The Downfall of Kizuna AI
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มี.ค. 2024
- It has been two years since the Godmother of VTubing disappeared...
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No
With Kasuga Nozomi's officially leaving the company (I had no idea she was still employed as an advisor) there might need to be an addendum made to this story!
Also, rest in peace, AI-chan. May the company never zombify you for their own ends.
F
I'm back and earth reaction before to after is 🌎 to 🌍
F
the mother of the genre and was treated like she was disposable to her company
I actually genuinely agree with you
she was a nijisanji en liver before nijisanji en liver was a thing
Seems like Japan has that bad habit , look up the story of the creator of blue LED
If she’s the mother, doesn’t that make the father Crush from Disney’s Turtle Talk with Crush?
niji liver in general* jp is just better at not being braindead@@ngoclamtruong5033
for me she dont need to return , she already cemented her name in the world of vtubing but hey ill be damn happy if she return
I actually genuinely agree with you
As a long time Kizuna fan, I wholeheartedly agree. She return when she want to return, and not because she had to.
She can audition to hololive just like the other old timers *wink* *wink*
@@nicoleuswhite2192 there will be 2 of them now there which is kinda funny xD
@@Mikazuki_Augusmore information, please
Ah yes, basically the vtuber version of "The rise and fall of the Roman Empire"
This very much
Ballista!
The internal struggle, corruption, led to its fall. The arrived of ottoman (hololive) pretty much sealed its fate.
@@backpackpepelon3867 I actually genuinely agree with you
"How often do you think about the roman empire"
Her legendary "Faq You" compilation still makes me laugh to this day
Same bro.
Same
I always rewatch her "trash" drawing video.
To think that was 7 years ago, damn..
Kizuna Ai's last concert was pretty much the best going away any Vtuber ever had. It was triumphant instead of sad, as much as i'd love to see her back, i dont know what reception she would get in the current vtuber market.
"You are a relic of a bygone age. You should have stayed in the past where you belonged, Primarch vtuber, for you have no place in this future!" -Kairos Fateweaver to Kizuna Ai
Her legacy is locked in regardless of whatever missteps occurred along the way, and yes, that last concert was a banger. It created by far one of the most epic entrances of any character ever, fictional or otherwise. That moment shall live on through the ages, in meme format and beyond.
Kizuna did what she had to do in terms of business and moved on. We were told the brand will still exist. So only time will tell what the future holds.
I actually genuinely agree with you
@@user-gu8qi4me8x Well, yeah... they're gonna want to make a profit from her game lol
Kizuna was my first introduction to VTubing back in early to mid 2017. Unfortunately I wasn't too interested because I didn't understand japanese so I forgot what VTubers are for 3 years until I discovered Hololive in summer 2020 and finally got hooked.
Pretty much the same for me
I remember Kizuna AI from that same period and she coined the phrase "vtuber" so when you think Vtuber think Kizuna AI because I will never forget that. Hololive was introduce to me by a YT suggestion and it was Usada Pekora I first met. I still believe in COVER, Hololive and Holostars through all good and bad things they went through.
Same when this whole first started I remember getting caught up in the hype for about a day before losing interest, the fact that most vtubers only spoke Japanese didn’t help.
Jp and then Myth got me into Vtubing.
I knew about Kizuna Ai for a very long time, but I didn't consider vtuber scene as something worth my attention... Until I saw the clip about Matsuri and her band-aids 💀💀
I was kinda the same. i did remember at some point Kizuna videos and wanted to watch some subs of her, got the miko's Gta stream[subs] as recommended + miko/coco english stream and loved it. Right before Myth got announced and myth got me hooked.
Can you make a deep dive into Love-chan? The only one out of four Kizunas that is still active and still under Kizuna AI Inc. She is mostly ignored and barely talked about, and her channel has like only 90k subs, which is pretty odd for pretty much being the sister of a progenitor of vtubing.
