VTuber Kizuna AI - Hai domo! The oyabun is back!

Cassius Crayfish

Cassius Crayfish

Grass grows, birds fly, I beat people up
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Kizuna AI is considered by many to be the first modern VTuber, and is responsible for the term "Virtual YouTuber", which was part of her intro. Her name is a pun - pronounced as "Ai" but written as AI, it reflects her character being a supposedly self-aware artificial intelligence. In reality, Ai is a creation of the company Activ8, voiced by Nozomi Kasuga. For the first few years of her channel, Ai would produce weekly videos - kind of like an ongoing variety show - while releasing songs from time-to-time in the manner of an 'idol' - a model that would be followed by groups like Cover Corporation.

Unlike Cover and other modern VTuber agencies, Kizuna AI did not do livestreams until a couple of years into her career, and even then only did so rarely. This reflected the fact that Activ8 has, for all their apparent technical prowess, never quite been on the ball in following trends to keep the brand on top, and their stereotypically Japanese corporate affairs have resulted in Kasuga fighting against her employers on more than one occasion (which is what resulted in her publicly announcing that she was the voice of Ai, following Activ8's attempt and then u-turn on partially replacing her with multiple actresses.)

At her peak she was featuring on PewDiePie and causing controversy after being chosen to interview Nobel Prize winner for NHK, but by 2020 - just as the VTuber craze was starting - she was on the decline, thanks in no small part to her company's incompetence. At the start of 2022, it was decided that she would "enter sleep mode" for an unspecified amount of time, possibly forever. In early 2025, she returned with a new look.

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Wasn't there some drama where the company replaced her with someone else but kept the avatar? Also no clue what specifically bothers me about that "new look" but it bothers me greatly. Missing something the one in that clip posted had going.
 
The Lawgiver said:
Wasn't there some drama where the company replaced her with someone else but kept the avatar? Also no clue what specifically bothers me about that "new look" but it bothers me greatly. Missing something the one in that clip posted had going.
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So she was turned into 4 Ai's where she still voiced one of them, she fought a legal battle to be the only Kizuna ai instead of a mascot that would be handed down to multiple generations of performers.

Youtube
Two of them were identified by the pound and star symbol

youtube
Then were replaced by original designs after she got claim to her character exclusivity keeping their symbols in their design

youtube
Now only one still remains as "love-chan" who was the pound sign ai

There was also a chinese Ai who I think existed outside this drama but seems to have stopped activity as well.

Also despite her coming back she hasn't done anything since which is weird.


Did Mirai Akari ever come back in any way? I know she appeared on one of Kson's streams as an IRL appearance
 
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She is literally the first virtual Idol I was ever exposed to. It was during the Funhaus podcast where Lawrence brought her up and talked about how prominent this technology was. I remember going home from work that day and looking her up, watched a few clips of her playthrough of Seaman on youtube. And I didn't get it. Boy would that change by the time 2020 came by lol.

 
Scarthew said:
Also despite her coming back she hasn't done anything since which is weird.
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The claim in the comeback video was that she will be releasing an album's worth of songs first (one per month) with a concert at the end, then once that's complete it's back to actual VTubing, maybe. So basically not until 2026.

First two songs:

I'm not entirely sure what the point of investing in even better tech for the comeback video would be if they aren't going to use it regularly, but Activ8 isn't known for making wise decisions...
 
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Love Kizuana AI, grandmother of all Vtubers. Used to binge watch her videos, got me into the Vtuber scene. However, the company that runs her is pure cancer.

She went out with absolute banger of a concert, with an epic entrance that got memed to hell.
Then they nuked ALL of her content, and brought back a month long live stream of gibberish years later with SC enabled, teasing her return.

The actress had quit BTW.

Now she is back maybe, with a new model, but I doubt enough people remember her, or like myself are too upset at how she was treated.
 
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