Indie Vtubers Mint Fantome, Phoebe Chan, and Victoria Roman came together to form the idol group Densetsu.EXE at the end of November 2025. Said launch marked Victoria’s debut and release of an original song from Macross Delta and La Corda d’Oro composer Umuya Aneta. The three also appeared at events like Anime Weekend Atlanta and Holiday Matsuri as 2025 came to a close. Siliconera caught up with the trio to learn more about their project and plans for the future.
Jenni Lada: How long have the three of you been preparing for your idol debut and what kind of training went into it? For example, did it involve vocal training and dance classes?
Phoebe Chan: I’ve been active as an IRL idol since around 2018 or so, and both leading up to that debut and since then, I have made sure to always be training and striving for improvement! One of my life mantras is, “If I’m not learning, am I even living?” So I hold myself to that—getting in at least an hour or more of singing practice everyday, studying music theory and polishing my lyricwriting, doing regular dance practice or physical conditioning. When I can afford it, I take lessons. Together, as Densetsu.EXE, we started preparing for debut mostly at the very beginning of this year. It was a lot of deliberating about our group goals, theming, and lore, and deciding from there what kind of assets we needed. Standard VTuber debut stuff!
Victoria Roman: I used to perform as an underground idol in venues like small live houses in Akihabara, so I have been dreaming of an opportunity like this and preparing for a long time. This past year I have been expanding my vocal training in enka style singing with one of the biggest enka singers in Japan. I have also been taking dance lessons – both j-pop/anison/vocaloid style but also more western jazz style and floorwork. As well as vocal and dance there are other aspects to being a performer that are very important for long shows such as stamina and fitness – for this I’ve been regularly weight training, with an aim to lift Mint and Phoebe in future 3D shows! As a largely self-produced unit, with the support of Setsuna, I’m also continuing to refine my skills in song writing, arranging and mixing so that we can put our own spin on the music we make.
Mint Fantome: Similarly to Vicky, I also used to perform at small live houses as an underground idol in Akihabara! I’ve always thought of myself as more idol fan than idol, but there was always the curiosity of wanting to try it out myself. And out of the 3 of us, I’d say I’m the weakest in terms of skills for music production. But I know I have passion and drive! The three of us deliberated for a long time on theming, the song, and all that we wanted to do together as Densetsu.EXE!
While Mint and Phoebe already had models and were good to go, this meant a full debut for Victoria. What kind of additional challenges did this present leading up to the Densetsu.EXE debut?
Phoebe Chan: For me, this was a chance to completely rebrand myself and shape my model, assets, and content in a slightly new direction. I transitioned from my title of the past five years “2.5D fairytale idol” to now “2.5D blooming flower idol”! And so, for me, it was also getting a new model and logo and asset from scratch. Unfortunately, due to some delays with getting my initial design finalized, I came out of the VShojo situation with just the design and logo finished. Steiner and the rest of the Setsuna staff really pulled together to help me get EVERYTHING rushed out in time for debut. This was literally the only date that would’ve worked for all of our schedules, so it was cramming what would normally be maybe a whole year’s worth of prep into maybe a month or a couple of months. For example, I didn’t have a fully functioning model until a few days before the big debut… ahaha. Big props to all of the wonderful artists and collaborators that we hired, who were somehow able to put so much care into making this happen under such a short deadline! I’m very grateful!
Victoria Roman: It definitely presented some challenges for me, particularly as a lot changed throughout the course of debut preparations, and there were some dark times but I truly believe all worth it to be here at this moment, and now I’m happier than ever. The budget and finances were a big challenge that had to be overcome, so thank you so much to Setsuna for everything they did to help with that. Thank you also to all the wonderful creators who came together to make my debut happen. Another factor was just mentally not being able to do what I love while I lay in wait for my debut. But with that I was able to really focus on my training arc for enka, dance, weight training and becoming the best me I can be. I believe in destiny and everything happening for a reason, and all the complications leading up to debut only made me stronger. Onwards and upwards to a bright future together with my favourite girls!
Mint Fantome: For myself, it was trying to find a balance between showing my fanbase that while this is a new start, things won’t be changing too much! It was a bit of an awkward phase, that I still receive teasing comments about, given that I’ve been established for some time now. I didn’t get a new appearance, I still stream the same way that I do, but internally things are different since I’m receiving assistance with merch, events, etc.! I didn’t want to scare people into thinking my entire branding would change, but I also wanted everyone to be excited about the changes that would happen! We have a whole lot of stuff already planned for 2026, so I hope the excitement will just keep pushing through!
Umuya Aneta worked on “Densetsu☆MVPs” for Densetsu.EXE. How did you all get connected with the composer?
