Project Vilai Puts An Anime Studio Behind A Hikikomori Double Life
RIKANIMATION, the anime studio led by Russian-born creator RIKANI, is developing Project Vilai: Liver's Hikikomori Escape, a psychological horror RPG.
1 source 1h ago
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
Why it matters
A studio whose output has been short anime and music videos is moving into a long-form game with original writing, and RIKANI frames the shift as a way around the runtime limits of anime.
Key Facts
- RIKANIMATION is developing Project Vilai: Liver's Hikikomori Escape, a psychological horror RPG.
- The player controls Hicha, a hikikomori who performs on the VR platform Vita as the virtual singer Vilai.
- RIKANI started RIKANIMATION at 16 and has made anime videos for about 10 years.
- RIKANIMATION's earlier game An Alt Girl for Skoof was made in two months and sold about 200,000 copies.
- Project Vilai is the studio's first original feature-length game.
The player controls Hicha, a shut-in who manages hunger and stress in a small apartment while performing in VR space as the virtual singer Vilai, earning V Coins. RIKANI says the project is an attempt at an original story after three Steam games built on memes, homages, and fan work.
The game follows Hicha through two lives: a depressed, unchanging existence in a dirty apartment and a sparkling idol career on the VR platform Vita, where she performs as Vilai. Players balance her real-world hunger and stress gauges against her V Coin earnings as a virtual singer.
RIKANI started RIKANIMATION at 16 and has spent about 10 years on original short anime, advertising footage, and music videos, including work for Ice Cube. The studio's earlier game output was a short visual novel, An Alt Girl for Skoof, made in two months and sold at about 200,000 copies on the strength of a Russian internet meme. Project Vilai is the studio's first original feature-length game.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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