What’s happening with Nijisanji’s Derem Kado sudden hiatus?

Nijisanji’s ex-ID talent Derem Kado has taken an indefinite hiatus, and fans can’t help but look to the company for answers.

When it comes to vtuber controversies in 2024, Nijisanji seems intent on hogging the spotlight. Earlier in 2024, Nijisanji attracted the wrong kind of attention after how poorly it handled former talent Selen Tatsuki’s termination. Anycolor, Nijisanji’s parent company, blamed Selen for alleged unprofessional behavior. However, Anycolor used unprofessional language and made things personal with the former talent, drawing criticism from fans. These alleged stories of mismanagement had roots before the Selen incident. In February 2022, Nijisanji’s Korean and Indonesian branches merged into the main branch. Subsequent events show the ID and KR talents were hit hard by the merger, with many reportedly lacking support from management.

Even in 2024, ID talents like Derem Kado still feel the effects of the poorly planned merger, which has resulted in a sudden hiatus from streaming.

Why did Derem Kado go on hiatus?

Derem Kado went on hiatus and cited health reasons after the cancellation of her music video project. The LASTRENADE project was a music video that would have featured Derem’s fellow fifth-wave ID talents, collectively named 53Renade. Unfortunately, the project fell through due to health reasons and the graduation of 53Renade member Reza Avanluna.

Based on the tweet, Derem was spearheading the project herself and was very frustrated by the project’s cancellation. She asked fans to direct questions to Anycolor instead of her and announced an indefinite hiatus. In another tweet, she said she was “too depressed to stream this week, next month, or this year.” The cancelation shortly came after Anycolor held a shareholder meeting, wherein the company claimed the support system for KR and ID talents “improved.”

Some fans wonder why a manager or official account didn’t announce the project’s cancellation. Reportedly, Niji ex-ID members have no formal management, with allegedly Japanese staff handling Indonesian-speaking talents. Reza Avanluna even joked in his graduation stream that nobody would scold them for breaking rules, as nobody was managing them. Poor management is a likely contributor to Derem Kado’s hiatus, though she did not directly confirm so in her letter.

Nijisanji reported a decline in live-streaming revenues for 2024. According to the shareholders’ meeting, Nijisanji is “aware of the decline,” particularly in overseas markets. Fans speculate the drop in revenue comes from all the controversy surrounding Nijisanji.  However, Nijisanji remains highly profitable, outpacing Hololive by a significant margin in many markets. Still, with multiple graduations and canceled projects, the Vtuber agency is at a crossroads, and fans worry for some of the talents’ futures.