I do happen to catch her streams sometimes, which isn't often due to the time difference and her streaming schedule, but I do make an effort to.
There's a number of reasons her channel is still so small, almost all of them have to do with the fact she's still with Kizuna AI inc.
- The JP market is already saturated with vtubers, and the reason AI was so popular was because her uploads were subtitled in other languages. They don't do that for Love-chan.
- Her lowest tier of channel membership is more than double the industry standard.
- Like AI did before her, she streams from the studio, not from her own home. It's harder to get that feeling of authenticity like you're just hanging out with a streamer at home playing a game and having fun.
Honestly, if she could afford to just quit and form her own channel centred around her love for Kamen Rider she'd probably have a much larger following.
...Actually I don't have any evidence to prove that isn't ALREADY the case. Lol
@@zierlynYou piqued my interest with the mention of Kamen Rider, ngl.
She's very cute and a good vtuber. And she has the same build as her model IRL. She does indeed deserve more attention. But she's doing pretty well.
Kinda like the various groups of triassic reptiles groups that emerged after the End-Permian cataclysm. Most people only know of the archesaurs like birds/dinosaurs, and of course crocodilians. Far less are even aware of all the rest.
Kizuna Ai name carries alot of history. But the name also have brand of old era. Even if the company tries to adjust the current trend, sometimes public perceptions are already cemented they won't budge. I believe retiring the brand Kizuna Ai and create new avatar might have more chance. They can use the Kizuna Ai name as brand recognition.
She's the progenitor of Vtuber world, and we should be thankful for her existence.
I think we've seen recently how much more people care about the actors behind these personas than the avatar/character, pomu is getting cheered on by her fanbase on twitter on her personal account, dokibird just remade her entire fanbase within a week, looking at how fans reacted when they introduced multiple actresses with today's knowledge, everything tracks.
It sorta reminds me of the stunt Hasbro tried to pull in the mid 80's with the Transformers movie. They thought it was the brand that their customers followed, but it was the characters that people loved.
It's like the old case of Smosh again, no one cared about the brand itself once Padilla left and Ian lost the creativity control of the channel.
It's like they didn't realize people watched Smosh because of those two figures..
i believed Kizuna Ai as a persona already had her grand graduation, and it's best to keep it that way to cement her legendary status as the pioneer. Her VA on the other hand, if she still has the passion for vtubing, could take the other route and reincarnated as another persona whether as an indie or under a proper corporation. Just take various OGs as example and reinvent. if her fan base still support her, they will surely flock back to her regardless of her vtuber persona.
As someone who was a fan of Aipii and was lucky enough to have been directed towards her post-corporate identity to be able to continue supporting her, I am hoping this video does her justice.
She did not deserve to be jerked around by the company like she was, and likewise Love-chan deserves so much more attention than she gets as well.
If anyone is wondering, I'm not going to be revealing her current persona, as she speaks very little English, has a very small following (under 1000, and her livestreams have only the same ~15 regulars that join in), and regularly performs in live shows at small venues in Japan (easily doxxable). She's still rather young (her time as Aipii was when she was 20), so she doesn't need a huge influx of foreign fans she wouldn't even be able to communicate with.
If you want to support someone, support Love-chan. After all these years she's still with Kizuna AI inc. despite the fact they do next to nothing to promote her. She could use it.
Respect. Hope she's doing good at least. Will take your recommendation on Love-chan, as I've never even heard of her.
I have Love chan in my subs. It's wild how little promotion she gets
@@zierlyn It's not a given that foreign fans would harass her or cause her trouble.
Her contract almost certainly has an NDA clause, so she's forbidden from mentioning her past or using it to advertise her current persona. Maybe she does want more fans. Maybe an influx is what she needs to get the algorithm to notice her. Did you ask her if she wants to be better known? Or did you decide it on your own?
@@djinn666 Probably they just want to feel special and keep the info to themselves.
Its just so bizarre to me that entire era Vtubing is just GONE, it feels like a different life time now.
