. Slightly out of order but more coherent topic-wise.
This was originally going to be her monthly ASMR stream but she forgot that her mic recently broke. It became a chill talk instead that eventually turned into a QnA with her taking random questions from chat. Both her cats were in the room with her and making cute noises until one of them attacked her. She had to open the door to let them out afterwards.
She figured everyone was worried about Fauna and Chloe leaving due to "differences in direction." Of course people would be worried, especially after Chloe said she felt like she was doing too much work.
It is natural for fans to be concerned but Mio wanted people to keep the antis in mind. Because Holo is much bigger than it was 7 years ago, antis will be the first to attack the company during times like this. Whether with rumors or speculation, they'll pretend to be fans while throwing hateful comments all around.
We don't really know what the environment was like for Chloe and Fauna, nor what their situations were like that eventually led to this happening. But Mio could tell that ever since Aqua's graduation, there's been a lot of distrust and suspicion towards Cover, which is very reasonable.
What she can say is that both sides aren't really at fault. She's not saying Cover is free of blame. There's no such thing as a company that's without flaws. There are many times where she feels unhappy with something in Holo, but she feels that she has been able to go beyond that.
At the end of the day, there are 2 graduations in a row. Of course the company wouldn't want them to go but something didn't work out and that's the result of that.
Overall, she feels that Cover is too big and has too many employees, so it's tough to say there's one singular goal/focus in mind. But while these "differences in direction" are leading to graduations, she wanted us to be assured that she hasn't thought about graduating at all.
She did think about graduating in the past though. About 4 years ago, things really weren't working out with her old manager. Like they got so bad, Mio almost graduated cause of it.
Your manager is the person that mediates between you and the company, so you need that sense of compatibility to be there. If there's no compatibility, then it can be miserable. She apologized for being quite blunt here (a sentiment she repeats a few times), but that's how much it matters.
Again, Mio's compatibility with her old manager was so bad, she thought about graduating. But that was 4 years ago and things are far more stable now.
So again, she can't really feel like it's anyone's fault. But what she can say is that she has never felt like she's been pressured or forced to follow the direction of the company.
In the first place, as far as Mio knows, the talents have never actually been told what Cover's objective/direction is. Nor have they ever been told stuff like "you have to focus on streaming" or "you have to focus on idol activities" or "it's better to play this game" or "do this or that" etc etc.
And because she has no idea what Cover's direction is, she doesn't understand this "difference in direction" that they've been saying. But what she thinks is that this phrase "difference in direction" is basically just a phrase of convenience. There's so much more that goes into a person deciding to graduate and each person has their own individual reasons for making that decision.
That's how it is though because what else is management supposed to say? "Sorry, it's not true that we separated amicably. They went against the rules, we had a big argument over it and now they have to go."
Saying that wouldn't do anything at all for anyone. This is why she appreciates that the company will say goodbye to the girls by staying silent and not slandering them.
But after watching the graduation announcements herself, she realized that we as fans don't really have a choice but to accept that phrase, even though it can mean so many things.
Mio can't say she entirely understands the company, which puts her in a weirdly weak position during these times. The remaining members like her can give out the tiny bits of info they have, but if they say something incorrect for the one graduating then it just feels bad. It's a difficult situation for sure.
This may feel like she's siding with the company but Mio feels that she's been treated well with Cover.
This especially mattered during her hospitalization. If you remember, Mio fully intended to participate in the Gamers event even after her pancreas exploded and she had to get hospitalized.
Cover was the one that stopped her and told her to prioritize her health. Management told her they wanted her to be healthy and active for a long time so she shouldn't push herself here.
So she wanted to reassure people that she isn't being forced to push herself and she feels like they do care about her.
(There was an article or viral tweet going around that falsely said Mio was hospitalized because of being overworked, so she clarified that here).
She also wondered how the environment for Chloe and Fauna were different from hers. She doesn't think the graduating members are wrong but she wanted us to know that there's no way all the talents have that sort of "forced overwork" environment.
However, if there are talents that are in that environment, then they should definitely do what's best for them and improve it by any means. Cover should also absolutely do something about it as a company.
She wonders if maybe it was just too much for their limits. For her, she feels that over the years, she's been able to understand her own limits and understand management better.
At first, you don't really know your own limits so you simply go at full speed for a while. This was really bad for Mio during summer 2-3 years ago. She had so much she wanted to do and almost no days off cause she was pushing herself way too much.
