2025 is gonna go down in history as the absolute worst year for vtubers. Onward and upwards

I've said in the past that I stopped worrying about views, but when I take time off like this all the time the algorithm just forgets about me so even the few views I get are reset. Every new video shouldn't feel like starting over from the beginning

I'm just so tired of constant technical problems impacting my content. Like actually mentally exhausted. I'm finally back making content but the technical problems have other plans. It's unending and I'm losing motivation to work on something that's supposed to be a fun little hobby

As an addendum: To clarify and summarize, since I sound like I'm meandering towards the end, I'm basically using the Zen situation to explain the importance of staying informed about sociopolitical issues so things like this don't happen. But also due to the actual bad actors within the community

Also, for humans as a whole: Morally bankrupt people will do everything they can to make their worldview seem like the standard. They need that normalization. They'll make it look cringe to care about things, preying on others' fear of stepping out of their comfort zones. Don't let them 👍

All this to say...We must stay informed. Vtubers are humans, not cartoons. Ignoring society opens the door to bigotry; your viewers are also human, and they should feel protected within your communities. Give a shit about the world outside of your comforts and don't fall prey to anti-intellectualism

Now, with its ties to the anime space, the vtuber space absolutely does have a bigotry problem. I've seen bigots raid into vtubers who are none the wiser. One of my favs even knows a couple because she's too ESL to understand dog whistles. It's creepy to watch them latch onto innocent personalities

It's a slippery slope from here. I've seen reactionary people get called out and double down, becoming the hateful bigots people are accusing them of being. I've been a fan for years and hope her friends keep her on track. Tho I'm worried this all may attract more of "certain types" to her community

All that aside, what mainly worries me and others is to see her use the terms "woke ideology" and "snowflake", even while heated. I notice this mentality manifesting within uninformed, reactionary people that would prefer to be comfortably ignorant (which, again, many vtubers are unfortunately)

The characters she pulled inspiration from for years, including her OG outfit, are part of this visual fetishization. So she is unintentionally a part of it. But since I've seen her speak out against bigotry before, I can only chalk it up to her being ignorant (which many vtubers are unfortunately)

Fuck it I'll say it: I used that one "lemme smash" voice for Hiiragi but realized I misread the TOS and now I need to find another voice. But it's taking forever. In a world now infested with AI it feels impossible to find the ethical TTS models that I used 10 years ago. Incredibly frustrating