>hear an anime character say 'ara ara' in an ordinary context
>brain: "NO, DON'T PANDER TO THOSE DEGENERATES"

Isn't it literally just "well well" or "oh my"?

yeah

vtuber culture just made it weird

it sure has

I feel like the seed of weirdness was always there in the same way that the ojou laugh had, but vtubers just cultivated it, for better or worse