On its web site, Studio Coup said in a statement that Ugoku-chan passed away due to unspecified causes on December 31.
“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of the concerned parties and fans who have supported [her] for their kindness,” the statement added.
The statement also mentioned that the future handling of Ugoku-chan’s various social media accounts would be revealed in due course.
On Friday morning, “Ugoku-chan” was at the top of Twitter’s trending list. “She was the YouTuber I loved the most,” one user wrote. Another said, “I was cheered up a lot by her videos.”
— うごくちゃん (@ugoku_zZ) December 28, 2020
“I pray for your soul”
Studio Coup includes a number of online influencers and YouTubers on its roster. Ugoku-chan is a virtual YouTuber (or VTuber), who often use anime characters or computer graphics in their videos.
On her YouTube channel, Ugoku-chan has amassed more than 600,000 subscribers. In her clips, her character — wearing a floppy blue suit — often plays video games.
Little information about Ugoku-chan has been revealed publicly, including her name and age. In photographs on Instagram, her face was often concealed.
On December 28, she mysteriously asked on Twitter, “Can someone call me?” That same day, she wrote on Instagram, “I pray for your soul.”
“Let’s work together to make it happen”
However, one person who did know her was fellow YouTuber Socho Urara. He confessed on Twitter that he dined with Ugoku-chan three days before her death.
During the meal, Socho Urara filmed Ugoku-chan singing. “I want her last video to be the clip of her trying to sing,” he wrote. “Let’s work together to make it happen.”
On Saturday, the agency uploaded a video that includes Ugoku-chan trying to sing under an agreement of her family. “We hope this video reaches the many fans who have supported her,” the agency said while adding that it would not be receiving any revenue from the upload.
By the end of the day, it had amassed more than 2.3 million views.
