed I am. The idea of a zooming chat you can’t even read is scary!
QC: What drew you to the rosy maple moth design for Ichigo Lemonade?
Ichi: I’ve loved them for a long time! Even before getting into vtubing I owned some rosy maple moth plushies and had a few [live ones] framed. So when it came time to brainstorm a design that fit the gyaru vibe, going with a pink moth just clicked right away. Sadly I’ve never seen a live one since I don’t live in an area with them. My design was done by the amazingly talented Slugbox and our taste is so similar that there were no first beta versions of Ichi, he knocked it out of the park on the first go!
QC: You were the reason a friend and I got into Gunpla. What brought you to this hobby?
Ichi: AW YAAAY! I’m so glad I could influence someone to try building!! It was actually the Gundam Build Fighters anime that got me into gunpla and the Gundam franchise as a whole. That anime was created solely to be a multi-season advertisement for gunpla and boy did it work on me. I didn’t realize how easy it was to learn to build them, and how many different options there were for sizes and complexity levels.
QC: What’s Ichigo Lemonade’s favorite kit?
Ichi: My favorite that I’ve personally completed is my 1/144 Nobel that I’ve bedazzled with rhinestones, but my favorite kit released that I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on is the 1/100 Sinanju ver ka — not only is it insanely gorgeous but Unicorn is by far my favorite UC series.
QC: Any horror stories about the hobby? I’ve personally lost many pieces either to my playful cats or them flying off into the abyss when I nip them off.
Ichi: I made the foolish mistake of buying a non-gunpla model kit early on. The 3rd ever kit I attempted was a 1/24 scale RX-7 [from Initial D]. I didn’t know those were the kind of kits that need plastic cement and take a lot more work! I didn’t make it very far before I completely screwed it up beyond repair and made a mess of the glue. Such a waste of money and I definitely cried like a baby over it, and now I’m too scared to try one of those kits again!
QC: Are there any unique challenges to vtubing that other content creators don’t have?
Ichi: There’s definitely a monetary barrier to entry for many things beyond basic streaming. Not that you need an expensive model to get started, but if you want a 3D model with body tracking you have to spend at least a few hundred dollars as opposed to just using a cheap webcam that “flesh streamers” can use to show what they’re doing.
QC: What’s your favorite moment or memory from your vtubing career as Ichigo Lemonade?
Ichi: It’s actually a recent memory, getting to finally join a Mario Party collab! The vtuber @BansheeBOOVT hosted a Mario Party tournament that I joined. I’ve been playing various Mario Party games since the N64 but always alone, so it felt really special to finally get to be part of that after so many years! It’s way more fun when you’re yelling at each other instead of a screen. It might seem small but it was a big moment for me and such a fun experience that I’ll never forget.
QC: What does our favorite moth do on her time off?
Ichi: I truly am a complete shut-in IRL. I work from home so besides that I’m usually covered in my four cats while reading manga, watching streams, or constantly re-organizing my Pokémon cards. I don’t go out to do stuff besides get my nails done.
QC: I can’t help but notice some inspiration taken from gyaru culture. What do you like most about it?
Ichi: The gyaru character type in anime is really everything I want to be — they’re (usually) outgoing, gorgeous, kind, honest, and get along with everyone. I also happen to be unapologetically obsessed with the “tacky” things in life like rhinestones, pink, faux fur, and bright patterns!
QC: What’s Ichigo Lemonade’s favorite kind of lava lamp?
Ichi: Allow me to introduce you to my 27-inch tall lava lamp! It doesn’t get any better than that, and it’s pink! Drinks on me tonight, it’s got a bottle top and everything.
QC: For a second, I thought you were kidding about the size! Thanks for the photo evidence. Do you have any tips for people who would like to get into this field? Any lesser-known challenges one needs to consider?
Ichi: Don’t get caught up in the way corporate VTubers are! You don’t need to emulate the way they do things. Also, don’t get sucked into the idea that you need to invest a lot of money to get started, you can absolutely start to build the audience you want by using a still image!
QC: What’s your favorite part of VTubing?
Ichi: Personally, I think it’s the layer of anonymity. I’d get nervous thinking about people watching everything I do if I had a camera on me. I hate being noticed or talked to but having people still be able to see my head movements and facial expressions makes me feel so much more relaxed! I really love that it lets me be whoever I want to be seen as.
QC: Who would be your dream collaborator?
Ichi: I would absolutely sell my soul to have a model created by the legendary H artist Konno Tohiro! I’ve been a huge fan of his work for so long. It would also be an absolute dream come true to build gunpla someday with Kson!
QC: What are some of Ichigo Lemonade’s favorite games?
Ichi: By far my favorite game franchise is Ace Attorney! I’ve replayed all of those games so many times and will always watch someone streaming them. I definitely gravitate more toward visual novel-style games in general. I’m also obsessed with Splatoon, it’s one of the only shooter-style games I’ve been able to get into. Across all 3 games, I easily have 2,000 hours played.
QC: How about your favorite anime and manga?
Suuuch a dreaded question because I consume so much! I think my all-time favorite anime are Re: Zero, Iron-Blooded Orphans, and Gurren Lagann. For manga, my current ongoing obsession is The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy At All, but an all-time tried and true fave manga is Erased. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve reread it.
QC: Finally, what would you like to say to your fans, new fans, and readers checking out this article?
DON’T LET YOUR DREAMS BE DREAMS! Also please go buy that gunpla kit you saw once at a convention/online and decided not to buy because it seemed too daunting. Do it! Fall down the rabbit hole and never look back >:3 I’ll cheer you on the whole way!!
Thanks a bunch for your time! It’s been an honor!