Kizuna not only coined then term vtuber she more or less created the industry around her. Kizuna also relentlessly promoted the vtubers that followed in her wake and it expanded the genre. I don't think vtubers would be a thing without her.
Really that era is gone? I have no idea i just watch randoms vids of kizuna ai or pikamee
@@elkiki298 Kizuna AI and her four heavenly kings have all pretty much retired or moved on. I think Shiro is still around but only kind of.
I dont really think is gone, just for example, Hololive have been adding new members every now and then, and even the new ones have been pretty successful.
Update: Nozomi Kasuga, the VA for Kizuna ended her contract on March 31st 2024. She is now free from Ai channel.
(If I was Yagoo, i would sign her and former Mirai Akari up.)
kizuna promised she would be back
Let's believe
I actually genuinely agree with you
@@f.santyabudi I actually genuinely agree with you
Like Jesus...
She won't come back anymore, her contract with company has already end. At least that what I heard from my friends tho so probably not true
If you have more to add, contextualize, or correct, write them in the comment thread here:
You find nft on 2nd season too...
I mean in that anime about... Idk what is about... Random people who attend a talent show in a school, but it's all virtual (?)... It just doesn't make any sense.
Well constructed video. Keeps people up to date with the more recent KnA anime stuff and the ending of the Alleles project, all the while being sure to correct the lingering misconceptions around who the real person behind Kizuna AI was and is. I see this was meant as more of a supplement to your earlier video rather than a replacement for it, so to anyone reading this who hasn't watched DN's older video about the drama around AI, go watch it and get informed!
1:39 Actually, Myth debuted in 2020, not 2022
why is your name Depressed Nousagi?
Pretty much after "dividing" into more Kizuna Ai's, the shitshow started. Mirai Akari, Kizuna Ai and few other small corpo vtubers went into strange directions and ended up with projects being scrapped. Not to mention that Chinese Kizuna Ai and what a tumor it created. It's another situation when higherups have zero idea what to do with golden goose.
Kizuna was the first vtuber I saw and enjoyed what I did see. It took me way too long that other people could vtuber too.
I'm amazed at how Depressed Nousagi is never drunk even though he's always nestled next to a bottle of Jack Daniels.
It's probably the very same bottle every time.
I think it's only a black tea
Kizuna Ai introduced me to vtubing. I miss her dearly
Nothing like this has ever been done since, this event solidified to vtubers and companies that fans dont care about the character or the model, they are about the person behind it, who arguably IS the character and cannot be replaced
I definitely think people underestimate/undervalue how much the actor contributes to the likeability of a character.
The irony is that looking at companies like Niji; while they KNOW that's the case and won't replace a Vtuber's "actor" with someone else, they still treat them as if it's all down to the branding and name recognition, when it's obviously not.
Had the OG Kizuna Ai jumped ship back when she was big, her fanbase would have followed her not the company.
The second they started using other VAs to represent her, even as clones, it was over. The clones not being her while looking way to much like her was a problem.
Hope the talents behind them find success being other vtubers or other entertainment ventures.
It's like you have a couple of clones of your loved ones but either those clones don't have the original memory or undergo different life decisions, are they the same as your loved ones?
@@ardantop132na6 I think the guys at Oneyplays would know the answer to this
Kizuna No Allele wasn't even the first V-Tuber anime. The REAL first V-Tuber anime was Virtual-san is Looking and that one was 100 times better than Kizuna no Allele.
In all seriousness though, I do hope she can return to the spotlight one day. She touched the hearts of many and I'd love to see what she does next.
I actually genuinely agree with you
"The REAL first V-Tuber anime was Virtual-san is Looking"
Couldn't you say that SoniAni is *technically* an even earlier vtuber anime (predating Virtual-san by something like 5 years)?
What about "Virtual newscaster Ananova?" 😋
Also the first great AI scam! (Because she was clearly not, at least until they had enough words to make it TTS)
@@seneca983 Maybe, but I'm talking about anime about V-Tubers or ones starring V-Tubers when V-Tubers became a concept.
