/vt/ - Virtual Youtubers

Last time I watched her it felt like she was being forced to make videos and they were really repetitive. I think that was around the time when the clones were introduced. Just watched a recent video where she said fakyuu wasn't really part of her character in the early days, which pretty much sums up everything. She lost her spontaneity. There's too much planning, controlled change and habit now.

I remember her VA discussing the shenanigans on her own channel out of character. The video is gone now but I found it really genuine and wished Ai could be more like her. It sounded like she really wanted Ai to succeed but couldn't do anything more about it and couldn't say much about the topic either without violating contract. She also said something about being afraid of people finding out who she was because she didn't look cute like Ai at all and the whole thing was really honest and relatable.

It's important to the whole parasocial thing too. People get attached to characters like a friend and want to see them succeed and grow following their own passion. If the growth is just a corporate act though, people don't want to be friends with that and lose interest. Same stuff happens with artists and musicians. Nothing wrong with playing a character and putting on a show. It's just when it's not genuine. Like the whole clone thing irreparably damaged Ai's reputation because it wasn't honest or transparent. They also avoided addressing the issue honestly, and still do to this day, so the core fans that talk about Ai everywhere lost trust and went away. The company keeps Ai so in character and refusing to acknowledge reality it just comes off fake.