Hello everyone! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. This month’s Otaku Mind will be a quick one, but before getting into this month’s topic I wanted to correct a mistake I made in last month’s Rewatch. Last month, I talked about Ufotable and I left out the tax evasion scandal in 2021. Hikaru Kondo was found guilty of tax evasion and charged with failing to pay around 1.25 million dollars. He was using company resources to hide the income involving the inner workings of the studio. Something that was very illegal in Japan. Originally, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison, but it has instead been reduced to being on parole for 3 years and he can avoid jail time if he’s on good behavior. I apologize for skipping over this. While this incident didn’t seem to have any impact on the studio or their works as a whole, I should have at least touched on this. I’ll be sure to do better on this in the future.
Now, moving on to today’s topic, Sana Tsukumo. I’ve made it no secret that I’m a fan of Hololive and if you haven’t heard the news a few days ago Sana announced that she will be graduating from the group at the end of July. This comes as a huge shock to me, her fans, and everyone in Hololive. It was unexpected, but as I started to think about it, it did start to make sense. Now let me make one thing clear I do not hate Sana. I love all the girls in Hololive and do my best to support all of them. I was there when Sana made her debut and remember how a few people wrote her off because of her Aussie accent. I admit it was unexpected, but I liked it, and in the months to come she managed to win me over with her bright personality. Every time she was streaming she was just beaming with positive energy. She was happy to be doing this and spending time with everyone. She was happy to be here and we in turn were happy to watch her streams.
So with the announcement of her graduation a lot of fans are speculating the reason for it. Since her graduation is coming off the heels of the Rushia incident and is taking place in the same month as Coco’s graduation (which some have speculated their own controversy). However, I think people are overthinking this and I urge fans not to do that. I’m sure this decision wasn’t easy for her to make and I think reasons for her graduation are a lot simpler than we think. It’s well known that Sana unfortunately has health problems with her back, and I’m sure spending hours in a chair while streaming wasn’t making the problem any better. There’s also the fact that she works as an art designer and I’m sure that was interfering with her streaming schedule. She did take long breaks in between streaming, so I can see that being a factor as well.
So why is everyone so saddened by this news? Well aside from being fans of her I personally think people are sad for two major reasons. First off, lost potential. I feel like we never got a chance to see Sana go all out in her streams. There’s also the fact that we never got to see her do collaborations with JP members (I really would have loved to see her and Korone do a collaboration). Her 3D debut. It would have been so awesome to see her perform on stage by herself and with the other members. Just a lot of fun plans she could have done or been a part of and we unfortunately won’t get to see her be there. Second, her graduation serves as a reminder that someday these girls who we have come to love and cherish will all one day graduate. It could be today, tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year, but whether we like or not these amazing ladies will one day graduate. While it will be sad when that day comes I will have a smile on my face remembering all the good times they shared with us. Sana’s graduation is sad but I intend to send her off with a smile because I know that she is a talented person and will go on to do great things down the road. We’ve only got a few weeks with her so let’s laugh, smile, and enjoy every minute of it. Thanks for everything Sana. You truly were BEEG.