Hololive



Hololive Production (ホロライブプロダクション hororaibu purodakushon, stylized in lowercase), or simply known as hololive (ホロライブ), is a Virtual Talent agency consisting of Virtual YouTubers owned by Japanese tech entertainment company COVER Corporation.

The name hololive was initially used for COVER's 3D stream distribution app, launched in December 2017, and later its female VTuber agency, whose first generation debuted from May to June 2018. In December 2019, this hololive branch was merged with Cover's male holostars agency and INoNaKa (INNK) Music label to form a unified "hololive production" brand. In 2019 and 2020, the agency debuted three overseas branches: hololive China (since disbanded), hololive Indonesia, and hololive English.

As of August 2021, there are 57 active hololive-affiliated talents with over 43 million subscribers on YouTube. The five members with the highest YouTube subscriber counts are Gawr Gura, Mori Calliope, Usada Pekora, Shirakami Fubuki and Houshou Marine. Gawr Gura is currently the most subscribed VTuber worldwide, with over 3 million subscribers.

2017
In March, COVER showcased a tech demo for the company's 3D capture digital avatar technology.

On 7 September at 7pm JST, Tokino Sora made the first hololive member broadcast on YouTube and Niconico Douga.

On 21 December, COVER released an iOS and Android app named hololive. On 22 December, they opened auditions for a second hololive member.

2018
On 4 March, the second hololive member, Roboco-san, made her debut.

On 2 May, auditions opened for what would become known as hololive 1st generation. Auditions closed at midnight on 13 May, with selection beginning between May 9 and May 18. Five characters were unveiled in advance: Aki Rosenthal, Hitomi Chris, Shirakami Fubuki, Akai Haato, and Natsuiro Matsuri. A sixth first-generation member, Yozora Mel, made her debut on 13 May. The five other first-generation members were selected from the auditions, and made their debuts between 1 June and 3 June.

On 1 August at 7pm, Sakura Miko made her debut, although she was technically not considered a part of hololive until December.

Throughout August and September, the second generation of hololive members made their debuts: Minato Aqua on 8 August, Murasaki Shion on 17 August, Nakiri Ayame on 3 September, Yuzuki Choco on 5 September, and Oozora Subaru on 17 September.

On 15 November, solo member AZKi made her debut, though like Miko, she was technically not considered a part of hololive until May 2019.

On 6 December, hololive GAMERS was announced. The following day, Ookami Mio held her debut stream with Shirakami Fubuki, who was also considered a member of hololive GAMERS.

2019
On 22 March, Fubuki announced the addition of Nekomata Okayu and Inugami Korone were announced. Okayu made her debut on 6 April. Korone appeared on Oozora Subaru's channel on 7 April, but made her official debut on 13 April.

On 19 May, formerly independent VTuber Hoshimachi Suisei joined hololive under the "INoNaKa Music" label alongside AZKi.

On 13 June, hololive announced the start of the audition for three of the third generation of (at the time unnamed) members, called hololive Fantasy (ホロライブファンタジー). The audition started from 13 June until 23 June, with the screening starting and ending a day later and the interviews being held from 14 June until 28 June. During hololive karaoke party on 7 July, two of the members, Usada Pekora and Uruha Rushia, were announced.

On 1 August, through a press release, the names for the remaining three members of the third generation (which were selected from auditions) were revealed: Houshou Marine, Shiranui Flare, and Shirogane Noel. On the same day, all three started their activities on Twitter.

On 27 September, Yogiri was announced as the first member of hololive China.

On 25 and 28 October respectively, the second and third members of hololive China, Civia and Spade Echo were revealed.

On 29 November, Hoshimachi Suisei announced that she was moving to hololive's main branch. She officially moved on 1 December.

On 25 December, hololive fourth generation was announced, and three of its members, namely Kiryu Coco, Amane Kanata and Tsunomaki Watame, started their activities on Twitter.

On 31 December, Tokoyami Towa and Himemori Luna made their debut on Twitter.

2020
On 6 March, the second generation for hololive China was announced.

On 20 March, hololive's Twitter account announced auditions, which were held from 20 to 30 March, for two new members. Character designs were announced in advance for a "bewitching aura drifting snow witch" and an "animal-eared gothic lolita maiden."

On 1 April, COVER announced the take over of the previously unofficial subreddit r/Hololive's operation, with Artia and Kiryu Coco becoming the first two official moderators of the subreddit on 3 and 23 April, respectively.

