Takanashi Kiara: I feel like I’ve told this story many times, but I think it’s really interesting because I used to be just like one of my viewers. I was like them because I was watching somebody who is now my senpai, a member of Hololive Japan, Usada Pekora. I was watching her as a normal fan, because it was in the middle of the pandemic, when most people actually became fans of VTubers, right? And it was just a time in my life where things were not going well, because I was in Japan on a once-in-a-lifetime visa, the Working Holiday Visa, and the moment I arrived in Japan is when the pandemic hit, actually.
We had no idea how long it would last, and I was hoping it would go away in a few months or so. I just had nothing else to do; all the things that I wanted to do were not possible during the pandemic. I already knew about Hololive, but during the pandemic and the beginning of 2020 is when I really started watching because I needed something to cheer me up. I started chronologically with Pekora’s very first VOD, and I went up to all the newest ones. I literally watched hundreds and hundreds of hours of her streams in VOD form in half a year.
I don’t think I really saw the chance to become a VTuber myself. I didn’t quite consider it much because there was no Hololive English at the time. Maybe a part of me was thinking that I could be part of the Hololive Japan branch because I spoke fluent Japanese, and at that moment, I was in Japan. But yeah, then suddenly, in the summer of 2020, the auditions came out of nowhere. I actually saw it pretty late, a few weeks in or so. But I immediately knew what I had to do. Within that day that I saw the audition, I started working on it, and then immediately sent it in. Maybe some people, especially these days, because they know what’s at stake when they try to audition for Hololive, I think they put a lot of thought into it, and they probably spend hours and days and days and maybe even weeks to refine their audition and make it perfect, but I just did it in one day. So I’m really lucky that I made it, but I was pretty convinced that I had all the skill sets needed for it. But it really changed my life. And it’s more or less really thanks to Usada Pekora; she inspired me, so arigato Peko!
AVC: On the flip side, why do you think that VTubing has really taken off in viewership over the last few years, especially worldwide? What do you think is the appeal?
TK: It’s interesting because originally—this might sound like I’m a hater—but I originally didn’t think there would be an appeal to English-speaking VTubers outside of Japan. Because when it comes to watching anime, I know that a lot of people, including me, are more on the side of wanting to watch it in the OG Japanese dub, maybe with English subtitles. And then when you watch it in English, you might feel like it’s a little bit cringe and that it’s not right. That it’s weird and just not natural. Of course, I’m sure there’s a lot of great ones, and honestly, I haven’t even seen many. But when it comes to English-dubbed anime, I think there’s a bias against them, right?
So I thought the same would probably apply to the YouTubers from the general anime-loving public. Would they see us as cringe? Would they be like, “What the hell, I want to watch Japanese videos. I don’t want to watch these wannabe girlies.” That’s what I was worried about. So honestly, I’m more surprised than anybody else that it took off so much, but we, I guess, just came at the right time, at the right moment. And we had a huge audience from the get-go, because of the base that we had after Hololive took off even more throughout the pandemic. We kind of debuted at the very beginning of it, but already at the time, Hololive was pretty big in Japan, with more and more clips on YouTube and so on. It was getting more and more attention from outside Japan. So the spotlight was on us, and it was quite overwhelming. It was an unexpected but very welcome surprise.
And because I really didn’t think we would take off, I didn’t think I would do this for more than one or two years. And I also didn’t think I would do more than three streams a week. I remember in my audition, there was a question of: “How much do you think you will partake in this job per week?” And I said something like three times per week is realistic. And maybe not even all of them would be streams, but maybe a short-form video for some. I really didn’t think I would put this much time and effort into it, but here we are, streaming hundreds of hours every month. Yeah, we took off.
AVC: I imagine this varies, but what’s a standard day for you at Hololive these days? Do you spend most of your time streaming or more of it working on music? How would you say that plays out?
