Brat Energy: Interviewing Kanisalad on Cosplay, Dance, and Hakos Baelz
Cosplay has so many layers to it (both figuratively and literally). Some cosplayers focus on creating props like weapons or accessories. Other cosplayers focus on working on wigs, outfits, etc. Others focus on the utility of their cosplay, making sure it’s comfortable and flexible for multi-purpose use, including dancing in those cosplays. Some do a combination of all these things and more!
Within the hololive community, certain cosplayers become familiar through finding a niche within a niche, like making huge, cool weapons that match their hololive cosplays, or dancing in those same cosplays to original music made by the talents they portray. Through social media content, dance videos, convention appearances, and fan meetups, cosplayers can bring their oshis and the VTubers they portray to life in the real world.
For our eighth guest in this Interview series, we’re excited to welcome Kanisalad (@kanisalad_tried), a prominent cosplayer, dancer, and Brat well known for her intricate weapon props and dance videos to hololive music, especially to Hakos Baelz’s music, tackling some of her most demanding choreography.
From creating her Peko RPG prop in 2023, to amassing a full arsenal of weapon props for Fauna, Bae, Calli, and more, Kanisalad’s weapon builds have become as much a signature as her dancing. In this interview, we explore her journey as a cosplayer, dancer, and agent of Chaos in the hololive community, as well as dive deeper into her character and some of the behind the scenes that she hasn’t quite delved into on social media.
hololive TODAY / hT:
Welcome, Kanisalad! Thank you so much for taking the time to interview with us at hololive TODAY. You’re our eighth guest in this interview series, and we’re really happy to have you here!
Kanisalad:
Thank you so much for having me! Wow eighth guest? What a lucky number! I am honored.
hT:
To start things off, could you tell us a bit about yourself? When did you first become involved with hololive and the hololive community, and what initially drew you in?
Kanisalad:
Wassup!! I am Kanisalad. A permanently exhausted rose trapped in uh… in a cosplay dungeon?
ANYWAY- My first exposure to hololive was seeing a Gura stream playing on a friend’s computer and asking him what it was. Bro took that as an opportunity to drag a friend down the rabbit hole and I got bombarded with Hololive MVs and clips.
Calli’s “Excuse My Rudeness, But Could You Please RIP?” was one of the first videos shown to me, which to this day is still one of my favorite Calli songs (sorry Calli…). When they showed me Bae’s God-ish performance from 4th Fes I knew it was over- I’m diving deep into this rabbit (rat) hole.
From then I went to Suisei’s concert at ANYC in 2023 and sat right behind Jinro and Pong. Now imagine a brand new fan watching two absolutely decked out veteran fans cheer with the most incredible energy the entire concert… like that’s contagious. They were super nice and introduced me to the world of Holofes/Expo, EN concerts, the online community, etc. So yea, here I am! Shoutout to Jinro and Pong!
hT:
Who in hololive is your oshi, and why? What's one stream, video, song, or any piece of content of theirs that you absolutely love?
Kanisalad:
My oshi is Chaos. The end of ends. A steel rose trapped in a cage of ice. Your best friend BAELZ HAKOS from Hololive English Promise. WITNESS HER!!!
There are too many reasons why she is my oshi-
Her dancing? Crazy.
Her singing? Crazy.
Her stage presence? Crazy.
Bae is just so passionate about.. everything honestly. She’s not afraid to try out different styles of dancing and is constantly challenging herself with every performance. This rat simply does not settle for good enough. Everything Bae has cooked up - choreographies, covers, original songs, even memes, have been 5 star Michelin quality. Seeing Bae work hard makes me want to work hard too.
And she’s silly.
And she’s cute.
Bae butt.
As a dancer I’m always looking forward to Bae’s 3d live performances. My top three favorites are ReCOLOR- Snake Eyes, Promise 2 You- Addiction, and Kagura Dance of Gods- Ashura-chan.
