>>98715
Perhaps this will be an unpopular opinion, but I’ve come to the conclusion that Gura was never told that she herself was a brand risk. It doesn’t make sense, given all the high profile things she was a part of. You don’t make a brand risk a Tokyo ambassador. You don’t let a brand risk sing in front of millions of people at a MLB baseball game. You don’t include a brand risk in almost every project that has public promotional material.
I think what more likely happens is that something Gura wanted to DO was, at its core, a brand risk. For example, it seems she wanted to do react content, and management said no. They would have done so because unscripted react content is a major brand risk. You say the wrong sort of thing off the cuff, or show something controversial, and it has the potential to tank the entire brand. There’s a reason companies have restrictions like that.
This would further explain what exactly the disagreements with management were about. It isn’t that management didn’t want her to stream or do anything because they thought she would hurt the brand by doing so, but rather that they didn’t want her doing select types of content that she wanted to do because THAT might hurt the brand. Again, if they didn’t want her to stream, they wouldn’t have let her do it at all. It just doesn’t make sense unless there was someTHING she wanted to do and they were forced to say no.
It’s disappointing, to say the least. One would hope that she could have gone for affiliate in order to keep her identity while doing what she wanted, but that’s probably just not an option in her mind given how known her other identity is and how self conscious she is about it. Even before #1 fan, everyone knew. I think in her mind, she believes that if she fucks up in the company’s eyes while there’s anything tying her to Hololive, she will hurt them, and she’s too afraid to do that.
Again, it’s disappointing. More than that, it’s very sad. I’ve had a hole in my chest since she announced her departure. But after taking a moment to back away from my feelings and consider things more rationally (as hard as Ash Again makes that—that song broke me), I think what I’ve concluded is correct. I think in order for her to do what she wants and to not feel pressured by doing so, this is the only way forward. And it hurts worse than anything I’ve ever felt before, but that’s okay.