Selen Tatsuki / Dokibird

Submission 35,864

Part of a series on NIJISANJI / AnyColor Inc.. [View Related Entries]

About

Selen Tatsuki, also known as Dokibird, is a VTuber previously signed to the Japanese VTuber agency NIJISANJI EN. She is known for her gaming streams with a specialty in shooters like Apex Legends and Overwatch. She was let go from her position as Selen Tatsuki with NIJISANJI in early 2024, with the corporation citing an unprofessional attitude on her part. However, Dokibird levied her own allegations of professional misconduct and bullying against NIJISANJI EN, an experience she claims led to her hospitalization in December 2023. Her fans began promoting her non-corporate VTuber identity "Dokibird" in February 2024 as a controversy surrounding her termination brewed online.

Background

Dokibird is an independent VTuber^[1] who originally debuted in May 2020, retired in May 2021, and re-debuted in 2024. Dokibird describes herself as a thief, conman, cat burglar and artist, with her "lore reason" for disappearing after 2021 being a botched bank heist (seen below).^[2] Dokibird gathered over 9,000 YouTube followers before 2024, with her subscriber number rising to 20,000 on both YouTube and Twitch in February 2024.

Selen Tatsuki first debuted with NIJISANJI En in July 2021 as part of the OBSYDIA group,^[3] with a memorable joke about her schedule being filled with Apex Legends. On December 15th, 2022, Selen Tatsuki's YouTube channel gathered over 600,000 subscribers. In February 2024, her channel was erased following her termination.

Online History

Termination From NIJISANJI EN

In December 2023, Tatsuki covered YouTuber Lilypichu's song "last cup of coffee."^[12] However, NIJISANJI set Selen Tatsuki's cover to "private," leading to fans reuploading the song on YouTube (seen below). Lilypichu has since confirmed that Selen Tatsuki was given permission to cover the track.

NIJISANJI EN also barred Selen Tatsuki from hosting international events around this time. The lack of corporate response to both these events led many VTubers to encourage Selen Tatsuki to leave NIJISANJI EN.^[4]^[5]

On February 5th, 2024, NIJISANJI EN's official X^[6] account made a series of posts announcing that Selen Tatsuki is being let go from NIJISANJI EN "due to repeated breaches of contract and misleading statements on social platforms." The post gathered over 21 million views and 66,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Selen Tatsuki responded to NIJISANI EN's announcement on February 5th, saying that she was hospitalized as a result of "bullying" in December 2023^[7] and that she plans to continue streaming as Dokibird.^[8] Her posts gathered over 130,000 and 110,000 likes each (seen below).

NIJISANJIs's "Negligible" Statement

VTuber fans noticed that NIJISANJI EN posted a statement to reassure investors a day after Tatsuki's public firing. The statement reportedly acknowledged the firing, and claimed that the event's impact on their finances will be "negligible." X^[13] user @Khyomaru posted a copy of the statement on February 6th, 2024, gathering over 15,000 likes in a day (seen below).

However, other fans noted that the company's market value did appear to drop following Tatsuki's firing, as seen in a series of posts by X^[14] user @eviltape (seen below).

VTuber and X^[15] user @FlipsieVT posted a meme about Anycolor being financially affected by Tatsuki's firing, gathering over 6,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Elira Pendora Livestream and NIJISANJI Statement

On February 12th, 2024, NIJISANJI EN VTubers Elira, Vox and Ike hosted a brief live stream on Elira Pendora's YouTube^[16] channel to address their concerns about legal documents sent by Dokibird's lawyers to NIJISANJI EN. The three expressed their belief that Dokibird was in fact fired due to repeated breaches in her contract and that they were concerned about her legal documents posing a doxxing risk toward themselves.

Dokibird responded to the live stream on her X^[17] (formerly Twitter) account, saying that the legal documents shared by the lawyer were confidential, and should never have been shared with any Livers (seen below).

NIJISANJI EN issued a statement on their X^[18] account as well, saying that only relevant parts of the legal documents were shared with certain Livers, considering that Dokibird and her lawyer have mentioned the possibility that they may be held legally responsible alongside the agency (seen below).

Many VTubers and fans took this development as further proof of NIJISANJI EN's mismanagement, while others took the news as evidence that Livers were involved in the harassment and bullying Dokibird claims to have faced at NIJISANJI.

X^[20] user @InfernoOmni questioned the VTuber's motives in being a mouthpiece for their agency, adding, "Why are they even mixed in this?" The post gathered over 9,000 likes in a day (seen below).

X^[19] user @SharkStarkVT posted a clip from Elira's live stream alongside a caption that questioned why Millie and Enna's locations would be mentioned in Dokibird's legal documents unless they were involved in bullying her. The post gathered over 5,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Online Reactions

Dokibirds fans promoted her independent VTuber persona on NIJISANJI EN's official subreddit, with Redditor /u/YamiHideyoshi gathering over 6,000 upvotes on a post made on February 5th, 2024.^[9] Dokibirds fans also sparked a backlash against NIJISANJI EN for making a merchandise announcement soon after firing Selen Tatsuki (shown below).^[10]

Selen Tatsuki's Twitch moderators also held an impromptu stream on her NIJISANJI EN-associated page to promote her independent VTuber persona Dokibird. X^[11] user @Game8910 documented the incident in a post made on February 5th, gathering over 27,000 likes in one day (seen below).