The Downfall of Kizuna AI 

PAY YOUR RESPECTS RIGHT NOW.

the mother of the genre and was treated like she was disposable to her company

Ah yes, basically the vtuber version of "The rise and fall of the Roman Empire"

for me she dont need to return , she already cemented her name in the world of vtubing but hey ill be damn happy if she return

Her legendary "Faq You" compilation still makes me laugh to this day

Kizuna Ai's last concert was pretty much the best going away any Vtuber ever had. It was triumphant instead of sad, as much as i'd love to see her back, i dont know what reception she would get in the current vtuber market.

Kizuna did what she had to do in terms of business and moved on. We were told the brand will still exist. So only time will tell what the future holds.

Can you make a deep dive into Love-chan? The only one out of four Kizunas that is still active and still under Kizuna AI Inc. She is mostly ignored and barely talked about, and her channel has like only 90k subs, which is pretty odd for pretty much being the sister of a progenitor of vtubing.

Kizuna Ai name carries alot of history. But the name also have brand of old era. Even if the company tries to adjust the current trend, sometimes public perceptions are already cemented they won't budge. I believe retiring the brand Kizuna Ai and create new avatar might have more chance. They can use the Kizuna Ai name as brand recognition.

Kizuna was my first introduction to VTubing back in early to mid 2017. Unfortunately I wasn't too interested because I didn't understand japanese so I forgot what VTubers are for 3 years until I discovered Hololive in summer 2020 and finally got hooked.

As someone who was a fan of Aipii and was lucky enough to have been directed towards her post-corporate identity to be able to continue supporting her, I am hoping this video does her justice. She did not deserve to be jerked around by the company like she was, and likewise Love-chan deserves so much more attention than she gets as well.

I think we've seen recently how much more people care about the actors behind these personas than the avatar/character, pomu is getting cheered on by her fanbase on twitter on her personal account, dokibird just remade her entire fanbase within a week, looking at how fans reacted when they introduced multiple actresses with today's knowledge, everything tracks.

The second they started using other VAs to represent her, even as clones, it was over. The clones not being her while looking way to much like her was a problem. Hope the talents behind them find success being other vtubers or other entertainment ventures.

Update: Nozomi Kasuga, the VA for Kizuna ended her contract on March 31st 2024. She is now free from Ai channel. (If I was Yagoo, i would sign her and former Mirai Akari up.)

Its just so bizarre to me that entire era Vtubing is just GONE, it feels like a different life time now. Kizuna not only coined then term vtuber she more or less created the industry around her. Kizuna also relentlessly promoted the vtubers that followed in her wake and it expanded the genre. I don't think vtubers would be a thing without her.

i believed Kizuna Ai as a persona already had her grand graduation, and it's best to keep it that way to cement her legendary status as the pioneer. Her VA on the other hand, if she still has the passion for vtubing, could take the other route and reincarnated as another persona whether as an indie or under a proper corporation. Just take various OGs as example and reinvent. if her fan base still support her, they will surely flock back to her regardless of her vtuber persona.

If you have more to add, contextualize, or correct, write them in the comment thread here:

I'm amazed at how Depressed Nousagi is never drunk even though he's always nestled next to a bottle of Jack Daniels.

kizuna promised she would be back

Kizuna No Allele wasn't even the first V-Tuber anime. The REAL first V-Tuber anime was Virtual-san is Looking and that one was 100 times better than Kizuna no Allele. In all seriousness though, I do hope she can return to the spotlight one day. She touched the hearts of many and I'd love to see what she does next.

Nothing like this has ever been done since, this event solidified to vtubers and companies that fans dont care about the character or the model, they are about the person behind it, who arguably IS the character and cannot be replaced

You said it best. She's a relic of a bygone era (which wasn't that long ago) The Vtubing world changed over time and Ai unfortunately just didn't change with it. This is nothing new. Vtubers had alot of trial and errors during its formative years. Hololive too had a shaky start. It was uncharted territory after all.

Kizuna was the first vtuber I saw and enjoyed what I did see. It took me way too long that other people could vtuber too.

Pretty much after "dividing" into more Kizuna Ai's, the shitshow started. Mirai Akari, Kizuna Ai and few other small corpo vtubers went into strange directions and ended up with projects being scrapped. Not to mention that Chinese Kizuna Ai and what a tumor it created. It's another situation when higherups have zero idea what to do with golden goose.

