WTF is a Vtuber? Introducing Hololive English Generation 1

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al kusanagi
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WTF is a Vtuber? Introducing Hololive English Generation 1

Post by al kusanagi »

So I admit I'm pretty late to the VTuber party, but when I get into something, I get way into it, and with so many VTubers around, I'm mainly sticking with Hololive, which is more akin to a format like Hello! Project. Within Hololive there are multiple generations of Japanese members, Hololive Indonesia, Holostars which are male talents, and Hololive English which currently has two and a half-ish gens.

VTubers in general are basically 2D or 3D models controlled by software that tracks a person's facial (or full body movements for the full 3D ones) and puts them on a character, usually a cute anime girl. There is usually a focus on singing and entertainment in Hololive, but they also do a ton of gaming content. They've been around for awhile, even MM's own Haruna Iikubo tried it out for a bit, but really have blown up in the last couple of years, especially more and more content popped up in English. Hololive EN appeared in mid-September of 2020, and while people initially thought they would be a failure because overseas weebs had already attached to the existing ones, EN became extremely popular, in no small measure because of a certain shark.

Most of the Hololive avatars are designed by well know manga artists and character designers, and they usually have lore and backstories attached to them, which usually gets thrown out the window so mayhem can ensue.

Also, to address the elephant in the room, most of them had some fame making a name for themselves in other fields or as streamers or VTubers before joining Hololive, and while internet detectives have done the work to uncover their likely identities, it's usually bad form to talk about the person behind the character. Some of them have kept up social media accounts from their previous lives and are far more open about it, but still don't flat out say "Yes, this is me."

There is infinitely more stuff I could write and say, I'm sure, but this is mostly coming off the top of my head from my few months in the fandom.

Hololive EN Gen 1, aka. Myth:

Generation 1 themed "Myth" and is made up of mythical and fantastical beings (and a random time traveling girl)

Gawr Gura https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_u8_hZUZNo

By far the most popular VTuber at the moment, closing in on 4 million subscribers, Gura is a 9000 year old shark girl from Atlantis. Her fans are know as "chumbuddies" or "shrimps." She's sassy, really good at rhythm games, and has a surprisingly nice singing voice. She's learning other languages, but is mainly an English speaker. Her streams are fun but, honestly she's the Gen 1 member I watch the least, but with her being so popular, there is far more info out there than I could ever say.

Amelia Watson https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyl1z3 ... riLFKG5UAg

Amelia, aka. Ame, is a time traveling detective girl, and the saltiest gremlin gamer around. Her fans are referred to as "teamates" (get it? Tea. Mates. Team mates. Cuz it's Bri'ish, innit?) .She's not the best singer and not multilingual like most members, but she is by far the most creative and tech-savvy. While most Hololive idols get 3D models after hitting subscriber milestones, because of Covid and their inability to go to Japan to finalize them, the EN 3D models have been on hold for a while, but Ame took a "Fine, I'll do it myself" approach and has helped put together all sorts of chaotic 3D alternatives for EN in the meantime. She's most well know for her gaming stuff and her absolute gamer rage moments. She loves animals and has several pets, and her dog Bubba is her mascot, and can often be heard barking in her stream. She also has chronic hiccups which would suck to have, but damn their adorable.

Mori Calliope https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL_qhg ... Agp8vkySQg

Mori Calliope, aka. Calli, is the apprentice to the Grim Reaper, who is currently taking time off to experience life on Earth. Her fans are called "Deadbeats". Calli produces a lot of music for both herself and the other members, and is a rap god. And by produce, I mean she has written the lyrics, done instrumentals, and even animated music videos for their songs. She's ridiculously talented. Calli a hard drinkin', hard swearin', self proclaimed cowboy from Underworld Texas" who usually refers to herself as "Your boy." She currently lives in "Virtual Japan" and is decently conversational in Japanese. She's also got some of the biggest "gap moe" in Hololive since her design and general attitude comes off as the calm, cool one, but she gets easily flustered and can be downright sweet and adorable, made even worse when people call her Kawaiiope. She's also a workaholic and management usually has to force her to take time off. She's most well known for her music, but will get into games quite a bit and most recently is trying to speed run Jump King, and did Pokemon streams where it took her over 1600 resets of the game to catch a shiny Giratina. Calli rules, yo.

Takanashi Kiara https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHsx4H ... QTh9TYDhww

Takanashi Kiara is literally one of us. She is a huge idol and H!P fan, especially Berryz, and often sings H!P songs in her karaoke streams. Kiara is a phoenix, currently living as a human. Her fans are called "KFP Employees," since she is the CEO of Kiara Fried Phoenix. Kiara is from Germany and also speaks fluent English and Japanese, making her EN's official translator when they debut. She even hosts a show where she interviews the Japanese members and translates it on the fly. She's been quite open with her past of wanting to be an idol, so she moved to Japan as a teenager and was able to join a group which split up and she did solo stuff before returning home, so she has lots of insights on the industry. She later returned to Japan to work as a translator for the Olympics, but Covid screwed that up and left her stranded there, so as one last effort to achieve her idol dreams, she applied for Hololive and got accepted. Kiara is pretty much the heart of the group and my far the most introverted, and usually organizes lots of their collaborations and events. She is usually the first to pop up in others' stream, or to help them out when they need backup. She's hilarious, a great singer, "aggressively gay," swears like a sailor, and is probably the one most dedicated to her fans and community. She will do full streams, then spend hours talking to chat afterward. She's also prone to go off on amazing tangents. Kiara is good people.

Ninomae Ina'nis https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMwGHR ... mjY_NT5Pwg

Ninomae Ina'nis, aka. Ina, was a young girl that stumbled upon a book of forbidden knowledge, and was chosen to become a priestess of the Ancient Ones, and is now the universe most adorable Lovecraftian terror. Ina's fans are known as "Takodachi" and the "Tentacult." Ina is by far the most chill and low key member of EN, and is mostly known for her relaxing drawing streams. Ina is a professional artist and does quite a bit of the art for Hololive EN stuff (as well as a ton of unrelated stuff in her non priestess identity). She plays a fair amount of games, and is pretty hardcore into some of them, like Final Fantasy 14, where she has been one of the top players in the world at points in time (although she said she won't play it on stream since it's her get away from everything game). Ina speaks English, Korean, and conversational Japanese. She's a master of terrible puns, and is generally the most wholesome of the bunch. Ina is my QUEEN. I would die for my adorable tako overlord.

So yeah, welcome to my new obsession. I'll get to the rest of EN soon, and maybe the rest as I branch out more and more.
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