Youtuber / VTuber / Singer ChumuNote tells us about a tumultuous 2024 and her thoughts on her new song “Manbou Girl”

With highlights such as revealing a new 3D outfit on YouTube in May 2024, performing live for the first time as part of the three-person virtual idol unit named épeler in September, and joining Remedy & Company Corporation in October, it’s been a busy and exciting year for her.

“Manbou Girl” (マンボウガール / Sunfish Girl) is ChumuNote’s first release of 2025 and includes an animated music video.

She’s known for carrying a sunfish-shaped backpack, but what are her thoughts on sunfish and this new track? We also spoke to her about her musical career, including her work as a mixing engineer, her activities as épeler, and her future goals.

“Urban legends spread in no time, but actual info doesn’t spread at all” ChumuNote’s thoughts on her new song

• To start off, could you tell us about your new track “Manbou Girl”?

This track is the second project hosted by TRIFRONTIER, for which I’m a mixing engineer, and is themed around sunfish. It was written and composed by SAKURAmoti who created songs such as “aiue” (アイウエ）which was the opening theme for Urusei Yatsura. This tag team came together because TRIFRONTIER really encouraged me saying “SAKURAmoti and Chumu would go together great”.

• I’ve been told that the sunfish theme was your idea.

Regarding the theme of the song, I did the production on that!

I prepared a mind map and a PDF document to get across my concept and shared it with SAKURAmoti ahead of time. The mind map is a technique I’ve started using when deciding the direction for writing and composing songs. Starting with the word sunfish, that led to keywords that could be used in the song like urban legends and hoaxes, and myself with the sunfish backpack which I compiled and sent over.

There’s a meme about sunfish dying easily, but this isn’t true. In reality, their skin is tough enough to stop a rifle bullet and they’re surprisingly resilient. There’s proper research on the subject.

• I figured they were really weak like in the memes…

They’re very strong. Urban legends spread like wildfire, but the truth really doesn’t… Funny so-called facts tend to spread like crazy, so in that sense, I kind of feel for the sunfish.

I kind of blew up online when I had a blank icon* after the management agency I was part of shut down. I think there are a lot of people that think “She was the talk of the town for a bit, but I bet she’s quit by now”. Little do they know, that blank icon is still active as ChumuNote. I wear the sunfish backpack to show that “(You may think I’m going to disappear, but) I’m stronger than you think”, so I decided to make that the theme of this new song.

As a sub-theme, I’ve included my competitive nature and the positive message that “(The sunfish) isn’t a shusseuo (a fish that changes its name as it grows, symbolizing growth and success), but I’ll succeed anyways!”

• So that’s the meaning behind “Manbou”. Your new song feels a lot more rock-inspired than your previous ones.

I’m actually a DJ and a lot of my songs have a club music sound to them, but I wanted to make a track that would really resonate at live performances. I thought it would be fun to have a phrase that could be used in a call and response. I suggested to SAKURAmoti “Something rhythmic like ‘Chumu, muchū, saichū, uchū’ could be fun”. Then, they came up with the awesome lyrics of “Chumu, muchū, saichū, uchū, wakase, one two”.

Initially, there were no plans for dance moves, but when I listened to the song, I imagined myself on stage at a live performance and thought “No, I’d be dancing. I’d definitely be dancing here!” So we ended up adding the dance moves.

• I was surprised to see the dance animation in the music video too.

Because it ended up becoming such a great song, my imagination kept expanding with ideas of what we could add. The person in charge of the video was the same way and even after the first draft was done, they kept making more and more illustrations. It kept on getting better and better and as it all came together, it felt like everyone pushed themselves beyond their limits. It's a piece of work that came together as a result of everyone giving 120%.

Sounds like it was a work of passion for all the creators involved too. Are there any specific scenes you’d like us to watch out for?

First, I’d have to say it’s the moment when I switch between my normal and artist outfits. I really want people to pay attention to this scene because I feel it shows me taking it to the next level as an artist with this song.

Also, there’s a bit in the intro that shows sunfish swimming for two or three seconds, but that’s an homage to my standby screen for my live streams. For the fans that watch my streams, it’s like the song begins with the feeling of “Chumu’s stream is about to start!”, so I’d like people to check that out.

• Are there any particular things you focused on while recording?

Regarding “Manbou Girl”, I asked Hideyuki “Daichi” Suzuki, who I really, really look up to as a mixing engineer, to do the mixing for the song. Usually, when I send it out for mixing, I give a lot of feedback. But this time, it was perfect the moment I got it back! I was amazed at how perfectly the mix turned out when I asked someone I truly respect to do it.