Phoebe Chan: That was all Vicky, hehe. She already knew and was friends with him! It blew my mind. Aneta-san is someone whose compositions I’ve admired a lot for a long time, as a big Macross fan (he actually composed my favorite Macross Delta song hehe). So this was a dream come true for him to work with us.
Victoria Roman: This story goes a while back, but I became a big fan of Aneta-san after hearing Koi Halation! THE WAR live at Walküre’s live in Yokohama. It started from a sea of pen-lights and smoke until the voice actresses appeared on stage – that song and how it was staged and performed that day had a big impact on me. I love the genre changes and interesting chord progressions in his music. Some time later Aneta-san asked me to do the demo vocals for some of his tracks – this happens at the time before the actual vocalist records, as a demo to send to those involved in the project. One of those tracks was “Mada Toku ni Iru” by Maaya Sakamoto, the opening song of The Fire Hunter anime. Since then, for a couple of years I did demo vocals for Aneta-san while he gave me valuable advice and coaching in composition and arranging on my tracks. I consider him my mentor in the music industry, and so it was an honour to have him compose and arrange not only our group original “Densetsu☆MVPs,” but also “Night Parade.” Thank you so much, Aneta-san!
Mint Fantome: All Vicky!! But I know the 3 of us are pretty big Macross fans, so it was a super exciting opportunity! The song ended up being exactly the vibe that I was hoping for, so I am so so happy we were able to work with Aneta-san.
To go along with your debut, you also launched an animated lore video from Spellydoesart and with music created by Victoria. When did the three of you decide to include that? What was it like composing the music for it, handling the voice acting, and contributing to its story?
Phoebe Chan: That was something decided when we were in VShojo! VShojo debuts always seemed to have some kind of storyline going, huh? So originally, it was going to end with us getting invited to VShojo. Obviously, that was changed. We really wanted to have an overarching plot that we could build on over time, regardless, so we came up with some lore that we hope to expand upon over the course of our performances and content into the future! And, of course, voice acting is always super fun hehe.
Victoria Roman: With us being the “three Ys of Japanese folklore” Yokai, Yosei and Yurei, I always hoped that we would be able to have a magical girl story to go along with our debut. Something I’ve always dreamed of is being part of a group that can weave our stories and lore into our music and 3D performances, so having our setting communicated at debut was important to me. The team on the lore video all did an incredible job. As for the music, I really enjoy composing soundtracks, and so I wanted to take the opportunity to showcase that. My favourite part is how the melody of “Densetsu☆MVPs” weaves into (transposed) melodies for “Rainfall,” “Night Parade” and “Mint Cafe” respectively during the battle scene, to come back to the melody of “Densetsu☆MVPs” at the end. I wanted it to symbolise our unique styles coming together to make something special.
Mint Fantome: This was something decided long long ago! Along with being told that a lore video would be produced, we thought it would be pretty fun to have an “origin story” of how the 3 of us met. How we came together due to our passion for music, idols, and Akihabara! You can think of the 3 of us as a sort of unconventional magical girl group since we’re yokai idols! But we also were pretty inspired by “tokusatsu” media. You can especially see it with the explosion in the background of the cover art for “Densetsu☆MVPs!” We were able to meet together in group calls and go through the script and edit in ways that fit our speech and tone. And then have an open-ended conclusion to show that we’ll stay around to keep (virtual) Akihabara safe while also pursuing our dreams!
This debut was accompanied by new solo music from two of you! Phoebe, you had your Rebloom: The Best of Phoebe 2020-2025 album and “Bloom Again, “ while Vicky released “Night Parade.” What was it like for both of you preparing those major launches? And Mint, what was it like for you preparing “Welcome to Mint♡Cafe” while knowing this was also about a month away?
Phoebe Chan: All of us love music so much; it felt like an introduction to who we are would be incomplete without music releases! For me, creating my own original songs has been an important part of what I do since before I was VTubing, and I’ve always tried to release an EP, album, or at least several singles a year! This year, my big project was Rebloom. I knew it’d be both the 15 year anniversary of my YouTube channel (my parents started me pretty young haha) and the 5 year anniversary of my solo music and VTubing career, so I wanted to go all out and put something really special together to commemorate all of the lovely memories my community has made, and all of the growth I’ve had as an artist. Putting out any big music release takes a ton of thought, time, resources, and love, so I’ve been working on this for the past year or so. On top of things like writing lyrics for the new tracks, recording, coordinating the mixing and mastering process, and more, it was also hiring on people for art, doing the photoshoot for the cover, and getting graphic designing for the physical CD and vinyl (for the first time!) releases. It’s my most important project to me to date, and I tried to bring on lots of friends and collaborators and I love, so I hope people can thoroughly enjoy the album and get a sense of my journey from it!
