When the Virtual Youtuber group “hololive English Advent” debuted last summer, something in particular caught my eye: The twin demon guard dogs known as FUWAMOCO listed Genshikenas one of their favorite anime. As a fan of the series (in case you haven’t noticed), it was exciting to know there were a couple of VTubers with a fondness for Genshiken. But it left me wondering, who is their favorite character?
Last month, Fuwawa and Mococo did one of their popular karaoke streams—one that later turned out to be a special stream to announce their move to Japan. As if to call back to some possible younger days as otaku,, lot of the song selections were from the 2000s, including “Soul Taker” and “DANZEN! Futari wa Pretty Cure.” Then, they said the magic words: “Kujibiki Unbalance.”
While regular readers of Ogiue Maniax probably already know this, Kujibiki Unbalance is the name of the fictional series-within-a-series in Genshiken, as well as the title of its opening by Under17. As FUWAMOCO began to sing the theme song, I sent a superchat asking about their favorite character, knowing there was always a possibility that they wouldn’t notice. To my pleasant surprise, they responded.
The answer: Madarame. As arguably the most iconic character of Genshiken, he deserves it.
The only caveat is that only Mococo answered, so I don’t know if it’s Madarame for both of them or just her. If I ever get the full answer, I’ll be sure to make an update.
A lot of cool music-related things have happened in hololive land over the past few months, so I just wanted to give some brief, unorganized thoughts about them.
La+ Darknesss Solo Live: Waku Waku Nightmare
La+ had her first solo concert a few days ago, and the paid VOD (3300 yen) is still available until March 1, JST. The event was sponsored by Nissin, the original instant noodle company, and La+ recently became a spokesperson for their U.F.O. brand of yakisoba. Note that the site is Japanese-only, and that when registering, you can put all 0s as your phone number. (Also, there’s a Koyori solo live on April 7, JST.)
As a La+ fan, I’d been hoping for something like this for a while now. While I could talk endlessly about this event (check out her final song, “Kurai”), I just want to highlight a couple things that stood out to me.
La+ actually started off with “Kamippoi Na,” which was her very first cover song back when she debuted, and she decided to sing with a deeper voice in contrast to the the whispiness of her recorded version. The choreography was also completely different from the time she covered it with Murasaki Shion. What’s really fascinating, though, is comparing her dance to that of Hakos Baelz. Both are among the very best dancers in hololive, and you can see how their respective styles come through on the same song: La+ is smooth, while Bae is dynamic.
Towards the end, La+ performed “Aien Jihen,” her first original song, and something she hadn’t pulled out since her original 3D debut. Back then, she had decided to perform the dance against a pre-recorded vocal track because of the challenging choreography. This time, however, La+ did both the song and dance, showing the progress she’s made, but also how she’s worked through a collarbone fracture from her COVID cough, a hiatus for her mental health, and throat issues, among other setbacks.
One thing I noticed during this performance of “Aien Jihen” is that the choreography has changed in some ways since she last showed it. These might be adjustments designed to make it easier to perform while singing, but I also suspect that she actually modifies her dances depending on whether or not she’s wearing her massive coat. Note in the above images (during the line “Nothing bad happened”) how La+ is leaning forward in her 3D debut but is leaning back during her solo live. I feel like the silhouette in the first image wouldn’t be quite as strong without the coat.
Ray (covered by Generation 0)
Recently, I was trying to decide which generation is the strongest musically…and then the Japan Generation 0 cover of “Ray” came out. Suisei, Sora, and AZKi are in the top echelon of Holo singers. Roboco’s sound has this haunting quality, and Miko pulls off “cute idol” while maintaining her signature voice. The closest second is probably Indonesia Gen 1.
Mind Craft (covered by hololive English)
Hakos Baelz organized a cover of “Mind Craft” with the entirety of hololive EN, and everything about it is amazing. The balance between giving the fans familiar combinations of individuals and unexpected ones really makes it a journey of a song. My highlights are IRyS + Nerissa, and how Bae herself is presented as a modest “leader” of the whole thing, both in how she has only a few solo parts but at pivotal moments, and her literal outfit looking like a ringmaster’s. Speaking of which, the character art is some of my favorite ever for hololive, and I hope there’s a way to own it someday.
Bae also did a stream where she talked in detail about getting the song and music video produced, and I think it’s worth a listen.
2023 to 2024 Countdown
The New Year’s countdown was fun just like last year, and I’m glad to have seen new girls get in on the Shuffle Medley fun. Naturally, La+ as Kiara performing “Do U” stole the show for me.
But I wanted to look more at the fact that the hololive and holostars streams had different performances of the same songs, with distinct choreographies. Specifically, it was “Idol” from [Oshi no Ko] and “Dai Zero Kan” from The First Slam Dunk.
