Niji fan trying to understand the Niji vs. Hololive landscape right now (Drama, connections, and the new trainee systems?)
hey everyone. i’m pretty casual when it comes to nijisanji—i just watch clips, scroll fanart, and keep up with a few of my favorites, but i don’t really deep dive into the corporate side of the community.
to give you context on how out of the loop i am: i mostly watch the jp side, but since i’m not fluent or even moderately fluent in japanese, i rely heavily on clippers. i do watch the niji en branch sometimes, but for holo en?
they always seem to stream at midnight or way past my actual bed schedule, so i rarely ever catch them live or see what they are up to. i'm honestly just curious about how things work on both sides and i kind of want to learn more about hololive in general.
i only know about half of the selen situation from earlier, but i had a few specific things i was hoping someone could explain or break down:
**who actually has the better industry connections?**
as a casual niji fan, i always thought niji had the stronger network. i constantly see them doing massive collabs, and they seem to have huge ties with the competitive gaming and streaming scene. like, a lot of them have deep friendships with massive independent utaites, huge jp streamers like kasen, and they are mostly participating in crazy raccoon (cr) cups, vcr events, and they are always popping up in vsaikyo (that vtuber tournament hosted by shibuya hal). by contrast, i rarely see hololive members cross over into those mainstream streaming and esports circles—honestly, i mostly just see towa in cr cups and vcr, but barely any other holo members. how do they actually compare when it comes to industry connections and relationships with outside creators?
**what is the actual history behind the tension?**
like i said, i only really followed the selen situation from a distance. i know there isn't an active, ongoing "beef" between the talents themselves, but there always seems to be an awkward underlying tension between the fanbases and the corporate sides. are there any specific past dramas, incidents, or corporate history that originally made things awkward between the two ecosystems?
**vta vs. the new hololive "trainee" thing (mekPark?)**
i know nijisanji has vta (virtual talent academy) where a lot of the newer jp members grind before they officially debut. but i recently saw that cover/hololive just launched their own version of this called "mekPark" (with unit b and achrora). for those who follow both companies closely, how do these trainee systems actually differ? does it look like cover took inspiration from the vta model, or is the structure and final goal completely different?
i’m genuinely just trying to catch up and understand the vibe of the community right now without getting cooked by toxic stans. would appreciate any insights