I completely forgot that November is the anniversary month of this blog. I guess I was bound to do this eventually after 17 years, though the tumultuous nature of both November and December (let alone the entirety of 2024) made it even less of a surprise.
From what anime has told me, this is the eternal year. Once you reach this milestone, you’re 17 forever (or you enter “17, Season 2,” as per one Houshou Marine). So here we are, where Ogiue Maniax isn’t quite able to vote, but it’s still insisting that it’s practically an adult.
I’m making all the jokes that we’ve seen from anime and otaku culture, but when I look back on how far I’ve come writing here, there’s gotta be one thing above all else that marks how far I’ve come: I got to interview Inoue Kikuko, the mother of the Eternal 17 movement. How wild is that?!
But as long as I’ve gone, I still find the identity of Ogiue Maniax to be perpetually in flux. A big part is that every year I find myself with new ideas, new responsibilities, and the awareness that my perspective simply has to be different from when I started. That’s not to say that I consider myself a traitor to the values and inspirations that prompted me to start an anime blog in the first place, but I inevitably have to approach it with a different energy.
In a way, continuing to write about anime in this fashion is a sort of Eternal 17 attitude in itself. At the same time, who the hell blogs anymore? It’s the domain of weirdos like me who have stubbornly refused to switch mediums (this is not a bad thing). Yet, given where media as a whole has come and gone, I wonder if younger people will rediscover the unique joys of writing as a way to escape some of the things they enjoy less.
If there was ever any sign that I’ve become a serious fan of VTubers, it would have to be the fact that I went to the Fantôme Thief’s Revenge concert in Atlanta, Georgia.
When this joint event between Dokibird and Mint Fantôme was first announced, I felt conflicted about whether to even go. On the one hand, I had decided to support Doki in ways I hadn’t back when she was Selen Tatsuki. Mint, for her part, is a charismatic performer whose friendship with Doki goes back to their previous incarnations in VTubing. On the other hand, this was pretty bad timing, being right before the holidays. Moreover, the concerts I had attended previously were either attached or adjacent to other things I was already doing, like conventions. Anime Weekend Atlanta was the same weekend, but I simply couldn’t stay too long.
But between the lack of an official streaming option and the reveal that one of the special guests was none other than Dooby (another big name who made the decision to go independent), I made my decision to go. I had a focused mission: Fly to Atlanta, go see Doki and Mint, sleep, go home. (Also, eat some fried chicken and Bojangles.) I never thought I’d do something like this, but here I am, and it was totally worthwhile.
Entering the Venue
Upon first arriving in the area of the concert, I saw a large line outside that gave me a bit of deja vu from Breaking Dimensions. While waiting in line is never fun, I did enjoy seeing all the eager fans. There were the Doki and Mint supporters, of course, and Dooby’s reputation precedes her, but I even saw some who were clearly there for the other guests—PiaPiUFO, Phoebe, and Juna Unagi.
After finally getting into the concert site, the Tabernacle, I was faced with a second line—this time for merch. Unfortunately, the penlights sold out before I could make it to the front, but I bought a few other things instead, including a holographic ticket that isn’t going to be sold online. Also, I thought there was a chance I might not get my hands on a concert penlight, so I brought a backup with me, just in case. From there, I made my way up to the balcony. To my surprise, a good number of seats were available despite the fact that the tickets for them were unreserved, so I got to have an amazing and unobstructed view. After a half-hour delay (due to the sheer number of people trying to buy merch), things kicked off with the opening acts.
The Opening Acts
I had little prior experience with PiaPi, Juna, or Phoebe. At the very most, I’d seen Phoebe on guest lists at conventions here and there. Knowing the lineup, I actually spent a bit of time in the days prior and on the plane getting to know their music. While I got the sense that they were all decent performers, I wasn’t prepared for how much more impressive they were at the concert. PiaPi did a great job building up hype and using her 2D model to its fullest, and she just sounded great. I’m glad I finally got to hear Phoebe in action, who was solid all around, and I enjoyed her cover of “Snow Halation.” Juna’s sultry voice and presentation worked well, though I’m not quite the audience for a parody song that describes gay sex and waterworks in extremely fine detail.
Each of them sang three or four songs, and were almost half the entire concert. I think Doki and Mint granting so much time to the other VTubers is very representative of them and their desire to create events that celebrate others. PiaPi has the smallest following out of all of them, and she’s seeing a significant bump in subscribers. While waiting in line before the concert, I happened to spot two PiaPi supporters (known as Pickles) dressed in themed happi.