On 6 April, the first generation of hololive Indonesia was announced.

On 23 April, hololive's English Twitter account announced the beginning of auditions for English speaking VTubers and that their official site would support said language.

On 3 July, hololive Indonesia Twitter account announced auditions for its second generation, from 3 July to 19 July.

On July 30, COVER posted an apology press release regarding the monetization of copyrighted materials without permission (mainly Let's Play videos), with over 10,000 stream archives across the agency being either deleted or privated. While the problem has gradually solved since August by signing contracts with copyright holders, many stream archives, including some of pre-Gen 5 members' debut streams, are still privated to this day.

On 6 August, hololive's Twitter account announced the introduction of its fifth generation, none of whom were members open for audition during March. They also started their activities on Twitter.

On 8 September, the first promotional video for a new hololive branch, hololive English, was released on a new hololive English channel created to promote their content. The members started their Twitter debut at the same time.

On 20 October, Gawr Gura became the most subscribed hololive member, surpassing both Shirakami Fubuki and Inugami Korone.

On 22 October, Gura became the first hololive member to reach 1,000,000 subscribers, the third VTuber overall after Kizuna AI and Kaguya Luna.

By the end of October, all members of the Japanese branch and hololive English ceased their activities on bilibili, making the hololive JP/EN content on bilibili mainly made of translated clips since November.

On 30 November, hololive's English Twitter account announced the start of auditions for VSingers for hololive English; auditions were open until 29 January.

On 1 December, hololive's Indonesia Twitter account announced the debut dates of its second generation members.

With the retirement of Rosalyn on 27 December, hololive China officially ended its activities.

2021
On 12 February, hololive English Twitter account announced the audition for its second generation, with the audition going from 12 February to 26 March.

On 30 May, Takanashi Kiara reached 1,000,000 subscribers, making holoMyth the first generation where every member has reached 1 million subs.

On 30 June, Gawr Gura's subscriber count on YouTube officially passed that of Kizuna AI's, making Gura the most subscribed VTuber in any streaming platform in the world.

On 6 July, the hololive English channel teased it's first VSinger, IRyS during a small introductory video. She debuted on 11 July.

On 31 July, the hololive English channel posted a short trailer titled Prelude.

On 14 August, the hololive English channel posted another short trailer titled Omen. It also revealed the silhouettes of the new members of hololive English.

On 16 August, the hololive English channel posted the third short trailer titled Council, formally revealing the name of hololive English's second generation. They officially began their YouTube activities on 23 August JST.

On 25 August, hololive Indonesia Twitter account announced auditions for its third generation, from 25 August to 20 September.

On 30 August, a brand new website decided for hololive's female members has been opened. However, the original hololive website as well as holostars' official website would continue to operate separately. The new website notably features updated biographies for some of members with significantly more details compared to the previous hololive website, as well as images for members' 3D models and alternate costumes. For the English website, most of pre-2021 talents' official biographies have been re-translated (except for a few selected talents), notably fixing mistranslations present in several of biographies such as Murasaki Shion's and Ninomae Ina'nis's.

On 1 November, hololive English launched an official #Shorts clip channel.

On 2 November more than a year later, hololive's Twitter account announced that due to the lack of requeriments no candidates would get the previously shown designs from the announcement made on 20 March 2020, resulting in both designs being unused.

On 26 November, hololive's Twitter account announced the sixth generation of the Japanese branch known as "Secret Society holoX."

INoNaKa Music
INoNaKa Music (イノナカミュージック; also shortened as INNK MUSIC) is a music label under hololive that launched on 19 May 2019. Currently, AZKi is the only VTuber affiliated with the label, as Hoshimachi Suisei, who started activities under INoNaKa, was transferred to the main hololive group on 1 December 2019.

It was then announced on 29 December 2021 that AZKi would transfer to the main hololive branch on April 2022, thereby dissolving INoNaKa Music.

holostars
holostars (ホロスターズ) is the male Vtuber group of Hololive Production, initially operating under a separate agency. The auditions for the group began on 27 May 2019, and its members began their activities in June, with three of the members, Hanasaki Miyabi, Kanade Izuru and Kagami Kira, making their debuts in advance.

2019
On 2 September, the agency added three more members to the roster, formally establishing Holostar's 1st Gen. The identity one of the new member, who was revealed to be Rikka, was kept secret until 17 October. The holostars Youtube channel also posted a PV of the 1st Gen members, confirming Rikka's addition to the group.

Around November, it announced its second generation, which featured 3 new members, Astel Leda, Kishido Temma and Yukoku Roberu, who started their debuts on 7 December.

On 2 December, COVER announced that it would be merging all of its VTuber agencies and its music label to form "hololive production." However, the male Vtuber group continues to operate under the name "holostars."

2020
On 3 May, it released a trailer announcing its third generation and a preview presentation of its 3 new members, naming them "TriNero." However, TriNero started debuting on 29 April.

On 29 June, it was announced that holostars' second generation of VTubers would be named "Sun Tempo."

As with the main hololive members, members of holostars ceased their activities on bilibili by the end of October.

2021
On 1 March, COVER announced holostars' first show on YouTube, which premiered on 4 March. On their first broadcast, they decided on the name Wacha-Wacha holostars for the show, or Wachastars for short.

On 26 December, holostar's Twitter announced that there would be new members in 2022.

On 28 December, the official holostars website has been renewed, adopting the structure of the hololive website. An English language option has also been added with the renewal.

Members


The actual roster of VTubers endorsed by hololive are the following:

hololive Generation 0
Was initially separate solo debutants and later officially put into one group.

hololive 3rd Generation
Also known as hololive Fantasy (ホロライブファンタジー).

hololive 4th Generation
Also known as holoForce (ホロふぉーす).

hololive 5th Generation
Formerly known as holoFive (ほろふぁいぶ) before Mano Aloe's retirement, now known as NePoLaBo (ねぽらぼ).

hololive 6th Generation
Also known as  Secret Society holoX (秘密結社holoX, Himitsu Kessha horokkusu).

Aside from each talents' fan marks, this generation also has a "generation-oshi" mark: ✖️ (black cross), representing the letter X.

hololive ID 1st Generation
Self-styled as AREA 15, taken from the name of the collab show they held every month on the 15th, and the fact that their birthdays fall on the 15th day of differing months.

hololive ID 2nd Generation
Also known as holoro, a portmanteau of "hololive" and "loro" (Javanese for "two").

hololive English -Myth-
Also known as holoMyth and informally known as holoEN 1st Generation.

hololive English -Council-
Also known as holoCouncil and informally known as holoEN 2nd Generation.

holostars 2nd Generation
Also known as SunTempo as of 28 Jun, 2020.

holostars 3rd Generation
Formerly known as TriNero (トライネロ) before Tsukishita Kaoru's retirement, now known as MaFia (魔フィア).

Discography
Main Article: List of Hololive Songs.

Language Skills
Support Article: Individual Linguistic Skills of hololive Talents

Events

 * HOLOLIVE x TSUKUMO Virtual Chocolate Meeting for Valentine's day 2019.
 * Bilibili hololive fanart competition
 * See more at List of minor events.

Video clips

 * ShinySmileyStory (SSS) hololive's first theme song (sample version)
 * holo no graffiti (Translated short animations featuring hololive members that update every Sunday)
 * hololive x Azur Lane PV

Websites

 * hololive Website (English)
 * hololive Website (Japanese)
 * hololive Production Website (English)
 * hololive Production Website (Japanese)
 * holostars Website (English)
 * holostars Website (Japanese)

YouTube

 * hololive ホロライブ - VTuber Group - hololive's YouTube channel
 * hololive English - hololive English's YouTube channel
 * hololive English Shorts - hololive English's Shorts YouTube channel
 * hololive Indonesia - hololive Indonesia's YouTube channel
 * holostars ホロスターズ - VTuber Group - holostars' YouTube channel

Twitter

 * @hololivetv - hololive's Twitter (Japanese)
 * @hololive_En - hololive's Twitter (English)
 * @hololive_Id - hololive's Twitter (Indonesian)
 * @hololive_Kr - hololive's Twitter (Korean)
 * @hololive_In - hololive's Twitter (Indian)
 * @holostarstv - holostars' Twitter

Other

 * /r/hololive - hololive's Subreddit
 * hololive's Official Merchandising Store on Booth.pm
 * hololive's Official Profile on Pixiv.net

Further Readings

 * Hololive Production on English Wikipedia
 * Hololive Fan Wiki