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Discussion How did you start and why do you watch Vtubers?

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share your manliest thoughts on the subject

DarkMahesvara

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My first contact with Vtubing was Kizuna AI (although at the time that term wasn't really established yet). I enjoyed her videos but stopped watching her after the whole VA replacement drama. Some time around the "post this dog" meme i learn about Hololive and slowly got into it. Now i watch every stream by Ina and some of Suisei, Botan, Okayu and Mio. I wish there were more hours in one day to watch all of it :gura-pain: . Im probably gonna catch up on all videos when im old and have nothing better to do :zt-think: .

Hololive and especially Ina's stream really changed how i plan my day. Before i would start and end my day with lurking on depressing imageboards and other forums just to kill time and "socialize". Now i wake up hyped for her stream checking her and other Holo's schedules.

In short: They are the perfect mixture of 2D escapism and streamer

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limpandazure

varishangout.com
Patron of the Forums
I'll just copy-paste.

I was there for Kizuna Ai hitting the scene, but that was before the streaming thing really took off for vtubing. It was all short and sometimes long form produced videos using what I suspect to be MMD and sometimes actual mocap. As an initial fan of Kizuna Ai, I was resistant to the nijisanji and hololive variants of the medium, thinking of them as "ripping off" what I liked without really giving them a try.

Then I started to follow nijisanji classic after some clippers made their streams more palatable for me, a person used to produced videos, but I never developed a strong following to any of them in particular. It was just "oh haha that's funny." Then Nijisanji had that half hour variety show and it kind of jumped the shark for me. It just didn't translate well to an actual tv production, for me anyway.

The first holo to really capture my attention was Sakura Miko, and then it started to spiral out of control. There's a little something for everyone, but their popularity began to skyrocket and my hipster instinct was kicking in demanding I return to my Kizuna Ai roots and reject what is now becoming popular.

Then Kizuna Ai incorporated and formed a like a formal production company, which is good for her and all, but I sensed that I was beginning to witness a change in how her stuff was made and even suspected alternate performers doing voices and mocap. This kind of ruined it for me some, and I drifted back to hololive.

Before HoloEN, I was actively subbing or following several of their talents. Then when holoEN announced, we were right at the beginning of the viral explosion of indie vtubers and all that. I was under the presumption we would get a team of social commentators for some reason and was very resistant and even spoke negatively about it. I was pleasantly surprised however that the new EN holos kept things tight and don't wander too much from the entertainment.

My hipster instinct has been kicking in a bit more lately as I've been partaking in many "clean" indie vtubers, which are admittedly a different experience from the production hololive or the new nijisanji is.

I think I'm sitting at six memberships, 3 to holos, 3 to indies. I've reached a critical point though where there is too much content. I want to see more than I am humanly capable of.
 

Cayhr

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Artist
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We talked about this on the Pleroma, but I'll share here so it can be chronicled. In a nutshell:

I'm not into streamers of any kind at all since I don't like idle entertainment, but here and there I watch highlights and clips from VTubers' streams because I get recommended them as tangents of games I'm interested in (notably MH Rise and I keep getting clips of this this pink haired girl named Luna -adorable and actually really good at the game). They are mostly Hololive I think; I don't know their affiliations but for sure some are Hololive. I wouldn't claim to be "into" VTubers, but I respect their grind and I think they're entertaining and, quite honestly, very likable people. Just today, actually, I saw Ina streaming her drawing fanart of NieR, and I ended up having her stream up while I was drawing as well (might do it again because tbh I learned some things watching her and it was very chill). My opinion of her is positive, and so is my opinion of pretty much every VTuber I've seen so far (barring any drama; I didn't look into it nor do I care).

Idk, is this the start of the VTuber rabbit hole? I'm just interested in the art and memes.
 

