LAST EDITED ON Apr-15-25 AT 10:49 PM (EDT)
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WFg2wq10rw

Cites disagreements with management and the company direction. Nothing about health. Full graduation, no affiliate.

Welp.

edit:
X/Twitter
Cover Website Announcement

That announcement sounded a lot more *final* than most I've heard, which makes me quite worried about her physical health.

The way she said the reason being disagreements and company direction also felt *untrue* in how flatly she said it, but perhaps that's just bias.

It's been said that that's kind of a 'use us as a scapegoat for protection' - that the company can take the anger some of the weirdos will throw around, and this is a particular case where I fully believe that. Her line about the company was the least emotional thing she said the entire stream.

>The way she said the reason being disagreements and company direction
>also felt *untrue* in how flatly she said it, but perhaps that's just
>bias.
>
>It's been said that that's kind of a 'use us as a scapegoat for
>protection' - that the company can take the anger some of the weirdos
>will throw around, and this is a particular case where I fully believe
>that. Her line about the company was the least emotional thing she
>said the entire stream.

That's an interesting theory, and I find myself hoping it's true. Not the implication that it's really a health thing, that's bad. I mean like the idea of the company operating as a meat shield at moments like this, even at the risk of paradoxically tarnishing its image.

Either way, it's a fucking bummer.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

LAST EDITED ON Apr-16-25 AT 02:10 AM (EDT)
 
From Calli's Followup/DOOM 2016 stream, where she spent the first half hour pretty much addressing Gura's announcement:

"Calli is streaming right now and she said disagreements with management is a catch all term used when talents don't want to go into the particulars about why they're leaving."

"Cali is being really real rn. Just to summarize a bit:
1. It's never just one thing that causes someone to leave.
2. Of course Gura leaving has been a long time coming. It was expected for her to leave the timing was what was unexpected though and she thinks it was just to rip the bandaid off.
3. Things should be calming down now.
4. Don't let bad actors who are stirring the pot get to you. Look for certain wording and check their post history if you think it's a bad actor trying to start something.
5. With the way the company has been changing the feelings of each talent is going to vary. Cali actually finds Hololive as it is right now great and she actually contemplated leaving in 2022.
6. If Cali ever retires she might just straight up take up a staff position as she wants to stay working with Cover in some capacity."

(summaries from posts on the spacebattles vtuber thread , there’s a similar summary on Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/Hololive/comments/1k0cesx/if_youre_feeling_lost_make_sure_you_listen_to_the/ )

--- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here" Fandoms -- Fanart -- Fan Meta Discussions

>"Calli is streaming right now and she said disagreements with
>management is a catch all term used when talents don't want to go into
>the particulars about why they're leaving."

So it *is* a script to some degree. Doesn't help the speculations much though...but I doubt anything *would*, even just saying right out every single reason.

>1. It's never just one thing that causes someone to leave.

Absolutely makes sense - if it were just one thing it would have been a big enough problem when they started that it would have either been addressed or they'd never have started.

>2. Of course Gura leaving has been a long time coming. It was expected
>for her to leave the timing was what was unexpected though and she
>thinks it was just to rip the bandaid off.

Gura's been largely missing the better part of a year, definitely been in the offing for a while. I think everyone was expecting it months ago, but were hoping wouldn't happen.

>3. Things should be calming down now.

I figured this to be the case, too. Everybody else in the company (Barring Ayame, but her schedule has been sporadic for longer than EN has existed) streams on the regular and is super energetic doing so.

>4. Don't let bad actors who are stirring the pot get to you. Look for
>certain wording and check their post history if you think it's a bad
>actor trying to start something.

I mostly just ignore the haters, or refute them when they're especially horseshitty, myself.

>5. With the way the company has been changing the feelings of each
>talent is going to vary. Cali actually finds Hololive as it is right
>now great and she actually contemplated leaving in 2022.

This doesn't surprise me either - Cally had a bit of a *funk* for a while there.

>6. If Cali ever retires she might just straight up take up a staff
>position as she wants to stay working with Cover in some capacity."

