.. what exactly is holostars .. ive seen you posting about it i have noo idea what it is in the slightest
Oh you just tripped my yap trigger *rubs hands together evilly*
Note: I will not be talking about former members or the recent events. I am already covering a lot.
So! Holostars is a vtuber corporation and branch of Cover Corp, which is the largest international vtuber corporation, an agency that hires vtubers to stream and perform and (should) provide managerial support that an independent vtuber cannot get.
Terminology:
Vtubers under Cover's branches (Hololive JP/ID/EN, Holostars JP/EN, and Dev_Is) debut in generations (groups of 3 to 5) with 2D models. Over their career, they typically receive additional 2D models with different outfits. All talents receive 3D outfits rigged with motion capture technology (mocap).
Holostars is specifically the male branch of Cover Corp, and has two branches: Holostars JP, formed in 2019 and with 12 active members, and Holostars EN, formed in 2022 and with 10 active members.
Holostars JP is the second oldest branch of Cover Corp, two years younger than Hololive JP.
All members of it are both fluent in Japanese and live in Japan (it's implied they all live in Tokyo for the access to studio resources, though one is contemplating moving back to the countryside).
Back before 2020, vtubing was incredibly slapdash as the entire industry was currently being formed. I reiterate: There was an entirely new industry not even at the point of finding its footing, but just starting to grow its own ambulatory limbs. Most conventions seen as near-ubiquitous these days for corpos (generations, group debuts, gen names, gen cohesion, 2D models, even the more-recent gen debut songs) were in their infancy, so the early gens were grandfathered in.
Specifically, Holostars JP Gen 1 and possibly 2 have these slapdash qualities, and Gen 3 is just a little younger than 2. Technically, UPROAR! is *not* Holostars Gen 4, according language I have seen, or maybe they aren't a *Holostars* gen? For all intents and purposes they're Holostars JP gen 4 and under the JP branch umbrella.
Their "lore", the term for backstories and identity, is a lot less fleshed out due to their earlier debuts (excluding UPROAR!!, who is more detailed but not EN-level detailed). For example, Izuru (gen 1) is a human who... plays the guitar, which another first generation can also do. However, some Stars in both JP and EN gain lore over time that creates a more complex story. Arurandeisu debuted as an Italian, became a "detective, cat burglar, teacher, samurai, sniper, and demon hunter [who travels worlds]" and was then replaced by his younger self(?)
Holostars JP Members and Generations
Gen 1 (debut mid 2019): Hanasaki Miyabi, Kanade Izuru, Arurandeisu, Rikka(roid)
Gen 2, Suntempo (late 2019): Yukoku Roberu, Astel Leda, Kishido Temma
Gen 3, MaFia (early 2020): Aragami Oga, Kageyama Shien
UPROAR!!!!, Gen 4 (early 2022): Yatogami Fuma, Minase Rio, Utsugi Uyu
Holostars EN is the second-youngest branch of Cover Corp, formed during the big vtuber boom of 2020-2022 as the male counterpart to sister English branch Hololive EN.
All members of Holostars EN are fluent in English with varying Japanese capabilities (one is fluent, one can roughly understand it spoken, and the rest aren't as skilled), but hail from a much wider variety of places:
Bettel and Ruze are distinctively American. Of Altare, Flayon, Shinri, and Goldbullet, I believe all are also from America too; Goldbullet is additionally indigenous Puerto Rican. Hakka hails from Latin America (he chooses not to specify the country), and Jurard and Octavio live in the Philippines. Axel is very Australian, saying cunt a lot and mentioning the pokies with high frequency.
In addition to being less monocultural and more racially diverse, a few members speak multiple languages: Altare has more Korean than 0, Axel is fluent in Japanese, Hakka's first language is Spanish and he's decent at understanding Japanese, and Jurard and Octavio's first language is Tagalog.
The entire branch has the lore of being set in a digital world, Elysium, running on RPG mechanics currently besieged by dangerous 'Corruption Beasts'. Elysium was created "so humans would have a place to escape to if the real world deteriorated too much", and two members are NPCs who gained sentience (Hakka and Shinri).
In addition! Most members have further lore beyond the "bounty hunter who lost his previous team" or "ace mecha pilot with bad communication skills" defined at debut (Shinri, the one with the arguably least lore, set his 3D in an alternate universe resembling a Homestuck doomed timeline). Through music, on-stream comments, lore videos, lore audio dramas/voice packs, outfit reveals etc, most members have expanded their lore, leading to intense speculation by fans as to the truth. For example, the first additions to the first two lords mentioned are "axe has multiple souls in it that can possess the body, one is a demon" and "the one we see made a deal with the devil (a chibi mecha) to steal his genius-level talent with vehicles for himself". Everyone's lore has strong angst potential, which is a definite draw to me.
Originally, Holostars EN was one generation, TEMPUS, with four members (two have since left). Six months later, four more members joined TEMPUS, with the original debuts turning into TEMPUS HQ and the newer ones being part of TEMPUS Vanguard (VG). At Vanguard's debut, it was stated that there is no hierarchy of seniority between the two groups, and that Vanguard is not the second generation. Instead, ARMIS is the official second generation, debuting nearly a year later as a four-man unit with their own distinct grouping.
(TEMPUS was originally a 6-man unit predebut, but two members' debuts were postponed while management looked for two more to debut with them. This was for size reasons - no Cover Corp generation has been above five members, except for possibly Stars JP Gen 1 pre-graduations)
Holostars EN Members and Generations
Name that they go by is in their color + italicized for people who turned that off. Nicknames of equal or greater frequency are in parentheses.
TEMPUS HQ (mid-late 2022): Regis Altare, Axel Syrios
TEMPUS VG (early 2023): Gavis Bettel, Machina X Flayon, Banzoin Hakka, Josuiji Shinri
ARMIS (late 2023): Jurard T Rexford, Goldbullet (Gibby or Goldie), Octavio (Tavi), Crimzon Ruze
The Japanese idol industry has had a very strong influence on vtubing, best seen in graduation, music, and behavior:
Firstly, vtuber retirement is called "graduation". While graduating without warning was common in the past, nowadays vtubers post graduation notices on Twitter, have a few more streams before they leave, and then have a long graduation stream with either call-ins from friends (called totsumachi, though the term is not graduation-exclusive) or idol performances with singing and dancing