It was then time for the main acts, and the screen transitioned to Dokibird—except she wasn’t singing or dancing, but was instead indulging in her latest gaming obsession: Marvel Rivals. The audience spent seven minutes watching her play as Luna Snow while Mint was telling her to wrap it up. If there’s anything that a more corporate VTuber event wouldn’t be able to do, it’s probably silliness like this.
The Main Attraction
Finally, on a stage decorated with their fan mascots waving penlights, Doki and Mint warped in, fully 3D and amidst raucous applause. I can’t say enough about how beautiful their models were. It was as if the original 2D designs had been brought to life, and to make them look that good both when still and in motion was no easy feat. Mint’s concert model wasn’t her official one, but the quality was still very nice. Dokibird’s is her official one, and she even hired for it a highly regarded artist in KarakuriPower (who’s done work for hololive).
I didn’t recognize a lot of the songs, and I even thought their first act was an original number when it was actually a cover with the words “Doki” and “Mint” swapped in. Regardless, I enjoyed the sheer variety of musical choices. Doki acknowledges that she’s nowhere near as good a singer or dancer as Mint, and so her individual performances tended towards meme picks, like “Xue Mao Jiao”, the Doraemon opening, and the Five Nights at Freddy’s theme. Even if she admitted to flubbing some choreography, I think she succeeded in bringing the fans along for the ride. Hopefully next time, she can do a Cantonese song too.
Mint loves idols and idol culture with all her heart, so she tended in that direction. Her performance of “New Romantic Sailors” was a personal highlight. Not only is it one of the best Love Live! Songs, period, but I actually got to see it performed live at Anime NYC a few years ago. While she delivered in spades on the “Minto-chan Laser Beeeaaaam!” (playing off “Riko-chan Laser Beam” from the original performer), I also appreciated seeing her substituting her name for all three Guilty Kiss singers in the lead-up to the yell. However, in between the idol stuff, she threw in a cover of “Break Stuff’ by nu metal band Limp Bizkit, which has become an anthem of sorts for Mint. The ghost maid is such a solid entertainer.
The Ultimate Callback
One of the biggest moments of Fantôme Thief’s Revenge snuck up on the entire audience. A duet began with Mint sitting at a table with a cup in hand. Doki walked over, also holding a cup, and then she sang the words that brought some of the loudest cheers of the evening: “Someday, we’ll have our last conversation…and drink our last cup of coffee.”
The significance of lilypichu’s “Last Cup of Coffee” to Doki and her fanbase cannot be understated. For her original supporters in her earliest days of VTubing, this was like Doki’s gift to them shortly before her original graduation. For those who discovered her as Selen, her cover music video was supposed to be her Christmas present to us, but its removal is what started the chain of events that led to her tumultuous firing and subsequent revival as Dokibid. And now here she was, almost a year later, singing it once again, as if to show that she dictates what the song means to her and her fans.
Much of Dokibird’s return since February has seen her reclaim aspects of her identity, such as her fan name (Dragoons), her appearance (a design by the same artist used for Selen), and her subscriber count (800,000+). This song was one of the last pieces of the puzzle. In later streams, Doki and Mint revealed that the decision to have this in the concert was Mint’s idea, and that it was to make “Last Cup of Coffee” a happy memory for the Dragoons.
Dooby and a New Age of VTubing?
What actually brought the loudest yells of the concert was the awaited appearance of the final guest.
As the stage screen transitioned to a red curtain backdrop, “Sugar Song and Bitter Step,” the ending theme to the anime Blood Blockade Battlefront, began. Mimicking the ending video, Doki appeared in a spotlight, followed seconds later by Mintl. This left an open spot in the middle, where a little train car suddenly appeared, signaling a warp-in by Dooby in all her train-conducting Jerboa glory. The audience erupted and I did my best to add to the excitement. This song was also a popular karaoke choice for Dooby in her previous identity, so it felt extra special to her fans who have been supporting her these past five years. Seeing them all dance and kick and just have a good time is one of my fondest memories from this concert.
I think the crowd reaction wasn’t simply because Dooby is a beloved Vtuber. Just as important was how these were three of the biggest names in English VTubing, now all working as indies. It was as if a new era had arrived.
Bringing It Home
The “final” song of the evening was emblematic of the general irreverence of the concert as a whole: “I Just Had Sex” by The Lonely Island. PiaPi, Phoebe, and Juna all joined in, still using their 2D models. The comedic nature of the song had the whole audience bopping along, and I think the fact that Doki and Mint brought the opening guests in for this performance once again speaks to their general interest in using their platform to bring attention to lesser known talents. It was an attitude that benefited their previous company, and it’s heartwarming to see them follow through on their desire to help others out. The encore was “shake it!” by Vocaloid composer emon. I didn’t know it myself, but in hindsight, having it end with a Hatsune Miku song is about as appropriate as it gets for a VTuber concert.
