Nice to Meet You! — Thya's Path and Journey

Since Live2D first launched, it's been through countless version changes, and now, having received such a warm invitation from Soda, I found myself flipping back through the old photo albums in my memory, and everything came rushing back so vividly.

Back at the end of 2019, both the use of L2D and the whole VTuber industry still felt like newborn babies, just starting to sprout in an art scene already packed with talented people — this wild new tech that let you breathe expression and motion into a character using code, weaving between 3D and 2D, and it got such widespread love and hype from everyone who used it.

L2D was genuinely brilliant, but in its early versions, the somewhat unpolished features and clunky workflow drew plenty of criticism too. Concepts like masking and four-corner deformation were just barely getting off the ground back then, and opinions online were all over the place. Still, plenty of sharp-eyed pioneers had already caught a glimpse of the magic hiding in L2D even in its rough early days — its depth and long-term potential kept pulling in wave after wave of talented people.

The first time I really got to know Soda's work, I was completely floored by his "Ramen Girl" — the lively expressions and smooth transitions between poses had me genuinely amazed. So on my own journey after that, I ended up making a piece called "Tomie." At the time I barely understood how to actually use L2D, but somehow that piece went on to get shown by Soda and ended up surprisingly popular (I only found out last month! Soda really is something else!) — and honestly, I felt so proud.

Getting this unexpected chance to catch Soda's eye and become part of SODAART was honestly beyond anything I could've hoped for. Starting today, I'm doubling down and working even harder, hoping the studio keeps overflowing with energy — and I truly believe that before long, SODAART is going to branch out and grow into something that shelters and shades so many more.