"Beyond ashamed": Pikamee Hogwarts Legacy controversy explained as Vtuber graduates

Amano Pikamee, a popular name in the Vtube community who is affiliated with VOMS Project, announced her retirement from the group following a recent break. VOMS Project shared the news on their official Twitter account on Wednesday, March 1.

The announcement of the Vtuber’s graduation came days after her recent break following the Hogwarts Legacy controversy. According to many netizens, the Vtuber was harassed for only wishing to play a video game without getting into political beliefs.

One user, @TheIshikawaRin, wrote that they learned about Amano's decision to retire and that all of her content will be deleted after that. They continued that it would be "shameful" if the sudden decision was prompted by the harassment she received for wanting to play Hogwarts Legacy.

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VOMS Project announced that Pikamee will terminate her activities on March 31

In their Twitter announcement regarding Amano's graduation, VOMS said:

“We discussed this with Pikamee herself and in respect of her wishes, we have decided to ‘graduate’ in a positive way.”

They mentioned that their upcoming VOMS PARK pop-up store will move forward as planned. It would act as their last event that would feature the streamer. They hoped that fans and viewers would continue to support Amano until her final day in the affiliation.

On February 7, 2023, Amano put out a tweet where she shared with her followers that she wished to play the Hogwarts Legacy video game. She declared that she would be streaming and shared the link to her live stream.

However, this was not well-received by many English-speaking viewers as they claimed that the Vtuber was supporting J.K. Rowling’s political notions. Many said that she was being transphobic by wanting to play the game.

Users flooded Amano’s pre-chat of her live stream's waiting room with criticism and hateful comments, compelling the Vtuber to take down the tweet. Pikamee also deleted the stream where she announced she was going to play the game.

She later wrote in a tweet that she only wanted to play the game. Amano further explained that playing the game did not mean she was supporting something specific. However, she later deleted that tweet as well.

Since the Hogwarts Legacy controversy, the Vtuber has been inactive on social media.

Amidst the backlash, many of her fans have also come to her support and sent her heartwarming messages. Some even pointed out the fact that the Vtuber had once shared with her subscribers that she was bullied in school.

But when she started her Vtuber journey in 2020 and connected with English-speaking viewers, she thought that it was a safe space for her.

However, Pikamee’s fans expressed disappointment over the fact that the Vtuber was horribly proven wrong and that she was harassed and bullied in what was supposed to be her safe space.

Many users also claimed that she was not harassed or bullied for wanting to play Hogwarts Legacy as there was no evidence of that since Amano deleted her tweets. They wrote that her decision to take a break from streaming and finally graduating was probably due to something that happened in the pre-chat.

The Vtuber posted a pre-recorded video on her channel on March 1, announcing that she would end all her Vtuber activities on her channel officially on March 31 and after that, her channel would be made private. She said:

“I, Amano Pikamee, will end all activities at the end of this month on March 31st, Japan time.”

She did not mention the exact reason behind her sudden decision.

Pikamee even deleted all of her content on Twitch. Amano also mentioned that her Twitter account will continue to exist, but will remain inactive. She thanked everyone for giving her channel so much love and support.