This all really originates from Disney’s Turtle Talk with Crush back in 2004. That where the idea of having a live animated avatar piloted by an actor interacting with an audience in front of a themed background.
Ah, Kizuna... The one who dragged me into the rabbit hole with the "fuck you" clip.
You said it best. She's a relic of a bygone era (which wasn't that long ago)
The Vtubing world changed over time and Ai unfortunately just didn't change with it.
This is nothing new. Vtubers had alot of trial and errors during its formative years. Hololive too had a shaky start. It was uncharted territory after all.
Tbh.
This whole Downfall of Kizuna was a lot of Japanese Corpo Dinos being Japanese Corpo Dinos. Dinos too old to properly understand what the Internet in the post 2010s was to actually be even ABLE of understanding what shit they got their whole business into until it was a Do or die, and the Do would only buy a small respite of extra time.
The stubborness to not quash a PR disaster fire or enact some preventive measures to gauge how bad things are brewing on the Internet, aka a PR and Communications department too arcaic to plan actions to ensure adequate online PR so narratives like the one that shat their golden Goose for good didn't fester so unchecked or to a degree where by the time they try to kill it, it is too late, it ATE enough of the core Pilar that it will only further harm them and not even kill that thing properly if even that.
Then, when the problem becomes uncomfortable, instead of solving the problem on the Root, by shutting the Clone idea earlier and rebranding the talents hired dor said idea into new Vtubers, they try pre Internet PR tactics, in a situation where the only adequate choices was demolish the compromissed structure (Kizuna Clone project) so the fire/infestation dies within the ruins; or detonate a Nuke to asphixiate said fire or bath the infestation in deadly doses of Gamma radiation (Aggressive PR tailored for the Internet of the period, seize narrative control and make a long term PR effort to make one's narrative the dominant one before more salvos of Aggressive PR to assure the fanbase things are set to improve, starting by killing what started the worries in the first place). Both have hefty costs, but they MUST be done in such case where anything less will just fail and worse, fuel the problem more.
That whole problem would likely never been one, or one of modest scale the company would recover from, had their JP corporate issues and poorly adapted PR not railroaded them straight to the deadly swamp they ended stuck into.
On the Crypto and NFT.
Crypto itself HAD potential, emphasis on HAD.
As a Currency, it would be a very useful one, especially if inplemented with certain technologies that would allow it to be a type of money impossible to be controlled by Nations.
But since it ended with the worst and most annoying oind of people plaguing it from the starting days as it gained traction.... Nope. Only time will tell if it will one day become what it could.
NFTs are outright trying to do a Crypto 2.0, when the memory of what Cryptos became is very much fresh. To similar results.
Though NFTs would have some uses, especially for TCGs and other applications where users could benefit heavily from it.
I was the Animation Director for Kizuna AI allele for a couple of episodes. I was really excited when I was assigned for the anime and was also excited to watch the anime. Although at the back at my head I knew it won't go well, I saw a material reference that they are going to promote NFT... It made me think that we are not fully in control of the project, rather the higher up. But in any case we were all excited. Then we watched it, it was really disappointing.... The story is very dull, there is not a lot of Kizuna Ai involved... We really did our best to put in the quality... everything else is NG. It's pure corporate idea to grab money. If anything I'd make a Kizuna Ai anime that is really about Kizuna Ai
I still remember her for what she did
I actually genuinely agree with you
That first mistake, the company's belief that an avatar can be interchanged with multiple voice actors, is still one of the worst slip-ups. As much as people hate "graduations" in talent agencies, they at least have the respect to cease use of that character, both their activities and in the marketing. They understand the talent who hosted the avatar cannot be replaced. And the fanbase still freely follow that same talent in the next chapter of their online career.