Ah, Kizuna... The one who dragged me into the rabbit hole with the "fuck you" clip.

Kizuna Ai introduced me to vtubing. I miss her dearly

Kizuna walked so Ironmouse could run. Mouse has directly named Kizuna as the reason she became a Vtuber and found a better life.

I loved Kizuna Ai's content, but I agree - her time is done and that's not necessarily a bad thing. But no one can deny her legacy in the Vtuber sphere.

Tbh. This whole Downfall of Kizuna was a lot of Japanese Corpo Dinos being Japanese Corpo Dinos. Dinos too old to properly understand what the Internet in the post 2010s was to actually be even ABLE of understanding what shit they got their whole business into until it was a Do or die, and the Do would only buy a small respite of extra time. The stubborness to not quash a PR disaster fire or enact some preventive measures to gauge how bad things are brewing on the Internet, aka a PR and Communications department too arcaic to plan actions to ensure adequate online PR so narratives like the one that shat their golden Goose for good didn't fester so unchecked or to a degree where by the time they try to kill it, it is too late, it ATE enough of the core Pilar that it will only further harm them and not even kill that thing properly if even that. Then, when the problem becomes uncomfortable, instead of solving the problem on the Root, by shutting the Clone idea earlier and rebranding the talents hired dor said idea into new Vtubers, they try pre Internet PR tactics, in a situation where the only adequate choices was demolish the compromissed structure (Kizuna Clone project) so the fire/infestation dies within the ruins; or detonate a Nuke to asphixiate said fire or bath the infestation in deadly doses of Gamma radiation (Aggressive PR tailored for the Internet of the period, seize narrative control and make a long term PR effort to make one's narrative the dominant one before more salvos of Aggressive PR to assure the fanbase things are set to improve, starting by killing what started the worries in the first place). Both have hefty costs, but they MUST be done in such case where anything less will just fail and worse, fuel the problem more. That whole problem would likely never been one, or one of modest scale the company would recover from, had their JP corporate issues and poorly adapted PR not railroaded them straight to the deadly swamp they ended stuck into.

Kinda sad. I remember Kizuna introducing me to the entire concept of a Vtuber years and years ago. I don't think her managers/creators ever really knew what it was they had, and treated the talent behind the character as interchangeable/disposable. I remember at the time not really understanding why so many people were so upset when seemingly a dozen different "actresses" were being rotated through the role, but now that Vtubers are pretty commonplace and it's become standard practice to retire a character once the talent voicing them leaves the company, the whole idea of continuing a character as they did just seems creepy and dehumanizing. I suppose those sorts of growing pains are inevitable when you're essentially pioneering an entire industry, but it doesn't make it any less disappointing how things turned out.

I still remember her for what she did

These days she is pretty much the Greta Garbo of V-Tubing, like Miss Garbo she got her break at the start of a major technological change (Talking Pictures in Garbo's case and V-tubing in Kizuna Ai's) was very much the poster girl for a brief half decade and then went into somewhat obscurity by her own or circumstantial choice afterwards.

I'd prefer these videos be just regular 'videos' that are easy to watch rather than these 'live' ones recently which are so long and unfocused.

A corporation treating their talents as interchangeable and disposable crashes and burns because they did so? Wow the industry just never seems to learn does it?

That first mistake, the company's belief that an avatar can be interchanged with multiple voice actors, is still one of the worst slip-ups. As much as people hate "graduations" in talent agencies, they at least have the respect to cease use of that character, both their activities and in the marketing. They understand the talent who hosted the avatar cannot be replaced. And the fanbase still freely follow that same talent in the next chapter of their online career.

the thing is, even new vtuber fans from 2020 heard about the issue of replacing Ai. A lot of us newbies that time were into her before meeting hololive and niji. heck She was my original Oshi along side with Projekt Melody. also promoting NFT during the time where a ton of NFTs are scams rather than legit moneymaking thing was very much frown upon her. I distanced myself from her content due to replacement and nft issues. I found that there are better ones than her with Gura leading the way. Tbh her story is basically Nokia when Apple and Samsung overtake it.

