Aegluven is a student-led project that explores how VTubers can be used to educate teenagers about bullying and violence prevention. Through Ayumi Aruna, our original VTuber character, we combined digital content creation with a social mission: encouraging young people to recognize bullying, support victims, and take action.

Just two years ago, when I was on my last semester as a Freshman in Highschool I worked on a small project, “Aegluven: Using VTubers to Raise Awareness About Bullying“ The concept is pretty simple and well known I’m sure; VTubers are pretty popular among the teenagers as a streaming persona. I figured out I wanted to educate teenagers in the most interesting way, so I thought, why not combine them?

Background of problem

In the course of our lifetime, we might have known or witnessed bullying, a global problem that have been last from our encestors. There are even report by atleast 24% of students in Indonesia has experience bullying atleast few times a month. The statistics are even worse on social media, in 2020 there was 44% of all internet users in the U.S have experienced harassment that are on online.

To delve more into identifying the problem, me and my team gather more information thanks to the cooperation of Quranic Boarding School Asy Syahid students, my team gave 3 questions to part the perspective of students regarding the problem.

From the statistic up there, 44.8% students admit to be the victim of bullying in their lifetime. Not only that, 42% of students stated that when they experience bullying they tend to stay oppose, having no idea how to act when encountering bullying. Doesn’t this raise a concern on ourselves?, back again to the data, 24% students claim to be the perpetrator and have bullied someone.

This show just how bullying is still common, especially in school, and it’s creeping around our society. If we, who are the face of the future of humankind, having no conscience and we let this keep happening, ignoring the problem case. Then the problem is in ourself, the statistic will get worse, the numbers will definitely increase.

What and WHY ‘Vtuber‘ ?

For those who are not familliar with the term of ‘vtuber’ or haven’t ever heard of it, let me enlighten you for a couple of words!

Vtuber is a short term of Virtual Youtubers, who are a Content Creators in internet that mainly focused on several livestreaming activities and short videos.

I’m sure your curious self would thought “But rani, why choosing Vtuber as a media just to convey information?” ever since you clicked this post. Just like i expected you to be!

The reason are, teenagers who find the avatars, often inspired by anime characters, to be visually engaging. It is observed that teenagers today prefer learning and searching for information on digital platforms. Anime, particularly Japanese cartoons, which are extensively popular in Indonesia, share similar visual elements as Vtubers.

There are many vtubers we use as an example and inspiration upon creating this project.

But the main reason this idea could even be driven to life the first time is that the inspiration that led me to this idea was none other than this special case that has made me speechless and mesmerised.

“A character, Himmel, from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End was in the media spotlight in the year 2024 because Ruixian Xu, a taiwanese man who dared to take action when they saw violence, on the belief that the character would do the same.”

This strong reason drives us to choose VTubers as a medium. We believe the characters that people idolise or the content they view can impact individuals in the real world.

Aegluven

Here, I will introduce you to Aegluven, an organisation founded by a group of high school students. focused on educating teens with VTuber media as a medium.

The name of Aegluven (Shield of the Youth): Aeg from the word “Aegis” means shield or protection, taken from Greek mythology and adopted into Latin. While the luven of the word “Iuvenum” is the plural of “luvenis,” which means youth. This name gives a strong sense of protection to young people.

Aegluven vision is to become a pioneer in creating a generation that is aware of violence in their environment and has the ability to prevent and overcome it.

And our mission is to distribute information regarding the topic, in hope we can develop care for teens and direct them positively while still raising awareness to prevent bullying, in meantime creating a supportive community.

The Goal

Creating a safe space for a victim to share about their experiences, preventing a violence through educate youngsters.

Meet: Ayumi Aruna

Daughter reveal! JK (★ ω ★)

Meet Ayumi Aruna, our original VTuber character developed by the Aegluven team!

We wanted Ayumi to feel familiar to Indonesian teenagers, so her design combines two important inspirations.

First, her character design draws inspiration from the Garuda, Indonesia’s national emblem, which is associated with values such as strength and unity.

Second, her appearance resembles that of an Indonesian high school student, including a school uniform.

