Shxtou 【 Shoto VTuber 】 : Everything You Need To Know

From starting streaming on December 7th, 2019, as a PNG Tuber, and his official debut on October 2nd, 2021, to being one of the world’s biggest indie VTubers, Shoto really has grown tremendously fast.

We have scoured the internet and found everything there is to know about Shoto. And today, we’ll share with you who Shoto is, how he grew that fast, his updated lore, his coming out as bi to his parents, and much more.

So, to really get to know your favorite VTuber, read on!

Shoto hasn’t been quite as forthcoming about his real identity. Only his family and friends know who he really is in his real life. However, you’ll find everything public about him in this article. This article’s sources are all his interviews, clips, and everything he shared himself with his audience. So you should know that whatever we share with you is authentic as it’s coming directly from the source of information; Shoto himself.

That said, let’s get straight to what he had to share with his “Guildies.”

Who Is Shoto?

Shxtou (pronounced and usually written as Shoto) is a Vietnamese-American English-speaking indie VTuber. Although he is Vietnamese-American, he isn’t a fluent Vietnamese speaker.

Currently, he is an active member of the Hanamori group. However, they only manage his sponsors and collaborations; he himself handles all of the legwork behind his streams. That’s why he considered himself an independent VTuber.

Shoto’s Demon Slayer Lore

Back in November 2021, Shoto released a video on YouTube titled “The Birth of the Demon Slayer.” This video tells the story of how Shoto became who he is.

According to his own video, Shoto led a peaceful life. Like any other kid, he had a mom, a dad, and some friends who loved him. He had planned to live a simple life. However, he was oblivious to what was coming for him and his loved ones.

Shoto’s Village Life

Shoto grew up in Bakumori, a simple village with strong ties to magic and demons. Growing up, he learned their history, techniques, and way of life passed down to him through his people.

He also learned that the ancient demons were the ones who built their village and that they were the only people who could produce the “Mana fruit.” However, Shoto didn’t care about any of those things. All he wanted to do was to leave his home and venture into the unknown world one day.

He was just so curious about the outside world and wanted to learn so many new things. He wanted to follow his father’s career in baking. Shoto then goes on in the video to reveal that he was born with magic. However, it’s in the hands of the gods to decide whether this magic loves him or not.

The Gift That Gods Of Their Land Gave Him

Shoto considers the gods of their land fickle, and they don’t really have any affection for them. They bless whomever they want. Gods like to pull and twist the strings of fate on a whim. They ended up choosing Shoto to give their blessing. Gods gifted Shoto with the divine protection when he was really young.

He had a heightened sense of smell and could differentiate and remember the scents of people, animals, poisons, their cures, monsters, or even the smell of spirits and demons. For him, no two things shared a single aroma. He felt like even emotions like sadness, joy, or anger carried their own scent.

Because of this divine protection by the gods, people in the Bakumori village started to fear and avoid him.

Shoto’s Best Friend, Ether

In the midst of all that, there was a boy who didn’t see him as a freak as the others did. This boy was his best friend, Ether.

Ether wasn’t a native of the village of Bakumori. Instead, his family were immigrants from the far North. Ether, like many others in the village, was born with magic. However, the gods didn’t bless him as they did with Shoto.

They used to spend their time doing so many things together. Shoto would help Ether with his studies. They would spend day after day talking about magic, beasts, and distant worlds. They wanted to leave the village to go explore the unknown world together.

The Arrival Of The Demons

One day, their wish came true. On the night of the full moon, the ancient Torii gate opened for the first time in decades. And acting according to their traditions, everyone in their village rushed to the gate to greet the demons they worshipped.

To their surprise, the demons didn’t come to bless or share their wisdom with the people of Hakumri. Instead, they brought an army to relentlessly slaughter men, women, and even children, painting the snow and soil of Bakumori red with their blood.

Shoto tried to take Ether and run away, leaving his family behind to get slaughtered. To this very day, he considers himself a coward for doing so. The people he once knew were burned alive in front of his eyes, along with the Bakumori village.

However, fate had something else in store for them. They came across a female demon, and she cast a spell on them. Shoto forgot what he was doing under that spell. He forgot about everything!

Before he could come back to his senses, the demon attacked him. Ether tried to help Shoto but got his throat sliced. The demon left them there to die. Shoto, motivated by his dreams with Ether to see the whole world, got up with everything he had left in him and took Ether to the shrine where they first met. Ether was still alive but was hanging by a thread.

