Whom Do We Desire? Distributed Embodiment, Distributed Objects of Desire, and Reclassification in VTubing

Existing studies of VTubers have explained how virtual avatars reshape identity performance and fan engagement, yet they leave open a more fundamental philosophical question: what exactly becomes the object of desire when embodiment, representation, and reception no longer coincide? This paper develops a conceptual framework to address that question. Rather than treating desire as directed toward either the avatar or the human performer, it argues that the object of desire is constituted across three analytically distinct yet interrelated layers: distributed embodiment, mediated representation, and audience reception. The resulting distributed object of desire is neither reducible to any single empirical component nor identical with Lacan's objet petit a; instead, it functions as a middle-range ontological concept for describing mediated desire. Through comparative analyses of babiniku, VTuber reincarnation, Nayina, and VTuber-themed Boys' Love, the paper further distinguishes performer continuity, persona continuity, memory continuity, audience continuity, and platform continuity as separate criteria through which participants negotiate object continuity. Finally, drawing on Jacques Rancière, it argues that digital platforms do not merely represent desire but provisionally stabilize distributed relations through acts of classification and reclassification. The paper concludes that the central philosophical issue is not discovering the "true" object of desire but determining who has the authority to close an ontologically open relation.