Venturing into Discord has been okay but that has its own set of issues. Talking with you and other gaming buddies I've met here and MAL has been fun. Even when we're all scrambling to find an opening in our schedules. Reminds me of when I used to hang with school mates on PS Home. VR hangouts look exciting but also like my age group wouldn't belong. Lots of behavior and humor that I "wouldn't understand". Most of these platforms cater to youth and crowds I wouldn't have any business/interest in. So as far as chat groups- etc. goes, it's a very specific social gathering. Vice-versa forum users. I personally don't see any social detachment with the whole text vs. vocal/video presence. If you don't vibe with someone it's a shame but it happens all the time, anywhere.
Speaking on the forum aspect of things, having Anime/Manga themed challenges might be good? I've been getting into them on MAL and Ani. Some of them don't require time limits, so you can mingle with users that share similar progress pacing. Spoiler chats always bring people together when discussing challenge progression and AF has spoiler tags that are massively underutilized. There's also no skillset that would exclude members from participating. E.g. Not everyone is an artist or a poet. Something of this nature may aid users in expressing their love for a show or manga? Just a thought! Sorry if it's a poor one.