In terms of songs, aside from the obvious Snake Eyes (STREAM SNAKE EYES), I also love MESS. “Just what is my life?” SAME BAE, SAME.
TLDR: There’s this Aussie rat she alright.
hT:
For viewers who might not be familiar with you yet, could you tell us about the kind of content you create in the hololive community?
Kanisalad:
My posts are all over the place- cosplay reveals, dance covers, silly/cursed shorts, plushie shenanigans, food adventures with egg bae, and more to come in the future!
I think most people associate the name ‘kanisalad’ with cosplays and dance covers. I’d love for everyone to see the silly content too! Heh heh heh…..
hT:
I do remember seeing one of your other sillier posts, the one where you're wearing the jailbird onesie doing the freaky tongue thing! Did you mod that tongue in yourself?
Kanisalad:
Haha yes I added the mouth, beak, and heart cheek as soon as I got the onesie! The modifications are detachable so jailbird onesie can still go back to normal, but to this day it is still in ~freaky~ mode.
hT:
Also, if you had to choose one social media post—either a cosplay, a dance cover, or something else—to introduce yourself to someone discovering your work, which one would it be?
Kanisalad:
Soooo…. I’m going to break the rule and pick two posts because there are two very different sides of kanisalad.
First one is the Bae-daki slap low video. This is the most accurate representation of kanisalad in her natural habitat. It features a handcrafted cosplay, some cursed dance moves, and one perfectly timed booty slap.
Second pick is the bbno$ dance challenge video. This is the video where I tried to one-to-one match Bae’s version of the dance challenge. It took 17 takes and a long battle with rat tail to create this post!
hT:
Speaking of your cosplays, let’s dive a bit into that! Some of your earliest hololive cosplays include RPG Pekora at Anime NYC 2023, as well as Sniper Fauna, Grenade launcher Bae, and Scythe Gun Calli the following year. Given these were some of your first cosplays in the space, what do you remember about those experiences?
Kanisalad:
I remember having the ambition but absolutely zero skills to make the Peko RPG. The learning process was actually very fun and painting the RPG was surprisingly therapeutic. I honestly did not expect the RPG Pekora cosplay to be so well received at ANYC so after that experience I decided to dive deeper into making weapon props. I actually started planning my ANYC’24 cosplays a month after ANYC’23 because I was so excited to make more props.
ANYC’24 was very special because Hololive fans from all over the world were gathered there for Soar and Breaking Dimensions. I used to be pretty reserved and found it difficult to start conversations with strangers. But my cosplay props were great conversation starters and I think that helped me meet a lot of amazing Hololive fans. The Baegemite Launcher received so many compliments, especially about how canonically accurate it was for Bae, and I got a chance to JDON with Brats at Soar (my first Brats group photo!). Sniper Fauna apparently had a thread online trying to figure out who the cosplayer was so I was approached many times for my socials. My friend who was helping me carry stuff jokingly said he should tape a QR code on his head next year. Double Scythe Calli got a comment from Mori Calliope herself! I remember jumping around when I saw Calli’s comment Monday morning, there was no better way to conclude that ANYC weekend.
hT:
All of those cosplays have something in common: really awesome looking weapon props.
I’ve seen some of your other works too like with Biboo and her katana, Nerissa and her tuning fork, Suisei’s futuristic gun, Bae’s steel rose outfit with another gun, and more!
What’s the thought process behind designing these weapons, and what’s it like actually building them? Do you have a favorite among them?
Kanisalad:
The thought process for Peko’s RPG was simply ‘wouldn’t it be funny if I built this’. So I stole the tiny RPG from Pekora figure as a reference and learned how to use eva foam and pvc pipes to make the prop.