Also, we recorded at Mr. Suzuki’s studio, “Cubic Records”, and when we started, he had me try two mics and asked me “Which do you prefer?” When I said “I like this one”, Mr. Suzuki said “Yeah, I think that one is good too.” and we ended up using that mic for recording. But it turns out, that mic was a Telefunken ELA M 251E* which cost over 2 million yen.

• 2 million yen?! You don’t see mics that expensive too often even in studios.

Yes. It’s a really rare mic! I was wondering what makes it so expensive, but I was told that they’re not normally available for sale. They’re made-for-order only and you have to wait quite a while to receive one. The sound was wonderful as expected and it was an honor to have someone I really respect handle the recording.

Also, whether it be how to handle recording or mixing, I really learned a lot. This time, we didn’t use the audio as is and instead, added a rough, rock sound to the vocals. It helped me understand you can do such dynamic things when mixing and that it sounds really cool.

• Your singing voice felt much more powerful than usual in your new song.

On the day of recording, SAKURAmoti, who handled the writing and composing, gave me directions remotely. I sang while receiving advice so I feel like I was able to give it even more effort than usual.

• Do you usually record at home?

It depends on the situation, but I do record at home quite often. I’m pretty harsh on myself at home. I act as the vocalist and the director simultaneously. When I’m recording on my own, I end up doing it really angrily, thinking it’s not good enough the whole time. Sometimes, I don’t make any progress even after many hours, so having a separate director like this time who tells me which takes are better really gave me momentum. I felt that was a good influence. There’s someone there to say “Let’s go with this take!”

• Are there any things in particular you look out for because you are a professional mixing engineer?

This might be unique to people that do mixing, but I work backwards by thinking that if I’m going to want this kind of mix, I’m going to need this kind of take.

For example, things like harmonizing the chorus or doing it in sections because I want a certain effect there. I tend to record with how I want to mix it in mind. I’m the same way recording both at home and at the studio. I’m the type to make suggestions quite a bit.

• So you’re singing while picturing the final product in your head. Do you have any routines you follow before recording?

Not drinking alcohol… Maybe that’s not the answer you were looking for. (Laughs) I don’t drink the day before recording to make sure I can properly sing.

Also, I put the humidifier on max, take vitamins that are good for my throat, and also medicine that reduces swelling.

Vocaloid, EDM, classic Japanese pop, rock… The music that shapes ChumuNote’s work

• I understand that you’d mentioned in one of your streams that you wanted to “create music that syncs well with club culture”, but what got you interested in club music?

My interest in club music started with Vocaloid EDM. I listened to a lot of electronic dance music that used Hatsune Miku like Twinfield. Twinfield created my first single, “BlueSunnyFish”, so you could say that’s where it all started.

• Are there any other artists that have influenced you?

It’s in the 1980s J-Pop and kayōkyoku genre, and also because my parents were fans, but I really like Momoe Yamaguchi. Her deep voice feels really mature and she had a sultry, mature way of singing even when she was young. The same goes for my new song - I’m using a fairly low vocal range for a female singer, almost close to a male key. Using these lower keys is definitely influenced by Momoe Yamaguchi.

Other than that, I’d say Vocaloid songs like I mentioned before, anime music, and also rock and metal has influenced me. I know Linkin Park has started touring again with a female vocalist, but I’d say I’m a fan of that kind of edgy music. It was a chance encounter while listening to music online, but it was a real shock when I first found out about them. Also, because I’m a fan of rock when it comes to Vocaloid Producers, I’m a fan of Nanahoshi Orchestra.

I’ve listened to a lot of different genres all throughout my life, so I think that definitely has influenced me. You could say I’m not really picky with what I listen to. My new song is rock-inspired, so I think my preference in rock is really showing.

• A lot of people associate ChumuNote with club music, so I was surprised to hear about your interest in pop and rock. You released a lot of original songs in 2024. Are there any that particularly stand out to you?

I love all of them, but if I had to pick one, I’d say it’s “PERSONAE” which I sang with Flare Rune.

In this song, Flare Rune handled the higher vocal range, while I handled the lower. We sing in entirely different vocal ranges. This was the first time we tried splitting the vocal ranges and singing in entirely different voices, but I feel we worked together really well. I feel I realized what I could do with my lower vocal ranges.

• Were there any songs that were difficult to record?

My cover video of “Episode X” that I posted on December 14th, 2024. This was a collab with VSinger Mugei Shiganai, but we put it together a week after Ado posted the official music video. Ado posted her video on December 6th and we were ready to go with the cover by December 13th, so we created that cover at a really fast pace.

