Hololive's Nerissa Ravencroft Talks about Frieren, Naruto, and Her Family Streams

Recently, Anime News Network video editor Stephen Shin sat down with Hololive's Nerissa Ravencroft and talked about Frieren, Naruto, her family streams, and more. We also discussed her favorite Hololive songs, her own songs within the company, and her history as a singer. She also talked about her bond with the rest of her genmates in Hololive Advent.

Were you classically trained in singing before joining Hololive?

Nerissa Ravencroft: Yes, I actually was. I got my start singing as a little demon by joining the choir. I was really interested in singing, but I hadn't really ever, like, done it because I was pretty young and my mom kind of forcibly signed me up. At the time, I was going through an emo phase like “Ugh, joining choir? So lame.” And of course, that became my life for the rest of my school years, and I loved it. I ended up investing in some lessons as well and doing all the extra choir. So not only was I in the actual school choir, but then I was in all the auditioned choirs, the traveling choir, the show choirs, and the musical theater. I ended up kind of doing it all and getting training to hone my skill a bit from there out.

You have a particular skill when it comes to adapting Japanese lyrics to English. Did that come in handy when it came to writing your own songs?

Nerissa Ravencroft: Yes and no. I'd say it's both a help and a hindrance. Writing trans-lyrics is nice because the idea is already there. You kind of have to put in the work of dissecting the song that already exists and has a deep meaning, and then creating it in English and trying to get the same kind of thoughts across. But the ideas are already there. You just have to work on making sure that it fits the English speech pattern, that it rhymes, you know, things like that.

But when writing my own lyrics, it's like there are so many possibilities because I have to write them. So I have to pull into my own head and say, “What message am I trying to tell?” And a lot of times it's really difficult for me because I'm so used to translating other people's thoughts in lyrics and lyrical poetry. So it becomes kind of difficult for me because I'm like, “Oh, I have to share what I'm thinking now? Oh goodness!” But definitely in terms of different things like writing within a top line that sometimes is written for Japanese or is a very Japanese top line, or when it comes to rhyme schemes and stuff like that. It's definitely very, very helpful.

What are your Top Five Favorite Hololive Songs?

Nerissa Ravencroft: I'd have to say Calliope Mori's “End of a Life”. It's just a classic. It's so iconic. It is such a deep song that I can really resonate with. So that's been one of my favorite songs that came out just irrefutably.

Towa Tokoyami senpai's “Anemone”, I really like that one as well. I actually sang it on my birthday live last year. It's just such a good song. It's by Yuyoyuppe. So I mean, it can't be beat. It's more of that kind of rock style. And has a nice deep meaning.

Recently, my senpai, Takanashi Kiara, has released an album, and one of the songs on it is “Manifest”. It references the Ode to Joy. As a classical music lover, that got me. It's just such a good song. I love the message.

When it comes to my senpai, Houshou Marine, I think I'd have to pick “Unison” just because it's the one that first got her kind of on my radar and got me really interested in her and falling in love with her. It's such a unique song composition-wise.

Last but not least, there's “Stellar Stellar” by Hoshimachi Suisei senpai. It's just unbeatable. It's such a classic. It's such a good meaning. I love it so much.

You've also collaborated with Ama Lee, the English voice of Marin Kitagawa, for a cover of Blink Gone from Alien Stage. Would you happen to be a fan of that series?

Nerissa Ravencroft: Yes. I mean, who isn't a fan of Alien Stage in the year 2026, right? It's very thought-provoking. I remember when it first started coming out because I've actually been a fan of VIVINOS for a while now, with their series Pink Bitch Club. So when Alien Stage started coming out, I was like, “Oh, of course I got to watch the new VIVINOS!” and then it just absolutely blew up. It's such a good series.

You've gone on almost entire streams talking about Naruto. How did Naruto in particular resonate with you over other Shonen?