Did she fall?, I thought she glided down.

Kizuna Ai was the first vtuber I ever saw, in her earlier days when the concept was mind blowing. Big studios were using motion capture to make janky characters move in slightly less rigid ways than before but still look a bit goofy, and then here's this Japanese girl playing games and looking amazing while doing it. Most big vtubers at least know who Kizuna Ai is, with many listing her as one of the first they saw and/or an inspiration for themselves. She is the mother of the genre and we will never forget her.

She's like Jesus or Buddha in Vtubing world she already ascended. She already achieved God-tier status with her paving the way for mainstream Vtubing

I see Kizuna AI as a product of her time. A good analogy is Filthy Frank or Pink Guy. Filthy Frank was an internet icon, but he suddenly quit at the top of his fame, citing health issues and that he wanted to move on. Fortunately he left right as the apocalypse happened on YT, along with forced changes with YT content. Had he continued, he would be forced to tame his content, do sponsorships, and milk the ad revenue. But he left before that, and everyone saw his old persona in a positive light. I see Kizuna with the same light. If she comes back, she has to radically change her content, especially with the oversaturation on the JP market. The best option would be a redebut under a new identity, and leave her old persona in the hall of fame.

It would of been cool if once the anime came out the company created vtuber channels and models for their characters and had the VAs use them to play games and keep up with the times. It could of been very cute, like "Oh, did you see my anime everyone? I'm trying my best. Teehee~! Alright, let's play some games!"

The sad irony that another kind of short-form, pre-recorded content (clips) contributed to her decline in popularity. Shame too cause with every vtuber streaming for hours at a time now, I feel that emulating the let's play channels of old would be kind of refreshing.

Kizuna Ai is like the old-school 80s/90s console games. The start of a new idea at a time when people were very skeptical.. and very fondly remembered, despite their limitations. So I think, just like those games, most people will remember her and love her for a long time to come, even if only just a little bit.

That final shot of her ascending on wings of light was beautiful. I always did wonder what happened to her. Thank you for making this video.

Never get NFT-pilled. It only ends in regrets, tears and bankruptcy.

Man. I was there in her early videos. I still remember she said she want to be the number 1 and biggest vtuber in the world. Guess she achieved it tho... with the cost of her own absence 😢 At the moment, people only lookup to her when she's not there anymore. It's really heartbreaking to think about it.

She isn’t gone, she lives on in everything and everyone *_SHE MADE POSSIBLE_* ❤

I been wondering why i havent heard of the real OG gamgster in a good while. Thanks Rabbit Man for informing us

Thank you for the video. I was there in the very beginning as her fan when she had just 300k subs. I was there when she began the first meme for VTubers, when VTubers were still just emerging, and even when Sora was “just an anime girl” before Hololive. All the formats for VTubers these days that include lore video, a live stream QnA, and the like, were never done during the Golden Age of Kizuna Ai when she first appeared. Also Kizuna Ai rarely did any collaboration streams with anyone, always doing things herself. This was the reason why I loved her so much. I quite miss her, and I hope that her memory is well-preserved ❤

She already paved the way of vtubing. The progenitor of vtubers even if there was a downfall no one ever felt it coz everyone in the know who she really is and how big of a deal she is and respected.

Im cursed with knowledge on why she went away and all the drama that happened with her and other vtubers irl. It was a hot mess

She was a trailblazer, and that trail changed over time. New people traveled the path and changed its shape, but her goliath footsteps still form the core of the walkway. If you're right, and her send-off was as brilliant as you say, then I'm okay with her remaining effectively retired, but I would love to see her return in a new way some day, and I wish the personality behind the gimmicks and glamour is aware of just how impactful her work has been. And above all else, I wish that some of the rumors about her real life are false and that she's doing well. She deserves nothing less than respect and a wonderful life.

I will always be waiting for her return, like Fry's dog in that futurama episode.

One thing I am afraid about is that if she ever becomes forgotten that future generations think she is an artifical intelligence channel because of her name rather than being an inspiration to Vtubers.

thr original actress quit ages ago. they were replacing her long time ago and when vtubere picked up she bowed out.

I guess you could say that this has turned into a difficult situation.