TK: It’s so different depending on the month, because leading up to the Drawn To Dawn concert, the past four or five months have been more hardcore, where I was producing the new album, learning choreography, and spending a lot of time in Japan. When I’m in Japan, I get up, I go to a dance lesson for two or three hours, then I probably try to squeeze in a stream somewhere. And I often like to take the opportunity to do an off-collab [These are streams where VTubers collaborate in person.—Ed] with another VTuber from my company. So, do a handcam stream or a karaoke stream together, so there’s some bonding involved there. Here and there, I would be recording official programs, all kinds of activities that I can do only while I’m there. So I had really busy days where I would be up from the morning till late at night. But when things are calmer, there’s certainly weeks that go on and on with me just chilling most of the time at home and streaming like six to eight hours. And then, before or after that, I try to knock out some tasks that my manager throws at me. Maybe I record one song in a week. Yeah, there’s a bunch of tasks on the side every day, behind the scenes, that people don’t really realize that we are constantly working on. There’s always a lot of projects that need a lot of correspondence, a lot of checks. But right now we’re still cooking, still lots of things to do, because the concert is right around the corner.
AVC: That sounds like a lot of juggling. Is it ever overwhelming to have so many tasks going on at once? Is there anything you do to center yourself?
TK: I’ve definitely seen a huge change in my life when it comes to how much time I spend with my friends and my family. I’ve just been really so focused on my career the past six years that that’s definitely, unfortunately, gone a little bit into the background. But I also try to take a lot of me time, because I’m not even that much of an extrovert. And with so much work every day and constantly being in work mode because I can’t stop looking at my phone to check Discord pings all the time, and then check what my fans are saying to me on Twitter—because I feel the need to check every single reply that’s being sent to me—so I really cannot turn off my brain. I think sometimes, because people hear so much about me napping with my cats, they may think I sleep a lot and all that. Maybe I do, but when I sleep with my cats, it’s basically the only time when I’m not thinking about work, and when I really feel like I’m recharging, I cherish that. They’re like sirens saying, “Come over, we’re here for you. Take a nap with us.”
AVC: Music has always been central to Hololive’s identity, but it seems like even more of a priority in recent years. Can you walk me through a bit of your creative process when working on new songs or albums? And do you feel Hololive has shifted more toward music production?
TK: I really think we did. When I started out, I don’t remember solo lives being such a common thing; now we’re really pumping them out all the time. And I think a lot more members are very focused on their music. We even have units coming out now on the Hololive Japan side specifically, that are very focused on that side of the company. Maybe all of us put out music, but they’re even more focused on performance, specifically as a unit and performance group.
For me, when I started out, I think I definitely wanted to make music, but I was a little bit late to really grab that opportunity. I think I probably got a little bit of motivation, and I’m not sure what the term is in English, but in German, we’d say someone’s starting a fire under your butt, because of Calli [Her Hololive Myth gemmate, Mori Calliope.—Ed] releasing “Excuse My Rudeness, But Could You Please RIP?” And I saw how well she was doing with her music. And I thought, “Oh, okay, maybe, maybe I should start cooking now too.” And then I started with “Hinotori.” But in the beginning, my direction was very different, because I was—and still am—even more hardcore of a J-pop fan in the past. The J-pop and anime song vibes are something that I’ve been a huge fan of for my whole life, and I thought it was something that suited my voice a lot. I thought that singing in Japanese fit my voice better at the time, and I was too shy to really sing in English.
But after a few releases, I thought what our audience needs and wants is English songs, so maybe I should step over that lack of confidence that I had and give it a try. And I think that really worked out well for me. Not just that, but I thought, well, so many members in Hololive are releasing J-pop and anime-type songs, so I should go for a different direction that I’m vibing with. So I started doing English lyrics and K-pop style music. And it really clicked with me. So I’ve been trying to make my own brand of Kiara-pop, and by strongly believing in that and focusing on my performance, like dancing with backup dancers and intricate choreography, I think it has led me to this point of being right in front of a solo concert.
AVC: In general, the internet can be a nightmare, but the community Hololive has created seems to be much less toxic than what you see elsewhere. When it comes to your fan community, KFP, what do you do to create a positive space and deter trolls?
TK: I don’t know if it’s the concrete reason, but for me, I’ve always been a very direct and honest person, so much so that it gets me in trouble a lot of times. But because of that, I also always point out when my viewers or chat does something that I don’t like and when somebody is overstepping, etc. Not everybody does that, and I think it’s really about how you do it, how you choose your words. And I try to always carefully explain why something is not okay. So far, I feel like people have always been understanding—my community at least—perhaps a lot of people might get filtered by my honesty and bluntness.
