At one point, Mori’s scheme was even trending on Twitter. 250,000 people as of this writing have tuned in to hear someone say the same thing over and over again. That was the entirety of the livestream - Mori pleading repeatedly for over 90 minutes as thousands of fans cheered on. “I’m begging you to let me play your game, please.” “Atlus, please, I’m begging you, please, let me, please, let me play, Persona 3, and live stream it, please,” she continued. In this case, Mori’s phrase was “I’ve been waiting for this” - a smart play on the fact that right now, despite her urgent requests, Mori apparently cannot livestream Persona 3 to her legion of fans. In that game, when characters initiate a devastating attack, a close-up ensues the character will then say a signature line. Released in 2006 by Atlus, the game is known for its vibrant depiction of Japanese high school, which is smartly paired with demon-infested dungeon crawling. Visible on her screen was a cartoonish depiction of herself with two exclamation points - a graphic that is instantly recognizable to anyone who has played Japanese role-playing game Persona 3. “Atlus, please let me play Persona 3,” started Mori Calliope, an English-speaking VTuber under the Hololive agency of digital anime entertainers currently taking the internet by storm. The pink-haired goth girl was not thrilled, and within moments, it became clear why. It also helps that she very much has a genuine love for music- you don’t just record a Lo-Fi album for no reason, after all.The livestream began with an audible sigh. While I certainly hope the overall idol aesthetic stays- lord knows I don’t want every Vtuber to suddenly start being edgy the way every Kpop group suddenly decided to spec into hip-hop- the occasional deeply personal cut is a great way to keep all the Vtuber music from blending together. Just like how Kiryu Coco was a huge shakeup to the idea of what a Vtuber could do on-camera, Calliope Mori is a huge challenge to what kind of music they can produce. But the point of all this was to highlight that Mori is doing something I didn’t fully expect out of the premise of Virtual Idols- a raw edginess that, at the root of it all, sounds like a creator with complex thoughts about their work and isn’t afraid to say them. Like I said earlier, this isn’t a knock against other Vtubers- they are just as good at what they do. But, I can’t sing happy songs every day, as no being, human or no, can do!” A Great Dash of Spice “With that being said, I know some will still worry about me. Content with my music, content with my existence, grateful for my fans and ready to continue producing music”. In fact, as I type this now, I am the happiest I’ve been in a very, very long time. “As I mentioned, this song exists and thusly I feel great after venting out my personal feelings into music. I think amidst the happiness, there comes a time for venting the feelings that spill out on your Cursed Nights”. “And because this song exists, I feel the strength to continue on in everything that I do. ![]() “P lease remember that music is an outlet for feelings, is it not?”, she explains. She says as much in the comments for her single Cursed Nights, where she prepared a disclaimer in case people thought she was in trouble due to the more grim lyrics of the song. That’s not to say she’s some permanently depressed person- in her own words, she’s just drawing from her whole life to make her music rather than key parts. ![]() She’s not some rebel against the idol industry, but the sheer contrast of her music is a shining beacon among her contemporaries. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, what I think sets Calliope Mori apart from other Vtubers is just that sense of personal rawness to her lyrics.
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