LAST EDITED ON Sep-10-26 AT 01:42 AM (EDT)
 
Ina had some things to say, about Kiara's sudden break and The Merge:

https://www.youtube.com/live/L8-AMcVfZt4?is=sS_yMYPooM1duP4k

She's put a lot of thought into it. Behind the sleepy priestess is a business-minded pro with an advanced degree in a hard science (geology, of all things). I'm not sure I think she's right about every point, but I believe she believes it, and I hope she's right. I have to acknowledge, I'm too deeply scarred by Shit Companies Did while I worked for them to be objective about any of this.

--G.
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>She's put a lot of thought into it. Behind the sleepy priestess is a
>business-minded pro with an advanced degree in a hard science
>(geology, of all things).

Times you look back to when HoloEN first started in 2020 and realize how much the nature of vtubing has changed that we know anything about who Ina is without people speaking in hushed tones.

>I'm not sure I think she's right about every
>point, but I believe she believes it, and I hope she's right. I have
>to acknowledge, I'm too deeply scarred by Shit Companies Did while I
>worked for them to be objective about any of this.

When the announcement went out, the first thing I found myself thinking was "It's Kurosanji all over again." That it was yet another corpo bowing to pressure from the stockholders to focus on its more profitable JP branch and withdraw resources from other branches while "encouraging" members of those branches to either graduate or relocate.

I still think there's some element of that to what is going on, but overall I now think what we're seeing is Yagoo and the brass trying to keep things going in what is increasingly becoming a Very Bad economic outlook.

LAST EDITED ON Sep-10-26 AT 10:21 AM (EDT)
 
>>She's put a lot of thought into it. Behind the sleepy priestess is a
>>business-minded pro with an advanced degree in a hard science
>>(geology, of all things).
>
>Times you look back to when HoloEN first started in 2020 and realize
>how much the nature of vtubing has changed that we know anything about
>who Ina is without people speaking in hushed tones.

Particularly when you consider that I know all that from things she's said herself; I have zero out-of-band knowledge about her. (TBF, I don't seek it out. What I know about any of the others, I've discovered unwittingly.)

(Edit: I included that clip mostly for the byplay at the end. Note Calli's horrified reaction. :)

--G.
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To my knowledge, there's not a lot out there about Ina outside of Ina that's known, aside from her being an Actual Official Artist for....a famous thing with lots of guest and contracted artists.

I'd be more careful about this, but it's kind of the same level of open secret as who Calli and Kiara actually are. If you know her art style, you know her art style, and all that.

Fuwawa Abyssgard just ran a short solo stream in which she revealed that Mococo (who has been visibly dragging in streams for a while now) has been diagnosed with an unspecified autoimmune disorder and has to undertake complete rest for an equally unspecified length of time. As a sufferer of an autoimmune disorder myself, I would guess that the length of time is unspecified because it's a complete unknown. This shit is as random as it gets. :/

Under the circumstances, I don't mind getting a little parasocial on main. All the headpats and love to that puppy. She's going to need them.

--G.
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And so HolEN started with a pink lady and ended with a pink lady.

>And so HolEN started with a pink lady and
>ended with a pink lady.

Now I'm a pink big cat on a Halifax pier
The last of Yagoo's privateers

--G.
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Moona has found her long lost child!

LAST EDITED ON Sep-18-26 AT 10:24 PM (EDT)
 
Ina just released a fully animated music video for "Abyssal Hymn", one of the previously unreleased tracks from her re:Vision EP. It's... pretty. Really pretty. Also confusing. But mostly pretty.

--G.
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I've noticed that Ina MVs tend to be beautiful, artsy, and not readily understood.

Come to that, thinking of other MVs the other girls have done, Kiara's tend to be a lot of choreographed dancing, Callie's will tell a story, Advent's are shitposts (Ai no Torimodose? Hot Limit? girrrrrls) Korone's are a grab bag of chaos and references...Marine's tell stories, Polka's....are very Polka. Watame's oscillate between telling stories (that to my limited understanding of her and her history seem a touch autobiographical, but I'm probably imagining a bunch of that) and just being fun.

>Come to that, thinking of other MVs the other girls have done, Kiara's
>tend to be a lot of choreographed dancing

As do Bae's, plus they're chuuni as fuck. So that tracks. :)

--G.
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Kiara's feel more like Idol PVs, while Bae's fit chunni a bit better, I think.

And then there's IRyS...I don't know *why* she apparently did an entire album of 90s eurobeat, but I'm not complaining.

>Kiara's feel more like Idol PVs, while Bae's fit chunni a bit better,
>I think.

Well, yeah. Kiara is clearly going full Korean with her musical mode lately. :)

>And then there's IRyS...I don't know *why* she apparently did an
>entire album of 90s eurobeat, but I'm not complaining.

Oh! I actually know this story! Years ago, I think when she was talking about Initial D, somebody joked on stream that she should make a Eurobeat song and call it "Carbonated Love". Some time later, she, uh... did, and in the process discovered that she kinda liked making Eurobeat songs. So she did an EP of them, and that was fun (and sold well), ergo... album!

