The postponed movie Black Widow will participate in the VR Creative Festival

Currently, movie theaters throughout Japan are temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and many new movies have been postponed. Black Widow is one of them. It was to be screened this spring, but it was postponed until November. Until then Until, how should they appeal to movie fans? Therefore, Japanese cinema company TOHO Cinemas decided to exhibit it at Virtual Market 4, the world's largest VR creative festival.

Virtual Market is a creative festival in the VR world sponsored by Japanese VR startup HIKKY. 43 companies and 1400 general creators are exhibiting, and various virtual goods made by them are on sale. It's like a real trade show, but because it's a virtual world, the venues are ornately decorated. It's the 4th time this time, and last time there were 710,000 visitors.

TOHO Cinemas will exhibit a booth that recreates their Roppongi Hills theater at this event. They will show the Black Widow trailer and provide free wallpaper images of limited edition, US poster wallpaper images, and US poster images of Marvel Studios movies so far.
In addition, a popular voice actor who is the main cast of the Internet movie show will appear there as an avatar and interact with the visitors.

Virtual Market 4 will be held on VRChat from April 29 to May 10. Please check this URL for how to participate.

https://www.v-market.work/v4/access

World's first VTuber Kizuna AI has her own management company

Activ8, a startup that produces and manages virtual artists, announced that they will spin-off their popular virtual artist Kizuna AI. By doing so, they hope to boost her momentum and tackle even greater challenges.

Kizuna AI is the world's first virtual YouTuber. She opened her YouTube channel "AIChannel" in 2016 and started her activities. Fans of this channel have now surpassed 2.7 million. Since 2018, she has also started working as a singer, releasing songs and appearing at festivals.

riginally she was one of the VTubers belonging to Activ8, but her popularity now extends beyond Japan to all over the world. So, they decided to spin off the Project A.I. team, which has been in charge of her production, to make it independent.

On the other hand, they are aiming to create opportunities for virtual artists by further strengthening the xR content business including Spectacle, a VR live show system that will be released in the future.

Japanese VTuber Productions will expand into the English-speaking world

Japanese virtual performer startup COVER holds an audition to choose VTuber that can play active part in the English-speaking world in their VTuber production hololive production. With this, they aim for VTuber production that can gain popularity in the global market.

The hololive production is home to a large number of virtual performers who use their system to post videos and perform live streaming.

English version of their official Twitter account
https://twitter.com/hololive_En

The application condition for this audition is that you are an English speaker, over 18 years old, and regardless of gender. If you adopted, you can get cute avatars designed by popular illustrators. In addition, the gadgets needed for your performer activities are also supported.

The audition details page is here.
https://en.hololive.tv/audition

Let's transform into Amabie, a youkai who dispels infectious diseases with AR!

KAYAC, a Japanese content creative agency, has released the Snap Camera effect of Amabie, a youkai who is said to dispel infectious diseases. You can transform into him/her for free.

Amabie is a youkai who appeared in the sea in Kumamoto Prefecture during the Edo period.
In the form of a mermaid with long hair, beak and three-tailed tail, he/she told witnesses to show people his/her pictures during an epidemic.
Although he/she was not a famous youkai, but Japanese netizens who hoped for the end of the coronavirus pandemic from around the beginning of March have posted various illustrations on social networking services.

See also:
Japanese monster goes viral on hopes for end to coronavirus pandemic (The Japan Times)

You can use this Amabie effect with Snap Camera, a free PC desktop app. When you open or close your mouth, the Amabie's beak opens and closes accordingly. Also, when you shake your body to the left or right, Amabie's hair moves softly. Let's pray that the coronavirus pandemic will end as soon as possible by transforming into Amabie at a video meeting! Search "AmabieMask" from Search Lenses of Snap Camera.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Shows Sakura With Mobile VR Apps

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun(日本経済新聞: Japan Economics Newspaper) has released mobile VR application Nikkei VR. Download is free(iOS/Android).

However, they have not yet reported economic news in 360-degree video or photos. Mostly they deliver art works and travel landscapes. In particular, they are currently focusing on "NIKKEI STAY HOME PROJECT -A cherry blossom viewing on smartphones all over Japan", which reports on sakura(cherry blossoms) in full bloom in VR.

Sakura is a Japanese spring tradition, but this year we cannot see the sakura due to the coronavirus pandemic. So they show sakura taken at more than 20 places all over Japan in this app. The release is in line with the actual blooming of sakura, and the shooting locations of sakura will increase with each passing day. Let's enjoy sakura viewing at home with this app!