I would recommend watching the beginning of the video again... They didn't do that and even made a statement that agrees that the OG VA wouldn't be replaced. Having clones isn't even a bad thing either. The largest actual AI streamer(s) are made by Vedal987 and are called Neuro-Sama and Evil Neuro-Sama. Evil Neuro started off as using the same model before getting different recolours to be more distinct from Neuro.
@@TrueScotsman96like evil neuro, theres bound to be favourites... The issue was the original Ai getting lesser and lesser spotlight
I see Kizuna AI as a product of her time. A good analogy is Filthy Frank or Pink Guy. Filthy Frank was an internet icon, but he suddenly quit at the top of his fame, citing health issues and that he wanted to move on. Fortunately he left right as the apocalypse happened on YT, along with forced changes with YT content. Had he continued, he would be forced to tame his content, do sponsorships, and milk the ad revenue. But he left before that, and everyone saw his old persona in a positive light.
I see Kizuna with the same light. If she comes back, she has to radically change her content, especially with the oversaturation on the JP market. The best option would be a redebut under a new identity, and leave her old persona in the hall of fame.
Your mention of how she can potentially reincarnate is interesting, since you brought up Pink Guy as an analogy, as the actor behind him has reinvented himself as the singer Joji
@@Giovansbilly Exactly. Her return has way too high expectations, and the vtubing landscape has changed since her heyday. If she change her identity, she can freely make content under her own terms, and not worry about pissing off her OG fanbase. Like Kson for example. No one really expects her to do everything that she used to do under Holo.
@@patx35
Beatifully said, Master Chief and the Halo franchise failed exactly for that, trying to return John after H3 AND with a different team with no experience was the worst mistake ever and they diden’t took the time to extablish their new position
the thing is, even new vtuber fans from 2020 heard about the issue of replacing Ai. A lot of us newbies that time were into her before meeting hololive and niji. heck She was my original Oshi along side with Projekt Melody.
also promoting NFT during the time where a ton of NFTs are scams rather than legit moneymaking thing was very much frown upon her.
I distanced myself from her content due to replacement and nft issues.
I found that there are better ones than her with Gura leading the way.
Tbh her story is basically Nokia when Apple and Samsung overtake it.
Man. I was there in her early videos. I still remember she said she want to be the number 1 and biggest vtuber in the world. Guess she achieved it tho... with the cost of her own absence 😢 At the moment, people only lookup to her when she's not there anymore. It's really heartbreaking to think about it.
I loved Kizuna Ai's content, but I agree - her time is done and that's not necessarily a bad thing. But no one can deny her legacy in the Vtuber sphere.
Kizuna Ai was the first vtuber I ever saw, in her earlier days when the concept was mind blowing. Big studios were using motion capture to make janky characters move in slightly less rigid ways than before but still look a bit goofy, and then here's this Japanese girl playing games and looking amazing while doing it. Most big vtubers at least know who Kizuna Ai is, with many listing her as one of the first they saw and/or an inspiration for themselves. She is the mother of the genre and we will never forget her.
That final shot of her ascending on wings of light was beautiful. I always did wonder what happened to her. Thank you for making this video.
Kinda sad. I remember Kizuna introducing me to the entire concept of a Vtuber years and years ago. I don't think her managers/creators ever really knew what it was they had, and treated the talent behind the character as interchangeable/disposable. I remember at the time not really understanding why so many people were so upset when seemingly a dozen different "actresses" were being rotated through the role, but now that Vtubers are pretty commonplace and it's become standard practice to retire a character once the talent voicing them leaves the company, the whole idea of continuing a character as they did just seems creepy and dehumanizing.
I suppose those sorts of growing pains are inevitable when you're essentially pioneering an entire industry, but it doesn't make it any less disappointing how things turned out.
These days she is pretty much the Greta Garbo of V-Tubing, like Miss Garbo she got her break at the start of a major technological change (Talking Pictures in Garbo's case and V-tubing in Kizuna Ai's) was very much the poster girl for a brief half decade and then went into somewhat obscurity by her own or circumstantial choice afterwards.