NretsewThePerv

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Regular
have to say I'm also in the Kizuna AI camp. I had a feeling that Vtubeing (tho as said above it was not coined that at the time) was going to take off at some point once Ai made it big. with the emergence of VR chat and face rig L2D it was only a matter of time before people started adapting it over normal avatars

for me, hololive/nijisanji came later and mostly started from seeing a few clips here and there. this was before it really took off, and once it did and more and more clips started popping up I knew something special was going on.

since then I've been on the ride
 

Jahy

varishangout.com
When it comes to the matter of starting down the rabbit hole, I suppose I would have to start at the very beginning. Like others here, Kizuna Ai was my first interaction with v-tubing, though I must admit a most embarrassing fact; I legitimately thought she was an artificial intelligence. I had absolutely no idea software and hardware had existed that allowed people to effectively mocap like that outside of some multi-million dollar studio. In all honesty, this was mostly the pull for me, so when I learned it was an actual actress behind the avatar, I slowly dropped her over time.

For whatever reason, v-tubers really didn't pop up on my radar for years afterwards, even back during the early days of hololive. I did perk up a bit when I heard about Sakura Miko and Uruha Rushia saying nigga~ during their GTA V streams, both doing it in a very pleasantly musical fashion I might add, but I didn't feel encouraged enough to watch more than whatever clips hit my recommended. I guess for the most part I was content with traditional streaming, and I hadn't a need to really look beyond the confines of Twitch. Things changed however when hololive EN dropped last year, and I found myself very much enamored with Gawr Gura, both in terms of her design, voice, and humor. Her content had really helped me through some rough points during last semester.

I dropped off for a bit during the winter months but came back in full force in January, especially around the time that 4chan added /vt/, a board specifically for v-tubers after being "exiled" from /jp/. To finally have a place in which I could shoot the shit and discuss v-tubers really helped improve my interest in it overall. For a couple months, I basically spent a bunch of my online time dicking around here and having a (mostly) good time. Also, reintegrating with KiwiFarms a couple months ago and recently learning that there was a pleasant megathread for v-tubers there also helped matters. It's a different environment for sure, but it has a lot of the same appeals of being a community where you can largely speak your mind, even more so than 4chan when you consider how bad the jannies are there. No, I'm not bitter.

Anyway, as I became more familiar with the genre, I started engaging more and more with the other talents, extending a bit towards the JP ones in particular such as Inugami Korone and Kiryu Coco. Naturally, as I am nowhere near fluent in Japanese, I would have to stick to subtitled clips or the rare occasions in which the girls would speak English, but I still enjoyed the material all the same. I would have to say Amano Pikamee in particular, a fellow open enthusiast of cunny, is one of the easiest JP v-tubers to watch due to her tendency to conduct bilingual (EN-JP) streams.

And now here we are. If I'm being honest, I am keeping up with v-tubers much less these days. I've more or less stopped visiting /vt/ since originality has really taken a nose dive while mindless antiposting is at an all-time high. I'm also a bit too shy to step into the KF thread much besides dropping reactions here and there, so my opportunities to congregate and discuss v-tubing have been limited to say the least.

To answer the question of "why" I like v-tubers, I need to go no further than their ultimate identity; they are the intersection between traditional streaming and anime characters. I find a lot of the things I don't like about streaming are absent when it pertains to v-tubers, and similarly they are much more animated and dynamic comapred to anime characters which are fixed in script and scope. Despite it being a potentially horrendous combination, v-tubing has proven to be an ultimate marriage between the two, taking mostly merits from both and shedding a lot of the flaws. It also helps that many of the personalities behind the avatars themselves are real people with real personalities, most of them entertaining and worth watching. I typically don't like to look too far into the "roommate", but for some of the ones I have, it's great to see that they have some sort of outlet and are able to not only appeal to an audience of fans but also find both professional and social fulfillment in their work. Just one of those cozy, comfy feelings, and this is one big motivation to follow and support my preferred talents. It really does matter, despite what the naysayers or doomposters might assert.

Another thing worth mentioning is all the content that v-tubers will into existence, be it of their own creation or by inspiring others. The content from streams is one thing, and it's certainly to be appreciated, but there's also the memes, music, and artwork that's being churned out so frequently. Hell, I would go so far to say that this is how I predominantly experience and consume this sort of content. V-tubing truly is an industry on its own, and it's just surprising that something so seemingly niche is able to add so much to the world.

Thus ends my blogpost. I am done, thank you forever. :korone-blessed:

TL;DR: I like it when the cute anime girl says the meme phrase and does the funny thing.
 