Shoto prayed to the gods for their blessings to save himself and Ether. Miraculously, a god did listen, and Shoto was instantly healed. However, when he looked at Ether, he was still bleeding, almost lifeless. Shoto started begging the gods again for his friend’s life. Someone listened, but it wasn’t someone whom Shoto recognized. They placed a hand on Shoto’s head, but he couldn’t see anyone.

Shoto’s Vow

On the other hand, Ether’s body was disappearing and converting into mana. His body was gone, and nothing was left but a “cursed knife.” He calls this knife “the bane of all demons.” After that night, Shoto vowed to rid the world of the demons’ very existence as they took everything from him, so he would take everything from them as revenge. He also promised Ether to live for both of them.

The Updated Lore

Shoto released a video to update his lore on October 9th, 2022. The reason for the update is quite apparent. As Shoto became more and more popular, he started collaborating with a lot of VTubers. Among these people, there were some demon VTubers like Ironmouse and, among his more recent collaborations, Vox Akuma.

However, that didn’t make sense to many of Shoto’s viewers, as his lore revolved around him vowing revenge on the demon kind and being a demon slayer, which didn’t fit right when he had to do all of those collaborations. That’s why he announced that his lore would be updated in a show called “Under the Table,” hosted by Vox Akuma. That happened back in July 2022, and fast forward to October, when he released an update to his lore.

Hunting A Demon Named Haku

Because of the vow he took on the night of his best friend’s murder, Shoto was out hunting demons in their world. That’s when he came across a really playful and funny demon named Haku.

Blinded by the hatred he had in his heart for the demon kind, Shoto attacked Haku even when he tried to tell him that he had nothing to do with all those murders back in Bakumori. Shoto kept landing blows at Haku with his knife, the bane of all demons, and at last, Haku fell to the ground.

With his dying words, Haku somewhat convinced Shoto that all demons aren’t evil. Although Shoto was feeling guilt inside, he still had grudges against the demons in his heart because they took everything from him. However, Haku told him not to kill “them,” and he was going to make them a nice meal, which is why he was in the woods to gather ingredients. That’s where the whole fight happened. Shoto then realized that he could smell two different demons, and that smell was coming from the house at which Haku was looking while dying. And he finally died, promising those two demons that he’d see them someday.

Doubting Himself

That’s when Shoto started really doubting himself about his actions. He entered the house, where he saw two young demons about the same age as he and Ether were on that fateful night back in Bakumori. He saw the same fear in the young demons’ eyes as they had in theirs once when the demon attacked them when they were young. The names of these young demons were Tadashi and Kyren. Tadashi had a small stone in hand with which he wanted to protect his sister and himself. They asked him where Haku was.

Realizing His Mistakes And Becoming Friends With The Demons

Shoto realized he had become the same monster that he swore to destroy. Shoto fell to his knees and started apologizing to Ether. And then apologizes to the kids for killing their friend Haku. The young demons were devastated by the news and ran toward Haku’s body. Seeing what he did, Shoto started digging a grave for Haku and promised to make up to the kids by showing them that he was really regretful for what he did. However, the young demons were having none of it, but Shoto remained persistent. And finally, through his kind and genuine gestures, he convinced them that he really cared.

That’s how they became friends, and then, with their permission, Shoto embarked on his journey to see the whole world as he promised his friend Ether to live for both of them.

Shoto’s Personality

Shoto is known for being soft with his audience, and he calls them his “Guildies.” His chat often calls him “good boy” or “dog boy” because of his cute puppy-like mannerisms, dog tail, and ear assets. Shoto reciprocates their love by showing his adorable behavior on stream, where he speaks in a softer tone and acts with cute puppy-like mannerisms.

Shoto’s voice is really soothing and feels like ASMR. Shoto knows how good of a voice he’s got and capitalizes on it to its full potential by playing RPG horror games where his audience likes to hear him scream when he gets startled. He’s also a great singer and often covers many songs and shares them with his audience on his YouTube channel.

Shoto often finds himself bantering with his Guildies. Although in good fun, he gets teased and bullied by his audience on almost every stream that he does, especially when they find an opportunity to call him a “bottom,” or “Shottom” ( a combination of Shoto and bottom). Shoto, in return, calls them mean and bratty. However, whenever this banter goes out of his hands, he doesn’t hesitate to keep his chat in check. In fact, he has some expressions added to his VTuber model (more on that later in the article) just to show his audience that he is disgusted by something they said.

