WORDS WARNING ! WORDS WARNING ! WORDS WARNING !
If you're a zoomer or an alpha with a 30 second attention span I have posted a gif to enhance your focus.
I'll try my best to really explain the situation and bridge the gap between those that get it and those that don't.
I hate the term "tourist" because those whom the term applied for when it was coined are the ones using it the most. They seek validation and using that term on others gives them that feeling.
But it quite literally applies here.
The whole oshi bullshit they love to throw around, "love your oshi so respect everything she does" comes from the idol scene and it was an expression of the reciprocated parasocial relationship between an idol and their fans.
It was a two ways street because "unconditional" support, diehard passionate.
The very core of idol fans is that they're stupid over the top fans, it's not like an average joe that enjoys an athlete or a singer. Just like an idol is not just a band or a singer.
What makes an idol "idol" is that connection between fans and the idol.
So when vtubers adopt elements of the idol business model and culture they adopt this aspect of it, it is at its very core. At least the vtubers that take the Hololive path.
Go to your twitch streamer and the fans don't give a shit about the vtubers, they're not "oshis", they're whoever they are watching for fun at the moment.
And a big part of this idol-fan relationship is that just as the fans dedicate themselves to belong to their oshi the oshi also belongs to the fans.
And part of that is simply taking their feelings into account and having giving fans some degree of special attention. You'd usually consider an idol fan a whore if he claims to be a huge fan of multiple girls at the same time, you can't have two number 1's. And that goes for the idols themselves too, they know the fans feel possessive about them and don't enjoy seeing the idol growing closer to other guys.
This is very important because simply interacting with a guy is not an issue. Idols will interact with other members of the industry and that's normal. But interacting with the sound staff off screen isn't the same as growing closer to another male singer on screen.
If you don't think it's different and you don't care well congrats, you have chosen to ignore the issue that is causing the outrage between those that care. It's like telling me 20fps and 120fps is the same shit so gamers complaining over it are stupid because you personally don't see the difference.
This is exactly the reason the male collabs between vesper and magni were fired caused such a shit show. Because it wasn't just 1 random collab with males but several over a short period of time and the fans were stuck seeing their oshis grow closer to those guys.
This is the fear driving the Shiori fans right now. They see two male collabs and they fear that will become a common thing and it won't be "Shiori collabed with a guy on march!" and more like Shiori has a weekly male collab with her besties(males).
Hololive is a skinwalker, it wears the skin of the idol business and adopted many of its traits.
And with that comes this parasocial dynamic.
They profit of it, they promote it and milk it. And brands cultivate images.
Disney is family friendly, Apple is expensive. Toyota is reliable.
So when something is an outlier it will stick out.
And that is the issue here.
Shiori joined the idol vtuber company, she took advantage of the brand recognition it has build and now seems to be betraying it.
Hololive fans are hardcore and that is the reason the company is this big.
Hating on them is hating the company.
I personally think it's mid as fuck but I can't ignore the irony of casual fans coming out of nowhere to celebrate this even though the only reason they even know Hololive exists is that the hardcore fans put it on the map first.
