The world of V-Tubing, like any other place on the internet, is a wonderful yet weird place. 

Virtual YouTubers, better known as a V-Tuber, are entertainers who use 3D avatars (mostly anime-like design) with motion capture technology, instead of the traditional option of their actual face. The 3D avatar provides its own backstory: a new persona for their online life.

Senior Isaiah Fogle is an active member of  this V-Tuber category. For around a year, Fogle has been active on Reality, an app specifically made for V-Tubers, with more than 4,000 followers on his channel.

Despite his infamy online, only five people at school know about his V-tuber ventures. Finding inspiration from watching his friends V-tubing, Fogle said “I was very interested in it, [V-Tubing] but didn’t think I had the chance of doing it until I thought to myself ‘why wait till  later when I can just do it now?’.That’s when I started my career as a V-tuber,” 

His videos center around his interests, gaming, memes and scary stories. “I love gaming,” Fogle said. “Gaming is the one thing that keeps all the depressing [feelings] away. Of course, memes are the same too, and horror stories help give us a little shake that we all need,” 

Until now, only five people in school know about him being a V-Tuber, according to Fogle. “I keep it to myself because I keep my face a secret.” Fogle said.At the moment, Fogle has about 200 videos. Fogle’s character is named Uchinaru Aku, a hybrid between a demon and a human being, which Fogle created from scratch, using Tokyo Ghoul as a reference.

In his year of V-tubing, he has received tons of support from his fans and even received fan art of Aku. “I consider my fans family,” Fogle said. “They give me support for what I do and remind me why I do it…Everyone is family, connecting people together as a family in a positive way. When they have problems, I make it a burden on me too,” 

Unfortunately, not everyone is as welcoming to the idea of V-Tubers. Many people on Twitter, who go by V-Tuber Gatekeepers, usually speak highly negative things about them. Youtuber Shady Senpai believes that is because some can’t really emotionally connect with V-Tubers. “People can’t really connect with a 3D slash 2D avatar and would rather talk and communicate with to an IRL stream,”  Senpai said. “Which is fine,” However, some don’t see it that way. One Reddit user said “I find most of the streams kinda creepy and uncomfortable to watch, most of them sound like children and get hundreds of donations every stream, and knowing they are owned by a company just makes it weird,”

Lucky, not everyone is like these Sophomore Fiona Tran, while not a fan of Fogle, is a fan of V-Tubers. “My favorite V-tuber would either be Gawr Gura or Mori Calliope. Gawr Gura was my first V-tuber that made me start to watch V-tubers in general and Mori Calliope is probably one of my favorite artists of all time,”

“I started watching them mostly because of how boring quarantine was,” Tran said. “It was something to pass time and they’re also really fun to watch when drawing. Because of anime, I like looking at different types of designs and V-Tubers or just friendships in general. There’s not really much of a difference between regular streamers and YouTubers other than V-Tubers having their own little characters,” 

Fortunately, these negative comments didn’t keep Fogle from becoming a V-Tuber. “I don’t notice the negative comments because they don’t affect me at all so it was pretty easy to start,” Fogle said. 

Along with that, Fogle always had praise for his fans.”I don’t dislike anything about it, it’s all love and kindness there,”