Introduction[]
I've touched on this concept before but I made the mistake of not giving this it's own post, as it should given the complexities of the topic at hand. Hololive lore and it's canon is a slippery slope that many don't want to tackle but I feel it's necessary to touch on if we are going to properly scale the verse and have a firm understanding of it. I've lightly explained it's canon here and here but this isn't really much considering that it's much more deeper a hole than just those two sections of those respective blogs.
This is going to be an overview of how canon should be treated in Hololive in general and not just in regards to scaling. This is going off of what is stated in series, how it's lore works and other things. Enough talking because we have a fuck-ton of ground to cover here
How Is Canon Treated By Hololive As A Company[]
Surprisingly, Hololive isn't really opaque when it comes to canon. What they essentially abide by is the idea of an "open" canon, meaning that anything and everything can be considered canon in some type of way. Omegaα stated this when asked a question
Omegaα outright says that there is no truth when it comes to canon and speculation regarding Hololive's inner lore and the likes. It's heavily encouraged by Omegaα that fans and creators alike speculate and come up with their own fan theories or interpretations to fill in the blanks regarding the series itself (this was specifically referring to Hololive EN but it applies to the rest of the series)
We have many instances where fan lore or creations become part of the "established" timeline. One of the best examples of this is Korone incorporating Evil God Korone (a fan horror game about Korone), with it being the explanation of how she was in prison, that being her answering for her crimes following the events of that game. This is just one example BTW, there's more I can present here, such as:
- Nene introducing the concept of Dark Nene into her streams, despite that being a fan cration
- The multitude of times that Haachama used fan stuff as a part of her Haachama/Haato arc
- Smol Ame being something original fan made becoming officially acknowledged both by management and Amelia herself
These are just two notable examples, I have more if people want it. The big kicker is this doesn't even apply to fan creations but The V-Tubers themselves can insert lore or things that fans believe can become a part of the lore, such as gags or memes. We have too many times for this to count, such as Amelia Watson adding the prospect that she's a time traveler into her lore despite that being nowhere originally mentioned or Moona being reveled to be a goddess despite just being a regular human in original lore (and said lore being approved per this music video).
I can really go on and on but the bottom line is Hololive is okay with the idea that canon isn't set and stone, meaning that just about anything can become canon if the V-Tubers themselves approve of it or incorporate it into themselves (or if management themselves also acknowledge it in their products, such as games, videos/animations and so on)
When Does Something Become Non-Canon[]
The time that something should be considered non-canon is if the administration of Hololive or the V-Tubers themselves dispel of it being true. So basically, if a V-Tuber says it's not true and doesn't accept it as being a part of their lore, streams or whatnot, then that can be considered truly "non-canon". Additionally, something not being mentioned doesn't make it not canon but just dubious, meaning that stuff not mentioned shouldn't be used for scaling purposes or be applied to lore beyond headcanon theories or the likes
We have examples of V-Tubers debunking things and or not accepting it as being a part of their lore. One such example is that idea that IRyS is the child of Kanata and Towa, something that none of those three actually apply as a part of their lore. The deal here is that if it is denied then it isn't canon and if it isn't mention, then it's dubious and shouldn't be used for anything unless it's your headcanon or a fan theory
Where Do Crossovers Come Into This[]
I've already touched on this before but to keep things simple. Yes, even crossovers can be considered a part of Hololive's lore. Typically it's one-sided as the events or series is typically acknowledged by Hololive's end but not the other but this isn't always the case. For example, Dawn of The Breakers (something we use for scaling) is literally a part of Hololive's widder reality and we know this considering Roboco literally walks from our "Virtual World" (referring to The Hololive World) to Dawn of Breaker's own multiverse or how about things such as Azur Lane and Disgaea, which both use parallel universes (as Hololive is a multiverse BTW) to explain how V-Tubers can end up in their world, with Azur Lane explaining that The Sirens summoned V-Tubers from another dimension and Disgaea mentioning V-Tubers reincarnating into a different universe
Just recently, Hololive also confirmed that Dr.Strange of Marvel's Cinematic Universe (which BTW, should be the real one considering this was a promotion event that had the license of Marvel and Hololive was being payed to mention/promote Marvel) can just waltz all into Hololive's world through portals. Once again implying connectivity in some fashion. The general gist of what I'm trying to convey here is that often times these crossovers are explained through means that imply Hololive is part of those realities in some way and that they shouldn't be treated as non-canon (especially since the events are mentioned often times and also cause Hololive's "open lore" situation)
Does This Mean Hololive Is Canon To Everything[]
Absolutely not and the thing is that all implications that come with this is that Hololive shares a same REALITY as these verses but not the SAME COSMOLOGY. In other words, these verses exist in tandem with Hololive but aren't actually Hololive's cosmology itself, as all the series I mentioned here have their own established cosmologies that would contradict one another if we really applied them together and treated them as the same
What this means is that characters have to travel to these cosmologies themselves and the extend of connectivity they have is basically same general reality but not the same multiverses (back in the day, we'd call this a Megaverse or some shit). So no, this doesn't suddenly mean that all the cosmologies scale to one another and some of that jazz, it just means they have the same reality and theoretically speaking, if Laharl of Disgaea wanted to go to Hololive, he could but would have to travel to another multiverse to do so like Dr.Strange did
Conclusions[]
Hololive canon can be complicated and I hope I explained how it should be treated. I know it sounds crazyy and it kinda is but that's just how Hololive operates and I don't make the rules. Anyways, the one thing I want to be taken away from this is Hololive basically has no defined canon and it's canon can be anything that the V-Tubers, Creators and even Fans want it to be potentially. So yeah, that's all