History Trivia / KizunaAI

* IKnewIt: Fans who already knew the identity of Ai-chan's original voice actress kept silent about it for a long time so as not to ruin the immersion. Unfortunately, because of the "clones"/[=upd8/activ8=] debacle on mid-2019, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/co22i0/full_timeline_of_multiple_ai_project/ discussions about Ai-chan's identity or VA]] spread like uncontrollable wildfire. And then on April 24 2020, it was [[WordOfGod confirmed]] that [[https://twitter.com/kasuga_nozomi/status/1253662616674725888 Nozomi Kasuga is the original voice actress]].

* CreatorBacklash: During her LetsPlay walkthrough for ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin2'', she discusses the "[[MemeticMutation FAKKYU]]" meme when she briefly compares the game to ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7''. Needless to say, Kizuna Ai expressed a sense of regret that many [[WatchItForTheMeme fans now remember her for that scene]], and even some of her concerned Japanese fans explained the meaning of the phrase and advised her not to use the phrase again. Quite [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when she says "FAKKYU" again in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' after imitating Claire Redfield, while the phrase is now associated with her GuestFighter cameo in ''VideoGame/AzurLane'' as a form of MemeAcknowledgement.

** In the English dub of ''Anime/{{Ingress}}'', Ai-chan's brief {{cameo}} was played by Creator/CristinaVee. This happened with dubs in other languages as well.

** Going in the other direction, the success of large [=VTuber=] groups like WebAnimation/{{hololive}}, Creator/{{Nijisanji}}, Game Club Project and many others prompted a change in format to the channel by introducing Kizuna Ai clones voiced by different voice actresses (and, in the Chinese channel's case, a different language entirely). However, the [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks unfavored changes]] have just pushed fans towards the other trend.

* OldShame: During her LetsPlay walkthrough for ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin2'', she discusses the "[[MemeticMutation FAKKYU]]" meme when she briefly compares the game to ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7''. Needless to say, Kizuna Ai expressed a sense of regret that many [[WatchItForTheMeme fans now remember her for that scene]], and even some of her concerned Japanese fans explained the meaning of the phrase and advised her not to use the phrase again. Quite [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when she says "FAKKYU" again in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' after imitating Claire Redfield, while the phrase is now associated with her GuestFighter cameo in ''VideoGame/AzurLane'' as a form of MemeAcknowledgement.

* FanNickname:
** The [=VTuber=] community calls Kizuna Ai "Oyabun"/親分 ("Big Boss"), which is coined by Kaguya Luna after Kizuna Ai had the most subscribers among [=VTubers=] at the end of 2017, which is also a huge gap with the other fellow "Four Heavenly Kings" Kaguya Luna, Mirai Akari and Nojaloli.
** The two lookalikes were initially called "clones" or "Kizuna Clones" until the channel had a [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent fan vote to decide their names]]. The girl wearing the yellow asterisk hairclip was named "Ai-pii", while the girl wearing the blue number sign hairclip was named "Love-chan".

** Being the TropeCodifier, Kizuna Ai's success kicked off a whole slew of other "Virtual [=YouTuber=]" channels like [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLhUvJ_wO9hOvv_yYENu4fQ Dennou Shoujo Youtuber Shiro]], [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMYtONm441rBogWK_xPH9HA Mirai Akari Project]], WebAnimation/KaguyaLuna, and even [[Creator/{{SNK}} SNK's]] [[VideoGame/PsychoSoldier Athena]] [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Asamiya]], and Anime/SuperSonico, [[https://kotaku.com/the-invasion-of-virtual-anime-girl-youtubers-1821940758 amongst others]].

** The ''VideoGame/AzurLane'' collab references the "Fuck you" scene in a few ways, though censored to a "Fakkyu" (not that it fools anyone): Original Kizuna Ai will say it at her lowest affection level, Elegant Kizuna Ai'll replicate the outburst while rage quitting a game in her idle dorm animation. And equipment skins that turn your battleship shells and bombs into the word (so you can drop literal F bombs)

