Glossary

The following are a list of general terms and phrases often used within the Hololive and Virtual YouTuber communities.

8

 * Multiple 8s indicate the sound of clapping (pachi pachi pachi) in Japanese.

AkaSupa

 * Short for "Red Super Chat". Aka (赤), being the Japanese for red. The highest tier for Super Chat are colored red on streams.

Bakage

 * Japanese meaning "silly game", Bakage (バカゲー) are games played on streams that are purely nonsensical and are not meant to be taken seriously.

Batsu game

 * Batsu games (罰ゲーム) are a common element in Japanese variety shows. Meaning "punishment game", this takes place when a losing VTuber takes a challenge which is unpleasant to them. See also: Batsu game on Wikipedia.

Egosa

 * Egosa (エゴサ) is short for "ego searching" or "ego surfing". It is the act of looking up one's own username online to read about themselves.

Grass

 * See Kusa.

Guerilla

 * Streams that are not officially scheduled in advance. Viewers may not know about the stream happening until the moment they begin. Some VTubers often announce or decide if they will do a guerilla stream or not on their social media.

HoloGra

 * Short for Holo no Graffiti.

Horage

 * Horage (ホラゲー) is short for "Horror games".

Ikebo

 * Ikebo (イケボ) is short for "Ikemen voice" (イケメンボイス) which means "a handsome guy's voice". Used often to describe a (female) VTuber speaking in their "handsome" male voice. Also a term used in the Utaite community.

Kaigai Niki

 * Kaigai Niki (海外ニキ) or Overseas Bros is a term used by (mainly Japanese) VTubers to refer to their fans and viewers outside of Japan.

Kusa

 * Japanese for "grass" which is an internet slang roughly equivalent to "lol". Laughing is often expressed using "w", which stands for "wara" (笑) meaning laughter. Lots of wwwww in a row looks like grass.

Kusoge

 * Japanese meaning "very bad game", Kusoge (クソゲー) are games played on streams that are typically bad in one or multiple aspects, such as graphics, sound, or gameplay. These games also usually have a high number of glitches and bugs, or may have frustrating gameplay and artificial difficulty.

L2D

 * Animated 2D models that can track a person's movements and replicate them on screen. Most Virtual YouTubers use them for streaming. See also: Live2D on Wikipedia.

Mama

 * Refers to the Virtual YouTuber's Character Designer/Illustrator. May sometimes refer to the VTuber's Modeler as well. See also: Papa.

Minecra

 * Minecra (マイクラ) is short for "Minecraft".

MMD

 * Short for "MikuMikuDance", they are animated 3D models that can track a person's movements and replicate them on screen. Most Virtual YouTubers use them for streaming in their 3D forms. See also: MikuMikuDance on Wikipedia.

Oshi

 * Japanese meaning "to push" or "to support", Oshi (押し) is a term used by fans to denote which VTubers they are a fan of and support the most.

Otsu-

 * Short for "Otsukaresama" (お疲れ様), most VTubers have a variation of Otsu (おつ) as their farewell greeting on streams.

Overseas Bros

 * See Kaigai Niki.

Papa

 * Refers to the Virtual YouTuber's Character Designer/Illustrator. May sometimes refer to the VTuber's Modeler as well. See also: Mama.

Seiso

 * A VTuber meme, Seiso (清楚) is a term which can be translated as "wholesome". It refers to a character type defined by innocence, purity, and propriety. It is also used ironically to refer to a character who definitely does not have those qualities, or who tries and fails to act pure and wholesome. "Seiso" as a meme originated with Siro and is strongly associated with Tsukino Mito (in both cases, in ironic usage).

SupaCha

 * YouTube's monetizing system for their streaming service, alongside Super Stickers and Memberships.

Taiki

 * Taiki (待機) means "stand-by". Viewers use it on the stream's live chat to indicate when they are waiting before the scheduled stream begins.

Teetee

 * A VTuber slang, it comes from "toutoi" (尊い), meaning "precious".

Totsu machi

 * Japanese meaning "Call-in", Totsu machi (凸待ち) are streams where a VTuber waits for prearranged callers (usually other VTubers) to take turns having unscripted conversations with the host. The guests can potentially introduce subjects or questions that the host is unprepared for or are reluctant to discuss on-air, so totsu machi can be considered a form of batsu game from losing a competitive bet.

Utawaku

 * Japanese for "Live singing", Utawaku (歌枠) are streams where a VTuber sings songs live through a track list that may or may not be completely predetermined. The singer may solicit viewer suggestions and may also fulfill viewer requests by briefly singing a capella for a few lines of the requested song.

VTuber

 * An online entertainer or live streamer who is typically represented by a digital avatar generated by computer graphics such as Live2D. See also: Virtual YouTuber on Wikipedia.

W

 * See Kusa.

YAGOO

 * Nickname of the COVER corp. CEO Motoaki Tanigo. The name YAGOO itself originated from one of Roboco's streams, where Oozora Subaru misspelled Tanigo as Yagoo.

Zatsudan

 * Meaning "Free talk", Zatsudan (雑談) is a segment of, or an entire stream, during which a VTuber casually talks about miscellaneous topics. This may involve viewer interactions and impromptu Question & Answer sessions, typically through the use of the Marshmallow site.