Closing Thoughts
While there was no official stream of Fantôme Thief’s Revenge, the two made it okay to record the concert. Later, I learned that there was a handcam stream on Twitter that had over 50,000 concurrent viewers. Days later, a full version was also uploaded to Youtube:
So why did I write all this up despite it being freely accessible to everyone? Because I think it’s important to still have these memories put into words for posterity. Also, I think there are some things that don’t easily come across even with a video,
In terms of criticisms, I don’t have many. I wish I could have gotten a penlight. Some of the reserved seating (which I wasn’t a part of) forced that part of the audience to view things at an awkward angle because of the screen. Not only was the timing of the concert inconvenient because it was so close to the holidays, but it also overlapped The VTuber Awards which had a halftime performance), as well as hololive EN’s musical, “The Broken Promise.”
I’m happy I ended up going to “Fantôme Thief’s Revenge.” It was both Dokibird and Mint’s first true 3D concert as their current selves using their updated designs, and I cherish the fact that I could be part of it. Getting to see Dooby make her concert debut was also a treat, as was being better introduced to Piapi UFO, Phoebe, and Juna Unagi. It was an experience that rewarded my fandoms and helped me discover new possibilities. And while I hardly talked to any other fans, I could at least appreciate their mutual enthusiasm and energy.
Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master stands out as an anime that deftly combines different genres together to make a smart, compelling adaptation of the novel series.
Yamauchi, the world of Yatagarasu,resembles Heian-era Japan, but all the people have the ability to turn into large three-legged ravens—because they actually are ravens. Yukiya, the son of a leader from the North (one of four areas alongside the West, East, and South), gets into trouble that winds up with him working for the Imperial Prince. But despite its pristine outer image, the imperial court is center stage for the different factions to jockey for power, and clandestine actions are not uncommon.
The series is a mix of fantasy, court intrigue, character drama, and detective fiction, where the Prince is the primary investigator and Yukiya is his somewhat reluctant assistant. With all these different elements at play, it would be very easy to have the work fall apart, but Yatagarasu successfully weaves it all together. The world-building is continuously intriguing, the mysteries are elaborate and well-structured, and the twists and revelations are genuinely surprising while still connecting logically. Even the seemingly arbitrary decisions about the setting play into the greater story. The greater cast is great as well, whether it’s potential brides for the Prince showing that they’re more than passive damsels or enemies with unseen sides.
The anime gets through its initial major story and ends in the middle of the next one, so it doesn’t wrap up neatly. Nevertheless, I think it’s a great series that can draw viewers deep into its world if they can handle the court complexities.
I’ve known about Riki-Oh(aka The Story of Ricky) and its supremely over-the-top violence for decades. Whether it was seeing grotesque(ly awesome) moments from the original manga by Takajou Masahiko and Saruwatari Tetsuya, or animated gifs of the most ridiculous scenes from the 1991 Hong Kong movie directed by Lam Nai-Choi, those images stay with a person. When I finally got around to watching that film adaptation, I thought I was ready for what I was about to see. What no one ever told me was just how much Riki-Oh speaks to a nascent prison-industrial complex that has only grown horrifically stronger by 2024.
The opening narration text establishes that Riki-Oh takes place in the future year of 2001, where something horrifying has happened: All government organizations has been privatized, including prisons.
Seeing this made my eyes widen in surprise. When for-profit private prisons plague the United States and treat its inmates in the cruelest ways possible, when Hong Kong itself is having its rights taken away, and when there is actual talk about privatizing state and federal penitentiaries in the US, this movie feels practically prescient. I don’t know how much of this is from the original manga and how much is a quality of the movie, but it’s a hell of an establishing message to put at the beginning.
Then, our hero, Lik-Wong (literally Riki-Oh in Chinese) shows up among the newest batch of convicts. He’s impossibly cool and strong, living with five bullets lodged in his chest and possessing the power to punch people so hard, their body parts explode. To say he’s cut from the same cloth as Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star would be an understatement. But one thing is immediately clear about him: While he is capable of astounding acts of lethality, he would rather there be respect for human dignity, and so tries to show restraint. However, should someone trample on that humanity, Lik-Wong’s willing to give them some consequences for their actions. He believes strongly in peace, but will not preserve a false one in the absence of justice.