We wanted her to feel like someone young audiences could relate to, rather than a distant figure simply telling them what to do.

Bringing the Idea to Life

Once we had established our concept and goals, the Aegluven team began working on the implementation.

We organized our tasks, developed a project timeline, and planned the content Ayumi would deliver. We also prepared our social media presence, including Instagram and Twitter, and set up a YouTube account for livestreaming.

Our content included Ayumi’s debut livestream and short-form videos for platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. We also prepared social media spaces where people could interact with the project.

Slowly, we began sharing our work beyond our immediate school environment and reaching people through social media.

It was exciting to see our idea become something tangible. What had started as a concept was now a character, a collection of content, and a project that people could actually encounter online.

As we gathered the information and materials we needed, we also documented our work and prepared a report for the next stage of our journey: the Istanbul Youth Summit 2025.

And this was where things started to get hectic.

Presentation: Istanbul Experience !

We were preparing for the competition coming up, setting up the PPT for our presentation, and making revisions given by our school mentor. Even a Zoom meeting with an outside school mentor. Many people looked down on our project; even at our first-ever rehearsal, we got the lowest score. Ouch. There was a LOT of drama. I can’t even count how many tears have come out. But our deadlines are getting closer each time we sleep, So, we picked ourselves up and got back to work.

In February 2025, we finally got our chance to show and present our project that we had perfected for months earlier, which started in Istanbul, Türkiye. The first time I got out of the plane, my instinct told me to put my fingers inside my mouth. That’s a bit exaggerated, but just to demonstrate how COLD it was, it was troublesome to just breathe, definitely not the same as Indonesia’s weather. [hiks]

Eventually, it was time for our presentation. We were waiting for our time to go. The first team had made their presentation, and we held each other’s hands to reassure ourselves. And then, it happened.

Our team was called to the stage. Suddenly, the whispers around me seemed louder. My shoes felt too tight, and I swear I could hear drums pounding against my chest.

The video had started, our team leader started his speech, followed by members’ presentations. And surprisingly, once we started presenting, the atmosphere felt warm and welcoming.

My nervousness seemed to disappear along with the snow outside, and the audience appeared to take a liking to Ayumi. I was so relieved and happy to see that our character could connect with people.Then, something I’ve never ever thought of happened: Aidiel Mat Isa, Head of Partnerships from Pandai, recognized our work and offered us a contact card from Pandai. ⊙.☉

I honestly couldn’t believe it!

Where it’s all worth it.

We all have experienced that moment when we start something big, something new. It all seems so scary, and you feel anxious. You just want to stop at that moment, but looking back, it was all too late. Progress had been made, sacrifices at stake.

But here’s something I’ve learned from this experience.

Just do it. Whether you were hitting rock bottom at the time, you wouldn’t know what is qualified as ‘perfect,’ ‘fitted,’ ‘normal,’ or not if you haven’t even TRIED. Because that’s the one that placed me in this exact position.

We didn’t know whether all those rehearsals, revisions, and tears would lead anywhere.

But we tried anyway.

The First Place of Best Project. Istanbul Youth Summit 2025. Done it.

Acknowledgments

Of course, Ayumi Aruna wouldn’t have become a reality without the teamwork, effort, and support of Aegluven team!

I want to give them the recognition they deserve, because this achievement was never mine alone. Every person who contributed helped bring our idea closer to reality. o(≧∀≦)o

-Maulana Alghifari as Chief Executive Officer
-Raniya Alqonitha Iskandar as Co- Chief Executive Officer
-Muhammad Shaquille Lathif as Chief Finance Officer
-Religy Khalis Ghaniya Haryono as Chief Marketing Officer
-Abdurrahman Antasena Adzani as Chief Operating Officer
-Syafiqa Aulia Dhian as Multimedia
-Fatimah Azka Haniyyah as Public Relations
-Abdullah Azzam Mudzaffar Yusuf as Public Relations
-Rahaditya Faza Aulia Ahmad as Project Controller

to Aegluven team, thank you for being part of this journey and for helping turn an idea into something real.

And thank you to everyone who took the time to read about our journey at IYS 2025.

You may leave the plane now. ✈️