Former Hololive star Uruha Rushia has officially re-debuted on YouTube under her previous alias, Mikeneko. Rushia was dismissed from Hololive earlier in 2022 after breaching her contract with the star VTuber agency.
Uruha Rushia made headlines in February 2022 after the Hololive star had her contract with the agency suddenly terminated following a reported breach.
Cover Corp claimed the star, who had more than 1.5 million YouTube subscribers at the time, had “been distributing false information to third parties and…leaking information, including communications regarding business matters.”
It came after the star reportedly shared private information to clear her name regarding a relationship scandal with popular utaite ‘Mafumafu’.
The company stated her actions caused “reputational damage”, and she was removed as a result. The news not only shook the VTuber community, but her fellow Hololive idols like genmates Usada Pekora and Houshou Marine, and English talent Mori Calliope.
Two months on though, Rushia is opening up more to the public sphere by re-debuting as a VTuber under her old alias Mikeneko. While she had done the occasional stream since, the April 24 broadcast was her first with her new 2D model.
Mikeneko’s re-debut peaked at nearly 70,000 concurrent viewers during the April 24 stream. The two-hour recording has also been watched more than 1 million times within two days.
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The star did not talk much about her dismissal on broadcast, instead opting to talk to fans about her new model which is a return to the pink-hair catgirl form she once assumed. She later hopped onto Splatoon to play some games on stream in a different unlisted stream.
Mikeneko has managed to reclaim at least half of her fanbase since leaving Hololive. She currently sits at 811,000 YouTube subscribers and 442,000 Twitter followers — compared to 1.6 million and 1.1 million respectively while she was Uruha Rushia.
It comes after another controversy involving Mikeneko went around at the start of April, with impersonators in Genshin Impact claiming they were the streamer going around in co-op and verbally abusing other players.
The star asked others to report the copycats if they saw them join their world.