Minato Aqua, a 2nd generation hololive VTuber who debuted in August 2018, will graduate on August 28, 2024.
A graduation livestream is planned for August 28, along with merchandise sales, a special program on hololive’s official channel, and a “special feature” on Aqua’s own channel.
“To all fans and related parties, we sincerely apologize for this sudden announcement. We appreciate the warm support you have given Aqua until now, and we are truly grateful from the bottom of our hearts,” COVER Corporation wrote in an official statement. “Minato Aqua has been one of the members pivotal in contributing to the growth of hololive production from its early days, serving as part of hololive’s 2nd Generation for approximately six years.”
COVER added that it was “sincerely grateful for her contributions” and would “continue to support her fully until her graduation.”
COVER will stop accepting fan letters for Aqua after September 6 JST, while details about membership subscriptions and content will be addressed elsewhere.
Aqua announced and addressed her graduation in a livestream that can be found here. The text in the video says that clips, transcriptions, and screenshots of it are not allowed.
Aqua is the first hololive member to graduate since hololive English’s Tsukumo Sana in 2022, and the first Japanese branch hololive member to graduate since Kiryu Coco in 2021.
Her graduation marks the latest departure from COVER this year. 2024 has also seen the terminations of hololive’s Yozora Mel and HOLOSTARS’ Hizaki Gamma, as well as the departure of senior staff member A-chan/Friend A over family reasons.
Houshou Marine, a 3rd generation hololive VTuber who often jokingly describes herself as Aqua’s mother (a bit that Aqua also plays along with), tweeted that she would never have thought of joining hololive had Aqua not been there, and that Aqua’s plentiful advice to her caused her to think about aiming for the top. Marine ended the post by writing, “AquaMarine will forever be mother and daughter.”
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Sources: @hololivetv, COVER website