A Vtuber Decided to Graduate Soon

I checked my phone and got notified one of my vtubers subscribed to had their stream on. Not really a surprise as they usually do stream at those regular hours. I took a peek and the first few seconds felt something was off, I don't understand spoken Japanese (I just wait for clips with the translated version) but some words can be picked up that helps me piece together context which was unpleasant at that time. Kiryu Coco announced her graduation stream to be held on July 1, 2021.

Now for those of you aren't familiar with the concept of "Vtubers". These are streamers on Youtube that uses an 2D/3D avatar instead of showing their actual face. Made popular as an industry in Japan that eventually went viral on the West when pandemic started (as people needed a source of entertainment while indoors). This isn't to say the West hasn't had any vtubers already existing prior, it's just that the type of entertainment is so niche until pandemic hit.

They would usually have a background profile for the avatar as part of the role playing but this isn't a strict thing to adhere to. Vtubers can either be streaming independently or be part of a company. It's a billion dollar industry.

The term graduation is a positive way to describe a resignation. It's also part of the industry etiquette to have an entire channel content be wiped out as soon as the character has ended (more prevalent in corporate vtubers). I think it's part of the practice of leaving someone's past and have less reasons to be talked about by colleagues in the same business. Some vtubers take on new careers off cam or start new personas in a different avatar. Whatever their reasons are, it's just considered bad practice to leave those videos archived.

Ok, so what brought about the sudden announcement? No official reason given and it's everyone's guess. And for the best as there's just things better left unsaid.

Insert a wall of text worth 1000+ words talking about the controversy surrounding the streamer but just omitted to leave it to your research. There's a lot of it on Google.

Kiryu Coco was the bridge that connected the Western audience to the Virtual Youtuber craze from the East. Her sense of humor and daring ways to push the limits of what is acceptable for YouTube ToS made her streaming moments iconic. Her maverick way of streaming changed some of the ways her colleagues viewed experimenting with their respective streams. You could consider her as one of the founding pillars or milestone that helped spread the Golden Age of vtubers 2020.

Vtubers have played a big role during the dull times I had to pass the time indoors because of forced community quarantine. The industry made me more aware about culture differences, politics, streaming etiquette, and all the stuff I wouldn't be able to know if I had more opportunities to go outside without catching a flu.

I'm not posting this to fan the drama for any Hololive Fan that happens to come by this post. While it's hard to swallow, seeing our favorite vtubers graduating will be an inevitable. I do hope you find the time to leave some supportive comments on their last days.

Never thought the first post related to vtubers had to be a goodbye. Well I never thought I'd have any motivation to post this soon after my work week slowed down a bit.