I wonder how it'll work when she *does* retire...she's done quite a lot as Calli. If she continues her music, what happens then? Has she ever said anything about that, I wonder?

>"Calli is streaming right now and she said disagreements with
>management is a catch all term used when talents don't want to go into
>the particulars about why they're leaving."

>1. It's never just one thing that causes someone to leave.
>2. Of course Gura leaving has been a long time coming. It was expected
>for her to leave the timing was what was unexpected though and she
>thinks it was just to rip the bandaid off.

Apparently this was a case of "one last job," as there's a project she's been working on and trying to see to fruition but keeps getting pushback from management that's driven her to the point of frustration. Throw in the added stress of the HoloFes Plague and adopting a new kitten and things just came to a head.

>3. Things should be calming down now.

We hope, Calli. We really do.

>4. Don't let bad actors who are stirring the pot get to you. Look for
>certain wording and check their post history if you think it's a bad
>actor trying to start something.

At the same time, don't assume that just because someone is voicing concern for the direction things are going that they're just trying to stir the pot.

>5. With the way the company has been changing the feelings of each
>talent is going to vary. Cali actually finds Hololive as it is right
>now great and she actually contemplated leaving in 2022.
>6. If Cali ever retires she might just straight up take up a staff
>position as she wants to stay working with Cover in some capacity."

In a lot of ways, Calli is the EN Coco/Kson, she's dedicated to the craft and will probably stick with it long after she hangs up the scythe.

I dunno, something about this stinks to me.

We always assumed Hololive was the GOOD environment compared to Kurosanji. If that's the case, why are so many Hololive talents leaving and citing disagreements with management and the company's 'direction' as the reason?

What's going on under the surface that we're not seeing here? There's a pattern forming and I don't like what it seems to be pointing towards.

Gura was the face of Hololive, EN or otherwise- she got all the animated shorts, she got the baseball thing, she's front and centre in most tie-ins with video games and stuff. Now she's graduating, what're things going to look like?

>We always assumed Hololive was the GOOD environment compared to
>Kurosanji. If that's the case, why are so many Hololive talents
>leaving and citing disagreements with management and the company's
>'direction' as the reason?
>
>What's going on under the surface that we're not seeing here? There's
>a pattern forming and I don't like what it seems to be pointing
>towards.

There's definitely a problem that needs addressed, but I can't believe it's on the same level as the deliberate mental abuse that former talents talk about with Niji. For one thing, I believe both the graduated and remaining talents are strong enough that they'd speak out about it. And who knows, that may still be coming, but I would've expected it to come out by now if it was there. Especially with Gura, she's definitely got "fuck you" amounts of money and clout to say what she wants and dare them to fight her.

I think it's more like what we saw with Fauna&Mumei's song, or Kiara's 3d live, where they're stuck waiting for months to get on the schedule. In the case of a song, you're paying a big chunk of money up front for songwriting/licensing + the MV and then waiting for the payout; a 3d show has all that plus practicing the coreography and staying fresh on it until it's time to do it.

And I'm sure them being publicly traded doesn't help. I don't subscribe to the conspiracy theories that some of their investors are evil (beyond the everyday level of evil for a megacorp investor), but I'm sure there's pressure there.

Ultimately, I think Hololive can claw its way back to being a "good" company, but they're going to need to start doing so.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

I return to my belief of Fauna and Ame's underlying reasons most likely relating to simply how *disruptive* two or three month long trips to Japan are every year, especially when you have pets (both of them) or close family ties (Ame).

Sana's departure was very probably health and, judging by the fact she's basically vanished, I kind of suspect she was just plain completely overwhelmed by it all and has retreated into obscurity.

Honestly, looking at Hololive, the number of graduations and terminations is *remarkably* low, considering its age. The entire China branch and the Holostars aside (because I dont know them much) we have...

