When l was a teenager, I watched a VHS tape that affected the course of my life. It featured various giant robot openings from the 70s and 80s, and while I had already been into anime and mecha at that point, it exposed me to a history and musical aesthetic I didn’t know, and it helped inspire me to explore my fandom further. If you take me to a karaoke booth with Japanese options, there is a 90% chance I will do a giant robot theme.

Many, many years later, and here I am as a fan of VTubers too. I like a great many talents, and part of that experience is appreciating those who choose to put themselves out there musically. While you can find a decent variety among those who sing if you look hard enough, however, the general tendency is Vocaloid, post-2000 anime, city pop, and newer popular songs. That’s neither surprising nor unwelcome, but sometimes I want to hear other things. Every so often, you might get something wild like “Inugami Korone covering Braiger and Ideon with Taira Isao,” but those moments are few and far between.

One day, I happened to catch a karaoke stream from a Japanese VTuber named Tsukishiro Cecil. I don’t remember what exactly she was singing, but it was definitely an older song akin to what I had heard on that VHS tape all those years ago. Since then, I’ve been following her virtual career, and it’s been a treat to hear everything from Gundam to Gunbuster to Rescue Fire. What’s more, she even has an occasional partner in robot crime named Minmo—together they sometimes work as the duo Cecinmor Z. Yes, I feel happy to be catered to by not just one but two VTubers.

Recently, Cecil made her 3D-model debut—a significant milestone for any VTuber—where she naturally sang a bunch of tunes ranging from hot-blooded to dramatic, including a couple originals of her own. She also opened up about her own history as a singer for hire on Japanese commercials and the like, a path that got detailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then that she took a chance with VTubing, which has turned into a career and passion of its own (and one I’m grateful for). 

What’s even more astounding is that she announced a huge collab during her 3D: two songs with one of the greatest anime singers of all time, MIQ! She worked with Cecil on covers of “Neppuu! Shippuu! Cybaster” and “Hey You” from Xabungle, two themes for which MIQ (or MIO, as she was known back then) was the original singer. 

While this is similar in concept to the aforementioned Korone-Taira crossover, it has to be mentioned that the hololive talent has roughly 20 times the amount of subscribers and typically gets 10 times as many concurrent views. For Cecil to have accomplished this is a testament to her genuine love of older anime music.

I’ve already lured a few like-minded folks into following her, because you really never know what classics she might sing. If you have a soft spot for older anime and tokusatsu music, I cannot recommend anyone harder.