[Hikari's Izakaya Diary] Fan Art From You All 2023/6/19

I'd already decided this week's diary entry needed to feature this adorable Sakaban turtle, and turns out 阿蕥 had exactly the same idea ◉▼◉

(Illust by 小璃)

It's almost been a year since debut, and over this past year I've received quite a bit of fan art from viewers — every single piece gets me a little emotional. I still remember not even knowing what "fan art" was when I first debuted. I also never liked the word "fan," so I didn't set up any dedicated tag on Twitter for it. After streaming for a while, though, I picked up a bit more on the culture around here, and without expecting much, I put up a "shiny-headed" tag — mostly just to feel like a proper VTuber, honestly.

Then one day, out of nowhere, I clicked into that fan art tag and found two pieces viewers had drawn for me. The feeling that hit me was honestly hard to put into words! That's when it clicked — this is just another way viewers show their support. Over this whole year, I've received all kinds of fan art at different moments — memes, cute chibi doodles, GIFs, gorgeous full illustrations. Honestly, I love every single one of them! I'm so grateful for every piece everyone poured their heart into.

Which makes me wonder — since I apparently exist in so many different forms in everyone's imagination, should I return the favor and design what "the viewers" look like? Probably some round little creature that's perpetually drunk off its face lol!?