Yes, you read the headline right—horror icon Sadako and virtual Youtuber Kizuna Ai have made it into Newsweek Japan’s “100 Japanese People the World Respects” list!
Now it’s not exactly clear how these 100 people were picked, who picked them, or how Sadako’s and Kizuna Ai’s names emerged among all of Japan’s pop culture icons. Hopefully, the criteria and the process of picking these 100 names will be made clear in Newsweek Japan’s Apr 30 issue, which will hit stands tomorrow.
What is clear, however, is that the list of 100 names is split into four categories: Heroes/Icons, Challengers, Artists/Entertainers, and Rest of the Best. Virtual Youtuber Kizuna Ai is categorized in the Artists/Entertainers segment, along with Case Closed (Detective Conan) creator Gosho Aoyama, contemporary artist Yayoi Kasuma, and graphic artist Kenya Hara.
On the other hand, horror icon Sadako is placed under the “Rest of the Best” category (perhaps because it is hard to categorize a revenant like her? :P). Funnily, her occupation is listed as “vengeful spirit”. Makes sense, actually.
With Kizuna Ai, it appears that her worldwide popularity is a key reason to her inclusion on the list. Sadako, on the other hand, appears to have made it to the list out of sheer scariness—because seriously, who wouldn’t respect someone who does a creepy crawl out of a well to avenge her death?
Kizuna Ai started posting Youtube videos in November 2016 in her first channel, “A.I. Channel”. In March 2017 she opened a second channel, “A.I. Games”, which is dedicated to her playthroughs of different video games, usually upon request by her viewers. Her voice actress and staffs working around her are unknown, although it is speculated that she was created using the MikuMikuDance software and given facial expressions and human actuations through the use of motion capture technology. She has since become of the most popular Japanese virtual Youtubers, releasing a line of merchandise, toys, songs, and recently has held her own concert as well.
Sadako, on the other hand, is the antagonist of Koji Suzuki’s Ringu novel series. After being raped, killed, and thrown down a well, she returns as a vengeful spirit to take revenge on the world. Her latest film, Sadako, is set for a May 24 release in Japan.
Source: Crunchyroll News, Japan Today