Hololive’s Usada Pekora surprises fans with return stream one month after hiatus

Hololive star Usada Pekora has surprised fans with the VTuber making her return from hiatus within just one month. The rabbit streamer took time off to help her vocal cords recover, and is slowly easing back into her schedule.

Usada Pekora has streamed basically non-stop since her debut back in July 2019. However, health issues started plaguing her near the tail end of her stint, with doctors forcing the star VTuber to take a hiatus to let her vocal cords rest.

While the streamer expected to be out of commission for months, she has surprised fans with an impromptu return stream on June 13 ⁠— four weeks after her send-off.

She joked she sounded as bright and chirpy as she did on her debut three years ago: “I’m finally back guys! I’m back with my refreshing voice… does my voice sound like when I had my debut stream?”

During her downtime, the rabbit picked up some hobby activities like running, as well as rested her voice. However, her recovery went by quickly ⁠— even if she herself felt like the month “was really long” ⁠— and she’s ready to ease back into her intense streaming schedule.

“I’ve been active for almost three years and I’ve barely taken any time off so my throat was very overused. There were times when my voice got pretty hoarse and eventually my body reached its limit,” she explained, according to a translation.

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“After two weeks I got examined again to see how it was progressing and the doctor said my throat was healing very quickly. After that examination he said I could try to get back to work and see how it goes, and now he’s said I can start working again and now here I am.”

Pekora underwent some training with an “old woman” who helped her manage her sore throat, giving her some tips and tricks to avoid the nodules in the future.

The risk of relapse is high, the streamer said, but Pekora has no intentions of slowing down or giving up her craft.

“If I keep streaming with this huge amount of energy all day and tomorrow my voice is dead and I go to get an examination, the possibility of being diagnosed with vocal cord nodules again does exist,” she said.

“As long as I make sure to take care, I can keep streaming. The doctor said that vocal cord nodules don’t disappear anyway, so I’m not going to give up streaming.”

Pekora’s one-hour return stream was watched by more than 500,000 viewers within 12 hours of going live. If you missed out, don’t worry ⁠— she said she’ll be back tomorrow, which got raucous applause on Twitter.