Victoria Roman: I wanted to focus on my passions for creating worlds in Unity this time (composing and arranging something as well would have been too much!) so I entrusted the composition and arrangement to Aneta-san. I wanted to showcase an enka rock style, and for the bridge in particular I got advice from my enka teacher. Aneta-san also included many instruments to suit this style. The lyrics of “Night Parade” I hope can resonate with a lot of people. It’s ok to have many versions of yourself depending on the situation and the people you’re with, and I don’t think people should have to feel the pressure of having to fit themselves into a box of what is “me” all the time. We change and we grow, and all of those versions are still you. I also wanted the Night Parade to be synonymous with a place that everyone can feel they belong – being weird is good, and we can be weird together! Preparing the video took me perhaps 1-2 months on and off with my work at the arcade and other tasks. I started with just a storyboard of ukiyoe and other artwork of Yokai depictions, which became the world of Night Parade. I find bringing together different 3D assets from hundreds of talented 3D creators to create something like this so rewarding and I truly have so much fun making these kinds of videos. Maybe I can make a group MV in the future when we all have 3D!
Mint Fantome: The funny thing was about “Welcome to Mint♡Cafe” was I debuted it during my 3D debut concert. However, the debut was initially planned for after the Densetsu.EXE debut and was planned and recorded long before the VShojo incident. I had Phoebe and Vicky in as guests and even say “Densetsu.EXE!” all before the group was ever announced to everyone else. I had to quickly mute it out of the stream and a few perceptive people watching caught onto it. But I really love “Welcome to Mint♡Cafe” since I was able to work with one of my all time favorite music producers, PandaBoY! He was really able to incorporate so much of the things I love into such a fun song! It has always been a dream of mine to work with him, so I was really honored to have the opportunity!
About how often do you expect to collab together, and what sorts of streams can people expect from the group when you are able to get together?
Phoebe Chan: This is such an important project to all of us! We love spending time together, so I expect we’ll be doing things together a lot hehe. We’re also constantly cooking something up behind the scenes~ Music-wise expect a lot! Densetsu is looking to do monthly collab streams as a full group (like a monthly radio show program with various corners), and smaller collabs between each other as well, but please look forward to the various covers and originals we will put out as well!
Victoria Roman: I think we’re aiming for a chatting/zatsudan/podcast type stream once a month and then also chill casual gaming once a month, plus regular original song and cover releases. That could be full versions or shorts as well (hope you guys loved “Golden”)!
Mint Fantome: I want to play a lot of games with everyone! That’s always my favorite type of content and where I feel like I bond with my friends the most! But of course expect lots of music as well. Nothing’s off the table! I think we’re pretty much up for anything!
Densetsu.EXE will feature a fanclub on Patreon. What are you hoping to offer to people who subscribe there?
Phoebe Chan: A GOOD TIME!!! But in all seriousness—something to show we are appreciative of them and thinking of them all the time~ For idols, “cheki” or polaroid pictures, are big items that are in high demand, because they commemorate a specific event or performance or time in the fan’s life. One of the perks of our fanclub is that members will receive monthly cheki that will be drawn by different people in our community, which will also give them a chance to potentially discover a new favorite artist!
Victoria Roman: I’m so excited for you guys to get our chekis and collect them in the cheki books we have out on the merch store! We’ll also be showcasing different artists every month with postcards and stickers, so I’m super hype for that too. It’s a dream come true for me to have these kinds of opportunities!
Mint Fantome: We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the support of everyone, so we hope to really make fans feel like their contribution is going to bigger and better things! I’d like to form a community where everyone feels like their own Densetsu warrior as well! Initially we’ll be doing monthly “chekis” where fans will receive artwork showcasing a different artist each month! Artists are the backbone of the Vtuber community and we’d love to highlight them as much as possible if we can!
What kinds of goals are you hoping to achieve? Are there any plans for an EP in 2026?
Phoebe Chan: We have BIG THINGS COMING ALREADY! As an idol group, we have many music- and performance-related goals. Perhaps you’ll get to see some of them come true 2026. Stay tuned.
Victoria Roman: Hehe many secret things ~ (but no Vicky Leaks!!!) but what I will say is MVP is going to be having an epic 2026. We have so many big dreams and the sky’s the limit!
Mint Fantome: MY GOAL IS TO HAVE LOTS OF FUN WITH MY FRIENDS AND MAKE FUN MEMORIES WITH EVERYONE!!! 2026 HOOOO!!!
You can find Mint Fantome, Phoebe Chan, and Victoria Roman each on YouTube. Songs and streams featuring all three can be found on the official Densetsu.EXE YouTube Channel. Details about all three members’ activities also appear on the official social media account for the group.