And so Lik-Wong gets into many battles and punches holes in his foes and cleaves their limbs off with the power of his qi gong. He is a manga hero brought to life. But the really interesting portrayals come from the other prisoners, both individually and as a whole. Some are brutal and unrepentant criminals who have gotten in with the equally malicious guards for their own selfish benefit. Others are good people only in there due to a corrupt justice system. Those who are victimized by the prison and its warden, including being used as slave labor for illegal drug production, rally behind Lik-Wong and even gain inspiration to fight back thanks to him.
But Lik-Wong, for his part, understands that you can’t hold him up as the standard of what a normal person can do. When his fellow inmates resist orders to bury him alive, our hero tells them to do it anyway. They need to avoid incurring the wrath of the warden and stay alive to resist tomorrow. By the end, the prisoners stage a mass revolt while Lik-Wong fights the superhuman monsters that make up the prison’s strongest fighters. Lik-Wong is singularly exceptional, but even he can’t do it alone.
So we’re left with a movie featuring the most off-the-wall feats of dismemberment and disembowelment as performed by a very colorful cast of characters, and underneath it all are some profound questions. Why do we permit the utter dehumanization of prisoners while allowing prisons to profit off their enslavement? Why do we allow people with such an opportunity for corruption to wield such power over people? Sadly, we have no Riki-Ohs or Lik-Wongs in the real world, but we do have the ability to rally around those who believe in compassionate justice that protects the vulnerable, and to work together to make a difference.
A couple years ago, I started watching the popular Dungeon & Dragons roleplaying stream Critical Role, following the adventures of the ragtag band known as Bell’s Hells from the very beginning. A number of my friends are long-time fans of Critical Role, particularly Campaign 2, “The Mighty Nein,” and I decided that this third campaign was a good time to jump in.
I’ve had my ups and downs with Campaign 3, as 1) I felt it couldn’t always keep my attention, especially when each season was 3–5 hours long, and 2) it drew a lot from previous campaigns that made it hard to follow. Nevertheless, I stuck with it. Then came a turning point that I think helped finally get me more invested: the group’s trip to the red moon, Ruidus. Not only was it revealed that this moon is inhabited by all manner of heretofore unknown species, but that they lived under the tyranny of the Weave Mind, five ancient psychics who have combined their powers to rule as one. And if there’s anything I love in fiction, it’s villainous hive mind masters whose very combined nature is both their greatest strength and their Achilles’ heel.
The Overmind? Hell yeah. Mother Brain? Always love fighting her. Virtually every shmup final boss? Give me more. Ougi Ichirou from Kekkaishi? The reveal that he’s actually six brothers grotesquely fused together is one of my favorite moments in that manga.
A couple weeks ago, Critical Role finally had the players enter into direct battle with the Weave Mind. However, while Bell’s Hells are the main heroes, they were not the ones to confront the masters of Ruidus. The story had led to the player groups from each of the three campaigns tackling separate vital missions, and this was the Mighty Nein’s. The result: It was amazing, and probably my favorite episode of Campaign 3, tied maybe only with the pyrrhic victory against Otohan.
Now, I’ve seen some of the arguments online as to why the Weave Mind fight was disappointing for some people. “The Mighty Nein have no narrative connection to them.” “They were only ever talked about as this great evil, and never had the chance to really show it.” But as valid and reasonable as those opinions are, I can’t resist an awesome battle against a hive mind boss, particularly when it involves special mechanics, and those mechanics are key to unraveling the seeming invincibility of the enemy. I’ll eat that stuff up all day long.
The Weave Mind was revealed to have a number of features tied to their unique composition and the site of battle, their Pentathrone Chamber. A psychic shroud of some kind made them difficult to target. Damage to any one of them would be divided evenly between all five, blunting the damage. They could attack in unorthodox ways, like eliminating player spell slots and forcing exhaustion. Three could work together to create a triangular area-of-effect attack. They also had special shields that granted them more HP, which were also restored at the top of every turn.
But as the Mighty Nein fought them, the players gradually learned how to tear down the interconnected layers of defense. Smashing the crystalline structures in particular helped to blunt their ability to regenerate their shields, and when Veth (played by Sam Riegel) landed a sneak attack on one of the Weave Mind, the foe happened to be in a position that prevented them from sharing damage with the others, and that became the turning point of the battle. The implied shock at having their weakness exposed was personally extremely satisfying.
Shortly after, Yasha (Ashley Johnson) landed a blow so strong that even the damage distribution couldn’t save the wounded member from being slain, and the lattice work of defenses actually led to the Weave Mind’s undoing. With one less ally to take the pain, it became harder for them to weather hits, and when some clever teamwork by Beau (Marisha Ray) and Caleb (Liam O’Brien) left one of them stunned and unable to resist a Disintegration spell, killing one actually led to the demise of the collective. The DM, Matt Mercer, described the dying Weave Mind as ironically being defeated by the very fusion of selves that granted them such extraordinary abilities, and that their final moments showed how pathetic they and their petty ambitions really were despite their immense power.