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LordReagent101

varishangout.com
As everyone else basically said, I started with Kizuna back when she was first starting to get big. The novelty of it was interesting to me to me at the time, but I kinda dropped her once that wore off. It wasn’t until I saw the Sakura Miko clip of her saying nigga in GTA 5 that Hololive got on my radar. I mostly just watched clips from there on in which i went from Miko and expanded into Pekora, Coco, Korone and even into others vtuber groups like VOMS for Pikamee. The addition of Hololive EN has also added more vtubers too my subscription list than I can possibly watch in a day. Now I occasionally watch streams though not very consistently alongside clips.

I like vtubers because their entertaining. Many of them have really charming personalities, can be down to Earth despite some of the exaggeration that goes on with their characters(if some are even playing one at all), and in general just seem to have a natural talent for finding humor in any situation. I can’t really ask for much more than that in a content creator.
 

AkaneMH21

varishangout.com
For me it was a bit different, while yeah I knew about Kizuna Ai but i wasn't very for the labor of view that type of videos, at that time I liked more watching and listening songs, especially Vocaloid songs, searching for a song, i dont rembember what song was but i remember that it was a cover of Tokino Sora (with her first costume), from there was a free-fall to the rabbithole at least on the VSinger side, thanks to the youtube recomendations i knew about HimeHina with the cover of Kemono Friends (When Google music was still a thing in the google store i spent a lot of money on their original songs lol, still one of my favorite channels), also YuNi was one of my first Vsingers with the alien alien cover or it was with the evangelion cover? idk. also how to forget about Gorilla and his Lemon cover.... and there is a lot of vsingers that i dont remember now.

My first contact with the gamer side of vtubing was the legendary PUBG only gun video (Funny how this was how i knew about GYARI back then, and years after he announced the VOMS project), after that, i started liking Kizuna Ai Gaming, at that moment, there wasnt way to get out the hole for me... Ah yes, my first streammer was Sasaki Saku... with her cover/version of Inochi ni kirawarete iru the song after returning of the retirement (Barimo? Birumo? Borumo? Banderas? Who is him?), after that i started watching her, especially her playthrough of Rhythm Tengoku where my first clip of one video was made. After that I started watching some Hololive clips, like the Band-aid Matsuri and so on, and starting watching Holo-streams since the Pekora debut (My War-criminal can't be this cute-peko), and consolided my love with the Kemono yuku hosomichi cover of Kanata (Being the male-Kanata my pfp here).

Since the announcement of HoloEN, I loved the design of Amelia, it hits on the right spots for me (Detectives, blonde anime girls, and her humor on twitter was on point), and her debut wasnt a disappointment, to the point that i created an alt-account of twitter only for being a fan (rn my only account active). Also I have a bond with Gura, mostly because I was a big fan of her old videos before being Gura, and her new style was good so win-win... Same with Calli, i was a fan before HoloEN, so it was a win having them in Holo.

And the question of why i like vtubers in general... Knowing about vtubers came at the right time, just a little before a spanish letsplayer that i watched a lot starded to being overly political with his jokes and started to be a bit "joking about lolis is bad, but watch how one of the most known type of joke its about boys being raped, and its only good when im doing it, if the game does the same joke, then its bad", so i was a bit with nothing to watch, but i like all for different reason each, atm im watching more Pekora and Ayame, on english im watching Ame and Gura mostly. Still there are times that the fan community of some vtuber makes me want to quit, but I always come back for more rabbithole.:hinata-yea:
 

Jahy

varishangout.com
Since the announcement of HoloEN, I loved the design of Amelia, it hits on the right spots for me (Detectives, blonde anime girls, and her humor on twitter was on point), and her debut wasnt a disappointment, to the point that i created an alt-account of twitter only for being a fan (rn my only account active). Also I have a bond with Gura, mostly because I was a big fan of her old videos before being Gura, and her new style was good so win-win..
It's no surprise that AmeSame happens to be the best part of holomyth!