* MoneyDearBoy: GUMI, the majority investor of [=Activ8=] (the company managing the Kizuna Ai IP), are [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/dtega9/kizuna_ai_replacement_timeline_and_theory_how/ collectively of the opinion]] that it ultimately [[TheOtherDarrin doesn't matter who plays Kizuna Ai]] as long as the franchise and [[TheMerch merchandise]] keep the money rolling in. This is ultimately due to the fact that the management company and investors get a bigger cut of the profits than if Nozomi Kasuga (Ai's first voice actress) had made her debut as a real person rather than a Virtual [=YouTuber=]. Ironically, the reverse was true in the early days of the channel, which may have contributed to GUMI's views in the first place. Their mentality might have actually worked had they not subtly tried to spurn Nozomi from doing her usual LetsPlay content -- perhaps unsurprisingly, [=Activ8=] ended up [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/eumlbe/activ8_produced_by_kizuna_ai_large_deficit_675/ publicizing a loss of ¥675 million]] a few months after this came to light. [=VTuber=] projects such as WebAnimation/{{hololive}} and Creator/{{Nijisanji}} later learned not to be so hostile to their talents for success.

** In the English dub of ''Anime/{{Ingress}}'', Ai-chan's brief {{cameo}} was played by Creator/CristinaVee.

* ReclusiveArtist: The whole gimmick is that Kizuna Ai is supposedly an artificial intelligence that makes vlogs, skits and LetsPlay videos in order to connect with humans, so the existence and identities of the humans behind it are kept secret to maintain the illusion. However, some incidents play with this trope.
** This even carried into the ''VideoGame/AzurLane'' collab where all the splash art of her playable versions only had "[[AsHerself Kizuna Ai]]" under voice actress.
** She sometimes mentions that she has staff members. In her LetsPlay for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'', fans think that Ai's staff plays the game because her aim significantly improved, but she explains that even if she has a staff, she herself plays the games. In Ai-chan's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKJuN1R5mxE I have an assistant now!!]]" vlog, she even casually mentions having a staff team and some of them can be heard laughing offscreen.
** On 24 April 2020, it's officially confirmed that Nozomi Kasuga is the original voice for Ai-chan, and she's now [[https://grapee.jp/en/138010 on advisory role]] for the new Kizuna AI Co., Ltd.

** The VTuber community calls Kizuna Ai "Oyabun"/親分 ("Big Boss"), which is coined by Kaguya Luna after Kizuna Ai had the most subscribers among VTubers at the end of 2017, which is also a huge gap with the other fellow "Four Heavenly Kings" Kaguya Luna, Mirai Akari and Nojaloli.

* FanNickname: The two lookalikes were initially called "clones" or "Kizuna Clones" until the channel had a [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent fan vote to decide their names]]. The girl wearing the yellow asterisk hairclip was named "Ai-pii", while the girl wearing the blue number sign hairclip was named "Love-chan".

** [[TheOtherDarrin Ai sounded like Luna and vice-versa]] in their respective April Fool's videos, and ''only'' those videos.

** Averted with the English dub of ''Anime/{{Ingress}}'', where Ai-chan's brief cameo was played by Creator/CristinaVee.

* TheOtherDarrin: The addition of Kizuna Ai's "clones" also brought in new voice actresses to play the role, and from late July 2019 onwards, become more prominent in the channels, although the original voice actress for Kizuna remains in the music videos.

* MoneyDearBoy: GUMI, the majority investor of [=Activ8=] (the company managing the Kizuna Ai IP), are [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/dtega9/kizuna_ai_replacement_timeline_and_theory_how/ collectively of the opinion]] that it ultimately [[TheOtherDarrin doesn't matter who plays Kizuna Ai]] as long as the franchise and [[TheMerch merchandise]] keep the money rolling in. This is ultimately due to the fact that the management company and investors get a bigger cut of the profits than if Nozomi Kasuga (Ai's first voice actress) had made her debut as a real person rather than a Virtual [=YouTuber=]. Ironically, the reverse was true in the early days of the channel, which may have contributed to GUMI's views in the first place. Their mentality might have actually worked had they not subtly tried to spurn Nozomi from doing her usual LetsPlay content -- perhaps unsurprisingly, [=Activ8=] ended up [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/eumlbe/activ8_produced_by_kizuna_ai_large_deficit_675/ publicizing a loss of ¥675 million]] a few months after this came to light. [=VTuber=] projects that such as WebAnimation/{{hololive}} and Creator/{{Nijisanji}} later learned not to be so hostile to their talents for success.

