0:00
There are quite a few things the west
0:02
hates about eastern media and some of
0:04
those are due to the prominence of
0:05
generally taboo things like incest and
0:08
ryiona but among these taboos one stands
0:11
at the precipice of notoriety and
0:13
controversy. Wallies lollies in their
0:17
most simple pop culture definition is a
0:19
Japanese style drawing of a person that
0:21
has physical characteristics of a child.
0:24
They may not actually need to be a
0:26
child, just that they can include
0:27
childlike appearances and traits like a
0:30
squeaky voice, brattiness, or
0:32
energeticness. The intention for this
0:34
type of character is to be cute,
0:36
aggressioninducing, bloodpumping,
0:38
annoyingly cute. But of course, just
0:41
like literally anything else in the
0:43
world, something cute was bound to be
0:45
sexualized. And because of the
0:47
popularity of such, those who are
0:48
unfamiliar with Eastern culture may find
0:51
it off-putting. Over in the West, these
0:54
concepts are demonized. See, if the
0:56
average adult man asks you to explain
0:59
what a lolly is, you'd probably get
1:01
weird looks at best and get the cops
1:03
called on you at worst. Even if lollies
1:05
are not sexualized, because of the sheer
1:07
amount of it, even in series where there
1:09
isn't anything lewd, it's not difficult
1:11
to see why people look at it that way.
1:13
Now, the next few sentences will be
1:15
oversimplified and are formed based on
1:17
personal observation. So, take it with
1:20
as much salt as you need. I don't really
1:22
have any research paper to back it up,
1:23
but I think the reason for this divide
1:25
is because of how fiction is consumed
1:27
and perceived by both cultures. I think
1:30
the West generally looks at fiction as a
1:32
reflection of reality. They wish for it
1:34
to be as grounded as possible to be
1:36
created with realism and real world
1:38
rules and consequences in mind. Just as
1:41
they think that violence in fiction
1:43
encourages young people to be violent
1:44
IRL, they think that attraction to
1:46
fictional young people is attraction to
1:48
the young regardless. that it undermines
1:51
efforts against exploitation and loosely
1:53
attempts to normalize or fetishize it.
1:55
And because they think fiction is pinned
1:57
to reality, attraction to fictional
1:59
children is a pipeline leading to
2:01
probable or actual pedophilia. And you
2:04
know what? There have been actual
2:05
lollyconicons that did try to assault or
2:07
kidnap and do all sorts of things with
2:10
actual children. Whereas in the east,
2:12
fiction is a reflection of one's
2:14
imagination, wild and untethered,
2:17
created with as much flare, mythicality,
2:19
and aura in mind. That fiction has
2:21
minimal realworld consequences. A world
2:24
where you can think or create of
2:26
anything. What you like in fiction does
2:28
not correlate to what you like in
2:30
reality. Just like how some women
2:32
fantasize or consume about fictional
2:34
grape does not really want to be great,
2:36
so too are lollycons not necessarily
2:39
attracted to actual children. Though the
2:41
inverse can be true, being a lollycon is
2:43
not a big factor for pedophilia. I mean,
2:45
you look at the people suspected to be
2:47
in the Epstein list and try to point out
2:49
which among those like lollies or even
2:50
anime chief. And if you censor one genre
2:53
of media that is loosely controversial,
2:55
then why not censor all of them? But all
2:58
of this only pertains to fiction and
3:00
reality. What if you put this discussion
3:03
into a marriage of both? Vtubing, a
3:06
weird twilight zone of reality and
3:08
fiction. a place where creators break
3:10
dance on the thin blurry line and making
3:13
that the core of their appeal and
3:15
content. What is then the end result?