Nerissa Ravencroft: So I have to start at the beginning, I feel like. I have been watching anime for a very long time. My dad would actually bring home anime, so when I was very young, I was watching things like Slayers, Rurouni Kenshin, and even Sailor Moon. I didn't really acknowledge that these were “different” than anything else that was on TV. I just thought they were awesome. I probably was too young to be watching them, mind you. But I was like, “These are amazing!” But I never saw stuff like that on TV until I started watching Naruto in which I was like, “Oh! Oh my God, this awesome thing is airing on Cartoon Network!” and because I had previously only really watched anime with my dad, it was so special to me because, in a way, it kind of felt like it was mine.

It was new. It was airing. It was so good. The English dub is so good for Naruto too. It's insane. Being able to just watch it every single week when it was airing, having to go through that process of something I feel doesn't exist as much nowadays, because anime is so easily accessible now. I can just wait until it's all on Crunchyroll and then binge it. But I had to wait every single week. My sisters would watch it with me. One of my best friends was also watching it, so we'd all get to talk about it. It was a super long and fun process that, if the show hadn't been as good, it probably would still be really iconic to me because of that. But it is also just such a good show. All the characters, I feel, are so relatable in different ways, especially if you're in the age range of the characters.

Like, Sakura Haruno? Sometimes you can watch her now and be like, “Oh, she's a little... she's overreacting.” But then you remember, “Oh yeah, she's literally like 12-13.” So, actually, it kind of makes sense that she's acting like that. Same with Naruto. He starts out as a spoiled brat, and you have to see him really… Well, not so much spoiled. Maybe that's the wrong word, but he acts like it, despite being a very sad character. You watch him kind of grow up into this more mature character who just has so much love to give the world and the people around him, and he's always encouraging others. The characters are so good, the story is so good. I love it very much. I've started reading the manga recently, because I want to get the true experience as well, since I've already seen the anime twice.

Speaking of recent anime, I just saw on Twitter recently that you just got into Frieren. You've also gone on long diatribes about The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. How do you feel about Frieren compared to other fantasies?

Nerissa Ravencroft: One thing I love about Frieren in the current zeitgeist of anime is I feel like every fantasy anime these days is like…not every one, but the vast majority of them are Isekai. So they don't care too much about building an actual world around the characters, right? They just kind of like create a fantasy world number 1002 and throw a main character who was dissatisfied with his life and d*ed or somehow got transported, and now he's super-overpowered. It's just kind of the same trope reused over and over again.

So seeing something like Frieren where there is no isekai, it's just a fantasy. It only takes place in a fantasy world. All the characters have existed here their whole life. It really gives this chance for the story to kind of flourish where it's actually telling a fantasy story that's not too focused on… I don't want to say any one person, because obviously it's very centered on Frieren herself. But at the same time, there's still this big focus on Stark, on Fern, on Himmel. You're not just getting any one character's overpowered perspective the whole entire time, you know what I'm saying?

When it comes to something like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, both series are very high fantasy, right? Both of them are very different series inherently. One is during wartime, but Tolkien has this very light feeling. There are lots of times when they take breaks from the journey, and something small is happening. I would even argue that it's kind of similar to Studio Ghibli in a way. You just have the characters walking through the forest, and then they're singing a song. There are a lot of moments like that despite the greater plot going on. As for Game of Thrones, it's very dark and gritty.

Frieren is almost more in the Tolkien direction, but even more so Studio Ghibli, where there's just a lot of these quiet moments where the characters aren't really doing anything important… but that's the point. Like they're just sitting around, doing nothing, but also helping the people around them and going on these miscellaneous adventures that might seem meaningless if you're really into action or really need something to be happening all the time. But it's just so interesting because it's so slow. It's almost like a slice of life, except they are working to a greater plot. Something is going on and it's really just using these quiet moments to really teach you about the characters, kind of what makes them tick, and the kind of people that they are. I love that feeling so much because I'm like, “Oh my goodness, the characters are just so lovable.” So getting to sit with them, I'm like… I hope this anime goes on forever.

I mean, another series that aired around a similar time that I would put along those lines would be Delicious in Dungeon.

Nerissa Ravencroft: Yes! I haven't gotten to see that one yet, but I've heard so many good things. So I need to watch it.

Oh, I get the feeling you'll like Marcille.

Nerissa Ravencroft: I love food. I love fantasy.