But as she is now, she's fully aware of her limits and makes sure that her manager is too. Surprisingly (to her), Mio is the type to outright deny a bunch of work requests. She's very careful in not going past her own limits.
She spoke about a past situation where a sales person really wanted her to do a certain sponsor job. She got in a call with that person and her manager, and the sales person made an entire presentation on why Mio should accept and why it has to be her. Mio still said nope and completely denied them.
Ever since then, Mio's manager knows that when she says no, she means no. But Mio understands that there are some talents who struggle to say no.
Like if she says no and they still try to insist on it, that's incredibly rude and it's obvious that she wouldn't enjoy doing whatever was asked. But she thinks there's likely a big difference between the people who can say no and the people who can't.
There are of course times where a talent will push themselves to complete a task, as that particular task is included in their contract. If they refused, there's a chance they could end up getting fired.
There isn't a lot that's truly mandatory for the talents to do, so when they come up, the feeling is usually "Yeah, may as well get it done." Being a talent in Hololive is a huge job in many ways after all, so it makes sense for Cover to cover (heh) their bases.
With something like FES, since everyone is participating, it makes sense to do the same. You can refuse but it would feel weird if one person was just missing like that.
In that sense, that awkward pressure does kinda make it feel like it's forced. Mio think this is something that's a negative about Japanese people and their work culture as a whole.
But as was the case with Haachama during last year's summer and New Years, there's no problem if someone cannot show up due to health reasons.
Chat asked if she herself has felt tired. She said she feels very motivated currently. There's a lot of things she wants to do and she feels happy every time she gets to accomplish one of those things. She feels very healthy and wants to keep having fun with everyone.
They also asked how busy she gets with stuff other than streaming. There are times in the year where she's really busy but if she's not feeling well, she'll talk to management and they'll reschedule whatever needs to get done. It's completely fine to reschedule stuff but it's better to let management know sooner so they can adjust properly.
She truly feels that the people and environment around her are very supportive and comfortable now. But she reiterated that every talent's environment is likely different so she can only speak for herself. In general, it's difficult to see what work the other talents are doing.
This makes it tough to line up schedules with some members so they can meet at the studio or get something to eat. Besides that though, talents also have their own private stuff to deal with which adds to the difficulty of knowing how much work they do.
Was asked if the Holos are allowed to talk to terminated talents. Mio said it should be fine on her end as they have never told her "You're not allowed to meet/talk with this person." But who knows if the terminated talent doesn't have some sort of NDA that would stop them. She has no idea though and this is only theorizing on her part.
Was asked if the other Holo employees are busy. She doesn't really know as the main one she talks to is her manager. She feels that it's the same for other talents.
Was asked why there aren't more 3D streams despite having the new studio. (This one kinda confused me tbh) but basically, before the new studio was made, Cover had an external studio that they would use in addition to the main one. Ever since the new one was built, all 3D stuff has been done only using it, so it's not like the studio has become more open to the talents. It's still just as busy as ever. (Chat also brought up the staff issues.)
If she could, she would stream more. But she understands her limits and knows that if she did too much, health complications could arise.
Was asked if there's anything like a stream quota but Mio said she's never heard of it. She knows that if you don't stream for too long, you'll lose monetization so that's always something to consider.
She's someone that streams consistently so it makes sense why they've never told her about a quota. But maybe the members that stream less might get told "Maybe it's time to stream soon." But again, this is only speculation on her part and she has no idea. She can only say that it's never happened to her. (Likely no such thing considering Ayame and Gura lol)
Reiterated that everyone's situations and the way they handle things are different, but she believes that Cover doesn't want talents to graduate. The matter of compatability is always a huge factor though.
She's only sorry that she doesn't know more as she wasn't close to either Chloe or Fauna. She wondered if maybe she could have changed something by talking to them and felt bad she couldnt do more.
She went out for some mystery game stuff together with Chloe but their chats never really went deep. And she talked with Fauna during the Minecraft Sports Festival but that was kinda it. She wished her English was better as she only really talks to Bae and FuwaMoco in EN.
There are a lot of online comments like "The talents feel like they're trapped in cages and they're suffocating. Set them free!" But Mio disagreed as she feels very free, only held back by her own limits.
Someone in chat brought up how talents have talked about doing a lot of recordings. Mio said that "recording" is a broad and convenient word, kinda like "difference in direction." We as fans often think of it as going to the studio to record stuff like ads, music, sponsors etc, but it's not all like that.
