INTERVIEW: VTuber Axel Syrios on Stinky Smells, Character Alignment, and Never Giving Up

This interview is part of our series of articles and interviews with the members of HOLOSTARS English -TEMPUS- and CEO Motoaki Tanigo. This series includes interviews and recommendation lists from some of the world's most well known VTubers. You can read Axel Syrios' top anime list here, and you can see all of the upcoming articles below!

Axel Syrios is the chief of human resources for the Adventurer's Guild TEMPUS as well as the owner of an entire gladiatorial combat arena. We had the pleasure of interviewing Axel about his fear of horror games, his hatred of bad smells, and his advice for people who want to start streaming!

Crunchyroll: Hello! For any of our audience who don’t know you, could you please introduce yourself?

Axel Syrios: What’s up mate!!! I’m Axel Syrios, the one and only gladiator for guild TEMPUS! I joined the guild since our leader Regis seemed to be struggling haha

Finding the time to stream while also acting as TEMPUS’ head of personnel management must be challenging! Could you please describe a day in the life of the guild’s gladiator?

Axel: It’s not too challenging actually! Every day I just eat, go on quests, eat, stream, eat, and sleep! There’s nothing much to do as a personnel management as well tbh, I might’ve scared people off from visiting when I beat those thieves up. 

If you had to assign a moral alignment (like chaotic evil, lawful good, etc) to yourself and each TEMPUS member, what would they be??

Axel: Everyone is a chaotic good, ngl honestly, I’m just too lazy to assign everyone haha

Your debut stream was so fun! What was your favorite part of going live for the first time?

Axel: Seeing so many people welcoming me!! I’ve never had that much of an audience in my own arena, so it was hella cool!!!

Your cover of “Yoidore Shirazu” was so great! Was it challenging to sing a song originally sung by a VOCALOID?

Axel: Not really! Singing isn’t difficult but trying to perfect it is something that’s near impossible. But that’s what's fun about it! I love challenging myself!

You stated that you are hesitant to play horror games on stream. Which horror game has scared you the most?

Axel: I’ve barely played any, that's how much I hate it…

One of your dislikes is bad smells… What do you consider the stinkiest smell in the world?

Axel: It’s not about how stinky something is, it’s about the situation. When I have a full stomach and I smell some nasty stuff, it's game over…

VTubers have become extremely popular in the last few years. What about the medium do you think speaks to people’s hearts so deeply?

Axel: I feel like in anime and manga, their oshi is only alive in that specific world and they can’t interact with the fans. But VTubers can!! I feel like the interaction between VTubers and fans is what makes us special!!

What advice would you give someone who is just starting out streaming?

Axel: Most important thing is, just enjoy!! But If I had to give advice for people with bigger goals, then I’d say keep hustling, that's all I can say. Work hard but smart. Things will take time, so just trust the process and don’t rush. Hone your abilities and make sure you have your own strength you can show to your viewers. And finally, have a goal. It can be anything from just having fun to joining hololive or HOLOSTARS even. Just know what you want to do and work towards your goal.

If you could ensure your viewers take one feeling or message from your streams, what would it be?

Axel: Don’t ever give up in life. Forget about the past, but learn from it. Don’t think about the future, but work for it. If you need to work on something, let’s work together, you ain't alone! Let’s take it easy and one step at a time, enjoy the moment we have now, with the boys!!!

Do you have anything else you would like to say to your fans and fans of hololive production in general?

Axel: I ****ing love you guys so much!!! You guys are the reason that drives me to work harder and the reason for my passion. Thank you so much for everything guys and let’s enjoy this adventure of ours together!!!