I decided to do this collab because the moment I listened to the song, I thought “I really love this!” At midnight on December 6th, the moment the song was released, we started divvying up the lyrics and went right into recording until around six in the morning. We immediately started sending each other our recording data and being like “I’ve made it this far with the recording” “Ok, I’ll sing in this way to go along with that portion”. If her singing didn’t match mine, I’d have to think how I’d change my singing to match hers and we worked together in real time to complete it. It was a first for me too.

I’d ordered an illustration to go along with it the moment the original song was announced, so I had the main illustration before the original music video was posted. I really put a lot of effort into the video.

• Wow, great to hear about what went on behind the scenes. I know that your main focus is on music, but you also do let’s play and other things on your streams. Is there anything you pay particular attention to for your streams?

A lot of music-oriented VTubers have a singing portion in their streams, but there’s a reason I don’t do these singing portions very often. Because I’m a professional mixing engineer, I’m usually the one fixing the pitch and adding effects to the audio. So when I’m singing, my mixing engineer side kicks in like “Wait! You were off there!” and I can’t help but nitpicking myself on the spot. If I can’t do it perfectly, I just can’t enjoy that singing portion. It’s a habit. My desire to sing it perfectly is so strong that I’ve had moments where I say “hold on, let me do that over again” after singing just one verse so I tend not to do them very often.

• Along with what you told us about your recording habits at home, I can tell you’re very stoic with your approach to music.

Maybe because of that, I play how I want to during my let’s plays. I like to do weird things too every once in a while like mixing up my own fan fiction with users and have people try to pick out which is which or do a talk section where I have to talk about a real experience but sneak lies into it. My listeners refer to it as content from hell, but I do like to do crazy content.

Also, recently I’ve been doing live streams of myself working. Unlike my singing, I joke around a lot and I feel really close to my listeners. For my streams, I focus on communicating with the people that leave comments.

“Aiming for the world” From indie VTuber back to corpo

• You joined Remedy & Company Corporation in October 2024, but does it feel different from when you were doing things as an indie?

Things are different but in a good way. I joined along with my manager who helped me out when I was an indie, but my manager works together with the company to handle a lot of things which makes it easier for me to do a lot of things. The company really respects others’ opinions, so it’s easy for me to propose things. Up until now, I’d think “I want to do it, but it probably won’t go through because of reasons” and reject my own ideas, but now I think “Let’s give it a shot” and I feel I’m putting more things into action.

Also, I’ve recently begun weekly English lessons. I previously displayed this message on Youtube, but “Music is a universal language, a language shared throughout the world” is a phrase I use a lot and the company helps me look over my messages like this that I want to share with people overseas. It’s my dream to perform live around the world, so I want to study. Remedy Corporation has a lot of bases overseas. Since the company is expanding its medical and healthcare-related business not only in Japan but also globally, it has branches in various countries in the field of medical and pharmaceutical development. There are a lot of employees whose first language isn’t Japanese, so a lot of those native speakers are teaching me English.

• Has anything changed for you after you began studying?

I began asking the company about songs that include English lyrics. I ask them “Does this lyric make sense?” When I ask, they’ve told me things like “It’s common to ignore grammar rules in music” and “The Beatles have done that before”. I actually have a teaching license for middle and high school English, but only reading textbooks for Japanese, I tend to get caught up thinking that this must be the correct way of saying something. But when you ask native speakers, they’ve told me that it’s common to break the rules of grammar on purpose when creating lyrics for the sake of rhyming.

However, since the people teaching me work in departments unrelated to VTubers, I first had to explain what VTubers are. I first had to explain what VTubers are. We needed to align in advance when figuring out how to introduce myself in English.

• Now that you mention it, the VTuber world has all sorts of jargon.

Exactly. For example, when I asked how to translate “My ‘fan name’ is Chumu-Nushi” into English, I was asked, “what’s a ‘fan name’?” (Laughs) They were like, “Oh, you mean your name for your fans”. We’re both looking things up while we translate.

My name for my listeners, “Chumu-nushi” comes from “Kabu-nushi” which in English is stockholder or shareholder, but how should we translate this? How should I translate my “Konmanbou” greeting in English? We have a good time with the weekly lessons like that.

• Maybe we’ll be able to see you speak English in your streams. On the flip side, are there any experiences from your indie days that you feel are helping you know?

During my indie period, I experienced things like ordering from other creators and managing real-life events*. So when I’m working on a project now, I really feel I’m using that experience.

I produced the épeler solo concert on my own, but experiencing it all myself before made it easier to put together. I know in advance that certain things might happen, so I can plan for it. It makes me glad that I had those experiences.

I have a lot of respect for all the indie VTubers and I really want them to know that everything they’ve learned will help them out even if they join an agency.