The guy versions are more “masculine” in approach (like the basketball-themed dance moves in “Dai Zero Kan”), and it makes me think of something I read in the dance manga Wandance: It tends to be the case that guys don’t learn “girly” moves. Issues of heteronormativity aside, it’s still fun to see different interpretations of the same songs.
hololive KDA
I wrote about the Riot Games One 2023 KDA cover performances previously, but I’m bringing it up again because I’ve been thinking about something in particular: The hololive version shows some of the limits of the 3D technology, and where it has room to improve.
Putting aside the skill difference between the hololive girls and full-on professional dancers, there are definitely moments where the 3D can’t quite capture certain subtleties, or where certain moves don’t quite read correctly. For example, during “POP/STARS,” one of the performers is supposed to be a bicep flex, but this just doesn’t get conveyed when La+ does it.
That’s it for now! Who knows if I’ll do one of these again?
I didn’t intend for my Anime NYC 2023 experience to become more like “hololive NYC,” but that’s what ended up happening. Between multiple special events and an Exhibit Hall filled with sellers who knew that it’d be a hot commodity, my time was filled with VTubers and VTuber accessories.
Anime NYC 2023 took place from November 17 through 19, once again on the west side of Manhattan at the Jacob Javits Center—a mediocre venue that tends to just win by default because there’s nothing bigger around. While the con brought guests and screenings from lots of different anime and manga, the highlight for me was indeed the sheer amount of hololive programming. Each day brought something big: the Hoshimachi Suisei paid concert on Friday, the very first hololive Advent panel on Saturday, and then the surprise hololive Indonesia tour concert, viv:ID Cruise. On top of that, Anime NYC had originally announced each one separately, so what we originally thought would be one major event (the Suisei concert) gradually turned into three—not to mention the hololive booth in the Exhibit Hall that had nonstop live programming.
One of the challenges for the big hololive events is that they all required attendees to go through a somewhat convoluted reservation system. Rather than first come, first served, people were randomly assigned a spot in the queue. The idea is to 1) not have people line up unnecessarily the day of an event, and 2) to make sure those with the privilege of more free time or fortunate timing didn’t have an unfair advantage. I find that there are pros and cons to this approach, the downside being that I think it makes many people try to get in even if they don’t necessarily care. Nevertheless, I count myself incredibly lucky that I managed to get into all three events.
Suisei
Hoshimachi Suisei is one of the most popular and celebrated VTuber singers today. She introduced viewers of the The First Take to the world of Virtual Youtubers, and she’s already had a couple concerts in Japan. Her appearance at Anime NYC was pioneering in multiple ways: Not only is it the first (mostly) solo 3D concert for hololive in the US, but it’s also the first to spotlight Japanese talent, as opposed to the English-focused Connect the World from last July. Suisei did not disappoint, bringing her characteristic powerful vocals and performing her original songs like “Ghost” and “Stellar Stellar.” In an industry where lots of post-processing is common to make people sound much better, Suisei stands out as someone with legit singing chops.
hololive EN’s Calliope Mori also guest-starred with a solo and a duet with Suisei. The big surprise to me was that, of all the pieces she could have done, Mori performed “Miraijima ~Future Island~,” her promotional song for the One Piece manga. Though in hindsight, it’s the perfect fit for an anime convention.
The concert was basically a glorified screening (Hatsune Miku–style 3D holograms aren’t a thing yet for parent company Cover Corp.), but buying into the kayfabe “live” notion is part and parcel with enjoying hololive in general. Also, the Special Events hall was not an ideal space for concerts (it’s just not built for that purpose), and standing on the hard concrete floor for extended periods was murder on my legs. Despite the pain, I had fun.
hololive Advent
Just like how hololive Council made their group convention debut at Anime NYC in 2021, the third generation of hololive English appear this year together for the first time. Unlike the other events over the weekend, it was not a musical performance. Instead, it was a Family Feud–adjacent panel where the members of Advent competed to see who could successfully guess what the audience would answer in polls related New York City. Questions included topics like iconic NYC foods (pizza) and the coolest New Yorker (Lady Gaga). The funniest thing was seeing the generational/informational divide among Advent—most notably Shiori Novella (an “archiver” in VTuber kayfabe) calling Al Pacino “Al Pakino” and “Al Capino.”
This panel ran a lot more smoothly than Council’s two years ago, and didn’t have the awkward formality that came from being connected to an official cultural tourism thing. I think it really goes to show what strides hololive has made among American fans that they didn’t feel the need to have that association.
viv:ID CRUISE
The appearance of hololive Indonesia at the con was a big surprise, namely because viv:ID Cruise was originally announced for Southeast Asia only. Now, the tour schedule reads as “Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lampur…and New York.” I’m definitely not complaining, as it ended up being my favorite part of Anime NYC as a whole.