Amazing. 10/10.
I think what made all this especially appealing to me was that Matt Mercer had specifically set this all up as a unique combat challenge for the players. Like a good pro wrestling match, the technical aspect helped to fuel the story of the fight, but this battle had an added factor: None of this was predetermined. The whole setup reminds me of one of the big dividing lines in battle-oriented anime and manga: whether a series focuses on brain battles or heart battles. This definitely leans more into the former with the previous fight by Campaign 1’s Vox Machina more the latter. Making a brain battle emotionally satisfying isn’t always easy, but I think theteam pulled it off.
I don’t think every battle in an RPG should be against hive minds (it’d probably get old), but pulling one out and making it this exciting is exactly the kind of thing that makes me want to memorialize it on this blog. Kudos to the Critical Role team.
Video essayist F.D Signifier has made various videos about what he calls edgelord movies—media featuring cool lone-wolf heroes—and the way they interact with the portion of their fanbase that consist of a male, mostly white viewers drawn to their depiction of masculinity. Fight Club, The Matrix, Joker, and even something like Attack on Titan all count towards this. They’re fascinating watches, and well worth checking out.
At the end of his most recent video (see above), he comes to a striking conclusion: Attempts to address edgelords through edgelord media are probably in vain because there will always be a part of that audience who will just remember the badass stuff and ignore (or not even notice) the criticism. To make an edgelord movie, you need edgelord moments, and that is what a particular type will gravitate towards. If you make violence look cool, that’s what some people will remember above all else.
I can definitely see where F.D Signifier is coming from. But despite my sense that he might very well be right, I’m going to toss in my suggestion for an edgelord title that I think is the most likely to reach that audience and drive its criticisms home: Chainsaw Man.
Fujimoto Tatsuki’s manga Chainsaw Man centers around Denji, a destitute boy who does menial tasks for gangsters and dreams of 1) losing his virginity 2) eating bread with jam. Through an odd confluence of events, he gains the power of the Chainsaw Devil and becomes Chainsaw Man, with a chainsaw for a head and chainsaws on his arms…and also he can just make chainsaws come out of his body. The series is crass and ultra violent, and Denji acts as this powerful hero who breaks all the rules.
Except, where other edgelord fiction might leave any revealing commentary about its protagonist to the end (Fight Club, Attack on Titan), or couch its transgressive politics in imagery and metaphor (The Matrix), Chainsaw Man constantly juxtaposes the “sigma male” qualities of Denji with his own pathetic nature. Rarely does a badass scene or arc take place that isn’t immediately cut at the knees while the series questions that badassery in the first place. While it’s still possible to ignore Denji’s sadder qualities, Chainsaw Man really throws it in the audience’s face over and over again. There are even times where Denji himself explicitly expresses frustration over how shallow he can be, and how he often wishes he wasn’t that way.
I don’t have any empirical evidence that Chainsaw Man has reached anyone in the manner I’ve described. In fact, I often see the opposite, as parts of the Chainsaw Man fandom concentrate on refracted pieces instead of the whole: the brutal violence, the character Makima’s domme aesthetic, general wackiness, etc. But while at least a chunk of that audience might never learn, the series itself continuously pulls apart its own power fantasy only to put it back together and then tear it up again in a continuous cycle. It never relents, and I think that persistence could pay off.
Ishikawa Hideo is a veteran voice actor who has been in anime since the early 1990s.His famous roles include Ryouma in the Getter Robo franchiseand Uchiha Itachi in Naruto.
I know you best for the role of Ryouma in Getter Robo, and you’re only one of two Japanese actors to play the character of Ryouma in the Getter Robo series. What was it like auditioning for the role, and did you look to the performance of Kamiya Akira for reference or inspiration?
Initially, I took this audition for the role of Hayato. I didn’t get Hayato, but I was asked if I’d be interested in Ryouma, and I accepted it.
In that very first anime I was in, Change! Shin Getter Robo, Kamiya-san was involved as a narrator. We already knew each other previously, but when I got the role and I met him again, Kamiya-san said, “You’re playing Ryouma? Good luck! I’m entrusting it to you!” so I was very nervous, having had that initial conversation with him.
I knew Kamiya Akira-san’s Ryouma well, of course. His yells when launching special attacks left a lasting mark on my childhood. Naturally, I was conscious of Kamiya-san’s version in mind when playing Ryouma, but one of the staff told me to forget about Kamiya-san’s. Still, there’s no way I could forget his Ryouma, so I still had it in mind when I was performing.
