By Chang-Hyun Choi for JQ magazine. Photos courtesy of COVER Corp.
Last week hololive production returned to New York City, featuring showcases of their world-renowned virtual talents or “vtubers,” who combine VR/AR technologies with a wide range of online and in-person experiences, such as streaming, music, fan meetings, concerts, and much more.
In NYC, these vtubers captivated thousands of fans with their hololive English 3rd Concert -All for One- at the historic Radio City Music Hall on August 23 and 24, along with the hololive STAGE World Tour ’25 -Synchronize!- at the Javits Center as part of Anime NYC, the East Coast’s largest anime convention, on August 22. In addition, various interactive experiences were held as part of hololive Meet throughout that weekend, combining unique fan meetings and karaoke with virtual visits from hololive vtubers from across the world. The fans arrived in the city equipped with merch promoting their favorite talents, ready to show off their passion by cheering loudly and waving their penlights at these events.
In this exclusive interview, JQ had a special opportunity to chat with Takanashi Kiara, an idol phoenix vtuber of hololive English and one of the pioneers of the English vtubing world. She shared with us her thoughts and impressions about performing at the hololive English 3rd Concert -All for One-, along with her experiences in NYC with other hololive members.
We really appreciate this opportunity to speak with you. First could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi, I’m Takanashi Kiara, from hololive English -Myth-, which is the first generation. Together with four of my colleagues at the time, we basically created the branch, hololive English. I’m from Austria actually, in Europe–not Australia, very important to note that. I was born and raised in Austria, so I speak German, but there’s no German branch so I’m in the English branch. I also speak fluent Japanese because I lived in Japan for a while, so people know me as, like, the multilingual, talkative, dancing entertainer that I am. And I really like to also do a lot of fun streams and bangin’ music. So, check it out!
This weekend was the hololive English 3rd concert All for One. For you, this wasn’t your first time performing at such a concert. In fact, you’ve performed at all three of them. What was your impression of All for One as a veteran of these hololive English concerts?
Well first of all, it was really awesome to come back to New York because I really enjoyed my time here last time. And then last time we already had a great venue but this time the venue was even bigger, even more legendary and well-known. Personally, being from Austria, I don’t really know many venues here but even I have heard of and have seen the Radio City Music Hall. So, it’s actually quite the honor to be there and something I will probably forever be able to show to my friends and my family and be like, “Look where I was standing in front of this ocean of fans that have so much love and passion for us!” It’s just amazing seeing the passion every time and they’re all such a great crowd, so supportive, and this time I could share the stage with Justice, our new generation. It was their first time and it was so cute and lovely to see them, see their excitement. They were really nervous and it was also super cute to see, but then they did their best and gave it their all and I feel like a very proud parent. It’s kinda tacky or cheesy to say that, but a lot of things have happened over the past five years, so with all the change that’s been going on and I’m not going to lie, certainly things that make me feel a little bit lonely or sad, seeing some of my gen mates not being on stage with us anymore, compared to last year. Last year Myth was still standing there with five people and now we were only standing there with three people. But I definitely got cheered up and motivated thanks to the energy of not just Justice, but my kohai in general, so I’m really grateful for that. It’s giving me new life basically, new energy.
On the note of seeing Justice perform for the first time, you’ve also seen the other generations of hololive English debut on the big stage. Can you comment on any differences in seeing Justice here compared to those previous experiences?
I have to say Justice is so unique, they have such great charms, they’re so funny, they’re such great entertainers. The things they bring to the table are just endless, like seeing Elizabeth belt out notes that are like…her voice, her voice is the voice of a century I would say. It’s mind-blowing to me that such a talent is on stage with me together and I feel honored to be with her there, too. And also all the other members too, like Cecilia suddenly bringing out her violin and stuff. That was magical and beautiful, and fascinating. And then Gigi with her incredible energy that never ends and her charm, her wit. She’s just such a great comedian and she acknowledges that, too. And Raora’s the cutest cat ever. I’ve been spending a lot of time with her backstage and bonding so much with her. I feel like we get along so well because we’re both culturally from the same area and I can really feel that connection. I hope that people can feel that charm and that unique personality from her as much as I do.
So, it’s incredible and I’ve been saying this these past days, but I am so glad that hololive or also vtubing in general can give such talents that maybe might be overlooked otherwise, a stage to shine on and a place to be in. And I feel the same way for me, like I’m really glad that I got such a great opportunity. I was really lucky to join hololive in a time where the world was scrambling and it changed my whole life. And this seems to have also changed the lives of my kohai and I’m really, really happy to see them succeed like that.
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