Amano Pikamee, a popular Vtuber affiliated with VOMS Project has announced her graduation (read: retirement) following a recent break.
In a pre-recorded video today, Pikamee announced that she would officially end all Vtuber activities on March 31st- after which her YouTube channel content would be made private.
“I, Amano Pikamee, will end all activities at the end of this month on March 31st, Japan time”, she says in the video.
While an official reason was never given, many speculate that this had to do with harassment she received weeks earlier over streaming Hogwarts Legacy.
Following the incident, Pikamee had gone on an almost month-long hiatus, and as of right now has even deleted all her VODs off of Twitch.
Important Notice pic.twitter.com/oASH3igb6k
— GYARI(VOMS Project) (@VOMS_Project) March 1, 2023
VOMS has also issued their own statement on Pikamee and her graduation, saying it was the Vtuber herself who chose to retire.
“We discussed this with Pikamee herself and in respect of her wishes, we have decided to ‘graduate’ in a positive way”, the statement reads.
They also mentioned that the upcoming VOMS PARK pop-up store would continue as planned, and act as a send off for the last event featuring the streamer.
“Since this event would be the last time the four current VOMS members will be together, we have been planning this event with the hope that it will be a place for everyone to create memories in a positive way”, the statement reads.
Harassment and Vtubers
Unfortunately this marks another chapter in Vtubers ending their careers prematurely from harassment- in recent years Hololive had lost two Vtubers due to similar situations.
While the instinct is always to assume a Vtuber was directly chased off their platform more often than not it becomes an issue of security- rather than go every day to a job where you get harassed it’s better to move on to somewhere where you won’t be a target.