Houshou Marin (Marine) - VTuber

Houshou Marine is one of the five different VTubers from Hololive Japan’s 3rd Generation and debuted along with other VTubers like Usada Pekora, Shirogane Noel, Uruha Rushia, and Shiranui Flare. Through her passion for singing, art, and otaku culture, Marine has gained a substantial following in the VTuber community.

Houshou Marine Background

While some VTubers are known specifically for playing certain types of games, Marine can be seen hosting karaoke and drawing streams on top of playing video games.

Houshou Marine History

Houshou Marine made her YouTube debut on August 11th, 2019, and made herself known as the self-proclaimed captain of the Houshou Pirates. Two days before her official debut, Marine’s YouTube channel reached over 10,000 subscribers, a feat that took members from older generations at least a month to achieve. By the end of 2019, she had reached 100,000 subscribers. In early 2020, Marine revealed her New Year’s outfit, a 3D model of her avatar, and doubled her subscriber count. In the following months, Marine would continue quickly blowing past major subscriber milestones, often during karaoke streams. She would eventually become one of the few VTubers to gain over a million subscribers, which she did on January 18th, 2021.

Houshou Marine Physical Description

Marine is a 17-year-old girl with red hair. Unlike most VTubers, Marine has different colored eyes. Her left eye matches her red hair, but her right eye is a golden shade of yellow. Her original outfit is heavily inspired by the stereotypical pirate captain’s garb. This includes a light, sleeveless red dress with a red and white pleated skirt. She also has a black, red, and gold captain’s coat that she wears around her arms, which make its sleeves fall loosely over her hands. Her yellow eye is also often covered by a black eyepatch, though it can be removed if desired. Her hair is also worn in twin tails and topped with an extravagant pirate’s hat.

Marine also has two alternate outfits that she can use with her 2D avatar. The first is a New Year’s outfit that many Hololive members get around the end of the year after their debut. Marine’s original red pirate captain’s outfit is exchanged for a white dress with a white, black, and gold outer layer that is lined with white fur and worn much like her captain’s jacket. Her hair is also worn in a ponytail that is tied with a big, white bow and decorated with a purple flower. Her second alternate uniform was released along with new costumes for Shirogane Noel, Murasaki Shion, and Yuzuki Choco and are all based on gothic fashion.

Houshou Marine Personality

Houshou Marine is an often energetic and excitable character that is often quick to act without thinking things through all the way. Although she insists that she be called “Senchou” (the Japanese word for “captain”), she has no ship or crew to her name, which has resulted in some people teasing her by calling her a simple pirate cosplayer, much to her dismay. There are also many times where Marine flirts with her audience, giving her a reputation for being quite lewd at times. This, as well as her lack of youthful physical energy and suspicious familiarity with early 2000 internet culture, has led many to believe that she is older than she insists she is. Either way, Marine is also said to be incredibly skilled in social situations and, as such, can be incredibly considerate when with others.

Associated Company

Houshou Marine is one of the many VTubers that are produced and managed by Hololive Production. This VTuber agency is one of the largest in the world and currently manages over fifty individual VTubers that speak several languages from around the world. Although Hololive Japan is the agency’s largest branch, Hololive also has branches for Indonesian and English-speaking parts of the world. Many members often hold their own individual live streams on their respective channels, though the agency also organizes larger events and collaborations for their VTubers as well.

Notable Releases

While Marine often plays games on her channel, her unique experience with art and otaku culture have led to several drawing streams and karaoke streams that focus on anisongs (songs related to anime, Vocaloid, and other examples of otaku culture).

Drawing Streams

One particularly notable skill of Marine’s is her ability to draw art at a nearly professional level. Marine often draws other Hololive members, but sometimes creates illustrations for other VTubers and characters from the Touhou Project, a franchise that Marine particularly enjoys. Marine also holds collaborative drawing streams as well, where several VTubers come together to draw on the same page. As of April 2021, her most popular drawing stream was held on March 21st, 2021, and has her creating an illustration of Mori Calliope from Hololive English.

Anisong Karaoke Streams

Due to her experience with anime and general otaku culture, Marine usually hosts weekly or bi-weekly karaoke streams that focus mainly on songs that originate from anime series, Vocaloid, and video games. Her extensive knowledge of older otaku franchises along with other aspects of her character have caused other VTubers and Hololive fans to believe she is much older than what she claims she is. Since these anisong karaoke streams happen quite regularly, they have become somewhat of a staple on Marine’s channel and include some of her most popular streams.