* MoneyDearBoy: GUMI, the majority investor of [=Activ8=] (the company managing the Kizuna Ai IP), are [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/dtega9/kizuna_ai_replacement_timeline_and_theory_how/ collectively of the opinion]] that it ultimately [[TheOtherDarrin doesn't matter who plays Kizuna Ai]] as long as the franchise and [[TheMerch merchandise]] keep the money rolling in. This is ultimately due to the fact that the management company and investors get a bigger cut of the profits than if Nozomi Kasuga (Ai's first voice actress) had made her debut as a real person rather than a Virtual [=YouTuber=]. Ironically, the reverse was true in the early days of the channel, which may have contributed to GUMI's views in the first place. Their mentality might have actually worked had they not subtly tried to spurn Nozomi from doing her usual LetsPlay content -- perhaps unsurprisingly, [=Activ8=] ended up [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/eumlbe/activ8_produced_by_kizuna_ai_large_deficit_675/ publicizing a loss of ¥675 million]] a few months after this came to light. [=VTuber=] projects that sprung up afterwards, such as WebAnimation/{{hololive}} and Creator/{{Nijisanji}}, learned not to be so hostile to their talent for success.

** Going in the other direction, the success of large [=VTuber=] groups like WebAnimation/{{hololive}}, Creator/{{Nijisanji}}, Game Club Project and many others prompted a change in format to the channel by introducing Kizuna Ai clones voiced by different voice actresses (and, in the Chinese channel's case, a different language entirely). [[EpicFail However, the drastic changes have just pushed fans towards the two groups.]]

* MoneyDearBoy: GUMI, the majority investor of [=Activ8=] (the company managing the Kizuna Ai IP), are [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/dtega9/kizuna_ai_replacement_timeline_and_theory_how/ collectively of the opinion]] that it ultimately [[TheOtherDarrin doesn't matter who plays Kizuna Ai]] as long as the franchise and [[TheMerch merchandise]] keep the money rolling in. This is ultimately due to the fact that the management company and investors get a bigger cut of the profits than if Nozomi Kasuga (Ai's first voice actor) had made her debut as a real person rather than a Virtual [=YouTuber=]. Ironically, the reverse was true in the early days of the channel, which may have contributed to GUMI's views in the first place. Their mentality might have actually worked had they not subtly tried to spurn Nozomi from doing her usual LetsPlay content -- perhaps unsurprisingly, [=Activ8=] ended up [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/eumlbe/activ8_produced_by_kizuna_ai_large_deficit_675/ publicizing a loss of ¥675 million]] a few months after this came to light. [=VTuber=] projects that sprung up afterwards, such as WebAnimation/{{hololive}} and Creator/{{Nijisanji}}, learned not to be so hostile to their talent for success.

** This even carried into the ''VideoGame/AzurLane'' collab where all the splash art of her playable versions only had "[[AsHerself Kizuna Ai]]" under voice actor.

* TheOtherDarrin: The addition of Kizuna Ai's "clones" also brought in new voice actors to play the role, and from late July 2019 onwards, become more prominent in the channels, although the original voice actor for Kizuna remains in the music videos.

* IKnewIt: Those who already knew who Ai-chan's original voice actress is kept silent about it for a long time so as not to ruin the immersion. Unfortunately, because of the "clones"/[=upd8/activ8=] debacle on mid-2019, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/co22i0/full_timeline_of_multiple_ai_project/ discussions about Ai-chan's identity]] spread like uncontrollable wildfire. And then on April 24 2020, it was [[WordOfGod confirmed]] that [[https://twitter.com/kasuga_nozomi/status/1253662616674725888 Nozomi Kasuga is the original voice actress]].

* FanNickname: The two lookalikes were initially called "clones" or "Kizuna Clones" until the channel had a [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent fan vote to decide their names]]. The girl wearing the yellow asterisk hairclip was named "Ai-pi", while the girl wearing the blue number sign hairclip was named "Love-chan".

* OfficialFanSubmittedContent: Nicknames for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ-MErCNOMQ yellow asterisk hairclip Ai]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp0n12L3Fo0 blue number sign hairclip Ai]] were decided upon through a fan vote (Ai-pi and Love-chan, respectively).

* OfficialFanSubmittedContent: Nicknames for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ-MErCNOMQ yellow asterisk hairclip Ai]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp0n12L3Fo0 blue number sign hairclip Ai]] were decided upon through a fan vote (Ai-pi and Love-chan, respectively).