My open letter to the Marine haters:
Man, I really want to tell you to fuck right off, but I'm gonna try to reason with you instead.
Like, I get it. There are reasons to dislike Marine. Hololive is, right now, at the top of the V-tuber world. It's members get a lot of support and an instant boost that many who chase the same dream don't have. I get how that can be reason enough to dislike it. On top of that, I get how you can forgive someone like Pekora, who makes full use of said opportunity, but not Marine, who didn't really have a good start. I'll also admit that Marine does some things that can be frustrating, like having a good thing going while singing a song, then stopping because there was some part of her performance that she didn't like, even though I must say I've come to like that side of her as well, and she has made improvements in that front too.
But... this is someone who despite not making a great first impression, is trying her best to overcome that. Someone who is trying her best. Someone who cried when she saw that her character designer watched her streams. Someone who is aware of her shortcomings, but also managed to accept herself: "I may tell myself that even though anyone you pick out of Hololive Fantasy is interesting, I'm like this, but... I am who I am, there are people who like me, and also in regards to the CCV on my channel, while certainly I may be falling behind, that's what I've been able to achieve at my own pace, so it's a good thing, I've done the things I've wanted to do, and I have you that come to see all that, and that's what's important, is what I tell myself right after". I'm gonna say it again because this is important: This is someone who is trying her best.
And you are sincerely happy and proud of yourself for attacking someone like that? If not, then why do it, and if yes, damn, do I feel sorry for you. I feel sorry, because that's a miserable life, and you are attacking precisely one of the few individuals that wants to make said life less miserable. I hope you can one day figure it out, I really do. I beg that you one day do. In the meantime I'm gonna be over here supporting her like I've been doing so far.
Marine can be a really frail person in the moment to moment, but she has shown underlying, long term strength. This thing you are doing either because you dislike her or just because you find it funny, she may just sincerely laugh it off without a care in the world. She may laugh it off on stream, despite it actually bothering her. This may actually affect her a lot. But, short of Hololive preventing her from doing so (and I really don't see that happening), I know Marine will sooner or later greet everyone at the start of a stream fully determined to give it her best, because doing her best after making one or two mistakes is what she has been doing for these past two months.
I hope when that happens you show up. Because it is my hope that the more and more mistakes of her you point out, the more and more she will show you what strength looks like. As many times as it takes to drill it trough that thick skull of yours that this not someone who deserves to be attacked, but someone who is worth supporting.
