Nijisanji's Tsumugu Kataribe Returns to YouTube After 7.5 Years
Kataribe's return comes after her debut cohort members have graduated, leaving her as a solo act within Nijisanji, and her name was recently used in Nijisanji Koshien with organizer permission, showing the group still treats her as an active member.
Key Facts
- Tsumugu Kataribe posted a video to her YouTube channel on August 1, 2026, her first activity in about seven and a half years.
- Kataribe stopped streaming after her third stream on February 16, 2019, and her X account has been inactive since March 12, 2019.
- The video ends with the date August 15, 2026, which falls during Obon and is also Kataribe's birthday.
- Her debut cohort members Seto Miyako and Onomachi Haruka have both graduated as of August 2026.
- Kataribe was created as a team member in the ongoing Nijisanji Koshien, with organizer Maemoto confirming permission for her use.
Reporting from 2 sources: Denfaminicogamer, PANORA.
Tsumugu Kataribe, a member of the virtual liver group Nijisanji, posted a video to her YouTube channel on August 1, 2026, her first activity in about seven and a half years. The video, titled with garbled text, shows scenes of a school room and roads under the summer sun with wind chime sounds, and ends with the date August 15, 2026 appearing with noise. Kataribe debuted in January 2019 and stopped streaming after her third stream on February 16, 2019. Her X account has been inactive since March 12, 2019, when she posted the word "mycelium." Fans have treated her final posts as a landmark, leaving comments during the Obon season. The date August 15 falls during Obon and is also her birthday. As of 12:30 AM on August 1, no official statement had been made from her account about the video. Her debut cohort members Seto Miyako and Onomachi Haruka have both graduated as of August 2026, though they mentioned during their active periods that they were in contact with her.
- The video title is garbled mojibake text, likely a corrupted encoding of a Japanese phrase, which fans are trying to decode.
- Kataribe debuted on January 28, 2019, during the Heisei era, and her only three streams took place before her February 16, 2019 hiatus.
- Her X account's final post on March 12, 2019, read simply "mycelium" (菌糸), a word fans have since treated as a cryptic signpost.
- Fans have left comments on her old posts during Obon season and whenever Nijisanji members mention her, building a "legend" around her absence.
- Nijisanji members themselves have frequently brought her up on stream, each mention drawing renewed speculation about her status.
- In the ongoing Nijisanji Koshien, Kataribe appears as a playable team member, the first time in the event's history that a graduated or inactive liver has been included; organizer Maemoto confirmed permission was obtained for her use.
- Her debut cohort members Seto Miyako and Onomachi Haruka both graduated by August 2026, but during their active periods they said on stream they were still in contact with her.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.