The members of viv:ID CRUISE are Moona Hoshinova, Ayunda Risu, Pavolia Reine, and Kobo Kanaeru. In their group numbers, it was great to see how each VTuber brought their own personal quirks to their performances and the choreography, such as Risu’s unmatched songstress status and Kobo’s theatrical dance moves. In their solos, each girl shone brilliantly. Moona made the biggest impression on me with her song “Perisai Jitsu,” particularly with the catchy chorus and the simple-yet-powerful choreography. I’ve had it stuck in my head for days, and it reinforces my opinion that Moona is one of the most complete packages in all of hololive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXRSp8QbOeg
I also noticed that Reine seemed to be the most popular with the audience there, though I don’t know how representative the live crowd was compared to, say, US fandom for hololive Indonesia as a whole. Speaking of texting, before and after the concert, there was an ad promoting the new holostars English generation, Armis. Online opinion about male VTubers in hololive Production can be mixed or even negative, but the attendees seemed to be largely enthusiastic about the guys.
The hololive Booth
In addition to all the above events, the official hololive Meet booth returned to the Exhibit Hall this year. On the sides were life-size standees of this year’s representatives for hololive Meet, as well as ones for the CEO of hololive, Tanigo “Yagoo” Motoaki, and fan-favorite staff member A-chan. Like last year, they also had live streams on display there especially for Anime NYC. The booth was sponsored by VRChat, and fans not attending the con could still see them through VRChat. I think this was a great idea, and even provided something for the fans who couldn’t attend all the ticketed events mentioned above.
I wasn’t able to see all of them, but I did catch a couple.
Hakos Baelz is an official ambassador for VRChat, so it’s no surprise that she’d be there, but her embracing of the platform—particularly through her “Dawn of the Dork” karaoke streams—makes her a fitting rep. She brought one such karaoke session to Anime NYC, and showed off both her fun, casual singing and her well-honed dance moves. Utilizing a cutesy model version of herself dubbed “Strawberry Bae,” she sang some anime tunes, took requests from members of the audience (each of whom only suggested hololive songs), and even almost covered Mariah Carey’s Christmas song, until a vocal part of the audience booed the notion. I wish I could have heard it.
The other stream I saw was by two members of the Indonesian branch who weren’t at the concert: Airani Iofifteen and Kureiji Ollie. They’re actually my two favorites of the Indonesian girls, so I was glad to have had the opportunity to see them. Their panel was more of a goofy one, where they had the audience tell them to do certain poses, and they had to see if they both did the same thing. Both Iofi and Ollie have ways of thinking that stray from innocence, so the antics could get rather spicy (but in a fairly PG-13 way). There were also some technical mishaps that would make one or the other disappear or mess up their models, but it was all in good fun and the audience understood.
I could not view the FuwaMoco karaoke session, but I could definitely hear it. The highlight for me was getting to listen to their rendition of “Ojamajo Carnival,” the first opening to Ojamajo Doremi.
One big improvement over last year’s booth was that they elevated the screen to be high up and visible from a distance. However, the crowd that formed around it still took up a huge chunk of floor space and could make it difficult for passersby, especially because it ended up blocking the exits a little. If something could be done to fix that, it would be a boon to both the fans and the other attendees.
Merch
hololive merchandise comes in many forms. There’s the official stuff, the fanmade goodies, things from previous events and milestones, and limited edition convention items, among others. Pretty much all of this was available at Anime NYC 2023, no doubt because everyone knew hololive was going to have a presence there.
I have an ongoing mission to get at least one item related to every hololive member at some point, so this was a great opportunity for me to take a few steps closer:
I am very fond of the hololive Meet casual outfits, so I wanted to get something from that line. One of the big selling points is also that it had A-chan merch (a rarity, given that she’s not technically a “hololive” performer despite working for the company), and I count myself incredibly fortunate that I managed to get a button of her, as well as ones for Ollie and holoEN’s IRyS (the best singer in EN, in my estimation).
I also really had not expected to get something as amazing as an official canvas image of Inugami Korone in her Sonic the Hedgehog cosplay. I believe my life to be enriched by its presence.
Final VTuber Thoughts
The hololive experience at Anime NYC was unforgettable, and topped this year only by the fact that I got to see Connect the World live. I think it’s great that a convention so close to me gets VTubers in a major way. That said, I do have two hopes for future appearances.
First, I think it would be great for everyone if all these events could be announced sooner so that fans could save up and prepare. While I had the benefit of a press pass, in recent years, the cost for regular attendees has skyrocketed, and those who missed the opportunity for the already-low-number 3-day passes had to pay in the triple digits just to get Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I know from experience that conventions sometimes simply can’t announce things as soon as they’d like, but anything to give fans more prep time would be great.
Second, Anime NYC has still yet to have proper meet-and-greets for VTubers—something that seems to be common at other conventions throughout the world. I have to wonder if there’s a space issue that prevents it at the Javits, though the fact that Anime NYC 2024 is going to use the entirety of the convention center might bode well for such a change. That all said, next year’s con is going to be moving from November to August, which will bring a whole host of uncertain variables. Whether this turns out to be a good move remains to be seen, but I hope it ends up being a net positive.
