I never expected a crossover between the Taiwan-Japan puppet series Thunderbolt Fantasy and arts and culture VTuber Juufuutei Raden of hololive, but it seems the world favors me specifically. 

Raden recently showed on stream a video of her trip to Taiwan and a visit to Pili: the studio behind Thunderbolt Fantasy with a long history of doing elaborate, action-packed puppet shows for TV and film. It’s a perfect fit for Raden, who not only has degrees in art and art history, but whose enthusiasm for the topics has helped drive traffic to galleries, and is even currently doing collaborations with museums around the world. They even made a special Raden puppet, based on the yandere princess Cháo Fěng.

I actually interviewed Pili last year at Anime Central, where they screened the finale of Thunderbolt Fantasy. (You’ll even see some of the same faces that appear in Raden’s video!) I got a lot of insight into their thought process and methods, but this video tour along with Raden’s own commentary provides some awesome new details that help give me an even better understanding. For example, there’s a lot of footage about puppet construction, including how they paint the faces and how they construct the weapons from acrylic. I didn’t know they use 3D printers to make the models either!

The video is only in Japanese, so unfortunately, not everyone is going to be able to understand what’s being said. However, there are a lot of visual details that I think it’s still a learning experience worth watching.

As part of this collab, the Raden puppet will be on display in Yurakucho, Tokyo July 25–August 9, where they’ll be selling limited edition merch! Right now, it looks like the only way to get anything, and I won’t lie when I say I’m really tempted to try, despite tariffs and all the other headaches right now. An exhibition will also follow in Taipei from September 12–October 12.

She also did a watchalong of the first season!

Incidentally, one of Pili’s other works was recently released officially in English on blu-ray: Legend of the Sacred Stone. I hope this opens up a path for a physical release of Thunderbolt Fantasy too, and the long-shot prospect of getting to see the Raden puppet in person as well.