Yep, Sonic as a VTuber is weird

Hey guys!

If you’re into VTubers, there’s another brand coming at ya’. Sonic the Hedgehog!

As promised, Sega is becoming a Vtuber (virtual [character] YouTuber) for an unknown amount of time, voiced by the iconic Jun’ichi Kanemaru, who has played Sonic in…basically everything in Japan for over two decades. You can watch the intro video below, which is mostly in Japanese, beyond a quick English intro. We learned about this stunt ahead of time from Sonic Team artist Kazuyuki Hoshino (via ryokutya2089), who claimed that “Sonic was being converted to a Vtuber for a new project.”

While brands honing in on subculture is always a bit weird, at least Sega did this right with the original actor. And the intro wasn’t cringey! It’s a fine start. Time to see if Sega drops the ball.

https://twitter.com/SonicOfficialJP/status/1408062951769010180

I’m assuming he’ll be playing family friendly Sonic games, but with the amount of edge in marketing these days, you never know.