a snapshot of nom's polluted mind
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It was October 3rd, 2025. I was just mindlessly scrolling Twitter before I came across a tweet from hololive production. Hiodoshi Ao, VTuber (virtual YouTuber, streamer) and member of the musical group ReGLOSS was to graduate from the group on the same day. There wasn’t a scheduled graduation live stream. She had been on hiatus since March after being diagnosed with adjustment disorder. The final message from her Twitter account was posted on behalf of her by a manager. The other members of the group posted their messages to her and released a cover of Kenshi Yonezu’s Sayonara Mata Itsuka, dedicating it to her and their fans GLOSSERs. Messages from other hololive production talents, friends in the Vtuber world and fans rushed in. The previous day, I had just seen a subtitled clip of the members talking about Ao as they approached their second anniversary as a group, and a commenter was saying something along the lines of “she missed out on so much, don’t know if she can come back.” Was it an omen? Probably.
ReGLOSS’s Sayonara Mata Itsuka cover. It feels extra emotional, as some fans point out, that the member Ririka sang the low-tone parts of the song, something that Ao was in charge of while in the group.
I was already thinking about writing up something regarding the situation a month prior to this announcement. Multiple announcements were made in the lead up to and on ReGLOSS’s second anniversary, including a new song, new album and first live concert – projects without Ao’s involvement. A portion of their fans were growing anxious with her exclusion while the other members reassured them that they were working their best to make the group a better place for Ao to come back to. There will be new music in the works, other concerts in the future – it wasn’t the end of the world. I had wanted to point towards K-pop group ITZY and member Lia’s year-long hiatus as one potential outcome that may happen. Following her return, ITZY’s albums included new recordings of previously released tracks that include Lia’s vocals, and choreographies to these songs were tweaked to accommodate Lia. Honestly, it was the best-case scenario – and I wished for Ao’s return to resemble that. It clearly didn’t happen.
ITZY's performance of their song Imaginary Friend in Japan. The people in charge of cameras really worked their magic here, cutting between ITZY’s spectacular performance and the emotional reactions of their fans MIDZYs.
Given the circumstances, a more apt comparision would be that of the group izna and member Yoon Jiyoon’s departure from the group. She was active with the group until the end of the promotions for their first EP “N/a,” then went on hiatus in February for health reasons. The group then went on to release two singles with the remaining members making up the formation. Some fans pointed to these releases and appeared doubtful about Jiyoon’s return to the group. After six months, their agency WAKEONE announced that Jiyoon would be stepping away from the group with health as her priority. Nothing was concretely said about her future activities, spurring further discussions and speculations coming from a point of unease.
I think what makes the comparison between izna’s and ReGLOSS’s situations appropriate is the fact that in addition to a group identity, individual members also have established and cultivated their own. izna came from the Korean survival show I-LAND 2, produced by Mnet which is notoriously known for their “evil edits.” Most of the time, a core component of these survival shows is rooting for your favorite trainee (singular) – you may have multiple favorites or different group combinations you want to see materialized, but you are ultimately putting all your support behind one person.
The extent to which you have to go to to avoid giving these shows' editors material to use out of context.
Because of that, the initial following of the resulting group is overwhelmingly made up of the individual members’ fandoms all pooled together. What usually arises with these groups are arguments and accusations of mistreatment: no lines in a song, no screentime in a music video, no individual activities, etc. The list goes on, and you can confirm it yourself with just a quick scroll through Twitter. For these fans, the individual that they support takes priority over the group – you cannot really fault them for this considering how the show that led to the group’s formulation works.
The opposite of the above happened in ReGLOSS’s case. The group was introduced as a whole from the start with live streams, song covers, YouTube videos and other projects spearheaded by their management. These contents live on the group channel, but the group members also have channels of their own – first and foremost, they are live streamers, content creators trying to grow their own brands. People who initially discovered ReGLOSS as a group may gravitate towards a member’s personality and streaming style, becoming their supporter. The more time viewers spend engaging with live streaming content (which easily outweighs the official group content), the stronger the personal connection that forms because of it. Entering their third year of activities, new audiences discovering individual members as established creators in the Vtuber scene before learning about the group is also a plausible scenario.
In my personal opinion, this is what makes the sudden absence hurt ten times more for these fans. The abrupt announcement from the company, then the last words coming from the creator. Even the littlest bureaucratic, procedural actions taken by the management cut deep – traces of the member ever being part of the group being erased from their social media accounts, the member’s emoji that can be used in their comment sections being removed. Even content with the remaining members may be too hard to watch – for some, they may not have watched the official videos put out while their favorite was on hiatus.
Some may choose to admonish people over their reactions to their favorite member leaving, saying that it is disrespectful and invalidates the work of those who remain. But people process things differently and there isn’t a universal way to go about it. Social media is the place where people go to express their thoughts and feelings as it happens, some of which may be knee-jerk and subdued with time – or not. When things begin moving again, they have had ample time to sort themselves out and get to make their own decision. Continuing to follow the group is valid, just as much as stopping.
As for the remaining members, there may be restrictions in terms of what they can publicly say about the situation and how they feel about it. But they are undeniably also trying to move forward. Minase Rio, part of the group UPROAR!! which lost a member in late 2023 after their contract was terminated, chose to address it after some time had passed. The sentiment expressed is something like this: Cherish the memories that were made along the way but leave some space open for all – both members and fans alike – to adapt, learn and grow into something new.
ReGLOSS’s new song Flashpoint has got me feeling hopeful for the future of the group, the four of them continuing what they have built together with Ao.
Life after a member’s departure looks a bit different for fans of K-pop groups and Vtubers. Fans of Yoon Jiyoon still hold out hope for her future activities as she remains listed as an individual artist on WAKEONE's website. With the exception of gross misconduct and situations the public are not privy to, this is usually the case in K-pop: a member left the group but is still signed to the label/management company for the remainder of their contract's duration. For Vtubers, a graduation/retirement means something completely different: the individual is stopping all their work under their Vtuber identity and will no longer be affiliated with the company that facilitated their activities.
A person’s departure from the virtual realm can be devastating for followers as it’s not guaranteed they will ever reappear in a different corner of the internet. “...no plans to return…,” states Amane Kanata, a hololive Vtuber who announced her graduation at the beginning of the month, words which didn’t leave room for ambiguity. There have been Vtubers who graduated and disappeared from the face of the earth, though a common occurrence these days is past lives (accounts that the individual in question had prior to their work as a Vtuber) becoming active and surfacing on people’s social media feeds in the aftermath of the news. Fans don’t publicly comment on or mention these accounts out of respect for the individual themselves and the identity they left behind (though some creators may feel differently about it – after enough time has passed, anything goes).
But at a time when these streamers’ voice recordings are being used to create generative AI clones that fuel impersonation accounts, just knowing the person themselves is alive and well, living their life without binding themselves on a return to activities, can bring a certain kind of comfort for those who have been here all along.