However, Shoto often lets his Guildies know how much they matter to him and how much he appreciates having them on his streams.

Shoto’s Growth Over The Past Few Years

In an interview with Nijisanji’s Vox Akuma, Shoto talked about how he had suddenly grown in the past year and attributed this growth to the male VTubers he collaborated with in 2022 and TikTok. Here’s how the conversation between them went:

Vox Akuma: “When you get into the position like you’re exposed not only to so much positivity but also a lot of negativity as well. So, I don’t think anyone prepares you to learn to manage the things you read about yourself. We followed different paths. Right? Like you were indie, and you’ve been streaming for a really long time, but it’s like only recently that you went from being on the level you were used to and then booooom up to the same level as the Luxiem boys and me and everything. It’s a really big change, and no one prepares you for such a big change.”

Shoto: “Yeah, no one’s prepared for that; it’s hard. Like if I wanna be real again, it was slow growth, and all of a sudden, there’s so much support. I’ve not only gotten more recognition for male VTubers this year, and thanks for that. But I do have to thank my community on Bilibili and TikTok for that too.” He continued.

“Both of these communities really helped me get more recognition out there too, so it really helped in terms of getting more people to see my content, and I’m really glad that people enjoyed my content after being spread around on these platforms by people that are my genuine fans and clippers. I will never take that support for granted because it goes such a long way, and it means a lot to me that people took the time to even do stuff like that. You guys are the GOATS. Thank you.”

Shoto just went real, answering that. That was really wholesome, and it feels like Shoto is quite graceful to be blessed with his community.

Shoto Coming Out To His Parents

As most of his fans know, Shoto identifies as bisexual. That’s where his nickname “Shottom” comes from. Although his parents had some idea of Shoto’s sexual preferences, they never had the “talk.” Well, they finally did, and Shoto officially came out to his parents. He revealed how it went in one of his live streams. Here is what he said:

I just woke up and felt like, wait, I haven’t talked to them about this before. So I kind of just went out and said it. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but for me, I don’t know, it was a big relief. It feels so gratifying to just tell them already… I kinda had this conversation with my mom when I was a kid, and she was very accepting, and years later, she still is. I guess I never should’ve doubted her because she still loves me, and that’s all I could ask for. Right?”

Shoto got a bit emotional during that video, and you could feel he was in shock as his voice was shivering. Overall, it all went great!

Shottom’s Journey Of Being Called A Bottom

Shoto had another conversation with Vox Akuma on the show we discussed earlier in the article. In that conversation, Vox Akuma asked him how Shoto felt about being called bottom by his chat all the time. Here is how that chatter went:

Vox Akuma: “For me, my journey (from where it started) to where I am now has been like joining Luxiem, being labeled as the hot one and the daddy character, and after being uncomfortable for a while, I kinda got used to it and learned to love it, and now I just accept the compliments and everything. What was your journey like? Because I can’t imagine when you first began as Shoto, you were already going with this sussy, bottom dog boy sh*t. Where did that begin? How did that evolve?”

Shoto: “I’m gonna keep it buck fifty with you! I’ve been streaming for about two and a half years now (by July 2022), and I’ve been building up my brand and platform for a while now compared to more recent VTubers. Right? I’ve learned a lot. The jokes that have stayed permanent since day one are the bottom jokes believe it or not!” He continued.

“They’ve just become more rampant since the beginning of the year (the start of 2022, when he became more popular). I’m used to it, as I’ve been on the receiving end of these jokes for as long as I can remember. I obviously know what I am, as I personally believe that I am a switch. But if people want to call me a bottom (and make jokes about it), I am okay with it, too, because I consider that sweet, but I do acknowledge that it’s been going around for quite a while now.“

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge that Vox Akuma really is a great interviewer, as he shared his own experience first. Hence, the whole experience is more relatable for Shoto, and he made sure that Shoto didn’t feel uncomfortable with the question.

Shoto’s VTuber Models

Shoto’s Expressions

What’s In The Future For Shoto

Shoto is likely to continue his growth. Despite being an indie, Shoto collaborates with established VTubers very frequently. Shoto is really grateful for all the success he has had, especially with how fast he has grown in the past year. He has been nothing but patient and respectful toward his Guildies. And most importantly, he’s the cutest puppy we all know.

That’s why he deserves all the success that comes his way. And we wish him the very best in his future endeavors!