And that’s maybe unfortunate, but also maybe it is fortunate, because I end up with a really respectful community that has sympathy for people and is very human. I mean, they’re chickens, but they’re also very human. And they have a heart, and I think they really are able to sympathize with others’ feelings and emotions and have huge respect towards one another. And so I’m really proud of the community that I created, and I hope that they will continue seeing in me what they have seen before, and continue supporting me, because I’m really glad to have them. And yeah, I love my community. I love KFP.
AVC: Related to community, at least from the outside looking in, it seems like the VTubing scene is fairly accepting towards and has a lot of overlap with the queer community. This stands out because the same thing can’t be said for many video game and anime fandoms. Do you agree that the space seems generally accepting of LGBTQ folks, and do you have any theories on why that might be?
TK: I do think our community is very accepting, because, again, that’s kind of where we led them towards. I think you can’t really be a fan of us if you don’t have a heart for all people in the world. I think you would have been filtered by now by our community. I’ve always tried to be very inclusive of everybody. And I think, realistically, it’s also just the way we interact with each other, how the members interact with each other. And maybe going by history, Takamori [This is the fan shipping name between Takanashi Kiara and Mori Calliope.—Ed] may have had a hand in the early days in fostering a beautiful community that likes to see beautiful women together; not trying to imply anything between me and Calli, obviously. But you know how people sometimes make their little favorite OTPs and all that. And I think Takamori was quite iconic for that in the beginning,
AVC: You’ve always got to get the shippers on your side.
TK: I love the shippers.
AVC: So you have a concert coming up, Drawn To Dawn. What do these concerts and live performances mean to you? What’s it like to perform in front of so many people?
TK: I’ve had the pleasant opportunity to perform in front of live audiences on really big stages several times, thanks to Hololive: in Japan for [Holo]Fes and [Hololive Super] Expo every year, for Hololive English concerts, and also for the first [Hololive] World Tour in 2024. And that’s always been amazing, inspiring, and fulfilling. But of course, there was always a wish, especially when, over the years, I saw more and more members getting solo lives. I was always thinking to myself that it would be great to do one myself one day, and to have a venue filled with fans who are here for me. When there are thousands of people in the venue, I wonder how many, maybe a handful, are there for me. And there’s a past that I have, I think, emotionally, moved on from by now, but I have experiences with being on the stage, and then there just being one person in the audience. And I don’t say this metaphorically, that really happened.
Those experiences have been very frustrating for me, when you work so hard and don’t get the feedback that you think you deserve and that you work so tirelessly for every day. And I think that applies to so many people in all kinds of fields. But I always dreamed of having a bigger audience see what I can do, to see me on stage, do my thing, perform for them. So through Hololive, as I said, I’ve gotten that opportunity already many times, but doing it in the form of a solo live is very different, and I am so excited to pump out my whole discography. I’ve been working so hard. I’ve been really polishing all the choreography, all the dances, and making so many songs leading up to this. And I hope that there will be more than just one person in the audience this time.
AVC: What is it like to perform beside Ina, your gen mate, for this concert?
TK: I think it’s really monumental to me. Myth now only has three members left, and Calli has had solo lives in the past, but Ina and I haven’t had that opportunity yet. And watching Ina over the past years, I’ve always really liked her vibe, her aesthetic, and the way she sings. Her voice is really charming and has a very specific sound to it, and the songs that she goes for perfectly match her aesthetic. So like she’s quite the genius in branding, I must say. But I think she probably doesn’t even think too hard about it. She’s probably just going with her intuition and with whatever she likes. But it just all comes together so perfectly for her, and so that, in combination with seeing her improve a lot, with her dancing over the years, and become more motivated about it too, I thought that we really need this. Because we’re from the first gen of Hololive English, I think we need to take the step and reward all of us, all of Myth’s members, with that accomplishment. And also, you know, Takodachi, Ina’s fans, and KFP, my fans, they also get along really well. There’s a lot of synergy there between the fans and between Ina and me. So I think there’s no better partner for this concert. I personally couldn’t have seen myself doing this with anybody else.
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