Banzoin Hakka’s Viewer Count Passes 20,000 Midstream, and He Suspects Bots

HOLOLIVE — Banzoin Hakka told viewers on Wednesday that his live count had jumped past 20,000 during a chat stream and that he suspected bots. “Am I getting botted? I am getting hella botted, aren’t I?” he said, then put his average at about 22,000. He said he had not noticed it happening, and he asked whoever was behind it not to bot people, calling it the worst thing you can do to a content creator. The number soon dropped back, and Hakka joked that he had fallen off.

The stream drew 72 Super Chats and Stickers, and many of them came from a trick that spread through chat. After one viewer paid with Google Play credit, others checked their accounts and did the same, and Hakka checked his own Google Play points on stream. “Free super chats, guys. Literal free super chats,” he said, and later declared that chat had “cracked the code.” He thanked senders by name as the messages piled up.

“Free super chats, guys. Literal free super chats.” — Banzoin Hakka, as viewers began paying with Google Play credit

Hakka opened by making an Instagram story, then settled into the talk: the start of fall, the humidity of a Japanese summer, and how winter in Japan ran into March. He said he moved there last November, so his one-year anniversary is near. He also spent a long stretch scrolling Twitter to “purify” his timeline, reading out fan art and retweeting it. Earlier he spoke to viewers who wrote in about losing or changing jobs, saying he wished he could hire every one of them and hoped they would find stable work.

He also talked about short covers. He said he has about eight finished and wants to bring them back, though a lack of instrumentals is the obstacle, and he floated an a cappella arrangement as a workaround.

Hakka said this was his last stream before the Haunted Moon mini 3D live, set for 8 p.m. PDT on Oct. 30, or noon JST on Oct. 31. He said he would record the next day and rest his voice the day after, with a waiting room stream to come, and that the event with its after-party should run about three hours. He closed by raiding another streamer and told viewers to share the live with its hashtag.