3:20
Before I proceed with this whole thing,
3:21
I feel like I need to say what my stance
3:23
is on the matter. Just so you can know
3:24
ahead of time that there is a bit of a
3:26
bias in this video. I don't really care
3:28
about lollies. Not really into the body
3:30
type or the content. But I think they're
3:32
welcome because they're just fiction. I
3:34
separate my fiction and my reality. It's
3:37
not something I choose to do. It's just
3:39
hardwired into my brain. And I'm going
3:41
to guess a lot of people are too. A lot
3:43
of people don't really believe or cannot
3:45
do that. And so the argument about this
3:47
topic has been extensive. Some start
3:49
arguing about the semantics and the
3:51
specifics like how age does or doesn't
3:54
matter into how lollies are defined or
3:56
how you should include high schoolers in
3:58
anime even if most animes are in a high
4:00
school setting and even if they don't
4:02
look like lollies or how lollies are
4:04
acceptable as long as it's not
4:05
sexualized or or how short petite women
4:08
are losing representation because of its
4:10
controversy or whatever have you. My
4:12
personal definition of a lolly is that
4:14
if the person looks young and acts
4:15
childlike in the many ways a child acts,
4:18
it's a lolly, flat chest or not. Yes, I
4:21
consider Haru Uara as a lolly and that's
4:24
why she's my daughter. This debate goes
4:26
beyond fandoms, reaching in the social
4:29
media landscape, the academic field, and
4:31
even among corporations and governments.
4:33
There is a popular story going around
4:35
cyberpunk edge. You see, CD Project Red
4:38
was heavily against the idea of Rebecca
4:40
being in the cyberpunk world. A loyal
4:43
does not belong, they said for some
4:45
reason. Their Japanese animation
4:47
partner, Studio Trigger, wasn't having
4:49
any of it and refused to change
4:51
Rebecca's design or place in it. The
4:53
lolly must stay, they said. And yet,
4:55
Rebecca became one of the most memorable
4:58
characters in the show. And people argue
5:00
whether or not she even constitutes as a
5:02
lolly. To many people, her brash and
5:05
violent attitude doesn't really make her
5:07
a lolly, but as a petite woman. Others
5:09
insist that she is a lolly, not just
5:12
because of Studio Triggers insistence,
5:14
but because of her design comparatively
5:16
to all other females in the show, as
5:18
well as her attitude is just what
5:20
happens when a regular lolly is thrown
5:22
into a violent world. Another situation,
5:24
Comic, the world's biggest fan
5:27
convention, a gathering to celebrate
5:29
fiction born and led by Japan. Well, it
5:32
was under fire from the UN recently for
5:34
allowing lollies to be displayed and for
5:36
being an actual genre, saying that it's
5:38
generally harmful material. And in
5:41
response to this, actual Japanese
5:43
officials told them to go [ __ ]
5:45
themselves, that this is legal, as it
5:47
does not involve real people and that it
5:49
is under the realms of creative and
5:51
artistic expression. Though legal or
5:52
not, many platforms seek to still censor
5:55
such media. If you're a gooner, you
5:57
might have noticed that a lot of uh
5:59
western hentai streaming platforms like
6:01
hentai ocean, h anime or hentai haven
6:04
once had the lolli and sha genre, but
6:07
have since then been removed. And it's
6:09
not exclusive to streaming sites.
6:11
Reddit, Patreon, Twitch, and a lot of
6:13
other social medias and websites are
6:15
having none of it. Heck, this video is
6:17
risky enough as it is because YouTube
6:18
might [ __ ] me over. And this is so
6:20
because the west is actively taking
6:23
steps to make the existence of lollies
6:26
at least restricted but at worst no
6:29
longer legal. So again what does this
6:31
mean for vtubers? Which side of the
6:33
debate holds more weight? Bars. The west
6:36
discovered the culture and concept of
6:37
vtubers very much later than Japan. Yes,
6:40
motion tracking hardware and software
6:42
and even animated models was a thing for
6:44
a long time here, but it wasn't vtubing
6:46
as we know it right now. Beaching first
6:48
came to the west in a spectacularly
6:50
massive boom with the introduction of
6:52
hol life which served to introduce fans
6:54
to the medium and the culture and many
6:56
women took a liking to that concept.
6:58
Some women find representation in
7:00
lollies and translate that into vtubing
7:02
because yes a lot of women are short and
7:04
petite. In fact, so many Asian women
7:07
look so young that people can often
7:09
mistake them as a child which further
7:11
adds as to why the east is more okay
7:13
with it. A lot of other YouTubers also
7:15
find their identity as a lolli because
7:17
maybe that's just how they are
7:18
personality and appearance-wise. And
7:20
that would be the case of literally the
7:22
most popular VTuber in the world and the
7:25
face of the industry. Garura, a very
7:28
clear textbook lolly who was more than
7:30
open in the sexualization of herself.