Kizuna Ai is like the old-school 80s/90s console games. The start of a new idea at a time when people were very skeptical.. and very fondly remembered, despite their limitations.
So I think, just like those games, most people will remember her and love her for a long time to come, even if only just a little bit.
And who knows, maybe there will be a time when people flock back to the concepts of that era.
Did she fall?, I thought she glided down.
I actually genuinely agree with you
Yeah I'd agree, seems like a bit of a greasy clickbait title.
Really disappointing tbh. Another bad take comparable to his last video that lists the traits of a black vtuber company. Some of those points especially the lack of collabs within the talents inside the company is just terrible. It's really bad to do videos in both extremes. If DN has a good take, it's really good but if it's bad, it's really bad...
I guess you could say that this has turned into a difficult situation.
Thank you for the video. I was there in the very beginning as her fan when she had just 300k subs. I was there when she began the first meme for VTubers, when VTubers were still just emerging, and even when Sora was “just an anime girl” before Hololive.
All the formats for VTubers these days that include lore video, a live stream QnA, and the like, were never done during the Golden Age of Kizuna Ai when she first appeared. Also Kizuna Ai rarely did any collaboration streams with anyone, always doing things herself. This was the reason why I loved her so much.
I quite miss her, and I hope that her memory is well-preserved ❤
It would of been cool if once the anime came out the company created vtuber channels and models for their characters and had the VAs use them to play games and keep up with the times. It could of been very cute, like "Oh, did you see my anime everyone? I'm trying my best. Teehee~! Alright, let's play some games!"
I been wondering why i havent heard of the real OG gamgster in a good while. Thanks Rabbit Man for informing us
The first thing I thought of when I saw the clones was Quintessential Quintuplets.
One of them even looks like Miku 😂
The sad irony that another kind of short-form, pre-recorded content (clips) contributed to her decline in popularity. Shame too cause with every vtuber streaming for hours at a time now, I feel that emulating the let's play channels of old would be kind of refreshing.
This comment made me realize that I don't know if I remember what the "let's plays" of old felt like anymore, since I'm so used to how people play games nowadays.
@@DrPonner It’s also been a long time since the days of youtube videos only being allowed to be ten minutes or shorter.
I'd prefer these videos be just regular 'videos' that are easy to watch rather than these 'live' ones recently which are so long and unfocused.
This is a regular video. Just a premiere.
@@gokbay3057I actually genuinely agree with you
@@user-gu8qi4me8xyou're a bot
I will always be waiting for her return, like Fry's dog in that futurama episode.
or shanks
A corporation treating their talents as interchangeable and disposable crashes and burns because they did so?
Wow the industry just never seems to learn does it?
One thing I am afraid about is that if she ever becomes forgotten that future generations think she is an artifical intelligence channel because of her name rather than being an inspiration to Vtubers.
I miss her and her old content
She was a trailblazer, and that trail changed over time. New people traveled the path and changed its shape, but her goliath footsteps still form the core of the walkway.
If you're right, and her send-off was as brilliant as you say, then I'm okay with her remaining effectively retired, but I would love to see her return in a new way some day, and I wish the personality behind the gimmicks and glamour is aware of just how impactful her work has been. And above all else, I wish that some of the rumors about her real life are false and that she's doing well. She deserves nothing less than respect and a wonderful life.
Goddamn, that first paragraph quote is very moving
Never get NFT-pilled. It only ends in regrets, tears and bankruptcy.
She already paved the way of vtubing. The progenitor of vtubers even if there was a downfall no one ever felt it coz everyone in the know who she really is and how big of a deal she is and respected.
God I remember stumbling across her, I knew instantly, this was the future.
There’s a thread on Reddit from 8 days ago posting a translation of a letter by the Ai company that Nozomi Kasuga has resigned from her advisory role due to her contract ending but will continue to provide voice for projects. I’m not sure what Kasuga-san’s real life projects and schedule are like, but I was hoping they would include maybe a comeback as a freestyle U-Toober, but this direction seems it will remain purely a corporate character and marketing tool rather than a character entity based on Kasuga’s own personality who can relax and hang out with fans on the medium.