“Turning what I want to do into content” dedication to offline events

• Speaking of épeler, you held an offline event during New Year’s called “épeler to Fushigi na Ochakai”. Did the three of you also handle this event yourselves?

“épeler to Fushigi na Ochakai” was handled mainly by JAPANNEXT BANQUET.

Speaking of events we handled, the “Puzzle Solving event” we held at the end of December comes to mind. We worked on it together with puzzle creator Guzuria, and during the collaboration period, we also implemented a special promotion where solving the puzzles and visiting three times would unlock a secret menu item. épeler is full of really proactive people, so when an idea comes to us, we often put a plan into action.

• I feel the fact that all three of you have had such unique experiences has led to the success of your self-produced events. I’ve heard you were quite dedicated in your selection of menu items for the cafe collaboration.

Yes, definitely. I proposed the menu items “Chumu Marine Soda”, “Hiden no Tsuke Chamame” (Secret-recipe Marinated Edamame), and “Otona no Coffee Croffle” (Coffee Croffle for Mature tastes). Regarding the drink, I love the ocean so when I asked “I want an ocean-themed drink”, it ended up being a really lovely drink. They added sunfish-shaped chocolate frozen into ice cubes into the drink. A lot of thought and care went into it.

Regarding the “Hiden no Tsuke Chamame”, I provided a recipe stating exactly how much white dashi and other ingredients should be included and said, “turn this into a menu item!” The “Otona no Coffee Croffle” is a croffle that’s a little bitter and not too sweet and is made for people that can’t eat whipped cream.

• I’m amazed you brought your own recipe. I don’t think there are a lot of other VTubers out there that would do that.

But I think that’s what’s fun about VTubers and also the big appeal. There’s nothing limiting what VTubers can do, so whatever you want to do turns into content.

I tend to get bored easily and enjoy trying new things, which I believe aligns well with being a VTuber. I feel like I’m able to do work that never gets boring every day. For me, this is truly my calling.

• You definitely do a lot of things other than just music like live streaming and offline events. Out of curiosity, what did your listeners think of the “Hiden no Tsuke Chamame”?

Actually, when I collabed with another cafe, I brought my own recipe for “Otsumami Cabbage” (Snack Cabbage). My Chumu-nushi were like, “Again?” (Laughs). But people were very pleased with how it tasted! I included the recipe in the booklet that was sold at the event and people had said they wanted to try it themselves. The cook at the cafe we collaborated with said “It tasted really good” which made me happy.

• Having your skills recognized by pros is amazing. Do you often cook for yourself?

I started getting into it recently. When my previous agency shut down and I became the blank icon, I started my own pixivFANBOX. But I didn’t have an avatar, I wasn’t really doing anything and I wasn’t anybody at the time, so there was a period where I just kept posting my own cooking every month. I was unemployed at the time and had nothing else to do, so I just kept cooking. Maybe that’s why I ended up liking cooking. But I hate cleaning up. I really don’t like doing the dishes.

• It seems you’ve really been able to gain a lot from your experiences. During the cafe collab, you held events for visitors and also one-on-one talk sessions, but how was it talking directly with your listeners?

Actually, I speak with my listeners quite often and I do online virtual parties every month simply because I want to talk with my Chumu-nushi’s. It’s not even a premium thing on my pixivFANBOX. It’s kind of like those “Zoom parties” that were a thing a while back. We just get together and have a good time.

• I see. What’s your impression of your listeners?

They’re very sincere. We joke around a lot on X, so this might seem strange, but they’re very sincere when necessary.

A lot of listeners really enjoy my music and work and show interest in my discussion of a lot of technical aspects. Many of them have praised my work in very eloquent ways. They joke around when the situation calls for it, but they’re the kind of people who do it with purpose I feel.

Going all in for 2025

• 2024 was a year full of change, but could you tell us about your goals for this year?

My goal this year is to “Increase the exposure of the music I’m involved in.” I’m working with a new company now and the environment around me has changed significantly. But I think the biggest change for me is that I’ve set my goals much higher between 2024 and 2025. I’m not setting my goals for things that are in my reach right now. Instead, I’m thinking about myself with thousands, even tens of thousands of fans, and deciding my goals based on that. I’m the kind of person that pushes myself quite a bit, but I want to give 2025 my all.

I’m aiming really high with my goals, but I really don’t want to change my relationship with my fans. I’m always saying I want to be that cool friend. I want to be the kind of person my listeners can brag to others about like “My friend Chumu is really cool! She’s doing all kinds of amazing things!” So everyone, keep on bragging about me! I’d be really sad if you distanced yourself because I got too big.