As an EN fan of Vtubers, I fell down the rabbit hole pretty darn early. I watched Kizuna Ai before Hololive was even a thing. She is an absolute legend who kick started the whole thing and no matter what happens, whether she returns or not, she will ALWAYS have my gratitude and respect.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the clones was Quintessential Quintuplets. One of them even looks like Miku 😂

kizuna ai was my exposer to vtubers. i can only watch her from clips with subs though. but i still sub on her official channel, i didn't know about the drama though.

I think you may be underestimating the impact of the NFT stuff. 'It's being full of scammers and metaverse shit' isn't really why people in the west don't care about crypto. That's just why a lot of 'on the ground' people who were really into crypto initially fell off it after being scammed or seeing other people get scammed once too often. The real reason why the audiences worldwide were openly hostile to NFTs is that lots of companies in the video game were announcing plans to put them into their stuff about one to two years earlier and there were a whole bunch of games that obviously existed just to sell NFTs. So by the time KIzuna no Allele aired, people were already sick and tired of cheap projects like that. So the audience looked at this show that was obviously intended as a marketing product first and an anime a distant second and went 'Ok, so this entire anime is yet another attempt to shill NFTs, pass'. Which is kinda sad, because while the show was still shit and it was obviously trying to sell something, but that something was VTubers... And if it hadn't tried to do its NFT side-hustle, it might have at least led a bunch of people down the rabbit hole and given VTubers in general (if, perhaps, not the obviously corporate VTubers of Alleles Project) a boost.

all my homies love kizuna ai 🔥🔥

I respect her as a trailblazer and it should likely stay that way since she'd have to start from scratch as an unknown.

And today i see the tweet about kasuga nozomi the Voice of Kizuna Ai, is not going to work in kizuna AI inc anymore, the contract is over and they don't gonna renew it.😭

God I remember stumbling across her, I knew instantly, this was the future.

I was the Animation Director for Kizuna AI allele for a couple of episodes. I was really excited when I was assigned for the anime and was also excited to watch the anime. Although at the back at my head I knew it won't go well, I saw a material reference that they are going to promote NFT... It made me think that we are not fully in control of the project, rather the higher up. But in any case we were all excited. Then we watched it, it was really disappointing.... The story is very dull, there is not a lot of Kizuna Ai involved... We really did our best to put in the quality... everything else is NG. It's pure corporate idea to grab money. If anything I'd make a Kizuna Ai anime that is really about Kizuna Ai

I totaly get why the clone Project did drive of the Fanbase towards Hololive, Nijisanji and other Vtubers. You can´t just put another Person behind a Vtuber Model or you destroy the connection between the Fans and character.

Well now. A surprise for sure but a welcome one.👍

Our actual Hoshino Ai 😭

Man. I used to watch her content when she first appeared. I helped translate some clips here or there. I remember thinking the whole vtuber thing felt pretty stupid but I still watched her videos. after a couple years, I mostly gravitated away from her and didn't get into any of the more modern vtubers. It wasn't until last year I started watching a few vtubers again. I had no idea all this had happen to Kizuna Ai. I have pretty fond memories of her shenanigans. I still have "HAI DOMO VIRTUAL RU-vidR KIZUNA AI DESU" in the back of my head sometimes.

Kizuna was a vtuber even before term "vtuber" formed. I'd even say she was THE vtuber. Mad respect to her, rest in pepperonies.

As someone who doesn't enjoy watching livestreams Kizuna Ai was the only VTuber I followed. The sketch format of her videos was pretty fun, and I still remember that video you played a clip from in which she addresses the "voice change", by doing her old intro.

In business terms they had a good idea that had little risk but then they failed the execution risk.

She went down like a legend

All this talk about "most important" VTuber makes me think a tier list of "most impactful" VTubers would be a really interesting discussion video. Especially if it were well researched like your content tends to be. Obviously Kizuna AI is at the top, but I think there would be a lot to say about people like Coco for her affect on the English/Worldwide scene, Ironmouse for her reach outside of VTubing, Gura for her dominance on RU-vid, and Pekora for her consistency as a top 5 female streamer. I feel like you would be in the unique position to cover a topic like this.

In my mind Sora from Hololive was Kizuna AI's spiritual successor and that spirit now resides in Hololive.

