Kawa Entertainment

<p>Kawa Entertainment opened auditions for their first generation on 25 February. Auditions would last for two weeks, ending on 13 March, attracting over a thousand applicants.</p> <p>On 16 April, Kawa Entertainment announced the selection of their first generation, posting a teaser image with six colored bands.</p> <p>While preparing for the debut of their first generation, Kawa Entertainment released several free tools for VTubers: <strong>Klock </strong>- a clock generator for overlays, <strong>ViewLink </strong>- a tool allowing Live2D VTubers to track while wearing a VR headset, and <strong>Schedule Studio</strong> - a generator for weekly schedules to be used on social media.</p> <p>On 13 May, Kawa Entertainment released a more direct teaser for their first generation, posting an animated video with six silhouettes. They also revealed that the generation would be named "LUNAVITA". It would be split into two waves, where the first would be Luna and the second Vita.</p> <p>On 27 May, Kawa Entertainment announced the first half of generation one. <a href="/wiki/Hunikin" data-wiki-target="Hunikin">Hunikin</a>, <a href="/wiki/PiaPiUFO" data-wiki-target="PiaPiUFO">Piapi UFO</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Senniursa" data-wiki-target="Senniursa">Senniursa</a> would compose the first wave, "Luna". Their redebuts under Kawa would be between 2 June and 4 June. Additionally, Kawa launched their merchandise store, boasting debut bundles for each of their starting three talents.</p> <p>On 15 June, Kawa Entertainment announced the second half of generation one. <a href="/wiki/Koziichu" data-wiki-target="Koziichu">Koziichu</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kota_Kotonya" data-wiki-target="Kota Kotonya">Kota Kotonya</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Xion_De_Noir" data-wiki-target="Xion De Noir">Xion De Noir</a> would compose the second half, "Vita". Their redebuts under Kawa would be between 21 June and 23 June. They would receive their own debut merch drop.</p> <p>On 6 August, Kawa Entertainment unveiled the <strong>NewsDrop</strong>, a news column dedicated to collecting and distributing vtuber news.</p> <p>Shortly after, on 13 August, Kawa would announce a merch partnership with <a href="https://twitter.com/keydget" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Keydget</a>, marking the first time they handled merch for a VTuber outside their agency.</p> <p>On 5 November, Kawa Entertainment would attend local convention Nishifest, in which they would first present VTubers to con-goers via meet-and-greets.</p> <p>On 14 November, they would open auditions for Generation 2, and the six members of Generation 1 LunaVita would discuss auditions and the company the next day.. Auditions would remain open until 6 December, having drawn 2,363 applicants.</p> <p>Kawa would announce their biggest merchandise partnership with <a href="/wiki/Merryweather" data-wiki-target="Merryweather">Merryweather</a> on 19 November.</p> <p>To celebrate the holidays, Kawa's generation 1 LunaVita would put on a Family Feud collab stream on 15 December, hosted by <a href="/wiki/Raelice" data-wiki-target="Raelice">Raelice</a>.</p>

<p>On 21 January, Kawa Entertainment attended local convention Ikkicon. There they would put on their first 3D concert, starring Pia and Xion.</p> <p>On 20 March, Xion would announce her departure from Kawa Entertainment, citing a shifting focus on her life. A week later, on March 29th, Kota would announce his departure as well, citing similar reasons.</p> <p>As part of an April Fool's joke, Kawa announced the members of their Generation 2, composed of three different versions of Merryweather. A day later, Kawa would announce the removal of the several Merrys.</p> <p>On 7 April, Kawa would announce that Generation 1 would be renaming from LunaVita to Kascade.</p> <p>Kawa would drop many hints on Generation 2, until they began a string of teaser tweets starting 28 April.</p> <p>Finally, on 2 May, Kawa Entertainment announced generation two, dubbed "Abyss". They are composed of PastaroniRavioli, <a href="/wiki/Kuromiya_Lucien" data-wiki-target="Kuromiya Lucien">Kuromiya Lucien</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Mino_Mieko" data-wiki-target="Mino Mieko">Mino Mieko</a>. Their redebuts under Kawa would be between on 2 May as a relay stream.</p> <p>On 1 August, Lulu would announce her departure from Kawa Entertainment.</p>

<p>On 11 January, Kawa announced that they would dissolve their talent branch due to staff not being able to address talent concerns. Individual talents would be able to continue streaming under their Vtuber personas after liquidation. Although the company will remain open for the foreseeable future selling merchandise.</p> <p>Talents later would say on stream that they were given less then 12 hours notice that the company would be closing down the talent branch. They were taken by surprise as they had been actively involved in discussions with Management regarding future projects. Additionally, they had recently completed a large Tetris Charity event and had just announced the opening of a new Kawa Minecraft server the day before.</p> <p>The news came unexpectedly, with some talents expressing gratitude for their time at the company while others felt disillusioned with the mismatch between promised opportunities and actual experiences. Talents indicated that Kawa had high ambitions and made promises, but ultimately did not achieve their intended goals.</p> <p>Several talents expressed that the Sony Concert that took place two months prior was the catalyst of their disappointment and frustration. The event was planned for several months but faced repeated delays. One talent mentioned that she had declined other concert opportunities in the past because she didn't feel her singing abilities were ready, so when she agreed to perform at the Sony concert, it was a significant moment for her. However, on the day of the event, the stage lighting was inadequate and the performers were unable to hear the audio for their songs, among other technical issues. The talent believed that these issues arose due staff not listening to talent input and the staff's tendency to take on more responsibilities than they could handle.</p> <p>Former talents had noted that they were not taken aback by the announcement and had speculated that it would have occurred sooner.</p> <p>During the Talents livestreams, talents conveyed a sense of lacking support beyond sporadic sponsorships, event appearances, and interactions with an overworked manager. In addition, talents mentioned undertaking graphic design work for the agency without compensation. One talent had already been planning to depart prior to the company's closure. Talents conveyed their appreciation and backing for their Manager at Kawa, despite the circumstances .</p> <p>The talents attributed the company's collapse to staff burnout and a shift in focus towards the more profitable merchandise aspect of the business. As a result of their experiences, most talents have opted to discontinue their collaboration with the merchandise branch.</p>