Chris - basically never existed, terminated
Mano Aloe - terminated after accidentally stream/doxxing/contract violation all-in-one
Rushia - complete fucking psychopath, terminated over contract violations
Mel - Talked to the wrong person, contract violation, probably not even Cover wanted to do this
Coco - Graduation over frustration at limits and restrictions of being in a company, the first to go on her own terms
Sana - Graduation over health, hard for her to travel, generally overwhelmed by popularity?
Ame - probably chafing under restrictions like Coco, travel hugely disruptive, etc
Fauna - probable disruptive travel, hard to say what else, since she's still doing exactly what she was as Fauna right now
Chloe - Health
Aqua - never liked the city, a bit uncomfortable in the spotlight
Mumei - Health
Gura - *my* assumption is health, mental or physical.

Assuming I'm not forgetting anyone, that's four terminations and eight graduations over eight years, across three branches (JP, ID, EN). Niji has lost that many in *one* year. Most of the contemporary companies to those two are just completely defunct, some with some *horror* stories.

All the above granted, the fact that there's been something of a wave, and that it's mostly hit EN, makes it all swamp the boat a little harder than otherwise might be the case. I mean, when I reacted to the surprise drop of Justice last summer by thinking that 19 might be too many, I didn't mean four of the older talents should leave within a year.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Yeah, Gryphon sums my feeling up in one.

(also, you forgot Shion)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

LAST EDITED ON Apr-16-25 AT 07:09 PM (EDT)
 
FRICK!

I knew I was going to forget *somebody*...

I don't actually know anything about why Shion left, anyway.

....I also forgot A-Chan! Not that she was ever exactly a *talent*, but she was as close as you can be without being one, I'd say. Pretty sure her reason was just plain 'she wants to family'.

EDIT:
> <...>I didn't mean four of the older talents should leave within a year.

Entirely true and fair! With the benefit of hindsight though, I think it was always gonna be the ENs who got hit harder by anything, just because of the sheer distance to the studio for 3D and secure high quality recording things. The Myth girls were chafing *super* hard about that their entire first year and a half because of that. Calli and Kiara *could* have done theirs but that would have been....*less than great* for the other three who couldn't, so I'm glad they didn't, whatever the ultimate reason they didn't was (loyalty(most likely), marketing wanting the whole wave to go at once, whatever)

>All the above granted, the fact that there's been something of a wave,
>and that it's mostly hit EN, makes it all swamp the boat a little
>harder than otherwise might be the case. I mean, when I reacted to
>the surprise drop of Justice last summer by thinking that 19 might be
>too many, I didn't mean four of the older talents should leave
>within a year.

I think that right there is the relevant part, the separation between those who joined when vtubing was still a side-gig that they did in addition to their corporate job and those who joined after vtubing became a corporate job. When Myth and Council were created, things like a huge studio and concerts playing to tens of thousands were still firmly "plans for the future" rather than functioning realities for Advent and Justice. I still remember all the huge fanfare about Myth's 3D debuts because of all the hair and teeth pulling involved due to lingering restrictions from COVID and the limitations of working out of COVER HQ instead of a dedicated studio.

Probably the best context I can think of goes like this: When you listen to the old-timers at Nijisanji talk, they mention the night and day difference between Riku when the company started versus the corporate asshole he's become. When Calli talked the other day about sitting down with Yagoo to "discuss the future of EN," it contrasts with those by-gone days of the JP girls talking like Yagoo was an older brother they dropped in on at his day-job at the convenience store to shoot the shit. These days, the only time I see that same "best bud" relationship is when the VShojo girls talk about DMing Gunrun to pitch an idea or those at Phase Connect joking about sending Sakana out to fetch groceries. There's just this lack of...fun that there was and I think that's what is leading a lot of the older talents to question sticking around.

Gura said somewhere after the announcement that there were times some years ago where she was throwing up from stress, and on top of her saying that this was a long time coming, I think this isn't a *recent* thing for her. Fauna, perhaps, Ame...it's really hard to say with Ame, especially what with her having just gone on a break (even pausing her memberships) because she thinks she might be a little brain burnt after eleven years of vtubing. (She may be addicted to thinking up new things to do..)

Now, Shion and Aqua, there's a good chance they were chafing a bit with the new corporate environment. Chloe was health-related enough for her to actually say it, plus she came along recently enough that I don't think there would be much of a change in the company.