--G.
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>>Kiara's feel more like Idol PVs, while Bae's fit chunni a bit better,
>>I think.
>
>Well, yeah. Kiara is clearly going full Korean with her musical mode
>lately. :)

I imagine if Kiara can get her pain problem properly healed (now they actually know what's wrong), it'll be like someone removing massive training weights and suddenly they're like fifty times more powerful.

>>And then there's IRyS...I don't know *why* she apparently did an
>>entire album of 90s eurobeat, but I'm not complaining.
>
>Oh! I actually know this story! Years ago, I think when she was
>talking about Initial D, somebody joked on stream that she
>should make a Eurobeat song and call it "Carbonated Love". Some time
>later, she, uh... did, and in the process discovered that she
>kinda liked making Eurobeat songs. So she did an EP of them, and
>that was fun (and sold well), ergo... album!

Hah! That makes perfect sense~

New generation, ASOBI MAWARI-TAI

Hyakuto Kyoko
Achichi Mela
Suzuna Tsuzuri
Sorashina Sopia

Gen channel

Hey, looks like Sopia's channel subs got restored. She got hit hard by Youtube's automated anti-botting stuff, and she was like a full hundred thousand lower than her genmates for a few days. Looks like everyone's more or less stabilized between 68-75K Still about 50K less than I remember seeing, but this happens with every debut.

Sopia seems to be the favorite on reddit at the moment, from what I've seen. Personally, I think I'm more intrigued by Mela and her bird mask(face?)

Asobi Mawari-tai....yeah, the 'I want to play around group'. :) I wonder if they're another go at a Gamers type wave?

>Sopia seems to be the favorite on reddit at the moment, from what I've
>seen. Personally, I think I'm more intrigued by Mela and her bird
>mask(face?)

Nerissa already has her eye on Kyoko. The redheaded cop. Quelle surprise, as our French friends say. :)

--G.
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So does Kiara, because orange and also card games. She also desperately wants to know if Mela (Who is a salamander, not a bird!) can remove her tail. Sopia immediately made her think of Ame~ And she wants to get Tsuzuri to sing a specific song, even if she has to do a "Hello Project" themed Kiara Live :) Haven't seen clips of any of the others talk about the newcomers yet, but I'm sure it's happened.

>She also
>desperately wants to know if Mela (Who is a salamander, not a bird!)
>can remove her tail.

Not all salamander species can drop it automatically, though I'm pretty sure they can all regenerate it if lost. Heck, they can regenerate virtually anything. Entire limbs. Vital organs. Eyeballs. They're pretty amazing. Is she supposed to be a real-life salamander, though, or the mythical "lizard thingy that lives in fire" kind?

(Also, I'm curious whether that's a mask or her face.)

>even if she has to do a
>"Hello Project" themed Kiara Live :)

That would, I believe, be her third Hello Project live, so... signs point to "likely". :)

--G.
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>(Also, I'm curious whether that's a mask or her face.)

It certainly looks like it's her face, considering how her eyes look in there - it doesn't have the usual 'my eyes are behind this' look, but I also haven't seen them in motion, yet. We also thought Raden would just be wearing the mask she has, too, so... If it is her face, it'll make her by far the most 'monstrous' of any Holo to date. Holo - the whole Vtuber industry in general really - is very 'Touhou', thinking about it; it's all cute girls with things on their heads, be they hats, veils, crowns, ears, horns, clocks, planets, Ina's flappy things... (Oddly enough, most of the boys get to go without.)

>That would, I believe, be her third Hello Project live, so...
>signs point to "likely". :)

She can stop at any time, she doesn't have a problem!

>it's all cute girls with things on
>their heads, be they hats, veils, crowns, ears, horns, clocks,
>planets, Ina's flappy things...

We need another one with antlers, now that Fauna's gone.

Upon reflection, Shiori, Biboo, and Liz don't have anything in particular, unless you count Shiori's hair ornament, the little gems on Biboo's face, and Liz's ahoge. And Gigi's, when she takes her hood off.

--G.
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Biboo's got her jewel tiara, Shiori has her hashing lattice thing, and Liz has that half circlet whatsit.

I think that ahoge might be the actual GG, or an antenna to receive The Signals.

>I think that ahoge might be the actual GG, or an antenna to receive
>The Signals.

I like the antenna idea, also with a side order of "it's also a weapon" for slashing with headbutts.

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

It's how CC takes her home, a drone grabbing it with a sky hook.

It's how she's displayed at the store on the pegs

GG Teruterubozu

GG Keychains (Do not trust this creature with your keys)

>Biboo's got her jewel tiara, Shiori has her hashing lattice thing, and
>Liz has that half circlet whatsit.

I forgot about Biboo's tiara, somehow (probably because my default mental image of her these days is Code 81800, which doesn't have it. I don't necessarily count hair ornaments (and I did mention Shiori's). And, a bit concerningly, I still didn't remember Liz having anything but her heroic ahoge.

And speaking of ahoge...

--G.
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> And, a bit concerningly, I still didn't remember Liz having
>anything but her heroic ahoge.

this thing I can't even begin to know what you'd call it.

