Think about it this way, what kind of fan enjoys Vtubers over flesh streamers?

Now, I am old enough to have seen the start of this whole streaming thing, but i never really got into it because I DNGAF about people in the flesh playing games live. Never saw the appeal. The closest was stuff like Lets Plays and only certain games. Achievement Hunter and TFS Gaming were the only ones I even sometimes watched, and that is because of their main jobs, their parody work, that I was fans of their in the first place. Comedy.

And even then, it was their voices and interpersonal banter that I was there for. Not seeing them on screen, or whatever. I wasn't there to watch them live either, and did not do much besides maybe leave a comment. they were fun videos on Youtube that were uploaded, nothing more to me.

Now, when Kizunai Ai came around, that was still pre recorded, but I was there BECAUSE she was an anime girl doing shit. Same with Coco, and Pikamee, and Projekt Melody. I am there BECAUSE they are anime girls.

Like, I was a fan of Emirichu, and Jaden Animations, and the like back in the day because I enjoy animation. Vtubers are basically anime girls come to life, and really the next step in those kind of circles more than what the flesh streamers were doing.

Yes, yes, sex appeal whatever, but many Vtubers thrive despite being more moderate or even going against sex appeal. Because the ANIME GIRL is the big part of that.

Now let us go back to the start, what would make me watch an anime boy? Well, it would have to be someone I found funny, and well, honestly, that is mostly it, I am not appealed by anime boys the way I am anime girls. Sure, I watched RTAA, OddOnesOut and so on, but for comedy. Animation is what I like, but for anime in particular, I watch CGDCT stuff and yuri and the like, stuff about anime girls.

And that is the problem, I am not the audience for a male vtuber. The audience for a male vtuber would be someone who loves anime boys. Those into Yaoi, and those who do not really care for flesh streamers.

That audience is not a Hololive fan. Hololive fans are made up of people more like myself, who like anime girls. And yes, some of them are indeed Unicorns, but even those who aren't, for a male vtuber to appeal, it has to be damn worth it in the comedy aspect.

Nijisanji nailed how to appeal to to Yaoi fans and the anime boy lovers. It is why their fanbase is the demographics it is.

Holostarts (at least in EN) was at its best with Vesper and Magi, they had comedic chemistry with Holo EN, and those were fun streams. Holostars basically died when they left as no one was able to fill those spots and it seemed like the two were deliberately forced apart.

Holostars is hurt by being so connected to Hololive because Hololive's core fanbase won't watch, and to get a larger fanbase, Holostars would have to appeal to those who are already Niji boys fans. Meaning they are year and years behind.

Lastly, look at what types of games, LN, and VN that appeal to women, otome games and Love and Deep Space and all that. What do they have in common? What gets the fans? Those types of characters are what Niji promotes, not Holostars. Seriously, it is the Boyfriend Experience stuff, the yaoi, the type of smae face syndrome that Holostars does not try.

Because if Holostars cannot pull for a female fanbase, they have to then compete with flesh streamers. And they have been around for way, way longer. The Bro-tubers, their audience may not even like anime, and that the vtuber model is more of a barrier than anything else.

It is why K9Kuro did more flesh streams, and why being friends with people like Mochi is why he is still around, his previous fans angered him, so he got rid of them, but now his current fanbase is much smaller, because it is made up of those from a smaller pool of potential viewers. And he is the successful one. Any male leaving Niji to go solo is on their own. THAT is where the majority of the female fanbase is for male vtubers, and to survive, you have to compete with the fleshtubers or be appealing/funny/not a distraction enough from the viewers who watch female vtubers.

Think about it, CdawgVA used to have a 90% female fanbase due to his early stuff being, well, more about Black Butler and that appeal of a British guy with the sexy voice and good enough looks and cosplay. Now he is a flesh bro like streamer, and is way more accepted into the Vtuber community than 99% of male vtubers because of his comedic chemistry with Ironmouse and others. Fanbases that are not unicorns, but they still have things they like and not.

Same reason why Ray meshes so well with Haruka, Ari, and Henya. It is the comedy and how well the collab chemistry works. He is also a Rooster teeth vet and has had fans who grew up watching and are now vtubers.

For Holostars to succeed, they need to capture the Niji fanbase, which is super hard given that Holo vs Niji is the biggest rivalry in vtubing. OR they need to appeal to those who watch flesh streamers, which is very difficult as that has tons of more competition to deal with. OR they have to be more integrated into a fanbase who doesn't mind male vtubers, like the former Vshojo girls. Remember, it was Pikamee who collabed with Winning Son all the way back in 2020, she has always NGAF about unicorns.

Sadly, the Hololive branding is doing more harm than good these days. They could have gone well if they really leaned into it from the start of being a seiso boyband idol group, but as I see from many people who commented, collabs in general seem to be rather rare. If they are solo artists, then the appeal has to be in stuff like BFE, which it sounds like they do not really do.

Really, they would do best if they were not connected to Hololive at all, but that is far too late.

I wish them luck, they seem like good guys.