Hololive

Hololive Production (ホロライブプロダクション) or simply Hololive (ホロライブ) is a virtual youtuber agency under the management of Cover corp. Notable Vtubers under their management include Shirakami Fubuki, Tokino Sora and Minato Aqua. Overall, they amass around 9.5 million subscribers on youtube with 37 channels and another 1 million on bilibili as of July 2020.
== History ==
When Kizuna AI debuted on Youtube on December 2016, she started the trend of a new type of YouTuber (バーチャルユーチューバー, bācharu yūchūbā) or Vtuber (ブイチューバー, buichūbā) for short which are youtuber who used an anime-style avatar (which can be 3D, Live2D or even a static image) to interact with the audience while also performing other youtuber activities such as streaming games, singing or having live chats. As of 2019, there are over 9000 Vtubers channels on Youtube alone. According to Hololive CEO Motoaki Tanigo, Vtubers like Kizuna Ai who started early have more opportunity to acquire funds and build up the infrastructure themselves especially one with corporate backing (Activ8 in the case of Kizuna Ai). Cover corp and their Hololive division was created to support "newcomer" by providing them with basic gears such as a Live2D avatar as well as an IPhone X with its advance face tracking capability allowing the Vtuber to stream from their home instead of needing to rely on more cumbersome equipment such as 3D motion tracker. Hololive also recruits talents who already have experience in streaming on youtube or Niconico Douga. An example of this is Vtubers Hoshimachi Suisei who started as a independent Vtubers but was later recruited into Hololive and was given a new 2D models and 3D models. Hololive debuted their first Vtuber Tokino Sora on September 17th 2017 and by July 2020 have debuted 48 Vtubers including 37 female Vtubers (28 Japanese, 6 Chinese, 3 Indonesian) and 11 male Vtubers. Hololive began auditioning for English speaking Vtubers on April 24th 2020.
== Talents ==
Hololive vtuber are organized into several major groups starting with the Hololive brand and later includes the all male Holostars, the music focus INoNaKa MUSIC(INNK) as well foreign language groups Hololive ID (Indonesia) and Hololive CN (China). In general Hololive classified the Vtuber in each branch based on their "Generation" which indicates the general periods when they were recruited.
=== Hololive ===
==== Hololive affiliated talents (0th Gen) ====
Unlike the other gen, 0th gen consist of talents that debuted independently of each others including those that were brought under the Hololive brand after they debuted.
* Tokino Sora (debuted 17 September 2017)
* Roboco (debuted 3 March 2018)
* Sakura Miko (debuted 1 August 2018 directly under Cover, transferred under Hololive on 25 December 2018)
* Hoshimachi Suisei (debuted 22 March 2018 as an independent Vtuber, joined INNK on 19 May 2019 and transferred to Hololive on 1 December, 2019)
==== Hololive 1st Gen ====
* Yozora Mel (debuted 13 May 2018)
* Aki Rosenthal (debuted 1 June 2018)
* Natsuiro Matsuri (debuted 1 June 2018)
* Shirakami Fubuki (debuted 1 June 2018) - Is also the nominal leader of Hololive Gamers
* Akai Haato (debuted 2 June 2018)
==== Hololive 2nd Gen ====
* Minato Aqua (debuted 8 August 2018)
* Murasaki Shion (debuted 17 August 2018)
* Nakiri Ayame (debuted 3 September 2018)
* Yuzuki Choco (debuted 4 September 2018)
* Oozora Subaru (debuted 16 September 2018)
==== Hololive Gamers ====
* Ookami Mio (debuted 7 December 2018)
* Nekomata Okayu (debuted 6 April 2019)
* Inugami Korone (debuted 13 April 2019)
==== Hololive 3rd Gen (Hololive Fantasy) ====
* Usada Pekora (debuted 17 July 2019)
* Uruha Rushia (debuted 18 July 2019)
* Shiranui Flare (debuted 7 August 2019)
* Shirogane Noel (debuted 8 August 2019)
* Houshou Marine (debuted 11 August 2019)
==== Hololive 4th Gen ====
* Amane Kanata (debuted 27 December 2019)
* Kiryu Coco (debuted 28 December 2019)
* Tsunomaki Watame (debuted 29 December 2019)
* Tokoyami Towa (debuted 3 January 2020)
* Himemori Luna (debuted 4 January 2020)
=== INoNaKa MUSIC ===
* AZKi (debuted 15 November 2018)
=== Holostars ===
==== Generation 1 ====
* Hanasaki Miyabi (debuted 8 June 2018)
* Kagami Kira (debuted 9 June 2018)
* Kanade Izuru (debuted 22 June 2018)
* Arurandeisu (debuted 08 September 2018)
* Rikka (debuted 20 October 2018)
==== Generation 2: SunTempo ====
* Astel Leda (debuted 7 December 2019)
* Kishido Temma (debuted 14 December 2019)
* Yukoku Roberu (debuted 24 December 2019)
==== Generation 3: TriNero ====
* Tsukishita Kaoru (debuted 29 April 2020)
* Kageyama Shien (debuted 30 April 2020)
* Aragami Oga (debuted 1 May 2020)
=== Hololive CN ===
The chinese branch of Hololive, they stream almost exclusively on bilibili.