It could be lessons, location filming, voice training etc. In those instances, going into too much detail would be bad so the word "recording" just gets used. It basically can mean any work in general that requires going out.
Chat also brought up how many times the talents have talked about late night meetings. Mio said most of the talents are night owls so they're usually asleep during the day. At that point, management will adjust the schedule around them so the meetings will usually happen at night.
Mio herself usually does her meetings during the day but sometimes, emergency meetings will happen at night.
Members will of course do meetings with each other at whatever time works. Those are less like actual "business" meetings and more just discussions about certain projects. Like when Pekora was planning her collab week a bit ago, her and Mio had a talk about it that happened at night.
Someone asked if the managers get frequent breaks. Mio said that hers does. If there's an emergency and she's not available, there's another person Mio can contact. Basically a sub-manager for her manager. So she doesn't really think that this is a black company.
But she does feel that being a talent manager is incredibly tough. There's a ton of responsibility that comes with it and a lot of people have never really been managers before. She reiterated that they are the ones in the middle between the talent and the company so she appreciates how hard her manager works for her and the others that do their best for their talents.
Mio usually goes to her manager right away with any questions or concerns. She thinks it's better to be honest and discuss your feelings right away, rather than letting them build up.
Someone asked if management has ever told her to go collab/associate with a certain person, as it would be good for her. Or has she heard another member having to do the same.
Mio straight up said hell no. What would even be the point of that? Said again that they've never been told "We want you to focus on this or do that etc." Cover does not interfere in her private life.
But there's always a lot to consider, especially with what's happening in the world. Saying the wrong thing could cause massive controversy and get you flamed. Naturally, management will do their research on that sorta stuff and keep the talents aware of it. Essentially a form of risk management. (At this point, chat said the big 3 are politics, religion and fucking baseball. Thanks Gundou lmao).
But basically, stuff like what to say on stream or who to talk to, that doesn't happen.
Someone asked if there are penalties for not being able to do a job due to health issues.
Mio said that as far as she knows, there isn't. She feels that management is kind when it comes to that but she only knows her own contract so she can't say for sure.
When she got hospitalized, she continued getting paid like normal because she was doing stuff like posting and advertising on Twitter. This helped out a ton with getting her medical bills paid.
She doesn't know if there will be more graduations upcoming but it's inevitable that more of them will happen. Well even if she did know, it's not like she could say anything. But that's just how it goes when everyone has their own circumstances to consider.
This time though, she had no idea with Fauna and Chloe so it surprised her as much as everyone else.
Of course, it's sad when someone decides to leave and the remaining members don't want it to happen. But they're not really in a position to say something like "Don't leave." Though Mio will still say it to someone that she really doesn't want to leave (like with Coco).
Everyone will worry when these graduations happen and seeing her fans anxious makes her anxious as well. She thinks the other talents feel the same way which is why they've talked about their feelings. With all the rumors and stuff going around, she thought she would do this chat today to take away some of that anxiety.
There may be some people that truly believe all the stuff saying that the talents are being forced to work like slaves and that Cover needs to change everything about how it works, but that's just not true.
If something crazy were to happen though, like all of 1st Gen, 2nd Gen and Gamers deciding to graduate then yeah, that would be absolutely terrifying and very much a cause for concern.
Someone said that while management doesn't have to go into detail for each case, he wishes they could make a statement on why there have been 4 graduations in 6 months.
Mio said that she honestly thinks management has no intention to do that. Ultimately, they just want a clean separation with the talent so that they both can go their own way. Distrust and unease towards management has increased for sure as a result, but she thinks they will likely maintain this stance of silence.
Mio was curious about the difference between graduation and affilliate and if the affilliates have some sort of leftover contract to follow. She thought that status is likely for any remaining merch that couldn't make it in time for graduation, but felt like she was being too blunt again and stopped herself.
Someone was kinda sad that Aqua didn't become an affilliate. Mio said that she thinks Aqua would have chose graduation either way as there were things she wanted to do no matter what. They haven't talked since her graduation but added each other on LINE and Mio plans to hit her up soon about a store that she went to(?)
Apologized again for being too blunt/straightforward throughout the stream but there's a lot of confusing speculation and info going around, so she wanted to make sure her words were clear. She plans to leave the archive up but if it gets deleted then we know why lmao.
Miscalleanous stuff:
She's not working on any big projects currently, but she is helping someone else with theirs.
But her 6th anniversary is coming up! She'll be doing a rare call-in stream. She's also a guest host for Marine's live which is on the same day so she'll have to prepare for that.