Do you have any advice for voice actors that have to scream a lot, given that the role of Ryouma requires a lot of yelling?
I can only say, “Take care of your voice and throat.” Lately, I’ve been seeing an increase in anime that require more screaming; looking at that, I get a little worried. “Are they taking care of their throat and voice?”
You’ve played many different Ryoumas as a result of your involvement with Getter Robo. Is there a version of Ryouma who’s your favorite?
I was a part of Shin Getter Robo, Shin vs Neo, New Getter Robo, and Getter Robo Arc—four works in total. Of them, my favorite is New Getter Robo.
Did you ever get to meet Nagai Go? If so, what was it like getting to know him?
I met him on a job unrelated to Getter Robo, which was Re: Cutie Honey. At that time, I told him that I had played Ryouma previously. It was a real honor. I told him that I’ve been a fan of his since I was little.
Did you also get to Ishikawa Ken as well?
Yes, Ishikawa-sensei came to the recording.
I’m going to pivot a bit, since you’re here for Final Fantasy. You’ve played different roles throughout the series: How does it feel to be associated with so many different characters in Final Fantasy?
For me, I think it’s a positive thing. It’s great that I can represent so many roles and the lives of so many different characters. That has been the biggest joy and also a challenge, and a lot of thought goes into it.
I want to go back to the topic of Ryouma again. You said the New Getter Robo version is your favorite. Why is that?
To be honest, it’s because Ryouma is the main character in New Getter Robo. In the previous works, he wasn’t. Because Ryouma was the lead, I had a very different approach to the work, and really enjoyed the fact that the story proceeded with Ryouma as the core.
I want to ask you about another character of yours: Itachi in Naruto. He’s one of the most popular characters I’ve ever seen in anime—you can see it among the cosplayers. I even told an Itachi fan yesterday that you’re here, and he was so surprised.
When did you learn the truth about Itachi’s character, and how did it inform your performance as a result?
Actually, I wasn’t told anything about Itachi’s past and how he cares for his brother—I was just asked to play this scary villain. Then, during Naruto’s run, the chapter that revealed the truth was released, and I was shocked just like others when I read it. “Whoa! Itachi was a good guy all along?!” From there, what I had in mind when playing the character of course had to change. Even so, all the way through, I still went with Itachi as performing the part of the villain because of how that fuels his little brother Sasuke’s hatred for him and desire to live on.
Is there any role of yours that you’re proud of that’s lesser known that you want fans to know about?
That’s a tough question! I don’t know if this is considered “lesser known,” but I saw an Otakon staff member who’s wearing a shirt from Senki Zesshou Symphogear, and I was wondering if it’s been streamed more and is more popular in America.
I know the fanbase isn’t large, but it’s very loyal. On social media, I see people who say that it’s their favorite show ever—that it’s their favorite anime, period.
On Nov 29, 2024, hololive Japan VTuber Sakamata Chloe announced on her third anniversary that she would be ceasing her streaming activities with hololive at the end of January. As a Day 1 fan of her generation, holoX, I wanted to give her a proper send-off with a nice farewell post on this blog.
Then the next day came, and with it a second major bombshell: Ceres Fauna of hololive English’s Promise announced that she will be graduating from hololive at the beginning of January.
So as much as I would have preferred to write two separate pieces that shine the spotlight on each of them separately, these two departures feel so closely linked together that talking about one inevitably brings thoughts about the other. Consequently, I write this in the hopes that it can be both a celebration and a thinkpiece.
Looking at the Orca and Kirin
Sakamata Chloe and Ceres Fauna lore and approaches to VTubing are different.
Chloe is an orca, and has been the “cleaner and intern” of Secret Society holoX, an organization ostensibly aiming for world domination. Based on her initial design, she seemed the most serious and mysterious of holoX, only for her to debut in the silliest way possible.
She’s known for her amazing and versatile singing voice that can switch from cute to sultry, her cheeky banter, her aversion to bathing, and her lack of prudence when it comes to things like fanservice (which her fans obviously love).
Fauna is a kirin and the “Keeper of Nature” for a Council of primordial forces, before engaging more directly with humanity as part of hololive Promise. At first, she seemed like a nurturing “mother nature” type, but almost immediately revealed a mild, yet noticeable yandere undertone to her personality that eventually gave way to a cursed sense of humor.
She’s synonymous with ASMR aided by her incredibly soothing speaking voice, serious gamer attitude that pops up at unexpected moments, and an Extremely Online Millennial sensibility that makes her ramblings endlessly entertaining.