7:33
She would make cheeky references. Her
7:35
animated short featured her naked 80% of
7:38
the time and she had this popular taunt
7:40
against anti- lollycons. What? Are you
7:43
scared of a little four-letter word?
7:45
The popularity of Gura herself is a
7:47
statement, and we'll get back to what
7:48
this statement is later. And of course,
7:50
the West's defiance to this movement
7:52
would soon come. And at first, it came
7:54
in the form of Britain Eventi, who was
7:56
entirely against what Gora stood for.
7:58
She threw a video basically disavowing
8:00
and calling out this sort of thing
8:02
plaguing the internet. And um well,
8:04
VTuber fans didn't like that and
8:06
proceeded to return her sentiments
8:07
against her tenfold. That's not all.
8:10
Resistance to this movement also came in
8:12
the form of another fellow VTuber
8:14
Nanners. For a while, she was 4chan's
8:17
biggest darling due to her content. She
8:19
would make lolly related content post um
8:23
irrelevant for their time edgy humor,
8:25
but then she flipped the switch on all
8:26
that she previously was. After an
8:29
enlightenment rainbow shower from
8:30
Tumblr, she would disavow lollies and
8:32
her previous fan base, saying they were
8:34
all weirdos and saying how it was
8:36
basically pedophilia. And this was seen
8:38
as a massive hypocritical stance because
8:40
she clearly had a lolly imagery, a lolly
8:43
voice, and lolly themes. As Vuming
8:45
expanded, more casual normie fans of
8:48
anime took a liking to Vubing, found all
8:50
this lolly [ __ ] and didn't like it. It's
8:53
not just fans, but it was also aspiring
8:55
VTubers. Camila, a now popular VTuber,
8:58
once shared the same sentiment in
9:00
Yanners. In fact, she didn't just
9:02
disavow lollycons. She actively attacked
9:04
Shondo, a lolly YouTuber once upon a
9:07
time because she thought, well, starting
9:09
drama was the best way to grow.
9:10
Chibidoki would call out lollycons and
9:12
lolly enjoyers, equating them again to
9:15
weirdos and saying how they were all
9:16
yucky. And they would dodge the
9:18
allegations by saying that the model
9:20
that they have is chibi, not lolly,
9:23
which in my opinion, a big fat cope. But
9:26
regardless, they would walk back on this
9:27
stance years later due to public
9:29
backlash because they made this whole
9:31
grand stand about how lolly equals bad,
9:34
but then they benefited from being
9:35
borderline or actual lollies or wanted
9:37
to partake in lolly adjacent activities.
9:40
Or even maybe they just realized lolly
9:42
culture wasn't all that bad. And it's
9:44
hard not to see why. Chibioki looks
9:46
straight up like a lolly and her
9:48
figurine that was going to be released
9:49
made it even more obvious. Whereas
9:51
Camila celebrated a milestone with a
9:53
lolly kami reququium post. A song that
9:56
parodies how disgusting lollies are, but
9:58
is obviously a song for lollies. In
10:01
fact, while we're at it, let's talk
10:03
about lolly kami reququum.
10:05
Would you believe me if I told you that
10:07
the most famous song in the entirety of
10:09
V tubing was a song about lollycons?
10:12
Well, at least before BB came out, but
10:14
that's different. You would probably
10:15
already believe me because it might have
10:17
been stuck in your head at one point.
10:19
Lolami Recquum was a song made by
10:21
Shigori Ui, a popular artist YouTuber
10:23
that is also a friend of Holivisange.
10:26
The song gained massive popularity in
10:28
late 2023, not only because it was
10:30
catchy, it had this cool, smooth, and
10:33
repeatable dance animation that High Key
10:35
was designed to be hypnotic and trendy.
