>>103164515Nah, it was both. A one-two punch. It was the combination of Pomu leaving AT ALL, and Pomu leaving while Selen was very obviously permanently suspended.
Life did not completely go on "just fine" in the two and a half weeks between Pomu's graduation and Selen's termination, with the clip from that one membership vod from the previous May gaining lots of traction, and then that vod getting hamfistedly privated by management in a desperate attempt to get the fans to somehow unwatch the clip and unhear Pomu's crying; and all the while all of the other livers were walking on eggshells to pretend Selen never joined the company in the first place.
Oh, and during the "ticking time bomb" period between Pomu's graduation and Selen's termination, Maria told her viewers that she had learned of Pomu's decision to leave as early as July. Which means she went from "biggest Nijisanji fan in the world outside of Japan, Indonesia, Korea, and India" to "so heartbroken by Nijisanji that she had formally tendered her resignation" in under two months, six months before she was actually allowed to leave.
Pomu leaving at all was a major "canary in the coal mine" moment, especially with the added "why" and "when" context that Pomu herself and Maria had made public during the ticking time bomb period.
....and then Selen was terminated