Interview: Holostars Josuiji Shinri Talks Collabs and Content Creation

As part of Cover’s initiative to expand its wide range of talents, Holostars’ Tempus came into being. In January 2023 Gavis Bettel, Banzoin Hakka, Josuiji Shinri, and Machina X Flayon joined the roster of the guild, bringing new faces and talents into the fold. Siliconera had the opportunity to interview Josuiji Shinri of HoloLive and discuss how collaborations between such a varied group of VTubers work and how he goes about selecting the kind of content he enjoys showcasing on his channel.

Kazuma Hashimoto: How do you determine what games you play for your audience? Is it based on reception to what they respond to, or do you mostly pick what you enjoy?

Josuiji Shinri: I joke that my intent in picking these games is to whiplash the audience by bouncing back and forth between terrifying horror games and gut wrenching emotional love stories. A lot of the games that I pick out usually come from the recommendation of my audience. While there are games that I like to enjoy on my own, being a streamer has put me in a unique position where viewers will offer and suggest their favorite games. It’s because of this that I’ve been exposed to an incredible array of games that I’d never heard of or would have initially considered playing. Because of this, I’ve had my eyes open to a wide variety of visual novels, unique puzzle games, foreign horror games, and so much more.

I love it when I receive audience recommendations on the games that I play on stream. For some of them, it’s a childhood classic with a lot of nostalgia, for other’s it’s just one of their favorites that they love seeing streamed. One of the frequent comments I get along with these recommendations is how much they focus on the story and characters in those games because they know that I really do try to pay attention to the small details. I can’t overstate how much I appreciate it.

What is it like collaborating with such a large, diverse group of streamers under Holostars?

Josuiji Shinri: At first, it was a little daunting. There’s just so much talent and skill in the group with such a wide dynamic of personalities that I was a little afraid of being drowned out. I’m one of the more reserved and quiet members in Tempus and sometimes it’s hard for me to keep up with the high intensity energy levels of the other boys. Despite that, it’s been an incredible experience and they’re all so welcoming that I feel like I’ve been able to find my place in the group.

Scheduling is collabs is pretty easy since we just hit each other up on DMs and even if we don’t explicitly schedule a collab, there are many times when we’d just have impromptu collabs. Whenever the guys are playing some game, they’ll ping us and let us know it’s an open invite for the other boys to drop in and out whenever. That openness makes it very easy to collab with each other without feeling any of the formalities of a schedule collab.

Do you plan on covering any further songs in the future after the release of “Daddy Daddy Do”?

Josuiji Shinri: I do! There are several songs that I have on my mind, but I would really like a chance to build up my skills and receive some formal training before I tackle another cover. Putting out “Daddy Daddy Do” was a bit of a personal challenge for myself, almost like takine a snapshot of where I was at this point in my development of skills so that I could go back and revisit it with more experience in the future.

What is your favorite kind of content to create?

Josuiji Shinri: My absolute favorite content to create is let’s plays of indie games, especially horror and those that dive deep into a very emotional story. I love focusing on the story and lore of the games that I play, really diving into theorycrafting and discussions with chat as we progress through the game.

I know there’s a big draw for high energy and exciting streamers, the ones who turn every moment in a stream into something witty or funny. No shade to those creators, they’re amazing at what they do. But for myself, I enjoy it when streamers take the time to slow down and really engage themselves with the story, explore the little notes and clues implying a more fleshed out world beyond just what’s provided through exposition. I try my best to convey that through my streams by putting the story that the games want to tell at the front of my content.

Is there any specific kind of content you would like to create in the future, like performing more covers, collaborations with fellow HoloStars members, or something else entirely?

Josuiji Shinri: Covers and collabs are definitely on the board and I have a few in mind already. Some of the bigger things that I’d like to push myself towards is more scripted video content. While let’s plays and gameplay streams are pretty common among streamers, I want to push myself to create some different types of content. A few ideas that I’d been talking with the boys about involve short visual novel-type skits, perhaps a holoTEMPUS alternate universe where we’re all in school again just living through our own comedy slice of life anime. Game shows and self organized tournaments between the boys. And something that I really want to try getting off the ground are longer length audio dramas akin to the radio shows of old with all of the boys together! Lot’s of ideas and who knows we we’ll be in the future!

You can watch Josuiji Shinri’s HoloLive streams on YouTube.