Kizuna Ai fans might have reason to expect a return in a few months, after her official channels started a countdown. Also called by fans as “Ai-chan”, the popular vtuber has been on hiatus since February 26, 2022 (today, vtubers are maybe more a Twitch thing than a YouTube one). Her channel has still been adding some videos from time to time, but the vtuber hasn’t appeared since then.
According to AniNewsAndFacts, a countdown was added, scheduling something to be announced in 87 days starting November 30, 2024. The final date would be around February, 24, 2025, almost three years after her hiatus started:
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On December 1, 2024, a new video was posted on her channel, in which someone is trying to wake her up, but she asks to sleep for a bit more, teasing once again that an announcement is being prepared :
It’s important to notice that the news to be announced is not necessarily related to the end of her hiatus (although it does seem so, since her hiatus is officially referred as “Ai-chan went to sleep”). It could be a new anime or anything else.
Kizuna Ai Hiatus and Voice Actress
As far as fans know, the first person (and likely only) to voice Kizuna Ai was Nozomi Kasuga. There have been speculations that Kasuga quit the role to act on the business side, joining Kizuna Ai Co., Ltd as an advisor. She quit the company in March 2024, due to her contract expiring. While Ai was still active, there were rumors that Kasuga was not voicing her anymore, but that was never officially confirmed. In January 2021, Kizuna Ai appeared on a video stating there was “nothing wrong” with her voice:
Kasuga later posted about parting ways with the company, a decision she stated to have made before the hiatus, and she also added that she might be Ai’s “voice model”, but she is not “the person [actor] inside Ai-chan” and that “Ai-chan will always be Ai-chan, even when we are apart”. It is thus not so clear if she will return to voice Ai (they might go down a “Hatsune Miku road”, in which Kasuga lended her voice for some A.I. program and will not act as Kizuna Ai anymore, or, as being her voice model, she will return).
While Ai-chan’s YouTube channel has been on hiatus, she was cast in her own anime, Kizuna no Allele (the cast official information states that Kizuna Ai is voiced by Kizuna Ai, without revealing the voice actress’ name). Kizuna no Allele aired in 2023 and is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
Not Exactly the First Vtuber
Kizuna Ai’s official channel was created in 2016 and from 2016 to 2021, videos were frequently added, turning Ai-chan into one of the pioneers of the vtuber movement. It was probably due to Ai-chan’s success that companies such as Hololive and Nijisanji were created. Ai was not the first virtual youtuber/vlogger created (that would be Ami Yamato, and the Barbie Vlog was also created before Kizuna Ai), but she apparently was the one who coined the term “vtuber”.
Kizuna Ai is on hiatus since February 2021, and the countdown is scheduled to end around February 24, 2025. The
Kizuna no Allele
anime, featuring the vtuber, is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
Sources: AniNewsandFacts,Kizuna Ai Co, Nozomi Kasuga