[nijyuuhaku] bloop (gawr gura)+gawr gura+watson amelia b2112.jpg
Both are cute, shy gamer gremlins who tend to vibe together quite well. Their chemistry is so strong that I am disappointed they don't collab more often. :gura-pain:

Knowing about vtubers came at the right time, just a little before a spanish letsplayer that i watched a lot starded to being overly political with his jokes
I think this is one benefit that often goes underappreciated, and it's one thing I really have to give the Japanese suits even if they make so many fucking mistakes and poor decisions it's often amazing the industry is as strong as it is. Most people do not fucking care about the political takes of something they're watching for enjoyment, one way or the other, and exerting a ban on that sort of discussion has been so amazingly good for things.

I'm really sorry to hear that you lost a creator you enjoyed because of this, but at least you have v-tubers to not only fill the void but perhaps even bring more to the table than before. :flan-yea:
 

hzp

varishangout.com
I discovered kizuna ai at the very beginning, I think she only had a 4 or 5 videos uploaded at the time, not sure.
I really didn't knew what to think of it, because this was at the exact same time this famous ad from Gatebox of a virtual hologram gf came out. That video left me with a very bitter taste in my mouth, like I was really sad watching it. And miraculously, within the week I saw kizuna.
I felt excited, because it was fun, new and awesome. But at the same time, I was like "wew, we're really going for the Gatebox future, huh?".

After that, I'd just browse the /jp/ threads or watch the extremely rare subtitled videos by kizuna. On top of my head I remember Siro and Hinata, besides kizuna, being the ones I liked the most.

As for Hololive, well... I remember having a bad opinion on Sora. I didn't really follow her or anything (I barely followed any vtuber), I just participated in the virtual youtubers thread, and the content I'd watch would depend on what's posted/being talked about. Sora very quickly gave off this corporate vibe, and I remember this was quite divisive. You'd have a couple "sorafags" and a bunch of anti-corporate autists hating her. I admit I much preferred the "casual"/"indie" mentality, but I was a massive hypocrite, as I'd indulge in Kizuna which was peak big corporate production back in the time. Virtual youtubers was something I never shared/talked about outside 4chan. I absolutely didn't want it to be big and soulless, we'd end up with Microsoft Virtual Youtuber:tm:..

I don't think anything special happened after that. Time just passed, hololive had more girls, more funny clips shared, more posts/threads dedicated to them. What had to happen happened.

After that, I was mostly scared about Vtubers winning the west. I hated Coco (I still think she's cringe, but it's different) for trying to pander to the english speakers. And I was absolutely against the idea of HoloEN. Not like there was anything I could do about it though, I just watched something I liked being overflooded by westerners with sadness. I kinda like Ina, though.
 

namedoesntfi

varishangout.com
Regular
I started with Kizuna Ai but I didn't follow the whole v-tubbing thing. More like somes videos here and there.

In the beginning of last year is when I really started following thanks to Korone. :puddicat-heart: So I consider Korone my actual first contact with v-tubers.

They are the perfect mixture of 2D escapism and streamer.
To answer the question of "why" I like v-tubers, I need to go no further than their ultimate identity; they are the intersection between traditional streaming and anime characters. I find a lot of the things I don't like about streaming are absent when it pertains to v-tubers, and similarly they are much more animated and dynamic comapred to anime characters which are fixed in script and scope.
I agree. I found v-tubbers to be a great source of entertainment and escapism. I dived head first into it last year because of the world situation but to be honest mostly because of work. It was stressing the living soul out of me. It was affecting my personal life quite a lot and being stuck home was not helping one bit. Then, everything changed when Korone attacked.

I'm not into streamers of any kind at all since I don't like idle entertainment (...)
This is a problem I have been trying to deal with lately as well. I often feel that when I am doing any sort of idle entertainment I am wasting time. Not because it's a "loser" thing to do. It's just I have some plans I want to pursue and being idle makes me regret afterwards. :uni-scare:

And the question of why i like vtubers in general... Knowing about vtubers came at the right time, just a little before a spanish letsplayer that i watched a lot starded to being overly political with his jokes
Like @Valenthyne said, this is way underappreciated sometimes. The number of people I had to walk out on also because of last year is unbelievable. I partially blame Twitch a lot for this shit. :gura-pain: I get people can get passionate about their personal beliefs but denying your audience the escapism you usually provide is horrible in my opinion.