I once described La+ Darknesss as having a level of skill and confidence in dancing nearly unmatched all of Hololive. That was back in March, shortly before 4th fes (the latest of the annual live concert events), and at the time, I left a caveat that there were actually a number of members who had yet to debut in 3D, and things might change.
Well, things have changed.
At this point, every girl in Hololive outside of the most recent debuts have gotten full 3D models, and many have shown themselves to be noticeably amazing physical performers. Among these talents, there are three that stand out to me in particular.
Hakos Baelz of Hololive Promise.
Vestia Zeta of Indonesia Gen 3.
And Vestia’s genmate Kobo Kanaeru.
I have zero technical or artistic knowledge of dancing (outside of reading Wandance!), so my praise of them is mostly based on vibes. From that limited perspective, I get the sense that they move better than the vast majority of their fellow Holomembers. On top of that, they all seem to approach dance in different ways compared to one another, to the extent that I start to feel like their personalities and quirks come through in their respective performances.
To me, Bae moves as if her entire body from head to toe is equally super-charged, Zeta from the ground up (with her legs being a big focus), and Kobo like she’s acting just as much as she’s dancing. La+, in comparison, seems to dance from the core and then have her energy radiates outwards into the rest of her body. I don’t know if this is even accurate or makes sense, but I start to wonder if I might be able to recognize each of them through their dancing even if they shared the same 3D model. Either that, or I’m just overestimating myself.
We might be entering a new Renaissance period of VTuber dancing. The recently announced 5th fes, Hololive Island, is likely to feature all of them and be an incredible showcase. On top of that, an upcoming Riot Games event in Japan is going to have a performance by Murasaki Shion and three of the names I’ve mentioned above: La+, Bae, and Kobo. And with ReGLOSS’s Todoroki Hajime making dance a major part of her character, I can see things only getting more exciting in the near future.
The past few months of Hololive have been one major event after the next, and among the biggest were the debut of not one, but two new Virtual Youtuber groups. First was Holo Advent at the end of July, the newest English generation in two long years. Then in September came ReGLOSS, who seem to be the vanguards of an entirely new division. Both groups have now had a bit of time to establish themselves, and they seem to reflect two very different approaches: refinement based on past experience vs. taking an experimental direction that’s a mix of old and new.
Holo Advent
While “lore” and “backstory” matter less and less over time, they are part of the initial impression a VTuber makes and can help to solidify their image in the eyes of fans. And when it comes to the English branch of Hololive, their parent company COVER Corp. chose to make things elaborate. Unlike the relatively simple princesses, idols, and devils of the Japanese branch, the first generation (known as Holo Myth) debuted with an ancient Atlantean shark, a grim reaper, a warrior phoenix, an Eldritch priestess, and a time traveling detective.
Due to circumstances of timing (a global pandemic) and their own abilities, Myth are the most successful generation of Hololive—and possibly any VTuber group—ever. Their follow-ups, Project Hope and Holo Council, went even bigger by being the representatives and embodiments of abstract concepts: hope, of course, but then also a celestial governing body of space, time, nature, civilization, and chaos. While all of them have turned out to be popular and entertaining individuals, I think the grandiose nature of their lore can be a burden on the girls themselves. It can weigh the VTubers down just as much as it can elevate them, and often the streamers give this facet of their characters only basic lip service.
I believe that knowing how to avoid that awkwardness is the lesson taken from the past two English generations, and I see this in how Advent strikes a middle ground between them. Like Council, they have a group concept unifying them: The members of Advent are all runaway prisoners who were locked away due to their forbidden powers but staged an escape together. However, their individual backstories are all more detailed than Myth yet less so than Council. Shiori Novella is an archiver whose pursuit of knowledge gave her access to the forbidden. Koseki Bijou is a sentient jewel who inadvertently drives avarice. Nerissa Ravencroft is a demon not unlike a siren. Fuwawa and Mococo Abyssgard are twin demon guard dogs locked away for being huge pains.
In practice, this specific level of lore allows them to play into their core characters without having to devote too much of themselves to keep up an act. Shiori encourages creative works and accumulation of interesting stories. Bijou makes rock jokes on the regular. Nerissa sings beautifully. FuwaMoco talk in cute dog voices and bark on occasion. They don’t have to, for example, express primordial chaos. In pro wrestling terms, Advent’s gimmicks are starting points that they can choose to learn into or not without feeling like they’re overdoing or underdoing it.
