Cover Corp, the company behind the virtual idol group Hololive, has announced the “graduation” of 5th generation member Kiryu Coco.
Coco is largely known for her bilingual talent which amassed her a large following among both English and Japanese virtual idol fans. Her irreverent humor, vulgarity, and shameless audacity was a large part of her charm to fans and many viewers would tune into her “Reddit Shitpost Review”.
During these reviews she would invite a fellow Hololive member and together the pair would look at and comment on memes sourced from the official Hololive subreddit.
In their official statement, Cover Corp gave no clear reason for Coco’s impending graduation on July 1st, instead saying on the official subreddit:
Thank you for your continued support of hololive production.
We hereby announce that on Thursday, July 1, 2021, hololive 4th Generation talent Kiryu Coco will be graduating from VTuber group hololive.
We wish to extend our deepest apologies to all the fans and collaborators for this sudden announcement, as well as our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to everyone who supported her activities for the past two years.
We as a company are saddened by her decision to leave, but after much deliberation between both parties, we have decided to honor her wishes.
Please check our official homepage and the press release for information regarding her upcoming graduation event and merchandise, along with her upcoming schedule.
■COVER Corp. Official Homepage News Section
In light of Kiryu Coco’s graduation, we will be opening an extended period in which fan mail and presents for her will be accepted.
In addition, her channel membership and members-only content will continue to be available for three months after her graduation.
■Deadlines for each service
・Fan mail and presents acceptance period: must arrive on or before Monday, July 14
・Membership and exclusive content: Thursday, September 30, 11:59:59 PM JST
We hope you continue to give Kiryu Coco and her activities your full and unwavering support in this remaining short time until the day of her graduation.
COVER Corporation
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
From T-chan: We know this news is very difficult to process. Please channel all your energies to supporting Coco. No negativity. Please.
Edit: “How can you expect people not to be negative.” That’s not what I’m saying. Vent. Absolutely. But if you TARGET any people in your displeasure, you’re doing a disservice to Coco and yourselves.
Her graduation isn’t likely because of waning popularity, at the time of publishing this article Coco sits as the 2nd highest YouTube Super Chat earner behind fellow member Rushia according to PlayBoard’s analytics. Instead, some fans are pointing to the constant harassment Coco has received after referring to Taiwan as a country when discussing her YouTube statistics. Since that incident, Cover Corp temporarily suspended Coco and Akai Haato and ultimately dissolved their Chinese branch, speculatively taking a stance in favor of their biggest revenue earner: Coco.
The truth will likely never be known for certain. Even outside of Hololive, an enterprise that already values the privacy and dignity of their idols, the idol business is rife with secret keeping and diplomatic responses in the face of controversy.
Image: YouTube