But despite their differences, the two have some things in common that make their decisions to leave almost parallel each other. Their respective generations both debuted in 2021, a little over three months apart. Although Chloe was the fastest in holoX to hit one million subscribers on Youtube and Fauna still hasn’t hit that milestone, both are known for having an impressively large and consistent viewership, with very few peaks and valleys. Both have a knack for “piloting” their virtual selves in ways that make them feel more natural too. Also, in my opinion, their character designs are among the most beautiful in hololive, and were the ones I initially gravitated towards prior to their debuts.
I bring up their similarities and differences not simply to compare the two, but to emphasize that both of them feel like consummate ideals of VTubers in their own ways, to the extent that their decisions to leave have been real shocks. Granted, one of hololive’s strengths is the way that each and every one of their talents feels like a pillar of the company in their own unique ways (be it through content, longevity, reach, support behind the scenes, etc.), which makes every exit feel like a big loss. In addition to having two back-to-back announcements, there’s also the issue that three years is both an eternity and a drop in the bucket in internet years. They’ve been around long enough to become part of viewer’s lives in significant ways, but then it feels like their careers were only just beginning.
Circumstances
Chloe mentioned having to deal with ongoing health issues, the workload, and wanting to go a different direction than the one hololive is taking. Fauna cited disagreement with management as her reason, and specifically stated that she liked singing and dancing for the crowd as if to kill the idea that she hated doing idol stuff. Almost inevitably, there’s been a lot of catastrophizing and speculation as to what exactly this all means, and in response, a number of other talents (like Bae, La+, and Shiori) have given their own thoughts, reassuring fans that they are relatively happy and comfortable with being in hololive currently.
My feeling is simply that there’s one priority above all else: making sure these people behind the VTubers can live in ways they don’t regret. They are the core and backbone of hololive, and to neglect them would damage everything, including but not limited to their bottom line. Whether that means allowing talents to leave on good terms or changing things within the company to keep them from burning out or damaging their health, everything in their power should be done to make sure hololive is not the end of their careers for the wrong reasons.
In this regard, I can’t help but also express concern over Kazama Iroha, who has had to go on hiatus because she’s completely lost her voice due to stress. A part of me worries that the increasing expectations for hololive members— regardless of whether those expectations might be from the company or externally from viewers—risk encouraging a form of ableism in VTubing, a field that has been great for people with disabilities and other health problems. The concerts are among my favorite parts of hololive, but I don’t want them to happen at the expense of the talents’ wellbeing. If safeguards are in place already, then great. If not, I hope they get some.
Cheering ’til the End
I come away from all this largely with fond memories of all the great times I’ve had watching both Chloe and Fauna. For Chloe, the first things that come to mind are all her 3D specials. There’s her getting pelted with fish during her 3D debut, her duet with May’n, and her performance of “Jouya Repaint” with all of holoX at 4th fes, among others. Chloe’s voice is one in a million, and I hope she keeps it safe for her own sake.
For Fauna, the personal highlights are a bit more varied. Of course there’s all the excellent ASMR, but her April Fools 2009-era Minecraft stream (complete with crunchy audio/video quality, awkward mannerisms, and up-angled webcam) is an all-time great. I also can’t say enough about her performance with Shiori and Nerissa at Breaking Dimensions, as well as how Fauna’s “Stay with Me” showed just how much training she’s put into singing.
Something else Chloe and Fauna have in common is that their respective lore each allows for goodbyes that create interesting stories. Chloe could move on from her holoX internship to a bigger “job” elsewhere. Fauna has implied that she’s actually an usurper of the true Keeper of Nature (her mascot character Nemu), and maybe Nemu could take back her rightful place.
I hope that wherever they land, it’s someplace they can thrive and do what they want at a pace comfortable for them.
Delusional Monthly Magazine feels like a show that, by all rights, shouldn’t exist.
When I was first getting into anime, one of the selling points was simply the way it contrasted with American cartoons. Instead of cartoony mascot characters, it had cool-looking humans and fantasy races. Instead of silly stories that resolved more or less in one episode, anime featured ongoing epic storylines. And instead of incompetent antagonists, you could see villains who took lives and struck terror in their victims. While this is not an accurate description of anime as a whole, it was definitely a common sentiment at the time.
But Delusional Monthly Magazine is like an anime homage to 80s–90s American cartoons, the kind of thing you’d see on a weekday afternoon or Saturday morning. If you put it next to He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, some version of Scooby-Doo, Bionic Six, Mummies Alive, Road Rovers, or any number of shows that typically get reviewed by Secret Galaxy, it would hardly look out of place. And I don’t even mean that the show is reminiscent of these series at their best, like when they have magnificently animated openings. Rather, Delusional Monthly Magazine often calls to mind the sillier episodes where the budget wasn’t so hot.