ReGLOSS
If Advent is a product of calibration and finding a nice lore sweet spot that is neither too sparse or too burdensome, then ReGLOSS takes a far different angle. Like Advent they number five in total, but all of them are supposed to be just regular human girls—not reincarnations or half-wombat people or anything—albeit eccentric in their own ways. Hiodoshi Ao is a handsome manga artist who is now a VTuber to help with new story ideas. Otonose Kanade is an aspiring musician with a penchant for bad puns. Ichijou Ririka is a young gal CEO who loves survival puzzles. Juufuutei Raden is a saucy rakugo performer with a fondness for drinking and smoking. Todoroki Hajime is a short-statured, pastel banchou (delinquent boss) who loves dance and fashion.
These five have joined together to make music, but what’s funny about this is that most of them are not practiced musicians. A couple have confessed that singing is still awkward to them, and they don’t have the trained vocals of many of their senpai. While there have been Hololive members who start off lacking in this department, there is typically the expectation that they’ll grow at their own pace and fans will love their ability or evenlack thereof. In contrast, ReGLOSS debuted with their own generational song from the get-go.
However, this plays very much into a familiar aspect of Japanese idol culture. Unlike K-Pop, which prefers to unleash its stars when they’re already fantastic, part of the enduring appeal of idol culture is seeing the performers grow. That quality permeates Hololive both naturally and by intent, but it’s never been this concentrated. That said, it’s notable how, while they’re mostly not singers by default, they have other skills and interests they can fall back on. For example, Raden does fine art history talks and Ao did an entire stream about the bullet journal system.
The most unusual thing about ReGLOSS is arguably that they are also the first to be part of a division called holoDEV_IS (pronounced “Holo-dev-ice”), whose true purpose is still unclear. Is it an attempted inroad to other areas of entertainment? Not much is known.
Room to Explore
With any sort of new iteration, there will be those who want something comfortably familiar. Likewise, there will also be those who want something new and exciting. What I think has helped make Hololive such a big player in the world of VTubing is their willingness to provide both while understanding that there is more than one type of success—big numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. Advent and ReGLOSS are indicative of this philosophy, and as they continue forward, I will enjoy seeing all their members carve out their own fanbases and finding people who appreciate them.
Hololive just announced a new group of Virtual Youtubers, collectively called ReGLOSS. Ever since the Hololive Splash Party concert at the end of August, there have been numerous teasers for something called “hololive DEV_IS,” and these new members seem to be the first project under that banner. Now we have both their appearances and a debut music video, one thing that stands out to me: The girls of ReGLOSS have surprisingly clean character designs.
Most VTuber designs take what I’ve referred to as a “maximalist” approach. Typically, a Virtual Youtuber wants their essence to be easily identifiable at a glance, and so most will have things like wild hairdos, horns, animal ears, and complex outfits on display. The most recent Hololive English generation, Advent, features all these attributes and more. While there are exceptions, this is the general trend.
In comparison, the ReGLOSS designs are actually quite subdued. Sure, they’re still pretty flashy, but they’re somewhat less elaborate than even typical IRL human idol or Kpop fare. The fact that all five members’ outfits are coordinated with one another is new and different—rarely have generations looked this cohesive. (And if anything, they kinda look like they stepped out of the anime RahXephon.)
As for why Hololive has decided to go this angle, I wonder if it’s because they seem poised to be a music group first and foremost, and there isn’t as much of a need to go big with the designs. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that another major Hololive singer, AZKi, has herself gotten more elegant redesigns over time. That said, I’d be shocked if they didn’t stream at least a decent amount, as that connection with the fans has been a boon to the followings of all the various musicians in Hololive.
For now, I’m pleasantly surprised. While I appreciate plenty of VTubers with maximalist designs (including Advent), I have wondered if that “arms race” has gone a bit overboard. If ReGLOSS finds success, maybe we’ll see a turn back to simpler and more refined aesthetics (if we ever really had them at all).
PS: While it’s somewhat futile to speculate about what they’re really like, Hololive seems to be very aware of this, and has created an image and hashtag for fans to predict what they’re like. So I figured, why not join in on the fun?
PPS: Hololive has also revealed their casual outfits. Though they no longer match, I think everything I said about their designs still stands—even Raden’s.
I don’t know if it’s the record heat waves or just the sheer amount of things going in life, but the summer has felt incredibly long. But now that it’s the final stretch, I’m sure I’ll be missing it soon enough.
During this time, I also managed to watch both Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider, so expect some reviews of those sooner than later. In the meantime, I’d also like to mourn the loss of gfycat, which provided many a useful moving record for both mirth and study. I didn’t use the site much for Ogiue Maniax, but I have been updating a few posts here and there.
September Patreon subscribers! Thank you to the following—
A post about the new Hololive dog twins and their preferred name pronunciations.
Kio Shimoku
Kio mostly talks about Elden Ring, but also, check out that high-resolution Ogiue art!
Closing
I watched the Hololive Summer 2023 concert, and it was a blast. There were some issues with the viewing platform that ended up with the entire Day 1 concert being streamed for free on Youtube for the next month, and I’m thankful for that because it meant being able to easily watch Holotori strut their stuff over and over. The fact that Day 2 has holoX’s performance of their new song, “Labyrinthine Labyrinth,” as part of the free preview makes me feel like I won a small lottery again. I also highly recommend checking out the last song in the Day 2 preview, especially those who love 80s anime.