I think you may be underestimating the impact of the NFT stuff. 'It's being full of scammers and metaverse shit' isn't really why people in the west don't care about crypto. That's just why a lot of 'on the ground' people who were really into crypto initially fell off it after being scammed or seeing other people get scammed once too often.
The real reason why the audiences worldwide were openly hostile to NFTs is that lots of companies in the video game were announcing plans to put them into their stuff about one to two years earlier and there were a whole bunch of games that obviously existed just to sell NFTs. So by the time KIzuna no Allele aired, people were already sick and tired of cheap projects like that. So the audience looked at this show that was obviously intended as a marketing product first and an anime a distant second and went 'Ok, so this entire anime is yet another attempt to shill NFTs, pass'.
Which is kinda sad, because while the show was still shit and it was obviously trying to sell something, but that something was VTubers... And if it hadn't tried to do its NFT side-hustle, it might have at least led a bunch of people down the rabbit hole and given VTubers in general (if, perhaps, not the obviously corporate VTubers of Alleles Project) a boost.
Kizuna walked so Ironmouse could run. Mouse has directly named Kizuna as the reason she became a Vtuber and found a better life.
Isn't Ironmouse an idiot?
@reichsfuhrermonika6469 Why what?
You can replace Ironmouse with pretty much anyone from that period
She isn’t gone, she lives on in everything and everyone *_SHE MADE POSSIBLE_* ❤
Man. I used to watch her content when she first appeared. I helped translate some clips here or there. I remember thinking the whole vtuber thing felt pretty stupid but I still watched her videos. after a couple years, I mostly gravitated away from her and didn't get into any of the more modern vtubers. It wasn't until last year I started watching a few vtubers again. I had no idea all this had happen to Kizuna Ai. I have pretty fond memories of her shenanigans. I still have "HAI DOMO VIRTUAL TH-camR KIZUNA AI DESU" in the back of my head sometimes.
Im cursed with knowledge on why she went away and all the drama that happened with her and other vtubers irl. It was a hot mess
She's like Jesus or Buddha in Vtubing world she already ascended. She already achieved God-tier status with her paving the way for mainstream Vtubing
Our actual Hoshino Ai 😭
kizuna ai was my exposer to vtubers. i can only watch her from clips with subs though. but i still sub on her official channel, i didn't know about the drama though.
I mean, I was kinda sad I missed this whole big thing when she started the vtubing market. I would love them to come back so I can see what the og vtuber can do
Here's the thing about Kizuna Ai when I was consistently watching her videos. They were fun videos imo and having subs for videos helped me stay engaged.
At some point I did fall off just due to how time works. But, I still haven't really trusted myself to invest much with any other VTuber because of how the space has shifted towards live streams. Yes they're more real but I don't have the time to watch a 6hr live stream every time a VTuber goes live. I just can't focus on that for that long.
Whereas Kizuna Ai's videos weren't that long generally from my recollection. Definitely under an hour at least and that helped keep my interest.
It's a shame Kizuna had all these people being bullies.
I'm so glad I got the Epic Seven hero of Kizuna AI when she did the promo, forever incomplete hero journal to all those people who never got it.
10:04 THE WITCHER 3 SAUNDTRACK WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE
As an EN fan of Vtubers, I fell down the rabbit hole pretty darn early. I watched Kizuna Ai before Hololive was even a thing. She is an absolute legend who kick started the whole thing and no matter what happens, whether she returns or not, she will ALWAYS have my gratitude and respect.
I do still care for her. She is the reason I got recommended other vtubers. I used to see her playing games and thought that it was like the youtubers I always watched but with a "anime" charm to it, while I don't proactively see her chanel for news I do wish to open it one day and see her back
thr original actress quit ages ago.
they were replacing her long time ago and when vtubere picked up she bowed out.