The Baegemite launcher, Fauna sniper, and Steel Rose Mondragon are all original designs. For Baegemite launcher, I used to main Junkrat in Overwatch so the idea of giving Bae a grenade launcher came from that. Bae’s ambition to spread vegemite to the world gave me the inspiration for the design of the grenade launcher as well as the name - Baegemite launcher. For Fauna the idea came from her Hitman streams where she mentioned liking silent sniper rifles. I think I looked up “what is the longest handheld sniper rifle” and picked a base model that was replicable with eva foam. And for Steel Rose Mondragon, I give Bae a steel rose themed Mondragón rifle since her outfit was inspired by Tanya the Evil and Tanya uses the Mondragón rifle for combat. Quite a bit of research went into designing each of these props since I had minimal knowledge on weapons. Needless to say, my search history does NOT look good…
For Calli’s scythe gun, Biboo’s katana, Nerissa’s tuning fork, and Suisei’s railgun, I wanted to challenge myself to learn new skills and test out different ways to make props. Calli’s scythe gun is the first convertible prop I made. It took a long time to design how I wanted the prop to unfold and what type of hinges to use. There was quite a bit of trial and error for the hinge near the scythe blade. I tried out different door hinges and jewelry box hinges but they didn’t fold correctly. Then I was dusting my house one day and realized the hinge on a swiffer duster, like the part that controls the angle you want, was PERFECT for the scythe so I literally cut away at my swiffer duster to make the hinge.
Biboo’s katana was the first time I used resin and LED for a prop. I made my own mold out of acrylic sheets and cardboard and hand sanded the katana. The hand sanding was an exercise, if I ever work with resin again I’m definitely investing in a sander. Nerissa’s tuning fork and wings had to travel to Japan so making collapsible props that can survive plane travel and clear customs was the biggest challenge. I remember packing so much bubble wrap in my suitcase I barely had room for all the snacks I bought from Japan, but everything made it to and back from Japan without any damage! Suisei’s railgun was the first time I used plastazote and attempted airbrushing. Did you know you’re supposed to deep clean the airbrush after each session? I totally didn’t and my airbrush no longer works…oops! The Suisei railgun is probably the most intricate weapon prop I’ve made to this day, but who knows, maybe I’ll make a crazier one in the future!
My favorite prop is still the Baegemite launcher, it is the first prop I designed and it is for Bae, so it will always have a special place in my heart!
TLDR thought process: I want cute girls to have large weapons. I give them large weapons.
hT:
Let’s touch on your dancing content! One of your earliest hololive dance covers was posted around Anime NYC 2024. It was a Fauna cosplay reveal and you were dancing to Breaking Dimensions. And you mentioned you hadn’t danced in three years before that! What made you, in that moment, jump back into dancing?
Kanisalad:
So I stopped dancing due to a foot injury and then work got crazy busy during covid (ah the joys of working in healthcare). I had always wanted to get back into dancing but didn’t feel motivated… until I watched Bae’s God-ish performance from 4th fes. I could feel my muscles itching to dance with Bae, like I was twitching a bit every time she hit a move. That performance re-triggered my passion for dance.
Finding time to dance took awhile because I started making cosplays and props around the same time and that took away all my free time. I didn’t have a chance to learn new dances until after I finished making ANYC’24 cosplays and since I had to try on these cosplays before the con, why not do a couple of dance covers in them too?
hT:
You mentioned in that same cover that dancing in cosplay is not just hard, but also terrifying! And as someone who has never really cosplayed nor danced in cosplay myself, I can only imagine. But fast forward to your recent covers, like Bae’s version of the bbno$ dance challenge, and you make it look effortless.
With more experience under your belt, how do you balance choreography, especially some of the crazier routines like Bae’s songs, with the cosplays you wear?
Kanisalad:
I am glad the bbno$ dance looked effortless because I was secretly dying under the mask hahahahaha…
My monochrome dancer Bae cosplay was specifically made to withstand any form of dancing, as evident in the ‘how to test fit a Hakos Baelz cosplay’ video. I chose stretchy fabrics for the base and made some pieces detachable so I can toss the base pieces in the wash after turning into a stinky rat from dancing. All accessories are tightly secured with velcro or elastic. Ears and wig are pinned to my hair under the wig cap, and the tail has been upgraded over the years to sway better with dance moves. You can literally YEET me and nothing will fall off!