And now Hololive Myth 3rd Anniversary is coming up! It’s amazing to reflect on how much time has passed, and how directly it’s tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. No, I will never forget about that.
The first Virtual YouTuber to really pull me into Hololive was none other than Akai Haato, aka Haachama. She’s currently on an indefinite break for health reasons, so I wanted to support her even when she’s not streaming by writing about why she’s still an all-time favorite of mine.
As Hololive continues to grow, it pulls in more and more ridiculously creative people. Whether it’s through singing and dancing, language skills, gaming ability, comedic chops, charisma, or more, they prove time and again to be a collection of extremely talented individuals.
Haachama is not exceptionally strong in most categories—more a Jack of All Trades. However, there are a couple areas where she outshines just about everyone else: experimentation and adaptation.
To VTuber fans, the roller coaster that is the Haachama experience is well known at this point. Originally joining Hololive to play a tsundere high school girl, she began to take on an increasingly unhinged character personality as she spent four years abroad in Australia, including during the height of COVID. Her experimentation during this time with videos and editing was in part her making the best of a bad situation, i.e. notoriously terrible Australian internet, but it nevertheless laid the foundation for much of Haachama’s fame. The Haachama Cooking videos, where she would confidently and genuinely demonstrate some of the biggest culinary crimes, are just one example of the lengths she’s willing to go.
Fans began to joke that Akai Haato the tsundere and Haachama the unbridled horror were actually two different personalities, with the latter overpowering the former. They even created fanart about it. But then one day, Haachama began to stream as Haato again, using her old catchphrases that she had long since rejected. This culminated in what’s known as the #Coexist Arc, where Haachama seemed to imply that Haato and Haachama were actually sisters who went through some kind of unspeakable tragedy, and that both personalities now inhabit the same body while battling for supremacy. In practical terms, the result is that she now sometimes streams Haato-style (more mellow and relaxed) and sometimes Haachama-style (manic and intense).
In other words, Haachama took a joke from the fans, added her own spin on it to create a kind of semi-interactive lore, and then parlayed it into a way to expand her repertoire and not get boxed into one way of being. Very few Hololive members or even VTubers in general are willing to take such risks with their branding and image, yet Haachama seems to experiment endlessly with what she can be.
It’s important to note, though, that Haachama is also fairly shrewd. She has mentioned that the reason she started changing her character was in order to fill a hole in what Hololive lacked at the time, and her decision was to be a little more “Nijisanji.” The two companies are somewhat defined by their inaugural VTubers—Hololive with Tokino Sora as ideal idol and Nijisanji with the elegantly crass Tsukino Mito—and Haachama as unpredictable idol carries shades of both. This is her adaptability in action.
I previously compared Haachama to the late pro wrestler Brian Pillman because of how his drastic change from white-meat babyface to loose cannon was similar to hers. Since then, it’s clear to me that she’s more of a Matt Hardy—being performers who repeatedly reinvent themselves to either keep up or defy the times. “Haachama the Eldritch entity” is not that far off from the bizarre and imaginative transformation of “Broken” Matt Hardy and the way Matt would play with history and expectations. Neither seem to be satisfied settling into one mode of performance.
I don’t necessarily love everything Haachama does. There are times when she swings big and misses. But even when one stream or project flops, I enjoy seeing Haachama continue to try new things. One prominent example is how she no longer releases Haachama Cooking videos where she eats weird ingredients (like tarantulas) and approaches food with zero practical kitchen skills. Instead, she has moved towards making real progress in actual meal preparation. I miss the absurdity but love her adventurousness.
Haachama pushes boundaries, always seemingly looking for avenues of change. It can be rough for her when things don’t turn out as she intended, but her ability to entertain and renew herself is hard to match. It might make her branding a bit inconsistent, but that plays into her presence all the more. Sometimes, she’s so unpredictable that she does the most predictable thing. I hope that whenever she makes a full recovery, she can come back and still be proud of what she’s accomplished.
The new Hololive English generation, HoloAdvent, has made their debut after more than two years of waiting. Among the five Virtual Youtubers are actually a pair of twins—the Abyssgard sisters Fuwawa and Mococo, collectively known as FuwaMoco. And while there is a lot to potentially talk about (including the fact that Fuwawa is a Genshiken fan!!!), I want to focus on one thing: The pronunciation of their names.
During their inaugural stream, Fuwawa and Mococo made some requests to viewers about their names. First, their last name isn’t pronounced “a-BYSS-gard” but rather A-byss-gard.” Second, their first names are “FU-wa-wa” and “MO-co-co,” and notfu-WA-wa” and “mo-CO-co.” With those specifics, FuwaMoco has brought overseas Hololive fans back into the realm of “pitch accent,” a prevalent element of the Japanese language.