There’s a thread on Reddit from 8 days ago posting a translation of a letter by the Ai company that Nozomi Kasuga has resigned from her advisory role due to her contract ending but will continue to provide voice for projects. I’m not sure what Kasuga-san’s real life projects and schedule are like, but I was hoping they would include maybe a comeback as a freestyle U-Toober, but this direction seems it will remain purely a corporate character and marketing tool rather than a character entity based on Kasuga’s own personality who can relax and hang out with fans on the medium.

Lorewise, an AI getting the full product treatment from the Corpo Overlord is on brand.

Honestly and for real. I hope she is doing all right. Regardless of how we feel about Vtubers in general and her, it was her that pretty much popularized it. Hoping you are more than doing good, Ai!

LOL I heard of the anime but that project alleles or whatever? I never heard of it until now 😂

10:04 THE WITCHER 3 SAUNDTRACK WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

I do still care for her. She is the reason I got recommended other vtubers. I used to see her playing games and thought that it was like the youtubers I always watched but with a "anime" charm to it, while I don't proactively see her chanel for news I do wish to open it one day and see her back

Here's the thing about Kizuna Ai when I was consistently watching her videos. They were fun videos imo and having subs for videos helped me stay engaged. At some point I did fall off just due to how time works. But, I still haven't really trusted myself to invest much with any other VTuber because of how the space has shifted towards live streams. Yes they're more real but I don't have the time to watch a 6hr live stream every time a VTuber goes live. I just can't focus on that for that long. Whereas Kizuna Ai's videos weren't that long generally from my recollection. Definitely under an hour at least and that helped keep my interest.

No mention about the termination of the original VA’s contract. You might have to do a new video because she isn’t coming back.

I don't know if it's a bit racist or not, but I keep wondering. Why is it that whenever there's trouble around, the chinese are always involved? They almost feel like they're our real life Belkans.

I remember watching Ai when she played Resident Evil 7 with her saying the widespread FUQ meme. I thought this had potential and I remember a few months later I saw another one of her videos pop up and decided to watch it. I was very confused with how she was acting in it. It felt like I was watching someone pretending to be someone else that was reading a script. At the time I didn't know about the multiple people playing as AI but it felt very jarring compared to what I have seen before.

Damn I remember when she was like the benchmark like "ooh this vtuber got this many subs but kizuna ai has this many." Until Gura blew her outta the water.

Great video.

I wanted to watch Kizuna's content because she was funny, quirky and overall just fun to watch. I tried to watch some things, but I couldn't watch it because I don't speak Japanese beside basic BS I learned from anime and manga and in no way can I follow a conversation or even respond so ultimately I had to give up because waiting for a translation was taking too long and a lot of the things weren't even translated. It's sad to see her ending like this, but sometimes it's better to die a hero before you rot because of the company's greed for profit.

As some say. You either die soon and be remembered as a hero or you live long and be remembered as a villain. She don't need to return, she's perfect as she left, splendid and glorious as always.

Maybe just let Hololive buy her IP and just let a company manage her property she can be a great asset and I think with more members as it is now on Hololive she wouldn't have a problem and I mean cover can be the successor for a better Kizuna AI.

Whelp, guess this is interesting timing for this to show up in my feed.

Her channel was pretty wholesome for the most part, now days these newer v tubers are a bunch of perverts going after that thristy boy money. She will always be sorely missed.

I dont remember much about Kizuna Ai content but some of her songs will forever live with me.

I think Kizuna Ai has already set her legacy as one of the 'pioneers' of Vtubing, and I am okay for her not coming back because her final stream is the perfect ending to her career. I was a fan when she was released. She really make waves especially on the west, however, her company really dropped the ball on her

She didn't really fell as this video is suggesting, Kasuga Nozomi never really wanted such spotlight and when she left to pursue other life endeavours, the rest of the "fakes" simply didn't have it in them to continue the project. She is still active on her Twitter or in Azur Lane.

She do be Kizuna AI-ing it.

I miss her and her old content

Hololive expo 2025 , ai will become guest star .

we were so preoccupied by our emotion that we forgot that it was all just business and they have life and needed to move on. they have a life and there are more to life than just living in the limelight

I mean, I was kinda sad I missed this whole big thing when she started the vtubing market. I would love them to come back so I can see what the og vtuber can do