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“I feel like we need communities bound by enthusiasm more than ever to combat what Vonnegut called ‘the terrible disease of loneliness’” — John Green
So there’s this shark. Her name’s Gawr Gura, and she comes from the lost city of Atlantis. She’s a talented singer, great at rhythm games, and her favorite food is salmon. This apex predator has been around longer than she can remember, but she still exudes an uninhibited sense of curiosity and excitement. Recently, she left Atlantis for Japan so she could try out our food and learn more about the human world. Now she regularly streams her talents over YouTube for her fans on land to enjoy.
Okay, that might have been a little cheesy. Obviously, Gawr Gura is not actually a shark, but a character hosted by Hololive, a Virtual YouTuber talent agency. “VTubers”, as they are more often called, are actual people whose facial expressions are mapped onto a virtual avatar. This allows them to play an animated character live with real facial expressions and movements. Gawr Gura’s virtual YouTube character has sparked genuine enthusiasm and joy from hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. Fans from the USA, UK, China, Poland, Russia, and more try to one up each other with their donations during her gaming livestreams. People who donate to her self-identify as “shrimps”, whereas…