She went down like a legend
And today i see the tweet about kasuga nozomi the Voice of Kizuna Ai, is not going to work in kizuna AI inc anymore, the contract is over and they don't gonna renew it.😭
As someone who doesn't enjoy watching livestreams Kizuna Ai was the only VTuber I followed. The sketch format of her videos was pretty fun, and I still remember that video you played a clip from in which she addresses the "voice change", by doing her old intro.
Well now. A surprise for sure but a welcome one.👍
I actually genuinely agree with you
Kizuna was a vtuber even before term "vtuber" formed. I'd even say she was THE vtuber. Mad respect to her, rest in pepperonies.
I remember watching Ai when she played Resident Evil 7 with her saying the widespread FUQ meme. I thought this had potential and I remember a few months later I saw another one of her videos pop up and decided to watch it. I was very confused with how she was acting in it. It felt like I was watching someone pretending to be someone else that was reading a script. At the time I didn't know about the multiple people playing as AI but it felt very jarring compared to what I have seen before.
Mistakes will be made when pioneering a genre. They probably thought that, just like many other fictional characters, it would be perfectly natural for the role of Ai to be played by different people over time. Now of course we know that the avatar and the actor are rather inseparable, but at the time there really was no way to know for sure how such things would go until someone tried it. If it hadn't been Imagin8 that first made this mistake, most likely someone else would have.
LOL I heard of the anime but that project alleles or whatever? I never heard of it until now 😂
Honestly and for real. I hope she is doing all right. Regardless of how we feel about Vtubers in general and her, it was her that pretty much popularized it.
Hoping you are more than doing good, Ai!
I have a kizunaAi poster in my room. But i think ive only seen 2 of her videos haha
Whelp, guess this is interesting timing for this to show up in my feed.
I totaly get why the clone Project did drive of the Fanbase towards Hololive, Nijisanji and other Vtubers. You can´t just put another Person behind a Vtuber Model or you destroy the connection between the Fans and character.
All this talk about "most important" VTuber makes me think a tier list of "most impactful" VTubers would be a really interesting discussion video. Especially if it were well researched like your content tends to be. Obviously Kizuna AI is at the top, but I think there would be a lot to say about people like Coco for her affect on the English/Worldwide scene, Ironmouse for her reach outside of VTubing, Gura for her dominance on TH-cam, and Pekora for her consistency as a top 5 female streamer.
I feel like you would be in the unique position to cover a topic like this.
I dont remember much about Kizuna Ai content but some of her songs will forever live with me.
No mention about the termination of the original VA’s contract.
You might have to do a new video because she isn’t coming back.
I respect her as a trailblazer and it should likely stay that way since she'd have to start from scratch as an unknown.
all my homies love kizuna ai 🔥🔥
The only vtuber I truly watched, she was actually entertaining and an easy concept to understand. I’ll miss her
In business terms they had a good idea that had little risk but then they failed the execution risk.
I miss Kizuna Ai.....
Not the first Vtuber but definitely one of those who pave the way for great Vtubing standards
We will get a movie about this someday
Lorewise, an AI getting the full product treatment from the Corpo Overlord is on brand.
Oh boy, here we go
Hololive expo 2025 , ai will become guest star .
I was never really that into vtubing. I only really have seen it in passing, but the story of Kizuna is quite interesting.
I don't know if it's a bit racist or not, but I keep wondering.
Why is it that whenever there's trouble around, the chinese are always involved?
They almost feel like they're our real life Belkans.
3:06 sometimes if we can’t combine the methods of both analog and modern… then someone may end up thinking of an unconventional method as a concept if they really want to!
“Not every thing is set in stone when a person is involved, though methods may be many and varied… depending on their situation (whether it be financial, legal, or something to do with mental heath etc. !)”
we were so preoccupied by our emotion that we forgot that it was all just business and they have life and needed to move on. they have a life and there are more to life than just living in the limelight