The Pitch Accent Rabbit Hole
Much has been said about Japanese and pitch accent already. Multiple language-learning Youtubers, such Dougen and Yuta, have dedicated videos to the topic. Use of pitch accent can differentiate meanings of words, but more often, hitting the correct pitches can make your Japanese sound more natural and easier to understand for native speakers.
In the realm of Hololive, it’s one of the things that makes Inugami Korone’s regional accent so distinct. As heard in the above video, her pitch accents are very different from those of the more standard Japanese spoken by Murasaki Shion.
It’s even to the point that native Japanese speakers can have trouble with Korone. However, because pitch accent is hard to teach from a textbook and not as prominent in English, it can be a challenge for those going from English to Japanese to even pick up on the differences. Even in those Korone videos, there are comments from people saying that they can’t really hear the difference.
Nailing FuwaMoco’s Names
Incorrect pitch accent isn’t necessarily a deal breaker when it comes to learning Japanese, and how much you want to devote to it is a matter of personal priority. Is sounding closer to native speech more important than learning a wider vocabulary or memorizing kanji, for example? But if your goal is to pronounce FuwaMoco’s names correctly, then you can start from there.
Let’s first look at their family name, Abyssgard. While technically it’d be “Abisugaado” in Japanese, for our purposes, we can ignore those particulars (and in fact, FuwaMoco do the same.)
When focusing on the “Abyss” part of it, the incorrect pronunciation is “a-BYSS” and the correct one is A-byss.” When wrong, it sounds more like the English word “amiss,” while the right one is closer to how you’d say “pumice.”
“Pumice Guard.”
“Abyssgard.”
You can then carry that distinction to their given names, Fuwawa and Mococo, because those follow a similar pattern: FU-wa-wa and MO-co-co.
Going Forward
Keep in mind that the above guide is not a universal rule or anything. If you continue to study Japanese pronunciation, you’ll definitely find plenty of words that don’t follow those specific pitch accents. Also, regardless of whether you can say their names perfectly without effort or you find it to be a struggle, it doesn’t make you less of a fan.
Concerts are normally not my thing. I’ll attend them at anime cons as an extension of my greater fandom, but I typically don’t travel specifically for music events.
That all changed with Hololive English’s inaugural live concert, Connect the World. Well, sort of. Attending a Virtual Youtuber concert can be viewed as a natural consequence of being an otaku, but it’s also akin to seeing a KPop and J-Idol group. Either way, my fondness for the stars’ antics outside of musical performance was just as much a motivation to see them as the concert stuff. And as the very first Hololive concert to be held in the US, I felt that I had to at least try to go. I might never have such an opportunity again, because as much as I’d love to attend the Holo Fes events in Japan, it’s just not realistic for me.
So with a bit of luck and perseverance (and lots of angry cursing at Ticketmaster), I managed to secure myself a ticket and a pretty decent seat. Fast forward a few months later, and there I was with penlight in hand, cheering alongside 5,999 other Holo fans. It was a fantastic overall experience, and I’m grateful to have been a part of this moment in VTuber history.
Summary
Connect the World began with a message in English from A-chan, whose role in Hololive can be described as the ultimate behind-the-scenes pillar. A central figure in the development of Hololive from its humble beginnings, she has garnered a fandom of her own that made itself known through enthusiastic cheers. The concert then went into full swing with a full-roster performance of the Hololive signature theme “Shiny Smily Story,” followed by ten individual performances from the EN girls, two guest numbers by reps from Hololive Japan and Hololive Indonesia, three generational songs, the titular “Connect the World,” and then an encore with “Kirameki Rider.”
Unlike later Hatsune Miku concerts with full-on 3D holograms, this was done with a flat projection screen and additional monitors on the side—similar to what is done even in the Japan events. So it wasn’t the fully immersive experience one might expect, but I think part of the “live” feel actually comes from being shoulder to shoulder with one’s fellow fans. In other words, we help make it “real” just as much as the VTubers.
The Opening Acts Were Made for Me
I feel incredibly blessed that the first couple of solos were by two of my favorites in EN. The first, Hakos Baelz, is nearly undisputed as the best dancer in Hololive EN (as well as being one of the strongest in Hololive as a whole), and I couldn’t help but be drawn to her as she killed the dance floor. Even basic movements, like swaying left and right during “Shiny Smily Story,” carried a sense of poise and confidence when executed by Bae, and she continued that same spirit into her original song “Psycho.” Almost as impressive was her singing, which possessed a powerful throatiness that I enjoyed a lot and fit the song well. Someday, I’d love to see her more energetic movements alongside the amazing rhythm and fluidity of fellow dancer extraordinaire La+ Darknesss.