>We always assumed Hololive was the GOOD environment compared to
>Kurosanji. If that's the case, why are so many Hololive talents
>leaving and citing disagreements with management and the company's
>'direction' as the reason?

Aside from what Nova Floresca said, the simple fact that talents are being permitted to graduate on short notice, in quick succession, and citing a reason that makes the company look bad means that Holopro is still nowhere near as bad as Nijisanji.

you are never going to see a reaction to a graduation announcement more perfectly on point than the one chumbud who said "So long and thanks for all the fish."

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Oh hey, that was me! I don't really consider myself a chumbud, more a wandering sanallite if anything, but I'll miss Gura all the same. I wasn't consciously thinking of it, but I might've been influenced by Mumei's directive from her graduation announcement: "Let's never be this serious ever again. Silliness only from now on."

Gura talking about her post-graduation plans.

--
Jen Dantes - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lady of Sith Tech Support.
"This may not be a good idea, but it's the only one I have."

She danced (or... more sort of stumbled) around it on Holotalk, as might be expected, but unless my infer-ometer is completely broken, I reckon she made it fairly plain all the same:

If she wasn't so meteorically successful, so overwhelmingly popular, so intimidatingly beloved... she'd probably stay.

That's show business, gang. It devours its brightest.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Looking back at her pre-shark times, she's always seemed to have had some...self esteem issues. Imposter syndrome, all that. Plus the sheer number of people demanding her presence - christ there are some entitled shitheads out there - the *pressure* she must have felt.

>Looking back at her pre-shark times, she's always seemed to have had
>some...self esteem issues. Imposter syndrome, all that. Plus the sheer
>number of people demanding her presence - christ there are some
>entitled shitheads out there - the *pressure* she must have felt.

Yeah. I think one of the main reasons my heart goes out to her as much as it does is because I've felt that dread--an almost visceral reluctance to hit the "go live" button--and that was when about to stream to a dozen people in an online class. I can just imagine how it feels to know there are tens of thousands of people on the other end of that button.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>Looking back at her pre-shark times, she's always seemed to have had
>>some...self esteem issues. Imposter syndrome, all that. Plus the sheer
>>number of people demanding her presence - christ there are some
>>entitled shitheads out there - the *pressure* she must have felt.
>
>Yeah. I think one of the main reasons my heart goes out to her as
>much as it does is because I've felt that dread--an almost visceral
>reluctance to hit the "go live" button--and that was when about to
>stream to a dozen people in an online class. I can just
>imagine how it feels to know there are tens of thousands of
>people on the other end of that button.
>
>--G.
>-><-
>Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
>Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
>zgryphon at that email service Google has
>Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

There's a certain amount of freedom in being a 0 view. Ain't nobody coming to watch during my rare livestreams, so there's not really a lot of pressure aside from making sure there's no gaffes. On the other hand, streaming into the void for a long period of time also takes a certain amount of mental strength.

Shiny Smily Story

The rest is silence.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

The last designed-by-Gawr Gura merch:

https://jackbox.tv/gallery/teeko/96ca45e6f992c9530956ec2015096c06

(Yes, the Jackbox game TEE K.O. allows players and others to order copies of their created t-shirts if you can get a link to their gallery.)

—- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here" Fandoms -- Fanart -- Fan Meta Discussions

COVER's re-issuing the Dino Gura and Ebi-chan plushies. Out of curiosity, I put Dino Gura in my cart and went to the checkout screen to see if the China tariff applies (as it does to a lot of Holo merch), and it appears like it... doesn't? Only the usual (painful in itself) shipping cost for air courier appeared, along with the note that "The total amount you pay includes all applicable customs duties & taxes. We guarantee no additional charges on delivery."

I can't afford it anyway right now, so I didn't try to finalize the purchase and see if there were any surprises on the next screen, but that's interesting. I haven't heard anything about a tariff pause online today, but I have to admit I don't seek out news items about that sort of thing, since then I'd inevitably have to look at that guy's face again. It usually turns up on my socials when something changes on that front.

Orders are open until 6 PM JST on June 9 (which is what, 5 AM EST, I think), expected to ship in November.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.