Warning: Spoilers for the entire series.
In the world of the show, the eponymous Delusional Monthly Magazine is a periodical dedicated to exploring the occult, and its entire staff consists of a bunch of weirdos. Their newest recruit is Goro, a researcher who’s obsessed with the long lost continent of Mo (not Mu), and who sets them on a path to discovering relics that may be clues to finding the Mo Continent. They have to compete with the mysterious White Pegasus corporation, who’s also looking for Mo relics called MOParts (a play on OOPArts), but when one relic comes into contact with Taro, the girl-starved perpetual slacker on the team, he transforms into a massive tiger man straight out of Thundercats. Not long after, allies and enemies alike discover the ability to turn into these “Motarian” beastmen, and they clash in varied and often ridiculous ways.
When I say ridiculous, what I mean is that the plots are straight-up Shredder-and-Krang affairs. They even have two Motarian beast goons not unlike Bebop and Rocksteady, albeit with more effeminate features. The bad guys set up a fake cruise ship dating service to steal the MOParts. The good guys try to deal with an actor possessed by a relic that makes him ruin every performance he’s in, and Taro in tiger form does a doubles’ figure skating routine. One of the characters, a 10-year-old with healing powers, turns out to have been a bull-form Motarian prince. A sudden dog show that’s more of a dog triathlon includes a dance section, where the crew’s weirdly anthropomorphic shaggy dog (and not in the furry sense like with Taro) busts a move. Also, the dog is actually a reincarnated Motarian human bard, and there are some mild BL elements too.
Given all the above, it’s as if Delusional Monthly Magazine is a Japanese animation that embodies all the qualities that anime was supposed to stand in contrast to. Is that good? Is that bad? It almost doesn’t matter because the mere fact that we have a show like this to watch is like a miracle in and of itself. I constantly found myself questioning how any of this could be real.
Even the climax of the series itself feels like the way a long-running and episodic TV cartoon or a 90s anime that got popular in the West would do a season finale. The mostly frivolous stories make way for a very sudden and dramatic double-triple twist. First, we discover the quiet boss lady who owns the magazine was once a scientific prodigy who was ostracized for declaring that the Mo continent was real, and that she is actually a reincarnated Motarian. Second, she was very close friends with the leader of White Pegasus, who was also a scientist. Third, she’s actually the villain of the series, and wants to revive the Mo continent to use its doomsday weapon to wipe out humanity. The heroes win the day, and the show gets to provide some basic closure that works both as an ending (should it not be renewed,) and leaves open the possibility of continuing.
Delusional Monthly Magazine has a very intentional retro feel, to the extent that the show itself makes a joke about how its episode titles are reminiscent of the dramatic and sometimes spoilerific episodes titles of older anime. But it’s one thing to call back to a previous era, and another to structure your entire show in a way that not only leaps back in time but reaches across the ocean to capture the attitude of a certain era of American animation. In anime fandom, we throw words like “weeaboo” around to describe people obsessed with Japanese culture, and this feels like the other side of the coin.
The creator of Delusional Monthly Magazine, Umatani Ichigo, is credited with just one other work: a property called Remote ☆ Host, which seems to be about rival host clubs that broadcast remotely? I’m not entirely sure and would be interested in knowing more about it. The reason I looked this up is because I was hoping to get some insight into whatever mind brought this to fruition. I couldn’t find any answers, and I don’t know how much the director and writer played a part in making such a bizarre work. Whatever the reason, we have an anime that defies expectations.
To say I’m disappointed in the direction the world is going is an understatement. But this is the position we find ourselves in, and I hope that we can fight for and support marginalized communities who risk having their human dignity (if not their lives) taken away. I vacillate between hope and despair, but I want to believe that I and others can both endure what’s to come and take action to make things better where we can.
I sometimes wonder if I should be more out front, if only to counter the caustic image of anime fans that has entrenched itself on social media. There are a lot of willfully ignorant people out there who want to present anime and manga (and by extension Japan) as this purely conservative (if not outright fascistic) wonderland, and I just hate the fact that “anime profile image” has become synonymous with “rank asshole.” Maybe it’s too little, too late, but still.
As a reminder, if you’re supporting me on Patreon, you’ll save by not subscribing on iOS. The fees are not small, and I hope you don’t get cheated out of your money.
The one-two lunch of Sakamata Chloe and Ceres Fauna leaving hololive brings a lot of thoughts to mind. I want to write about them both, but I’m not sure exactly what I want to say, or how to say it.
OGIUE MANIAX 