Thoughts and Musings

Thoughts on Recent Hololive EN Graduations

If you’ve been following along on my blog, you know that one I like Hololive and two I’ve been writing about all the Hololive graduations what really hit me hard. After Ame’s though I found it hard to really comment on them. After all, who am I amid all the others on this vast yet isolating land that is the internet to comment and voice my thoughts.

Then I thought to myself, “you’re being dumb again”.

So back again, off the heels of the graduation announcement of quite possibly one of if not the most influential western Vtuber Gawr Gura, I am here to pay my respects to not just her but to Ceres Fauna who graduated already and Nanashi Mumei who will be graduating in a few weeks.

Fauna to me is truly the most comfy, most sweet, and most endearing and interesting yapper whenever I watched her streams. I wasn’t a sapling, but she was always so cheering and supportive and just overall always a good watch to have one whether she’s in the background of whatever I’m doing to being on my main monitor. Her OG song “Let Me Stay Here” is such a bop and really captures her personality.

Mumei, my other Counsel oshi after Sana. Talk about being her true self, she always shined when she bared her real personality on stream. Always so full of emotion from her heartfelt karaokes to her silly antics to her desire for destruction, such a wide spectrum of traits that she can always tap into. The big difference compared to others is her unique style that is Nanashi Mumei, which cannot be copied by anyone else. Truly one of a kind, and that’s why I really gravitated towards her. She’s always willing to be herself, no matter if its her best or if it makes real sense or anything else. She’ll keep being an inspiration to me, and I hope that I can bare my own silliness and style in what I do despite the opinions of others. She inspires me to just keep it real.

Gura, so many things I can say and so many things that have already been said by others to where I could probably meet the page requirement of three college papers. Absolutely the OG of western vtubing, though I know there are many that came before her but they too helped prop up the start of an era of vtubers that none would have imagined at the time it would go down this path. Holomyth was such a powerful force at the time with a mix of talents and ambitions that really captivated so many at the time. But it was Gura that gained the most traction first, being a silly little memester and also knowing the art of charm whether she herself knows it or naturally unbeknown to her to where she just does it effortlessly. The “a” that rang around the world. Gura inspires me through all of her singing and all of her stream antics and conversation to where I hope to be a fraction of her silly goober self on my own streams and in my own life.

Summing it all up, these three ladies have really impacted the lives of so many people both in their respective communities and throughout the Hololive community sphere in general. Even if you found them outside of the usual fandom spheres, like how Northernlion’s Librarian’s Faunaposting to Gura singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in Dodger’s Stadium or Mumei clips that end up on your algorithmically-curated feed, all three of them are such great watches that you’ll definitely stay for at least a little bit. Maybe even dig yourself into the Holohole.

I do want to keep this positive, but I feel that I should at least address the whole “disagreements with the company direction” thing and all the doomer posting. I think this clip of Calliope Mori really sheds some insight of not just her own opinion but not all but enough of the corporate side of what that statement really means:

At the end of the day, here’s a truth that I learned as a Melee smasher: corporations are not your friend. As much as Nintendo was a part of my childhood and still is an impact in my life to this day, its constant interference with the Smash Melee community of people who want to play a 20 year old game is a constant reminder that you should never, ever be loyal to any company. Trends change. Money talks. Investors dream of numbers going up at any cost. Cover is no exception, even if Yagoo is the people’s CEO or whatever. He does care, but at the end of the day he runs a business that is not truly his own.

You also have to understand, as did I, that the talents know to prioritize their health and their lifestyle. They do not make this decision lightly, and at the end of the day you have to support that decision. To even reach this point of their career to end with a graduation is something to be celebrated. There a lot that don't get that opportunity, even some in Hololive that don't get that opportunity. If you don’t feel that way, you have to ask yourself this: do you support them, or the idea of them you have in your head? Behind the model is a person, and at the end of the day we only have ourselves and each other. Be a force of joy, even in the hard times.

I also realized, reading Dooby3D’s vent post, that these talents existed far beyond their debut at Hololive. Dooby wrote that she’s been doing all this stuff for 10+ years. Thinking back at the entirety of Myth and how the 5 year anniversary is coming up: they all have been doing this for way more that 5 years. Kiara and her stories of trying to become an idol, Mori with her stories of trying to come up in the Japanese music scene, Ina and her path to becoming an established artist, Ame with stories of her creative family and no doubt her involvement with her own talents in many creative fields. Gura no doubt has been an entertainer for so long, and with so many eyes on her at all times. It’s a blessing and a curse, as they say. I believe Mori said in her clip too that it is not human nature to have so many eyes on her at once, and to anyone that would be such a hard thing to manage.

To close, all three of them deserve their rest. They made it this far, and I know for sure that they’ll be fine in whatever they choose to do after this. No matter what, I’ll always support them and their endeavors whether big or small or chill or fanciful.

They all inspire me to be the best that I can be and to really be myself. My dumb, nerdy, silly self.

Dog on a chair slightly underwater with a caption saying: it's going to be ok but its going to be different

Some of my favorite music of them:

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