(And I missed that you mentioned Shiori's Archie Hashtag, oops)

>> And, a bit concerningly, I still didn't remember Liz having
>>anything but her heroic ahoge.
>
>this thing I can't even begin to know what you'd call it.

Oh, I see. I'm not sure I've ever actually noticed that before. I guess I would group that under the general heading of "hair ornament" as well.

--G.
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>We need another one with antlers, now that Fauna's gone.

I just realized you mean "in Hololive" and stopped before I brought up Shakira Paprika Bazooka Hardcock Haruka Karibu as someone with them.

--
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."
Those are all things Zentreya's TTS managed to call Haruka on screen.

>(Also, I'm curious whether that's a mask or her face.)

Turns out it's a mask.

(And the little flames suggest she's the mythical kind of salamander, not just a salamander-the-real-animal Friend.)

--G.
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>>(Also, I'm curious whether that's a mask or her face.)
>
>Turns out it's a mask.

Not gonna lie, I'm just a *little* bit disappointed? It's my own fault for getting my hopes up, of course, she's adorable and as some have said, her smug potential is through the roof, but the mask makes her so visually striking and different... Well she's absolutely adorable regardless, I'll try to keep an eye on her~

LAST EDITED ON Sep-25-26 AT 10:18 AM (EDT)
 
Kyoko was the last to debut, and holy crap, the *english* on this girl! She says she's never studied overseas, never been anywhere, and that she's got a heavy japanese accent...and that seems like a friggin' lie. :)

She legitimately has clearer English than IRyS and Bae do sometimes - once you can get past how fast she speaks. Girl needs to switch to decaf. :D

>Kyoko was the last to
>debut, and holy crap, the *english* on this girl! She says she's never
>studied overseas, never been anywhere, and that she's got a heavy
>japanese accent...and that seems like a friggin' lie. :)

Yeah, I'm hammerin' that "X" button to doubt. KSON has a stronger Japanese accent than she does!

>She legitimately has clearer English than IRyS and Bae do sometimes -
>once you can get past how fast she speaks. Girl needs to switch
>to decaf. :D

Sad that one of the victims of the merger was the "Bae is HoloJP" meme.

Then again, is Aussie really English?

.>Then again, is Aussie really English?

I mean, as much so as it is any other place where it's spoken that isn't England...

--G.
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>New generation, ASOBI MAWARI-TAI

One of them claims to possess a doctorate, which has led a lot of YouTube commenters to wonder aloud why anyone that well-educated would choose to be a vtuber. All I can think of is Tom Lehrer's insistence, in the pre-song patter for "Lobachevsky", that musical comedy wasn't necessarily his profession:

"I don’t like people to get the idea that I have to do this for a living. I mean, it isn’t as though I had to do this, you know. I could be making, oh, 3,000 dollars a year just teaching."

--G.
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Bae studied to be a pharmacist, I think it was Pekora who is (or was) a licensed elementary school teacher, Ina studied Geology, Raden...a not-insignificant number of the girls have some considerable higher education going on.

|Also, obligatory teacher joke, courtesy of Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated

LAST EDITED ON Sep-27-26 AT 01:14 PM (EDT)
 
>Bae studied to be a pharmacist, I think it was Pekora who is (or was)
>a licensed elementary school teacher, Ina studied Geology,
>Raden...a not-insignificant number of the girls have some
>considerable higher education going on.

I get the vibe that Subaru was some sort of teacher as well. I remember seeing a compilation clip of various JP members reacting to an earthquake, and she instantly snapped into "homeroom teacher managing an emergency" mode. :)

They keep raising the bar like this, the next gen is going to have to be a bunch of astronauts and/or particle physicists. Doc Savage and his crew. Buckaroo Banzai's Hong Kong Cavaliers.

--G.
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Oh maybe it was Subaru. I only remember it was not one of the ones you'd have probably expected, like Choco....

...looking things up it looks like it's a fan theory or something? Oh here we go. Confirmed on stream, AZKi has a teaching license, and Lamy has a Japanese flower arranging teaching license. ....Subaru has a class 1 boating license! :)

>Subaru has a class 1 boating license! :)

Makes sense. Ducks are natural sailors. :)

I hope Tsuzuna plays Goat Simulator. I mean...

--G.
also because the game is just funny as hell to watch
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LAST EDITED ON Sep-28-26 AT 07:24 AM (EDT)
 
I guess maybe Ina not only just studied geology, but she *also* has a PhD? She kinda said it offhandedly during her Expedition 33 stream from a few hours ago!

>I guess maybe Ina not only just studied geology, but she *also* has a
>PhD? She kinda said it offhandedly
>during her Expedition 33 stream from a few hours ago!

I guess we should start calling her Ina-sensei.

--G.
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And in today's "Butchering Of Another Language" segment, we see that Gigi apparently lost a bet to Cece as she does her annual celebration of Sept 21 by singing...in German.

Kroniichiwa

(actually came last week but was too busy)

hololive x Round1 Collab started this week.

Gigi finally got a flesh and blood Mori Calliope to play LOL with her last night.