As for other dance covers I usually do closet cosplays so they are more comfortable to dance in. I’ve also gotten better at choosing cosplays that are dance friendly, like EGO Kiara, over the ones that restrict movement, like Reaper Ollie, for dance covers. But in general all of my cosplays go through a twerking test - basically I twerk and flap around like an idiot to make sure nothing shifts drastically or falls off, and then I reinforce and repeat the process until everything is secure.
OOOORRR. I just don’t balance…see outtake of Oyome♡holic dance cover…
hT:
Speaking of dancing and how you first got into hololive, I'd like to introduce a special segment in the hololive TODAY Interview series, where we invite a previous interviewee to ask you, our current guest, a question of their own! Umiboshi wants to know the following:
“Kani my favorite brat! You’ve really built up your reputation as a wonderful cosplayer and a wonderful dancer, so my question to you is this: If the version of you today met the version of you when you started getting into hololive, what would you say? What kind of conversation would that be?
P.S. When we filming our next dance cover? 👀”
Kanisalad:
Umbo! My favorite black tanktop— I mean… Sui mochi guy! I have a list of dance challenges we could do. Holofes? Next EN concert?
To answer your question:
Today Kani: hey past Kani what are you looking at?
Past Kani: well I’m looking at the living room should I do a Japandi style tea area or -
Today Kani: plushie wall.
Past Kani: wha..? Anyway and wouldn’t it be cool if we had a pool table in the basement-
Today Kani: cosplay dungeon.
Past Kani: a cosplay what???? I mean I was going to buy some eva foam and make this Peko RPG….
Today Kani: you’ll need wayyyy more than one roll. Just stock up while it’s cheaper.
Past Kani: I don’t-
Today Kani: Shhhhhh- just trust me.
Okay now for the real answer. I think it would be a very healing conversation for today Kani. I would probably confide to past Kani some of the struggles and insecurities I’ve been having lately. Am I putting out enough dance covers or cool cosplays? Am I actually good enough or just an imposter (I know you hate it when I say that word Umbo)? Do I deserve the likes and positive comments when there are so many better dancers and cosplayers out there? I think past Kani would be encouraging, she’d tell me just do what’s fun because that’s the only thing that mattered to past Kani when she first started cosplaying. Past Kani would honestly be surprised by how many things I’ve accomplished in the past three years because I used to be someone who says ‘eh I’ll get to it in the future’ all the time.
After a couple of pretty cocktail drinks and chitchatting about why past Kani’s hopes for a minimalistic Japandi style home will never happen, we’re ready to part ways. And that is when I drop the ‘oh by the way, Bae follows me on twitter. Bye!’
-Mic drop-
-Dramatic hair flip-
-Walks away-
Past Kani: ‘….WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’VE BEEN SPIRALING YOU HAVE NO REASON TO YOU LITTLE SH—‘
hT:
Between making weapon props, dancing, making other, sillier content, and being a part of the hololive community, is there something about yourself you’ve discovered that surprised you?
Kanisalad:
The lengths I would go to turn a vision I have into reality. The best example would be the Reaper Ollie cosplay. I envisioned myself wearing it for Synchronize and wanted the wings and bone details on her outfit to glow just like they did in Ollie’s live. I actually dropped the project once thinking it’s impossible but I couldn’t get that vision out of my mind so I picked it back up two months later and was determined to make the impossible possible. The wig took 4 failed attempts before it worked out. Wing attachment/ weight distribution also went through multiple alterations. While in the end I didn’t wear it on the day of Synchronize so no one actually saw the glow in the dark part in person, I think it was worth all the work because Ollie really liked the cosplay!
hT:
Earlier in the interview, you mentioned first getting into hololive through a friend’s computer, and you also gave Jinro and Pong a shoutout, veteran fans in the space that introduced you to this vibrant online community. Have there been other moments like that, connecting with fellow fans in the space, that stuck with you?
