[Hikari's Izakaya Diary] November Nearly Killed Me, But It's Finally Over (11/26/2023)

(Wirforce outdoor stage, credit: SODAko)

First off, a huge thank you to everyone who tuned in online or came out to see us perform live — we all had such a great time with the in-person interaction, and your support meant so much. Getting to perform and connect with viewers like this is a really big deal for us, and I really hope we get the chance to do something this awesome again soon. Thanks also to the event staff and everyone who helped make this happen — you're all amazing!

And now... I'm exhausted!!! I can finally get a bit of rest! I basically squeezed this entire week out of nowhere to prep for the show, pulling all-nighters to get ready. I'm genuinely proud of how it turned out, and I really hope you all enjoyed it too! I kept wondering going in — what more could we possibly do with a "02 Sway" bit? Wouldn't it feel a little stale by now? But with the rest of the crew joining in this time, I think we took it to a whole new level. Though, just between us... I really don't want to hear "02 Sway" again for a while XDDD. I think I heard it at least a hundred times this week alone.

Lastly, let me share some thoughts on this month's algorithm boost. The speed at which my subscriber count jumped this month genuinely caught me off guard. In the year-plus I've been doing this, I never once felt like the algorithm was on my side — never had a stream, video, or highlight clip go viral. But between a lot of advice from friends, a lot of patience, and three straight months of grinding out highlight edits, I think I finally managed to force YouTube to start pushing my content XD. Our whole team and my manager have been relentlessly trying to crack the algorithm these past few months, and honestly, my own results are proof of something: most VTuber content out there is genuinely great — if it just gets a chance to be seen, viewers will subscribe. So if your content isn't getting seen yet, please don't lose heart. You're just missing the right stage for now — keep looking for the right direction, and I promise, you'll get your moment too!

That said... it's only been one month since the algorithm started cooperating, so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here — I honestly don't know if this momentum will keep going XD. But I'm not going to let up. November's finally wrapped, so I can breathe a little easier, but I've still got to keep grinding on stream. And right now, it feels like I've got my sights set on something even bigger.