FES preprations should be starting soon.
There is no Christmas Karaoke Relay this year, but DEV_IS might be doing one with both REGLOSS and FLOW GLOW
The most expensive thing she bought recently is a laptop as she's been doing more work on the go.
Was asked if she's given advice to other Holos before. She said yes but laughed cause it was more like complaining than anything "This thing is a pain in the ass but there is a solution."
She actually had a chance to talk to FLOW GLOW right before their debut as they were in the studio together. It was a good chat but she wants them to do their own thing for a while, so she'll talk to them again a bit later.
There's an AyaFubuMi cover song coming out soon! The video is done and there's a few more adjustments remaining. Mio also has to talk to Ayame and Fubuki about when to release it, but it should be soon.
Her goal is still to do her own Solo Live one day! She was very happy when Youtube marked her channel as an Artist Channel.
Singing is something very dear to her and she can never get enough of it, so she wants to continue doing her best going forward.
It's understandable that people are worried and untrusting of Cover after everything that's happened. Mio feels that both parties aren't really at fault though. There have been many times when Mio herself has been unhappy with Cover but she's been able to go beyond those. She has no intention of graduating and feels both happy and cared for where she's at.
One of the only times she thought about graduating was about 4 years ago, due to huge issues happening with her manager at the time. She emphasized that compatibility with your manager is absolutely necessary as they're the person that connects you and the company. Without that element, the experience can be miserable.
She thinks that currently, Cover is too big and has too many employees. It's hard to judge whether there's a singular focus/objective in mind.
She hasn't ever felt like she's been pressured or forced to follow in whatever Cover's direction is. The talents have never been told what Cover's "direction/objective" is in the first place, nor have they been told stuff like "focus on streaming, focus on idol activities, play this or that game etc etc."
Because of the above, the phrase "difference in direction" that management and the graduated talents have been using just feels like a convenient phrase to her. There's so much that goes into deciding to graduate, so she believes that each person has their own individual reasons and that they gave it a ton of thought.
But she thinks that phrase is necessary because saying too much wouldn't do anything except slander the talent. She appreciates that Cover would want to end things amicably on good terms. But she feels bad for the fans because they don't have any choice but to accept that phrase.
She also doesn't think Cover will release a general statement about why there have been so many graduations lately. She thinks that in the end, they just want a clean, peaceful separation so that the company and the talent can go their own way.
Mio didn't want it to seem like she's siding with Cover but from her own experience, she felt like she has been treated well. This especially came into play during her hospitalization. Cover was the one that told her to focus on recovering after she wanted to push herself and perform in the Gamers live, despite her pancreas exploding. Cover even continued paying her as normal because she was occasionally using Twitter to post and advertise stuff. As far as she knows, there's no sorta penalty for missing out on the job due to health reasons.
She thinks that during your first few years, you don't really know your own limits so you'll do as much as you can. Mio learned about her limits after pushing herself too far during summer 2021-2022. Because of this, she has zero problems outright telling management no when asked for a bunch of work requests. But she understands that some talents might struggle with saying no.
There isn't much that's mandatory for the talents to do but those things will fall under contract if so. It makes sense for any company to cover their bases like that.
Stuff like FES can be refused but because everyone is participating, there's an awkward sort of pressure that kinda makes it feel forced. Mio thinks that in general, this is something bad about Japanese people and work culture.
Mio herself feels very healthy, happy and motivated at the moment. She feels that the environment and people around her are very supportive. But every talent has their own situation and environment, so she can only speak for herself.
Mio has never heard of any sort of streaming quota. But she consistently streams so maybe there's a chance that the ones who don't will get told about it. She has no idea though.
A lot of the online comments and hate towards Cover have said stuff like the talents are being forced to overwork like slaves. Mio just doesn't think this is true and she feels very free in her work so she doesn't want people to worry about her. If something crazy like 1st gen, 2nd gen and Gamers all graduating were to happen though, then that is a very valid cause for concern.
The word "recording" is as broad as "differences in direction" and can mean any sort of work that requires going out.
Management has never told her to "go collab with this person" or "go focus on doing this or that" or "go talk about this." While management will do research on controversial topics (politics, religion, baseball) and keep the talents informed, they do not interfere with their personal lives.
Hope it's understandable why this took so long. I'm tired as all hell
But I think it's great to have this much insight from a talent. Especially one as smart, straightforward and hag as Mio.