Kanisalad:
There was one particular moment I still think about and it still puts a smile on my face. In 2023 my Taiwan trip coincidently lined up with the Hololive collab at Animate cafe in Taipei so I got a chance to check it out. Now we know the drill with these collabs - random coasters and random postcards. I had pulled a Watame postcard and two girls sitting near me asked if I was willing to trade since one of them was a Wata-mate. Now it was a great trade for me because they offered me Bae, but the Wata-mate still drew a chibi Bae for me as a thank you. I still have that chibi Bae drawing and cherish it. It might sound like a small gesture, but being a new fan at the time and experiencing such a pleasant interaction with another fan was very heartwarming.
hT:
Bit of a side step, but I’m curious about your other current interests, either inside or outside the hololive community!
Kanisalad:
There are a couple of interests… well more like skills I once had to pad my college application... that I’ve thought about reviving for fun projects. I’ll keep them a secret for now so you’ll have to wait and see!
I am definitely a hobby maximalist. I like metal model kits, paper crafting kits, fashion design, and interior design. I also collect a lot of things- plushies, figures, Disney ears, tonkatsus from Sumikko Gurashi. I have a huge backlog of anime and asian dramas I want to watch and kpop dances I want to learn. There’s also so many things I want to try out like woodworking and mixology but there’s just not enough time to do everything.
I love good food. I love traveling. I love traveling for good food.
hT:
And for our final question, do you have a message you'd like to share with your followers, fans, or the broader hololive community?
Kanisalad:
First of all, thank you so much for all your support and overwhelmingly positive feedback on my content! You guys always hype me up even when I doubt myself and I appreciate each and every one of you (even if I don’t always remember to respond to comments… I’m sorry 😞). I also want to thank all Hololive mems, especially Bae, for inspiring me to tap into my creative side. I don’t think I would still be cosplaying or dancing if I didn’t fall into the Hololive rabbit hole.
I think I’m older than a lot of you in the community, so to the younger Hololive fans: if there’s something you think you want to try out, don’t brush it off as something you’ll do in the future. Time won’t wait, your body/health won’t wait. Who cares if it fails, at least you gave it a shot! So put on that cosplay, pick up that pen, tune up that instrument, put on those dance shoes…and go for it!
To the older fans: take your vitamins, protect your joints, get compression socks for your long flights and hearing protection for concerts. Don’t forget to eat well, stay hydrated, and drink in moderation. Our bodies aren’t the same as the young ones… We have to stay healthy so we can work hard and support our oshis!
hT:
That's all we have for you today, Kanisalad. Thank you again for taking the time to have this conversation with me and for sharing more about yourself and your experiences in the hololive community!
Kanisalad:
Thank you so much for having me here! It’s been fun sharing some of the behind the scenes and thought processes I’ve never talked about on social media. I really enjoy reading your interviews and am excited to see who you interview next!
And thank you, the reader, for checking out our eighth interview here at hololive TODAY! We’d like to sincerely thank Kanisalad for taking the time to share her cosplay journey, approach to dance and choreography, and thoughts over the years as a hololive fan.
From her re-triggered passion for dance after Bae’s performance in 4th Fes to the insane work going into her weapon props, we hope readers walked away with a better appreciation for just how much thought, care, and humor goes into her content.
Be sure to check out and support her on social media below.
X/Twitter page: https://x.com/kanisalad_tried
It’s been a bit since our last interview, but rest assured we are still eager to seek the stories and experiences of those in the hololive community. Whether it’s about fellow cosplayers, artists, or even the talents themselves! Keep your eyes and ears peeled as we continue to share these wonderful stories from across the hololive community in our coming interviews.