10:37
The lyrics describe of how lollycons are
10:40
disgusting and kind of makes fun of
10:41
them. It's an ironic song about how this
10:43
lolly goddess is going to save these
10:45
disgusting lollycons while taunting,
10:47
being a brat, and overall doing stuff
10:49
that invites the crying emojis. There
10:51
was a debate about what this song stands
10:53
for. Anti-loconiccons were talking about
10:55
how obviously this was some sort of
10:57
clever backhanded slap towards lollycons
11:00
and how Shiguri definitely hates
11:01
lollycons and how this was definitely
11:03
anti- lollycon. But I'm just going to
11:05
tell you right now, these people are
11:07
straight up wrong. In fact, they're
11:09
tourists and the bad kind. one speck of
11:12
familiarity with Shigui's content or
11:14
Japanese culture of reading behind the
11:16
lines and knowledge of popular Japanese
11:19
tropes and you'd instantly realize that
11:21
this song is actually catering towards
11:23
lolly enjoyers. The song, the lyrics,
11:26
it's all filled with tropes that partake
11:28
in that genre. Humiliation, the
11:30
messugaki behavior, the grape whistle
11:32
blackmail. This has layers of irony in
11:34
it that people unfamiliar with the genre
11:36
or culture will misunderstand if taken
11:39
at face value. This is the lolly
11:41
equivalent of the hacker known as 4chan.
11:43
And the best part was that this was just
11:45
supposed to be an inside joke between
11:47
her and her community. There was zero
11:49
marketing in this song. Hello Live songs
11:51
get all the fuss and huge marketing with
11:53
TVs and radios and [ __ ] like that. But
11:55
this song, the growth was as organic as
11:57
it can be and that should mean something
11:59
because there are a growing number of
12:00
people who refuse to acknowledge that.
12:02
You see, the more I observe this
12:04
industry, the more I see that the more
12:06
politically active members are the most
12:08
vocal about logging content, and it
12:10
makes a lot of sense. You know, the
12:12
types of people who immigrated from
12:14
Tumblr. They're the ones loudest against
12:16
the movement, particularly Nijisien's
12:19
fan base. See, Nijien's audience are
12:22
primarily women, Twitter women. It's why
12:24
they have more pull on Twitter than they
12:26
do on their streams, even during their
12:28
peak in 2022. the very political
12:30
performative activist type of women.
12:32
That's just the audience you get when
12:34
members endorse and broadcast political
12:36
stances, even the extreme kinds. It
12:38
isolates existing audience members who
12:41
may not share that kind of passion or
12:42
vitriol or even the same opinion. And it
12:45
also isolates company members. While the
12:48
argument of filtering the audience can
12:50
often be valid, the argument doesn't
12:51
apply when that audience is extreme and
12:54
cares more about what you say rather
12:55
than what you make. very bad for your
12:58
numbers and sustainability. It affects
12:59
everyone in your company even. And this
13:01
leaning towards active political
13:03
statements would eventually bite a
13:05
certain Nijn member who doesn't belong.
13:07
Twisty Amanazoko, a now infamous VTuber
13:10
who is loud and proud a lollycon and
13:13
lolly herself. She would actively make
13:15
fun of anti- lollycons and declare
13:17
herself not apologetic for making
13:20
incestuous lolly roleplay. very based, I
13:23
would say, a true VTuber who would use
13:25
the potential of the medium to its
13:26
fullest extent. And how does the Nijis
13:28
Sanji EN audience react?
13:32
What do you think? There's an entire
13:33
saga about her, but I just wanted to
13:35
quickly run down through the lolly stuff
13:36
and exclude the other drama that was
13:39
involved with her cuz they're not really
13:40
relevant right now. In the same realm,
13:42
loosely at least, Beatrice is a VTuber
13:45
under Merryweather's Astral line. And as
13:47
you can see, she's a lolly. She was
13:49
supposed to have an 18 plus tag on her
13:52
account and explicit permission and
13:53
willingness to be subjected to the
13:55
internet's degenerate whims. And this
13:57
was met with a lot of backlash for
13:59
obvious reasons. But Astroline just cut
14:02
that [ __ ] out altogether. And yes, there
14:05
were more campaigns of tourists who
14:07
would try to declare that lollies and
14:08
lollycons have no place here in the
14:10
VTuber industry. For some reason, some
14:13
people really believe that. But it's not
14:14
just these VTubers who were affected by
14:16
the anti- lolly campaign. There are many
14:18
such cases that I can't name right now
14:20
affecting different people both indie
14:23
corpo big and small. But the one last
14:27
person that I wanted to talk about is
14:29
Garura. Now Samo Saba. Samo Saba debuted
14:33
with the biggest numbers in
14:34
individually. She never lost her
14:36
comeodies and what do you know? She's
14:38
even more lollier than she ever was as
14:40
Gura. Full-blown fan service. Tummy out
14:43
the scale. Full bouncy Kane crew. And
14:47
what do you know? People are mad because
14:49
how dare this lolly vtuber from Holive
14:52
become a lolly VTuber as an indie. For
14:54
some reason, people really thought Gura
14:57
was not a lolly or was not pro lolly.