And I was absolutely against the idea of HoloEN. Not like there was anything I could do about it though, I just watched something I liked being overflooded by westerners with sadness.
I, and would thing many people here, had my concerns towards HoloEN for exactly that reason. What I thought would happen is not what ended up happening which was HoloEN being political. Instead we got v-tweeters which only jumped onboard because they obviously saw the potential money while at the same time shitting on their target audience. Entertainer going woke 101.

Now, as for the brighter side. I don't remember which clips I watched first when I started following this. Though I remember the first stream I watched from beginning to end was a collab between Korone and Okayu playing Super Bunny Man. I laughed so much.

I mostly follow Hololive but I have watched quite a few streams from Amano Pikamee because, also like @Valenthyne said, her streams being bilingual JP-EN it is easier to understand. Of course, that fellow weebs will pick up a few things JP v-tubers say here and there (the context often helps as well), but actually understanding what is being said helps. Since I am taking Japanese classes I sometimes put whichever Hololive member is streaming to get accustomed to hearing Japanese. And it does help.

As for particular streamers I try following more: Ninomae Ina'nis, Gawr Gura, Inugami Korone, Usada Pekora, Shishiro Botan. Ina is super chill and I love the fact she likes making puns. Like @Cayhr said, her drawings streams are very nice to leave on while doing something else. Gura is well... Gura. Cute smol shark whose brain sometimes fails her but to the amusement of all of us. Korone has a special place in my heart because like I mentioned earlier she was the entry point in my nose dive. It is quite refreshing watching her play more retro games. Botan is also super chill and it is amazing to me how she hardly rages (as far as I have seen). Pekora... oh, Pekora... I think she is one hell of an entertainer. She is amazing, truly. Her laugh is undoubtedly iconic. She is a Minecraft genius. Though I'll admit sometimes when she is being super smug (usually in collabs), I like to see her fail. :korone-smug:

Sorry for the "darker" tone in the middle section there. Just wanted to address how special v-tubbing has been for me. :megu-scare:

I will repeat the same joke, because I love that meme.
I am done, thank you forever. :korone-blessed:
 

translation gundam

varishangout.com
Regular
for me, it was because in a discord server I frequent people were talking about Vtubers a lot and I decided to check them out.
I like mostly hololive and nijisanji stuff.
some of my favorites are Kanae, korone inugami, Mori Calliope & shirakami fubuki.
I am thinking of subbing to hayato kagami & yumeoi kakeru.
what I like about it is like watching anime characters becoming real, and the cross-cultural Pollination that going on as well is very interesting along with the parasocial relationship aspect as well. the only thing I don't like about it, is it becoming too popular and I feel it's destroying the magic.

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FunsLeaf

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Regular
I saw Kizuna Ai doing her stuff back in the day, but didn't pay much attention to it. Later on I saw that Shirakami Fubuki Scatman cover (too bad its gone now) and things snowballed from there and only got worse when most people realized the coof from China was a thing.
 

Halo

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I saw Kizuna Ai doing her stuff back in the day, but didn't pay much attention to it. Later on I saw that Shirakami Fubuki Scatman cover (too bad its gone now) and things snowballed from there and only got worse when most people realized the coof from China was a thing.
 

immahnoob

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Regular
Patron of the Forums
Kizuna Ai.
But I don't watch vtubers really, I watch short clips.
I don't really watch streams at all, like right now I watch Artosis streams after they're done during work, because I have nothing better to do (unless I find time to do some AoE2 game).
 

Lichzim

varishangout.com
I of course started with the OG, Kizuna Ai. Though I ended up eventually discovering Hololive through AZKI and Fubuki respectively.

As for why I’m still on this ride? Simple. Vtubers are inherently more entertaining than most twitch streamers (a few I watch are actually pretty entertaining so thats why I say most), and feel more like real people. Yeah yeah basic generic reasoning I know. But still. I think I find say Pekora more entertaining then Idunno SodaPoppin (just an example).

Now as for my oshis?

JP: Noel, Subaru, Coco, Ayame

EN: Ame, Gura

ID: I don’t really watch them. Ollie I guess? Idk man.

Anyways Heres Mel singing Tsurupettan
 
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