So, since the world sucks right now, and a lot of us are depressed as hell, I decided to make a thread for something that I know has been bringing me and many others some joy. So, let's talk about Hololive English, and other virtual YouTubers. For those out of the know, Japanese virtual YouTuber--or "Vtuber"--agency Hololive recently debuted their first English generation with Vtubers Takanashi Kiara, Calliope Mori, Inomae Ina'nis, Gawr Gura, and Amelia Watson. Who have you been watching? Who is your favorite? What's your favorite thing about them? What other Vtubers do you like, and why? Discuss here!

For me, I love all the HoloEN girls, but Gura is probably my favorite. I love her sense of humor and how fun and goofy she is. Not to mention seeing her absolutely slay a tough rhythm game was hype as fuck. I can't wait for her karaoke streams, because her voice is great.

I've also been enjoying Amelia's streams, at least when she's chill lol. Her Superliminal streams were super cozy and fun.

I've been watching MerryWeather comics' Lumi when she does her streams. I like my thicc wolf girl waifus a lot.

Personally of the Hololive Myth girls, Ina'nis is my favorite. She does great drawings, and is pretty gentle so far.

But out of vtubers in general, I gotta say I love Matsuri, BB Rushia, Coco, Marine, Mea, and Gibara, Risu, and Pikamee.

Although Matsuri is my spirit animal. However Pikamee is family friendly fun who is mostly bilingual.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVeckjmGC7w

feels relevant to post, i think

Yeah, Tomoshika gives off major submissive vibes at times. Probably masochistic even.

I saw the junket for that generation and thought "they're doing RWBY aren't they?"

Also, have we confirmed/refuted/made peace with the idea of VTube fandom being equivalent to wota? Cuz I feel we're at the point where it at least needs discussed.

Ina is a cinnamon roll. The Bob Ross of Hololive.



Well... usually. lol



Not really. Their gimmick is that they're all mythical beings except for Amelia, who is a detective investigating them. Although, ironically, Amelia is far more strange than any of the mythical girls.



I don't know what that is.

(I'm not really participating in this discussion, just answering the question) Per <<www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Wota|Urban Dictionary:>> "A Wota is an obsessive fan of a Japanese idol or idol group." So I imagine Lurksalaot is comparing the VTubers to Japanese idols.

Oh boy, trying to explain if Vtubers are idols is probably a whole can of worms.

But for Nijisanji and most independents, they’re quite far from idols in any sense of the term.

And Hololive is well, Hololive. It’s an idol group equivalent to AKB48.

Please believe me, YAGOO is currently on life support. Sora’s only just barely keeping him alive.

The opening to <<virtualyoutuber.fandom.com/wiki/Nijisanji|this post>> would lead me to believe otherwise, since they're all managed by the same agency, and idol culture doesn't always stick to the large-scale groups.

This is not necessarily a dig on VTubers, since there are tinges of idol culture elsewhere (pro wrestling for example) and not everything about idol culture is inherently negative, but I think this thing is so popular that discussion and contextualization will be useful.

Another discussion topic is how thick you draw the line between Vocaloid/UTAU fandom and VTube?

I only saw gura's debut stream, but i was extremly pleasently surprised, i didn't expect much from hololive EN and i was granted heaven (i'm still more of a natsumi moe dude though)

I think Japan views them more as idols (though Coco alone is probably enough to put a stop to that, lol), not so much Westerners, though. Most Western fans, from what I've seen, view them more as just being like other entertainers.

As for Vocaloid, the main difference is that the Vocaloids themselves are machines. While a real person has to create the songs and animate the performances, the voice and the movements are all a computer. Vtubers are real people behind an avatar and persona. It feels a bit more personal, even if they're concealing their IRL identities. I can't actually speak to how different the fandom is, as I have no idea what the Vocaloid fandom is like.

Yeah, there's a reason why whenever Hololive's Idolness comes up we all quote Yagoo and AKB48.

Because a vast majority of them are rather un-idollike. They may have some traits that make them similar but there are some major diffrences.

For instance:
Matsuri: Great dancer, is a pretty good singer, pretty energetic, and loves to support her friends. Is also a flamboyant lolicon, lusts after Fubuki, does very entertaining drunk streams, and definitely isn't playing a character.
Fubuki: I'm Scatman. Also is a gacha addict to an absurd degree.
Haato: Haachama Chama! Also reviews her own nude fanart on stream, vomits and describes her vomit, and also has a foot/smell/mess fetish she cheerfully wants others to show off to her. Also, eat her cooking please.
Marine: Her horniness is impossible to calculate, talks about wanting Asanagi to do his work on her. Also follows quite a few hentai artists, just like Shion. They possibly did suck too. Probably in this because it lets her live out many of her fantasies.
Coco: We can make a very long list about how much she seems to be the anti-idol of Hololive. Long story short, there's a good reason why she doesn't stream to much in English.
Polka: Like if Coco and Haachama had a baby/long lost sibling. And in another life was friends with Kagura Mea and Tamaki.

I would definitely say Hololive has been straying from the typical idol image, especially outside of Japan, but the main restriction with idols isn't that they can't be weird or horny. Hololive has definitely pushed further, but AKB48 did some of this as well. I was never a fan, but from people who were I remember hearing how they were often horny for each other. One of members would constantly lust after the "loli" member to the point that they formed a "protection squad" for her. When one retired she asked if she could have another members breasts to remember her by. They'd also have weird challenges like blowing cockroaches into each others mouths or eating strangers lunch in public.

Hololive has cranked all this up to 11 and is definitely more genuine, but they can still be viewed as idols at least to the point that they have a decent wota fan base. In my opinion, the big restriction with idols is that can't do anything to get in the way of some possible romantic fantasy their presumed male audience might have. That's why with AKB48 the no dating restriction is so enforced, but they can play up being gay for each other. You can kind of see this in how Towa was forced to apologize for basically having a male voice on stream a while ago. You definitely have some like Fubuki, Matsuri, and Subaru that push against this and collab with men but if I recall they initially got push back. And despite Marine being the lewdest member, I don't think she's ever had a man on stream though I may be wrong. Contrast this with Nijisanji where men and woman constantly collab and debut together and the JP fan base even ships them. Hope I don't come across as hating on them, but this is interesting to talk about.

I will say though, that this seems to mostly just apply to some JP fans and the main branch. It doesn't seem like HoloEN will play into it and HoloID collabs with men all the time.

I know I'm kinda late but I simp the boing boing boomer reaper. She may be the one to make Yagoo's idol dream come true

Also I think Pikamee being family friendly is a joke. She regularly says the F-word and has a running gag about killing ho's