15:00
They somehow got this impression that
15:01
Gura wanted to or should have had an
15:03
adult model and now she was just lolly
15:06
baiting. Heck, some Gura fans were
15:08
genuinely surprised at this for some
15:10
reason when in reality people that were
15:12
paying attention and actually watched
15:14
her this whole time knew that she was a
15:16
lolly all along. This whole time
15:18
throughout her entire internet career
15:20
even. And yeah, obviously a lot of the
15:22
people making these accusations are
15:24
tourists. And this confusion, the
15:26
genuine bewilderment, it just kind of
15:29
shows about how wrong they are and how
15:31
they never truly understood this
15:34
industry to begin with. How they never
15:36
realized that lolly kami reququium was a
15:38
song about lollies. How they never
15:39
realized that a lot of big people in
15:42
this industry could technically count as
15:43
a lolly. How Gura and many other people
15:46
big small corpo indie are and wanted to
15:49
be lollies.
15:51
And so we end the recollection of major
15:53
incidents that happened in the
15:55
community. Looping back to the question,
15:57
how does the debate around lollies
15:59
affect vtubing? Well, it says that
16:01
lollies are here to stay for the
16:03
foreseeable future. come what backlash
16:05
may. As Japanese culture continues to
16:07
permeate throughout the world in the
16:09
form of anime, so does its forms and
16:11
even some of its cultures and behaviors.
16:14
Yes, the world and the west will meet it
16:16
with more fierce resistance, especially
16:18
from a growing younger, more westernized
16:21
generation, especially people who only
16:23
watch pop anime but aren't really into
16:26
the deeper stuff. But so will people
16:28
realize that it's not as bad as it's
16:30
demonized to be. I look back again at
16:32
Camila and Chibidoki's tweets, basically
16:34
admitting that their opinions were
16:36
reactive and came from a lack of
16:37
understanding. They were tourists at one
16:40
point, not fully understanding VTubers
16:42
or anime or the culture they inhabit.
16:44
And upon growing and realizing that,
16:46
they turned to apologize. This is
16:49
fascinating because I imagine this is
16:50
how a lot of people who join the VTuber
16:52
industry and consume its culture will
16:54
become, how a lot of women in this
16:56
industry will probably go through the
16:58
same thing. And heck, perhaps other
17:00
tourists, too, the longer they stay.
17:03
Maybe some will find a middle ground and
17:05
accept lollies as long as it's not
17:06
sexualized. Maybe some will be okay with
17:09
the sexualization. Maybe lollies, with
17:11
the West's aggressive push to turn that
17:13
off, will be completely censored in the
17:14
future. But I believe this will stand
17:16
by. Vtubers borrow the culture, the
17:19
community, and the connotations of
17:20
anime. And for as long as anime will
17:22
have lollies as a major part of its
17:25
identity, so too will be the case in
17:27
Vtubing. I invite people who watch this
17:29
video and or may or may even resent
17:31
lollies to be a bit more open-minded.
17:34
Like I said, this is never going to go
17:35
away anytime soon. So maybe try to
17:37
coexist with it because in doing so, you
17:40
really only isolate yourself from a
17:41
major part of the industry. In doing so,
17:44
you are more likely to have fun and
17:46
engage in vtubing in all the ways it can
17:49
be consumed and all the shenanigans and
17:51
all the communities that it can offer.