==== Generation 1 ====
* Yogiri (debuted 28 September 2019)
* Civia (debuted 2 December 2019)
* Spade Echo (debuted 30 January 2020)
==== Generation 2 ====
* Doris (debuted 3 April 2020)
* Rosalyn (debuted 5 April 2020)
* Artia (debuted 11 April 2020)
=== Hololive ID ===
The indonesian branch and de facto english branch of Hololive
* Ayunda Risu (debuted 10 April 2020)
* Moona Hoshinova (debuted 11 April 2020)
* Airani Iofifteen (debuted 12 April 2020)
== Discography ==
=== Official Songs ===
No.	Song name 	Member 	Release date
1 	Shiny Smily Story	hololive IDOL PROJECT	2019-9-16
2 	Yumemiru Sora He 	hololive IDOL PROJECT	2019-9-17VTuber事務所「ホロライブ」、半年ぶりの公式曲第2弾「夢見る空へ」第３弾「キラメキライダー☆」リリース決定！PR TIME 2020年2月14日
3 	Kirameki Rider☆ 	hololive IDOL PROJECT	2019-9-24
=== Individual Artists ===
==== Tokino Sora====
Singles
No.	Name 	Release Date	Note
1st	Hurray Hurray LOVE	2019-10-07 	
2nd	Aozora Symphony 	2020-05-15 	Birthday song/Limited release
Album
No.	Name 	Release Date	Standard Product Number	Standard Product Number	Song list	Peak Oricon ranking
No.	Name 	Release Date	Standard Edition 	Limited Edition 	Song list	Peak Oricon ranking
1st	Dreaming!	2019-03-27 	VICL-65163 	VIZL-1558 	
# Dream☆Story（キノシタ）
# Heroic Heroine（buzzG）
# Kotobakaze（多田慎也）
# Hoshino Huruniwa（歩く人）
# Saenai Jibunni Love Song Wo（ネクライトーキー|石風呂）
# IMAGE Source（渡辺翔）
# Blend Caravan（渡辺翔）
# Miren Record （40mP）
# Umi Yori Hukai Sora No Shita（アゴアニキ）
# Son Naame No Hiniwa（はるまきごはん）
# Metronight（春野）
# Wandering Days（荒井洋明|Dios/シグナルP）
# Sukina Ichai Souda（Lyrics：まつもとななみ Composition：青木康平）
# Okaeri（瀬名航）
# Yumeiro Asterisk (Dreaming! ver.)（ていくる）	12th place
2nd	My Loving	2020-03-04 	VICL-65329 	VIZL-1732 	
# Equation of Love（戸嶋友祐）
# Wonderland（渡辺拓也）
# Sayonara Blossom（中村僚）
# Setsunatick Code（作詞：高瀬愛虹 作曲：渡部チェル）
# Hurray Hurray LOVE（多田慎也）
# Yukkuri Hashireba Kaze Ha Huku（瀬名航）	16th place
==== Hoshimachi Suisei ====
Singles
No.	Song name 	Release date
1 	NEXT COLOR PLANET	2020-03-22
==== AZKi ====
Singles
No.	Name 	Label 	Release Date	Note
1 	Creating World 	AZKi FRONTiER	2018-12-28 	
2 	Real Melancholy 	AZKi FRONTiER	2019-01-30 	
3 	Felicia 	AZKi FRONTiER	2019-02-25 	
4 	I can't control myself 	AZKi FRONTiER	2019-02-28 	
5 	Hikari no Machi 	AZKi FRONTiER	2019-03-25 	
6 	Starry Regrets 	AZKi FRONTiER	2019-03-28 	
7 	Fake.Fake.Fake 	AZKi FRONTiER	2019-4-30 	
8 	Inochi 	AZKi FRONTiER	2019-4-30 	
9 	Sit Days 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2019-05-31 	
10 	Sayonara Hero 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2019-06-30 	
11 	from A to Z 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2019-07-01 	
12 	ERROR 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2019-07-31 	
 	Creating World (jun kuroda Remix)	INoNaKa MUSIC	2019-05-21 	Limited Release
 	Inochi (Acoustic ver.) 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2019-07-27 	Limited Release
 	for 1st Pioneer
# Hikari
# Eternity Bright
# Nekonaraba Ikeru	INoNaKa MUSIC	2019-12-29 	AZKi 4th LiVE Ticket bonus
13 	mirror 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2020-03-15 	
14 	Kurogane no Mamoribito 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2020-03-20 	Ending song for the anime Jinki: Extend
15 	Eternity Bright 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2020-03-31 	
16 	Hikari 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2020-04-15 	
17 	Nekonaraba Ikeru 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2020-04-30 	
18 	Intersection 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2020-05-31 	
19 	Take me to Heaven 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2020-06-20 	
20 	Aoi Yume 	INoNaKa MUSIC	2020 	
Album
No.	Name 	Release date	Standard Product Number 	Song list	Peak Oricon ranking	Note
1st	without U	2019-11-12 	QACW-3012 ＜Type-A＞QACW-3013 ＜Type-B＞ 	
