>>28689864I started on Aqua and Shion in early 2020, watched Hololive religiously for a good 6 months, then stepped out of the bubble to see what else the industry had to offer. Finally came back to give HoloEN a try last year but found them mostly sterile, boring or abrasive. HoloX might as well not exist for me, closed their debut streams out of boredom.
I've occasionally checked on Aqua and Shion, but the early hype I felt from them is gone. Aqua's still a lovable autist, but her content is cookie cutter stuff and she's barely present these days. Largely the same for Shion. I keep hoping to find something new and interesting among the other holomems, but instead I'm finding even less of the magic that dragged me "down the rabbit hole" in the first place.
Similar symptoms are present in the older nijis (JP), some are just checked out and content to fade away, but at least they're being replaced by the occasional gem from the newer waves. Other, smaller companies and some dedicated indies on the other hand are steadily rising and constantly attempting to break new ground. It's been fun watching them catch up tech-wise, too. I now find myself hoping they'll be the future of vtubing instead of this dusty corporate duopoly.
