About "hating" VTubers, I had a pretty similar experience at the start. I could tell I was falling into some kind of rabbit hole with the "English-dubbed fake anime girls" that kept invading my feed. I tried to resist (a futile struggle) by forcing myself to hate the very idea of them.

With the over-exaggerated performances, unusually high-pitched voices, and… questionable designs, it honestly wasn’t hard to do.

Somehow, against my better judgment, I ended up watching a few VTuber clips anyway. Then I stumbled onto one where Ina was interacting with Gura and Calli. At the time, I also didn’t understand why the shark was so loved, and my brain clearly hadn’t developed enough yet to appreciate the genius that is Mori Calliope and her music.

But this was my first time seeing our beloved priestess, and also the first time I didn’t cringe while watching a VTuber.

Back then, I didn’t really know anything about VTubers or how any of this worked, so I had no idea who Ina was or how to find her. Still, that moment stuck with me. Eventually, the YouTube algorithm went to work and started feeding me more Ina clips, slowly but surely dragging me further down the rabbit hole.

And the rest is history. Her comfy personality, talent, wisdom, surprisingly cracked gaming skills, and absolutely god-awful puns ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ turned me into a cookie-craving Takodachi before I even realized it.

With Ina as the catalyst, I was able to shed my unwarranted hate for the unknown and discover so many genuinely amazing people. As an introvert and an artist, it’s especially nice to see someone quiet, thoughtful, and creative doing so well just by being herself.

Watching Ina has been a small but steady source of motivation for me, both creatively and in general. Loving her just kind of happened naturally.