# without U
# Kotonoha
# Uso Uso Uso Uso
# Jiko Allergy
# Niji o Kakenukete
# Chīsana Kokoro ga Kimeta Koto
# Sekai wa Meguri, Yagate Kimi no Mono ni Naru
# Midnight Song
# Reflection
# Nobirito,
# Frontier Locus
# Real Melancholy (TEMPLIME Remix)
# Starry Regrets (Batsu Remix)	88th place 	
== Incidents ==
=== Tokoyami Towa mystery male voice incident ===
During an Apex Legends stream by Vtuber Tokoyami Towa, an unknown male voice was heard in the background of her stream. This led to a harassment campaign by a section of her fanbase especially after she lied that he was a Hololive staff. On March 5th ,Cover release an apology on Twitter promising to prevent a similar incident from happening as well as temporarily suspending Towa streaming right for one week . After her suspension, Towa release an apology stream where she apologize to her fans for her carelessness as well as thanking her fans (including a English message for international fans) for supporting her during the incident and her suspension.
=== Yozora Mel harassment case ===
Starting from October 2019, Vtuber Yozora Mel came under an harassment campaign that using throwaway Twitter accounts and emails. Despite her attempts to block those messages and users, the campaign continued to ramp up. On October 30th, Mel received another one of these mail which contained the name of sender who is a employees of Cover. This forced Mel to report the incident to the police as well Cover CEO Tanigo. This led cancellation of her stream scheduled on the next day. With assistance from the police as well as her personal lawyer, the harasser was positively identified and confronted leading to the campaign stopping by March 2020. On May 15th, Mel released a message on Twitter detailing the incident from her perspective as well as announcing her temporary leave from Vtuber activities to deal with the stress and fear from the incident.On May 25th, Cover release their own statement sign by the CEO Motoaki Tanigo himself, which includes the fact that the individual in question was part of Yozora Mel management team and had prior history of inappropriate behaviours towards Mel including a case where they would lock her in a conversation until morning using the pretense of meeting. The individual was relieved of their position by Cover but then continue to harass Mel using means outside the jurisdiction of Cover to handle. The company promised to revamp its internal structure, correcting the flaws in its management structure that allowed the incidents to take place. Finally the company apologize to Mel and fans for both their mishandling of the incidents as well as the delayed release of their statement and promised they will fully compensate all the cost incurred by Mel during the entirely of the case. Mel returned to streaming on June 24th 2020. 
=== Nintendo game streaming right ===
On June 1st, 2019 Nintendo added an addendum to its streaming policy in Japan, specifying which corporation are allowed to to streams their games. Cover corp whose name wasn't among the company listed came under criticism of its fan and haters. On June 5th, the company release an apology statement claiming that they had wrongly believe they had the streaming right as individual under the clause of the policy. The company then stated that they had contacted Nintendo and have come to a temporary agreement that allowed Cover and their Vtuber to keep their Nintendo related content online as long as it is demonetized. Finally Cover began negotiation with Nintendo to gain the streaming rights.
== Notes ==
==Hololive in the Media==
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== Reference ==
== External Links ==
* Official website
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* Hololive on Reddit
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Category:Virtual YouTubers
Category:Japanese idol groups
Category:Japanese talent agencies
Category:Virtual YouTuber agency
Category:Companies of Japan
Category:Companies of Japan by industry