Minato Aqua (湊あくあ) is a retired Japanese VTuber affiliated with Hololive Production from 8 August 2018 to 28 August 2024. She was part of Hololive's 2nd Generation.[2] On 6 August 2024, she announced her 'graduation' from Hololive, using terminology from the Japanese idol industry to refer to retirement.[3] Her graduation concert marking the end of her 6-year career, streamed on YouTube on 28 August, attracted 749,854 concurrent viewers, making it the most watched VTuber stream in history.[4]
At the time of her graduation, Aqua had 2.24 million subscribers on her YouTube channel and was the 11th most popular VTuber according to the ranking site Userlocal.[5] After her graduation, she currently has 2.28 million subscribers on YouTube.
Career
On 14 July 2018, Hololive Productions put out a casting call for the virtual maid "Minato Aqua", with the character design done by the illustrator Gaou.[6] Less than a month later, Minato Aqua debuted on YouTube as the first member of Hololive's 2nd Generation alongside Murasaki Shion, Nakiri Ayame, Yuzuki Choco, and Oozora Subaru.
Aqua's official character profile describes her as a marine-themed maid who can be awkward and clumsy,[7] though fans know her as a shy introvert with exceptional gaming skills, particularly in Apex Legends.[8]
Minato Aqua said that it was her childhood dream to be an idol, but thought it was impossible to achieve due to her self-stated lack of smarts, singing ability, and communication skills. She nonetheless applied for the Hololive auditions due to prospect of being able to stream from home.[9] She cited Momoko Tsugunaga as her role model as an idol.[10] On 21 August 2020, she held her first paid solo concert to celebrate her second anniversary, simulcast on the Niconico and Bilibili.[11] She was supposed to have a concert streamed from the Nissin Power Station on 2 August 2021, but the venue suffered a DDoS attack and an information security breach and was forced to cancel the concert.[12] Aqua was able to hold the concert on 19 February from the same venue.[13] She held a solo concert with a live audience at the Toyosu PIT on 28 January 2022.[14]
Aqua's channel reached 1 million subscribers on 13 January 2021, making her the 8th VTuber (and 5th Hololive member) to reach this milestone.[15] On 9 May 2024, her channel reached 2 million subscribers.[16]
Aqua produced and starred in her own visual novelAquarium, developed by Entergram and released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on 27 October 2022.[17] For her Aquarium appearance, Minato Aqua won the 2022 Famitsu Award in the "Best Actor" category.[18] The game received a Steam release with English localization in 2023.[19] A sequel was announced in March 2024, but it was cancelled due to Aqua's graduation.[20]
On 6 August 2024, Aqua announced that she would be 'graduating' from Hololive on 28 August, citing unspecified differences in opinion with the company.[3] On the day of her graduation, she held a livestreamed concert on YouTube that gathered 749,854 concurrent viewers, breaking the previous record of 483,873 viewers set by fellow Hololive member Kiryu Coco's graduation stream in July 2021.[4] Aqua's graduation stream was also noted for receiving US$237,571 in Superchat (YouTube donations) revenue, the second most of any stream in the VTuber industry after Coco's graduation stream.[4]
"I am the type of person who thinks of the end when I start something. Ever since I joined Hololive, I've had the idea that I wanted to finish in a brilliant blaze. Just vaguely. When I think about it like that, I guess in a way, this graduation was also one of my dreams."
^"あの豊洲の感動をもう一度 28名出演 ホロライブ全体ライブ「Beyond the Stage」12/21、22開催" [Let's ride again on that Toyosu rollercoaster – A Hololive live concert with all 28 members, "Beyond the Stage", is to be held on December 21st and 22nd]. PANORA (in Japanese). 23 October 2020. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
