My take: People have used animals, drawings, and random photos as avatars since avatars were a thing. Anime has been growing in popularity and reach over the pa

My take: People have used animals, drawings, and random photos as avatars since avatars were a thing. Anime has been growing in popularity and reach over the past decades, and the new (and broadly available) "Holo-live" style animated YouTube and Twitch avatars have created its own boom. Combine with a greater acceptance of non-traditional personal identities, and you get professionals using anime and furry avatars and decorations. Practically speaking, it's not really any more or less professional than O'Reilly using animals to create an identity for its programming book covers (so long as you're not wearing a fursuit or sailor moon leotard to work).