I’ve read people’s complaints about how the camera work didn’t do Bae’s self-designed choreography justice, and I can sympathize. Seeing it live really drove home how beautifully she moves, and I feel fortunate to be among those who could witness it straight on and uninterrupted. That being said, I feel like the criticism of the camera can be overly harsh, not only because I think it has its moments but also because the approach taken is meant to play it safe. In other words, it’s better at hiding flaws than accentuating strengths—sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.
The second star on stage, Amelia Watson, went with her first and only original song, “Chiku Taku.” For Amelia, neither singing nor dancing have ever been her strong suits, but part of the joy of witnessing Amelia on stage is in experiencing her energy and seeing the strides she has made with respect to the “idol” aspects of being a Hololive VTuber. The highlight for me was the kicking motions in her dance—what I’ve since learned is ska dancing, or “skanking.”
Having both of the above performances be in the free YouTube preview works out in my favor, as it means I get to revisit them as much as I want. The fact that Bae was also part of the free preview at the Holo 4th Fes Deco*27 stage makes me think that they know full well what a draw she is.
Other Favorites
One stand-out moment was IRyS’s “Gravity,” which is my favorite of her originals, as well as one of the Hololive songs I love most. I was happy to hear IRyS herself say that she’s partial to “Gravity” as well. The song just accentuates her talents as a vocalist, especially because it has that illusion of effortlessness that only comes when someone is immensely skilled at something. I feel like I achieved something just by hearing it live.
Later when the EN girls did their group songs, IRyS actually ended up with another solo performance just because she’s technically a generation unto herself. This has led to multiple jokes from fans and from IRyS alike—“Who do you like more, IRyS or IRyS?” Incidentally, prior to the start of the concert, I was chatting with a friend about her, where I mentioned wanting to hear “Gravity,” and in response, he said that he really wanted her to sing “Caesura of Despair.” That just so happened to be her second song, and while we had no actual say in the song list, it’s fun to pretend that we willed it into existence. Between both tunes, they really show off the crystal clarity of IRyS’s voice.
I expected that we’d get some surprises at Connect the World, but I didn’t expect the debut of two new original songs, one by Gawr Gura and the other by Ouro Kronii. Truth be told, I don’t listen to enough Hololive songs to always know what is a cover, what is an original, and what is brand new, but they both sounded unfamiliar to me at the time. Gura’s “Full Color” and Kronii’s “Souten ni Moyu” both fit their respective characters, personalities, and voices very well, and I think they’re each VTuber’s best songs to date. Neither has an official release yet, but I’m definitely looking forward to them.
The Teaser
After the encore was a mysterious teaser that had the audience clamoring. Featuring stills of fiery imagery and ending with a symbol that somewhat resembles a toothy grin, the natural assumption is that this is the long-awaited next generation of Hololive—the first since 2021. With no other info at this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to what it all means.
Given the dark tones of the teaser, my hope is that it’s some kind of heel faction. Obviously it wouldn’t work quite like pro wrestling—you don’t actually want the viewers to despise them—but I imagine them dropping in to interrupt songs as they begin and talking smack as they belt out some tunes. Hololive EN also has a tendency to start with elaborate lore that then falls by the wayside, so I don’t know if they could maintain that sort of gimmick for long.
Issues
There were a few hiccups at the event, and I don’t just mean Amelia’s at the end of “Chiku Taku.”
The first was that the monitors on each side were off-sync from the main screen, which made looking back and forth between them kind of awkward. The second was that the singing could sound a bit chimpunky at times. Was it the audio equipment at the venue or maybe something else, like use of pitch correction? I don’t have the knowledge to diagnose that sort of thing, so I’ll leave it to the experts.
Technical problems aside, I had also hoped to see more interactions between the different branches English, Indonesia, and Japan, but there wasn’t any mingling. I suspect that they wanted to just do the basics and save stuff for future concerts. I recall a similar situation with JAM Project’s first US appearance at Otakon 2008, where it was almost like an introduction to the American audience.
None of these things are deal breakers, particularly because I understand that the sheer complexity of trying to pull off a huge concert with 3D models means something might not work as intended. Take these as minor quibbles among an overall great experience.
Final Thoughts
I’m proud to have been part of this first Hololive concert in the US. I feel content knowing that I got to see some of my favorite entertainers shine on stage. I do hope we get a blu-ray soon, though, as I would like to have a permanent physical way to re-watch it. Then again, the 4th Fes blu-ray isn’t even out yet, so we might be waiting a good while longer.
I hope we get to see more international concerts in the future so that others have the opportunity to go in person, even if I end up being personally unable to attend them. Of course, depending on location and lineup (Haachama and La+ in particular), I might just have to find a way again.
And now that I’ve gone to a concert for virtual idols, who knows what’s next? Maybe I’ll attend some concerts by 100% flesh-and-blood musicians as well. Ironically, the VTuber rabbit hole might just lead me back to the real world.
OGIUE MANIAX 