Let's talk about the family streams. To be clear, Hololive talents have brought in their family before (Pekomama). But it's quite an achievement to have debuted everyone in the house. How did this happen?

Nerissa Ravencroft: Well, the difficulty for me was at the time I was living with my family and… My family is very loving, and I say this with love, but they're very loud. So I was like, “You know, I feel like it's going to be hard to hide the fact that I'm living with my family,” because you can hear them all the time. So I was like, “Okay, a way that I can avoid having just not mentioning my family when probably inevitably someone's going to burst into my room while I'm streaming, I'm just going to introduce them all!” So I'm like, “Yes, I have a mom, I have a dad, I have two sisters, I have a brother, I have two grandmas.”

But it kind of ended up turning into a bit more because I think my fans were really interested in them. They're like, “Oh, you keep telling us about your family. Why don't we meet them? When are we going to get to meet them?” And I'm like, “Oh, you know, that's a good point.” And I kind of viewed it from the perspective of, you know, I love my family. We're not always going to be living like this. They won't always be around. There are times when we're very vast differences apart or, you know, everyone kind of moves on. So it's like, maybe apart from it being a fun kind of stream idea, it's a nice way to be able to make memories with my family. And, you know, by having them on my stream, it's a good experience for them. The fans love it. It's something that's kind of immortalized online.

I can go back and look at this funny stream me, and my mom did, this funny stream me and my dad did. My brother doesn't like to sing very much, but I got him to come to my karaoke. So now, I can just kind of go listen to him sing whenever I miss him, you know? So, for me, along with it being like a fun idea, it's kind of this really fantastic memory of my family and these times when we're able to be very, very, very close with each other.

Let's talk about your other family then: Advent. I've always admired this sense of camaraderie you came to the table with. It felt like even if you had different dreams and goals, you always found time to meet again throughout the year. So how did you get to know each other?

Nerissa Ravencroft: We knew each other in the cell, so we got to get very close before debut. There was lots of time for us to kind of talk. And I think especially when we knew we were going to be debuting within Hololive, it became a dream. I really loved Hololive for a long time, so being able to be here and then being set with these amazing genmates? We're all just excited, we're all waiting for our debut. I think we all have to talk and bond a lot before our debuts. So it kind of helped because we got a good sense of who one another is, and we got to really build up our bonds before we properly debuted. We have different goals, of course, but I think our goals kind of all lead to similar paths.

So it ends up making it really easy to work together, because we all want the same things. We're able to really come together and say, “Okay, let's work towards it! Let's do this! Let's lock in! Come on, Advent!” It also does help that we all get along fantastically. So it makes it really easy to message any of them. It'll be like, “I miss you! Let's do this! Oh, when are you going to be in Japan?” You know, stuff like that, and making plans, hanging out, even just casually. I hang out with all of the girls way more than I stream with them individually. I just love them so much.

I've got to say, there have been some out-of-pocket quotes that some of the members have made throughout the year. Was there a specific quote where it just made you go like, “I can't believe she said that!” on stream?

Nerissa Ravencroft: There have been so many times where I've just been streaming with Shiori or watching Shiori stream, and she just says something. Same with Gigi, whenever they are streaming. They'll just say these things that stop me in my tracks, and I'm like, “What am I listening to? Wait a minute!” They're so funny, though. Both of them are very quotable.

For me, one that immediately comes to mind is Koseki Bijou. I won't say the full quote, but it's the one where she goes, “Why would you go to the doctor? It costs money.”

Nerissa Ravencroft: *laughs* I RELATE! Honestly, yeah!

Is there something you want to achieve in the long term in Hololive, no matter what?

Nerissa Ravencroft: I really love singing, and I also really love voice acting. I think it's because I come from a stage background as well, and I'm just able to put life into a character. And of course I'm a big fan of anime and games and stuff, so I think it'd be great to keep making original music and covers, share them with the world, and have people like them a lot. That's definitely one of my big goals, but I'd also really like to do more voice-over.

Nerissa Ravencroft's original song “Blue World” composed by Persona's Shoji Meguro:

Check out the Full Video Interview below: