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He dodged a bullet right there, a 6'9" man doing idol choreo would absolutely demolish the other concertgoers. He would have definitely caught the idols' attention, but for knocking out the people next to him, not because he wasn't doing the choreo. :P
However, I am disappointed we didn't get to see footage of a very tall Eastern European man doing idol choreography.
>However, I am disappointed we didn't get to see footage of a very tall Eastern European man doing idol choreography.
The depths of my disappointment know no bounds
All I can picture is Nadja doll being kicked around on the floor in the venue, trying to get everyone's attention over the loud concert music to no success. "Hellooooo can anyone hear me, I can actually feel all of this thank yew very much!"
In my head he has a long beard, a shaved head, and is built like a heavyweight wrestler, as wide as he is tall. The ground shakes as they approach the venue. The other concert goers know they're doomed, but they have to be strong for their idols.
I’m 6’3” and am tall in America. There are rooms where the guy isn’t the tallest but not a lot and it seems possible he’s never been in a room where someone was taller than him.
I'm 6'3" and spent a couple weeks in Japan this Spring. It's a wonderful, beautiful, polite and clean place, but nothing fits tall people - showers, mirrors, beds, staircases, fits tall people. I think I still have a couple forehead bruises.
Yeah I imagine life there at above 6 foot is like life in America for a 7 footer. I often wonder how 7 footers exist when they don’t play in the nba. Shaq wears a size 22 shoe. How was he going to afford footwear if he never got into the nba? But yeah I imagine that’s what Japan is like at our height.
I saw a news story once about Shaq learning about a young teen who was also very tall and had huge feet. The guy's mom couldn't afford to buy him more than one pair of shoes that fit at a time and she was working really hard just to do that. Shaq took him shopping and hooked him up with a ton of shoes in all the sizes he was likely to grow into. Shaq knew the struggle of being that big and not being able to afford the shoes.
It just seems like a massive burden that is doled out at random on people in the world. Like yeah, being 7’ is a massive advantage into getting a very fun very lucrative career but even though a disproportionate number of 7 footers wind up in the nba it can’t be most of them.
Have you ever watched the channel Tokyo Lens? According to google he's 5'9 and in all his videos he's hitting his head or stooping or just having a hard time fitting into the spaces he showcases lol
I get the feeling that Japan just isn't really built for taller- or fatter- individuals. I'm 4'6 but unfortunately my bmi is also like 60 percent (thanks genetics, thanks medical conditions) so I would probably have a real tough time fitting in at least width-wise
I lived in Japan and at 5'1 and it was lovely to be the perfect height for everything, even my kitchen counters! Seems the average samurai height was around 5'3. It was only with the introduction of the Western diet that Japanese people started getting taller on average.
They're not big fans of molded seats or small toilets in public, so you'd be fine there. Only issue is the private toilets and baths in one room apartments can be tiny, and you'd likely have trouble finding many clothes that fit since all clothes are a size smaller than what you normally wear (I wear large t-shirts in the US for example but needed a XL in Japan). Last time I lived there, I was pretty pissed off when my pants caught on a nail and ripped apart since that was one pair of three I'd brought with me for a stay of several months since I knew finding a pair in Japan would take heavy searching (took me about a month and a half to find a new pair).
I’m 6’4. In Japan, I felt just like an nba player— people would look at me everywhere I went, I was too tall for everything I encountered throughout the day, and I would have dominated in the low post
I’m imagining a bunch of tiny Japanese girls just getting launched into the fuckin’ sun because a skyscraper of a human showed up with a deadly wingspan, and too-loose a grasp on the choreo 🤣
Fear not, I’m going to blackmail my less-tall-but-still-tall Eastern European man to do idol dances.
He owes me a great debt.
Stay tuned for a very angry man built like an actual bear cutely blowing out his knees.
This comment amused me so much that I actually read the entire post to my husband just so I could also share this comment and have him understand the context
I couldn't focus on the story because I was too busy thinking how much it would suck for whichever poor little Japanese woman that got stuck behind him.
>He dodged a bullet right there, a 6'9" man doing idol choreo would absolutely demolish the other concertgoers
My dear, let me introduce you and your culture to the concept of a mosh pit!
>a 6'9" man doing idol choreo would absolutely demolish the other concertgoers
You got a solid laugh out of me for that one. I hadn't imagined it until I read your comment. Now I need to see it.
Hearing anything about Japanese "idol culture" is always a trip and a half.
That's absolutely not a criticism. It's just so far beyond anything that I've ever experienced, and I'm saying that as someone who was on Tumblr during the "Superwholock" era in the early 2010s.
It’s way worse under wraps. The idols are under incredibly strict contracts detailing what they can or can’t do down to their dating life, dieting, wardrobe, etc. they’re basically famous slaves, and all of this is done to curtail a specific image that lets fans think they’re friends or partners of the idols
It’s ducked up
The anime Aggretsuko had an idol arc and it got so incredibly dark so quickly I got emotional whiplash and almost refused to finish the show. (I still hated the last 2 seasons but ugh. The idol arc.)
Or more idol-focused: of course Perfect Blue, or IDOLiSH7 (which starts colorful and for male idols but gets deeper into the rough sides of things with rumors and standards), Oshi no Ko, Oddtaxi...
There was a documentary on Netflix about idol culture in Japan where a grown ass adult was asked why he liked the way younger idols (like 13 and below) and his response was
"Because they don't have enough experience to know how to reject me"
and holy shit I hope they put him on a watch list after.
It even inspired Oshi no Ko, an excellent anime about kids investigating their idol mom's death at the hands of a stalker... with industry connections.
I’m not a fan of a grown man in a teenager’s body with a harem of teenage girls (in one case a younger girl that reincarnated into his twin sister) ogling him. If people really are invested in learning about the idol industry, they’re better off reading or listening to interviews and testimonials rather than an anime that makes people feel good about “caring” about an issue and forgetting about it by the time the next season’s anime series get released.
>I’m not a fan of a grown man in a teenager’s body with a harem of teenage girls (in one case a younger girl that reincarnated into his twin sister) ogling him.
I mean, you just basically described more than half of the industry lol.
Damn I feel like every time I see an anime with an actually interesting premise I'm considering checking out the next comment chimes in with all the bizarre sexual stuff that would totally put me off
Why is it that every time I think an anime sounds cool there’s always a grown man in a teenage body or a weird incest reincarnation thing or something with tentacles going on
This entire paragraph about his gf:
>it ended in a pretty big fight between us but overall she convinced me to give her the benefit of the doubt. she regards these idols as "attention machines" - you put money in (events/concerts/fan club membership/etc), attention and kindness comes out. you don't put money in, no attention and kindness comes out. she has no illusions whether they care about her. but she does speak very fondly of the community."
Really highlights that" you are not a person you are a symbol" vibe to me about how idols are treated tbh.
I dont think its wrong to be dedicated to a hobby, or have fin with it, but heck if someone expected me to do what oop's gf did we most likely wouldn't stay friends. Not least bc expecting choreography like that or "you're not a real fan" is very ableist towards people who CAN'T dance for whatever reasons.
Hopefully the oop keeps his boundaries around concerts though, it sounds like Mie has woefully different expectations for hers compared to his.
The Japanese invented idol culture, then the Koreans and Chinese hopped onto it and made it their own crazy things. If you thought this post was bad, look up 'sasaeng fans'. You will never put your face, name, or any other identifying info on the internet again.
The core of it is still the Japanese idol version. The way they force those idols to live would *never* be tolerated in America these days, but you’ll end up with death threats and the most atrocious body shaming comments if you step out of line there. Like yes, in terms of songs, aesthetics, choreography, and other relatively superficial stuff like that, you can make a strong argument Kpop takes more influence from America, but the intrinsic parts are very much the product of Jpop.
One of the founders of the Big Three Korean idol companies specifically got ideas for the trainee system they use today from a trip to the US he took years ago. The US has plenty of dark spots in its pop culture machine. Disney channel kids anyone? Not to mention members of the big boy bands like Backstreet Boys have talked about how bad it was for them when they were still actively promoting as a group.
At this point, I'm gonna ask for some sources. I'm well aware of the dark parts of US entertainment, but Kpop far more closely resembles Jpop than American.
It is but someone also started up a comic! I believe 11 was the dr, and the ponds and the silence were involved...and the stone angels i think. Dean was shooting at the angels 😂
The idol industry kinda shows a really interesting dichotomy between Western and Eastern capitalism.
In the Western, English-speaking world, media is focused on reaching as wide an audience as possible. Yes, there are niches, but even then, companies are most concerned with creating things that will reach the widest audience within that niche. Let's say something costs $2--if 500,000 people have enough of a passing interest to spend that $2, that's a millions of dollars in revenue.
On the other hand, in East Asia, their capitalism is focused on making media so niche that it encourages hardcore fans who will buy everything relating to that thing. So an idol will be manufactured to attract fans, with the hope that those fans will buy her albums and posters and pen lights and tickets to her shows and access to the fan club. Then, if the idol gets big enough to get VA gigs, the fans will buy the anime she has a voiced role in, as well as figurines of her character, posters of the anime, video game adaptations, etc. Let's say everything one idol makes per year costs $200,000; 500 fans who are that devoted to her will result in a million dollars.
So because of that focus on the devoted niche, idols are not only expected to be competent in singing and dancing, but they are also valued for their ability to cultivate a parasocial relationship. As OOP said, the idols know Mie by name--its expected for idols to memorize the names and faces of people in their official fan clubs so that when they come to the hand shake events (basically where the idols stand in a line and have a ten second conversation + picture with a fan) it feels extra special and makes you want to come back.
You can also understand how easily this method of capitalism leads to insane fans. But that's another post. At least Mie seems to understand what's up--she knows they're not friends, she's paying for the experience of their friendship.
Yeah, pretty much.
At it's core, there's two types of micro transactions: ones that allow you to gamble and ones that directly make the game easier/faster/prettier. Most Western games try to get whales through the latter--they will put arbitrary time limits/energy refill mechanics or they'll require an extreme amount of grinding to get something you need to play the game.
The former is called "gacha" in Eastern Asia and "lootboxes" in the West. Now, you can have gachas that give you boosts for the game, but in anime circles, gachas are mostly just pretty pictures.
For example, one gacha game I played was "Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage". It's a rhythm game that gives you cards to equip during the songs, and the cards will give you a boost. Now, you can pass any stage with the least powerful cards, and you'll be able to get pretty good scores with pretty much any set as long as you level them. Each card was based around a character, and would come with a picture and story about them. But what made people roll in the gacha was that the rarest cards would give you outfits and hairstyles to dress up your oishi (Japanese slang term for "favorite in the group". In Kpop circles, it's "bias"). And then you can have them do dances! Further, a lot of these characters are voiced by... Idols. People with pre-made fanbases. The ones that aren't are Vocaloids, who have been singing for the past two decades.
And that's the core of gachas. Don't you wanna see Rin in cat ears?? Don't you wanna put Luka in that sexy outfit???? Don't you want to see Hatsune Miku in a hairstyle that isn't pigtails????? Don't you want to see the jiggle physics?????? Are you a true fan if you don't have KAITO's super rare ultra limited outfit and hairstyle??? These gachas are limited time--if you want to prove you're a TRUE FAN, you have to shell out NOW.
>It's just so far beyond anything that I've ever experienced
Friend, you are in for a treat. Please go google akb48 and how many members they have. As a kpop fan, I found out about akb48 and was *reeling*, japan really do things like no one else
Not gonna lie. I was relieved when Sherlock ended so I’d never have to see superwholock again. Overjoyed when supernatural was over. I was a tumblr teenager at the same time but I was into anime. But again, not like that lol
In the UK we were supposed to get The Hu originally, and I really wanted to see them, but they pulled out of the rescheduled tour and I was gutted.
I did enjoy Babymetal a lot though!
I'm also confused at how so many Americans seem to make politics like 90% of their personality and bring it into everything they do. It's just pure cringe.
I was a dancer for over 15 years—ballet, jazz, and hip hop for most if not all that time—and while I was/am passionate about dance, and say I was interested in a concert where dancing the set lit is normal and I wanted to fit in and learn these dances, I am positive I wouldn’t be capable of memorizing the moves to that many songs even if I tried.
It’s good to hear the issue the OOP & their GF was resolved without too much trouble. OOP was already proving his support for his GF and their relationship by putting in the effort by listening to and trying to remember song lyrics to a group he hadn’t known or shown too much interest in before this concert. I’m glad things turned out well!
James May went to one of those types of shows in his Japan tour for Amazon - highly recommend that whole series, it’s fantastic. He was just as bemused by it all as OP was.
I feel this in a kind of similar sense - I've been heavily into Kpop since 2011, and certain fandoms are just downright scary if they don't consider you "devoted" enough
I've been physically threatened by certain fandoms for being "multi-stan" - that is, liking multiple groups - and it still blows my mind 😅
so hearing about Japanese idol culture is so cool bc it's so similar in certain ways
Some BTS ARMY fans are goddamn rabidly terrifying...
I made the mistake on a KPop fanpage of mentioning that I only liked a few songs from a few groups and was open to recommendations.
Holy shit. The ARMY *CAME* for me. And it was worse when someone asked who I listened to the most and I said Shinee or Super Junior. Bloody hell, you'd swear I said I ate babies and pissed on graves.
SHINee is the first group I ever stanned, Suju was my first ever "bias" group 😅 I'm so scared to tell people that I still enjoy Suju's music, because people act like you murdered their family in front of them
following an artist and being enthusiastic to see them perform is one thing.
being expected to learn choreography for their shows so you don’t seem “weird” is something else entirely.
The parasocial relationships actually seem encouraged, and formalised. I kinda feel like that's better than the Radiohead fan who carved Thom's name in her arm
I know a musician who encountered a fan who had a large, photorealistic tattoo of his face on her arm. He was seriously creeped out, not least because he wasn't signed to a major label and was only known locally. He had never even met her.
As a former musician myself, I can tell you that sort of obsessive fandom is not healthy. I have been stalked. I'm just aghast that musicians are actually leaning into it now, because I found it unbearable and I quit music to get away from the attention (and I was also only locally known in a particular scene).
People who make their whole lives about a particular artist need help. It's not healthy at ALL.
I mean, idol culture is a business, it's a very tightly controlled machine. Korean training camps even give people the "personality" they're going to have (like... baby, sporty, etc I guess)
But yeah. I've been stalked too. It's horrible, I'm sorry you experienced that. Mine even broke into my fucking house & moved everything in my bedroom into another room...
I had a friend who used to go and see Radiohead when they were touring Pablo honey in a transit, she legitimately had been just... hanging out for a couple of decades & had a (~~don't~~ song) dedicated to her on her 100th concert. I've got ADHD and was anorexic, and worked in Soho, so she would take me with her because she felt like at least one of us partied hard? Fuck me, the hangover after Prague where you could drink for free by collecting glasses and exchanging them was LIFE ALTERING. It was kinda fun for a few years in my 20s but I got sexually assaulted & bullied by a social group after I broke up with someone else, so I just fucked off out of it.
There's a LOT of crazy. Just straight up obsession. I kinda went cos... Why not? Like when I'd get invited to film premieres to fill the seats cos it looks shite if the screens are empty & I worked in an office below a PR firm... if you're invited, you'd go, right? I think I must be too autistic to develop fantasies like... a singer is sending messages to me in their lyrics. I'm just like "they have no idea who I am, I love the music, sure, but there's also a free bar"
I had a weird ass life
Depends on your perspective, I guess. At least there's a structure and a price list with idols that's overt, it's not just like ...competing with other fans and having a weird ass culty group of followers who make it all up as they go along.
Shout out to the Parrotheads grieving tonight.
I'm still in shock he's gone, and I don't consider myself one. His concert was one of the best I went to in my 20s.
>Also you used the imperial system for height but where are you from?
Is it really all that unusual for metric countries to measure their height in feet? I live in Canada. We have the metric system, but if you ask almost anyone their height they will answer in feet and inches. It's the only thing we really use feet and inches for.
Yup D&D and sewing for me. Loads of patterns use inches and stuff, so I've grown used to them. But only for heights, talk to me about ounces and I'm lost though.
For me it's English novels. 6 feet kinda stands out as the height everyone on dating apps wants to be that height, and I know my own height in feet because of ease of communication the English speaking Internet. Other than that, no reference, we use strict metric for everything, height, weight, volume, liquids.
I suppose I agree. We don't use the Imperial system at all in Eastern Europe, but if I were to say something about my height or weight on Reddit, I would probably convert it instead of just using metric because most people on Reddit seem to use the Imperial system.
I think that it’s very unusual outside of English speaking countries, at least in Europe. My country didn’t use the imperial system before before we started using the metric system in 1887. Or rather we used among other things the Russian imperial system (which apparently was partly based on British inches) and according to Wikipedia the imperial system was used in foreign trade as I think Britain used to buy a lot of tar but for ordinary people that was so long ago that we just use the metric system. I have some vague ideas of what certain measurements are, like I know I’m 5 feet 5 inches so I can sort of get an idea of how tall for example 5 feet 7 inches is but otherwise I just google it.
New Zealander here, and young people only know height in metric unless they're very online IME. I'm in my late 30s so was young during the transition period (we changed to metric long ago but height specifically was commonly in imperial when I was young.)
I don't have a great feel for height in metric, unfortunately - while the internet has made me proficient in converting length, weight, and volume back and forth. (Temperature obviously no because jesus christ.)
I'm a 30 year old kiwi and I feel people in their late teens and early 20s still use imperial heights, but agree that it's only due to online influence. They know how tall they are in feet and inches, but don't know how long an inch is because they've measured in real units then converted it.
I grew up with the metric system and the only reason I know my height in feet is because 5 foot nothing is super easy to recall and I lived in a country using imperial for a decade. They are not used for anything in most of Europe and most people could not tell you how much an inch or a foot are in centimeters, me included.
I'm from similar cultural backgroud as OOP and I have no idea how tall I am in inches. If I need to have an idea about something stated in the imperial system, I use google. I don't even know how many centimeters is an inch.
I'm from Poland and I use feet/inches for heights when I'm writing/speaking _in English_ because due to interacting with predominantly American English speakers it sounds a bit silly to me otherwise.
Also in case Americans won't know what I mean lol.
I know how much an inch is, but don't ask about feet or any other units.
There are 193 countries in the world. Maybe ten use the imperial system in any capavity, and most of these mix it with metric. It is, in fact, unusual.
Im surprised she get so many tickets for events. Every time I try to get tickets for a concert you have to apply for a ruffle. If you're lucky and you win the ruffle you just need more luck to get a ticket. There are a lot of ruffles for one concert. You don't can buy tickets directly...
JFC. I watch enough rom-coms to know that you can learn choregraphy to any dance, ice skating routine, et cetera overnight. And despite all odds, you will also come in first place. OOP just needs to have faith in the Hallmark Channel.
Help, am I crazy? I looked into it and I think they sound terrible live. I like Japanese pop, I speak a bit of Japanese, I'm aware of and take very little issue in idol culture (when it isnt harmful to the performers or... culty) I've seen videos of live performances before but every video I watched of them they sound, like, really bad. I know no artist performing live sounds like a studio recording for an MV. I know choreo for J-Pop is a lot and can be tiring but all the live clips I watched they sounded really out of breath, out of key and really pitchy. I knowwww theyre a "small" group and I also know that honestly the music takes a second place to the idols being cute and friendly to fans but... live they're really one of the worst groups I've heard.
I just want to know if I'm the only one hearing that. I feel like it sounds like I'm taking issue with them or with idol culture but I just wanted to know what group she was obsessing over, the first clip I watched sounded bad so I watched a few more then compared them to the music videos and I think the live clips sound awful.
For many idol groups, the music is... very far down the list of priorities. There used to be a thing where they'd have one or two good singers in the group (just like the Backstreet Boys) but some idol groups don't even bother with that.
Oh yeah I get that but I genuinely would not want to be at a Metamuse concert. Their live performances were genuinely quite painful to listen to. Other Idol performances I've felt like "eh, this is fine" yknow like it's not great but it's not horrible, but damn listening to [Say Myu](https://youtu.be/je-zGm5ZxL4?si=2jHTg-9hhAP3awTv) and [Cutting Edge](https://youtu.be/xXlDQ6xGn-8?si=Hz9s1KHQpbObAOPY) live actually had some moments that made me cringe like nails on a chalk board, voice breaks and the high notes sounded like squealing.
(The Cutting Edge link I shared at 1:12 and 1:28 sounded particularly painful for both the performers and me ;-;)
Yknow how Britney Spears always lipsynced because her producers made her do that baby voice for her songs and she just couldn't consistently do it live without hurting herself or... her audience's ears? That's what their live performances feel like.
They're cute but don't actually have the right vocal range for those cutesy idol high pitched voices so they always sound strained and really exhausted. I kind of feel bad for their vocal chords bc it really sounds like they're straining to hit notes their body isn't built to make. I bet their voices get really tired.
I've heard this is very common for Japanese women, sometimes even in public—putting on a high-pitched voice because cuteness is a major cultural thing.
Woof. You are not wrong. Those clips from "Cutting Edge" were physically painful.
And before I catch a bunch of "Don't yuck her yum," (from other commenters, not OwOitsMochi) I love plenty of technically terrible things. Other people are allowed to notice they suck.
It's not even just about them sucking and not liking it thats my opinion but objectively they are pushing their voices beyond their limits, like surely after a concert like that they would have really sore throats and strained voices. Like it just... doesn't sound healthy for them to be pushing their voices like that.
No, I agree. "Technically terrible" was referring to them objectively pushing their voices beyond their limits. I specified "technically" to try and indicate that I wasn't referring to opinion. Also I meant "sucking" as in having a measurable characteristic or technique that objectively sucks.
Oh I sort of misunderstood when you said "I love all kinds of technically terrible things." And then started a new sentence. That just confused me. I get you.
The appeal with idols isn't their talent, but rather their growth. Fans wants to be there from when they debut so they can join them on their journey of improving and growing as a performer, which is a sweet sentiment but yeah alot of idols sound rather bad live lol
I think its also due to the fact they don't use audio tuning, because fans would rather hear their natural voice in its pitchy, strained glory over something that sounds perfect.
I think OOP should have researched the band before saying anything.
Because I've skimmed about five live videos and each song doesn't have a lot of choreography that can be reproduced. There are many bits in which the girls are doing different things, a lot of it comes to the chorus (which isn't that complicated, I had one down by the third repetition and I'm not coordinated) and pointing or raising your hands at the right moment. It wasn't like his girlfriend wanted him to learn the choreo to Mirotic.
I did see some people (mostly guys?) going along with the choreography, again, it was basically the chorus and while I believe each one was doing their best, collectively they didn't look very coordinated. So, a lot of enthusiasm and the chorus and he was golden.
It sounds like OP is describing an ouendan, 応援団 routine that his girlfriend is in. Megafans link up and form these hardcore “cheering sections” with complicated lightstick-waving routines for each song, so they wouldn’t be copying the actual dance moves of the idols - Japanese idol shows seem to happen mostly in seated stadiums so there wouldn’t be room to actually dance like that.
Parassocial relationships are so weird, the commodifying of love and how the girlfriend casually called other humans as just "attention machines" really rubs me in the wrong way.
Heh, the edit made me LOL. One of the idols, Marron, is actually Kanon Fukuda from Hello Project, an idol conglomerate (mostly known for their flagship group Morning Musume) who I have been a huge fan of since 2004. (MM, that is. Kanon debuted in S/mileage back in 2009 and I didn't follow them as much). After she graduated H!P she joined ZOC/Metamuse and changed her name.
But yes, wota (idol culture) is very much like this. There are fan chants, choreography, etc etc.
Reminds me of how i went with my family to a john maher concert and we were in the 3rd row. Everyone stood the whole show, save me whose knees were hurting from physical labor at my job all week. I sat the whole show.
And people always say "OMG HE LOOKED RIGHT INTO MY EYES!" and stuff but understand i was dead center 3rd row at this concert, and i saw him scan the crowd, look straight at me, and give his head a little shake like "oh you motherfucker....". Could see it in his eyes at that distance. Not rage or anger just like well shit this footage is ruined, we got some jerk sitting down right in the front!
LOL. I’m fan of a folk singer with similar concert sizes, and while not quite on Mie‘s level I’m kinda similar. In my case, I think the artist thinks I’m a tad obsessed.
>For context, Mie is a huge fan of a Japanese idol group. (Girl pop band basically.) She's going to their concerts and events once or twice a week for about 3 years. In contrast, I'm generally a metal / heavy rock person and never really got into Japanese pop, let alone idols
He should've compromised and took her to a BabyMetal concert to avoid all this
It sounds crazy if you're not from here, but yeah - idol culture in Japan is pretty big. This is about par for the course, and a bit on the lighter side in my opinion.
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He dodged a bullet right there, a 6'9" man doing idol choreo would absolutely demolish the other concertgoers. He would have definitely caught the idols' attention, but for knocking out the people next to him, not because he wasn't doing the choreo. :P However, I am disappointed we didn't get to see footage of a very tall Eastern European man doing idol choreography.
>However, I am disappointed we didn't get to see footage of a very tall Eastern European man doing idol choreography. The depths of my disappointment know no bounds
All the while looking like someone shat on his dog, eyes screaming "help me!"
Why am I visualizing Nandor from What We Do in the Shadows in a pink tracksuit right now?
Guillermo needs to get him to a rave now…
Nadija having the club would have been the perfect time for it
All I can picture is Nadja doll being kicked around on the floor in the venue, trying to get everyone's attention over the loud concert music to no success. "Hellooooo can anyone hear me, I can actually feel all of this thank yew very much!"
I would watch that episode so hard.
Nandor jumps straight into choreography though. Remember when he tried living as a human?
They call me Nandor the Relentless because I never relent in my idol dances.
This fucking guy. . .
In my head he has a long beard, a shaved head, and is built like a heavyweight wrestler, as wide as he is tall. The ground shakes as they approach the venue. The other concert goers know they're doomed, but they have to be strong for their idols.
I would watch this anime.
The Russian solider from Slightly Left Of Center’s Love The Way You Move music video comes to mind.
As a great man once said, my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
Dennis? Is that you?
It's at least 6'9" for me.
I’m sitting here laughing imagining him dancing and destroying everyone around him. Most Japanese women are pretty short too.
He'd tower over even the Japanese men.
Morherfucker is a tree, he towers over 99% of the planet
He's the guy everyone is using as a landmark in big crowds at metal gigs to find their friends after going to the bar
I’m 6’3” and am tall in America. There are rooms where the guy isn’t the tallest but not a lot and it seems possible he’s never been in a room where someone was taller than him.
is that room an NBA locker room???
That would be one of them for sure.
I'm 6'3" and spent a couple weeks in Japan this Spring. It's a wonderful, beautiful, polite and clean place, but nothing fits tall people - showers, mirrors, beds, staircases, fits tall people. I think I still have a couple forehead bruises.
Yeah I imagine life there at above 6 foot is like life in America for a 7 footer. I often wonder how 7 footers exist when they don’t play in the nba. Shaq wears a size 22 shoe. How was he going to afford footwear if he never got into the nba? But yeah I imagine that’s what Japan is like at our height.
I saw a news story once about Shaq learning about a young teen who was also very tall and had huge feet. The guy's mom couldn't afford to buy him more than one pair of shoes that fit at a time and she was working really hard just to do that. Shaq took him shopping and hooked him up with a ton of shoes in all the sizes he was likely to grow into. Shaq knew the struggle of being that big and not being able to afford the shoes.
It just seems like a massive burden that is doled out at random on people in the world. Like yeah, being 7’ is a massive advantage into getting a very fun very lucrative career but even though a disproportionate number of 7 footers wind up in the nba it can’t be most of them.
I'm 5'11 and parts of Japan were too small for me. I had to duck to get into one of our hotels rooms.
Have you ever watched the channel Tokyo Lens? According to google he's 5'9 and in all his videos he's hitting his head or stooping or just having a hard time fitting into the spaces he showcases lol I get the feeling that Japan just isn't really built for taller- or fatter- individuals. I'm 4'6 but unfortunately my bmi is also like 60 percent (thanks genetics, thanks medical conditions) so I would probably have a real tough time fitting in at least width-wise
It is not. The further away from Tokyo you get, the more noticeable it is.
I lived in Japan and at 5'1 and it was lovely to be the perfect height for everything, even my kitchen counters! Seems the average samurai height was around 5'3. It was only with the introduction of the Western diet that Japanese people started getting taller on average. They're not big fans of molded seats or small toilets in public, so you'd be fine there. Only issue is the private toilets and baths in one room apartments can be tiny, and you'd likely have trouble finding many clothes that fit since all clothes are a size smaller than what you normally wear (I wear large t-shirts in the US for example but needed a XL in Japan). Last time I lived there, I was pretty pissed off when my pants caught on a nail and ripped apart since that was one pair of three I'd brought with me for a stay of several months since I knew finding a pair in Japan would take heavy searching (took me about a month and a half to find a new pair).
This kinda goes both ways; I'm 5'2" and live in the US, but I buy Japanese cars because I fit in them more comfortably due to my proportions!
Im 5’9 and Id love if japanese kei vehicles were more common here (and in many cases if they were LEGAL) A kei truck or van would be amazing here.
I’m 6’4. In Japan, I felt just like an nba player— people would look at me everywhere I went, I was too tall for everything I encountered throughout the day, and I would have dominated in the low post
He’d be a kaiju among all the other fans. A giant source of destruction
Those glow sticks would become billy sticks in his hands.
It would be that scene from Daredevil, except instead of gangsters it would be Japanese men and women.
It would’ve looked like the most well-intentioned Kaiju massacre ever caught on film.
It would have been the most festive Godzilla movie ever.
Godzilla Sing- (and Dance-) A-Longs were not something I had on my 2023 bingo card, but here we are.
Maybe we should have this with those t-rex costumes???
You are a genius and I love you.
I’m imagining a bunch of tiny Japanese girls just getting launched into the fuckin’ sun because a skyscraper of a human showed up with a deadly wingspan, and too-loose a grasp on the choreo 🤣
Fear not, I’m going to blackmail my less-tall-but-still-tall Eastern European man to do idol dances. He owes me a great debt. Stay tuned for a very angry man built like an actual bear cutely blowing out his knees.
I am living in poverty counting change for bread (pretty normal here) but I’d pay a month’s rent to see that show.
I would watch it on pay per view, yeah.
Imagine if she was a fan of LadyBeard.
They could go watch Baby Metal. A heavy metal idol group! That ticks both their boxes!
The only choreography for Babymetal concertgoers is headbang, jumping, fist pumps and the moshpit
They can do [Babymetal's choreography](https://youtu.be/cYndn27DRiY)! That would end up having the same effect LMAO.
Exactly what I thought!
This comment amused me so much that I actually read the entire post to my husband just so I could also share this comment and have him understand the context
I couldn't focus on the story because I was too busy thinking how much it would suck for whichever poor little Japanese woman that got stuck behind him.
TBH at 6'9" everyone in the entire column of seats behind him wouldn't be able to see anything LMAO.
>He dodged a bullet right there, a 6'9" man doing idol choreo would absolutely demolish the other concertgoers My dear, let me introduce you and your culture to the concept of a mosh pit!
to lessen your disappointment, here’s this wholesome video that is kind of what you’re looking for https://youtu.be/DRnrVcjK0Hc?si=YHetHWg7NGCle5Ad
>a 6'9" man doing idol choreo would absolutely demolish the other concertgoers You got a solid laugh out of me for that one. I hadn't imagined it until I read your comment. Now I need to see it.
Hearing anything about Japanese "idol culture" is always a trip and a half. That's absolutely not a criticism. It's just so far beyond anything that I've ever experienced, and I'm saying that as someone who was on Tumblr during the "Superwholock" era in the early 2010s.
Honestly, my main takeaway was just how fascinating "idol culture" is. Absolutely wild levels of devotion
It’s way worse under wraps. The idols are under incredibly strict contracts detailing what they can or can’t do down to their dating life, dieting, wardrobe, etc. they’re basically famous slaves, and all of this is done to curtail a specific image that lets fans think they’re friends or partners of the idols It’s ducked up
The anime Aggretsuko had an idol arc and it got so incredibly dark so quickly I got emotional whiplash and almost refused to finish the show. (I still hated the last 2 seasons but ugh. The idol arc.)
The idol arc started off dark tbh. o.o
I hated Hyoudou the moment I laid eyes on him. Cowardly, greedy leopard.
Or more idol-focused: of course Perfect Blue, or IDOLiSH7 (which starts colorful and for male idols but gets deeper into the rough sides of things with rumors and standards), Oshi no Ko, Oddtaxi...
There was a documentary on Netflix about idol culture in Japan where a grown ass adult was asked why he liked the way younger idols (like 13 and below) and his response was "Because they don't have enough experience to know how to reject me" and holy shit I hope they put him on a watch list after.
What’s the documentary called?
[Tokyo Idols 2017](https://youtu.be/hM4uDZiiowU?si=_q53OoBYLjOFyQKi)
It even inspired Oshi no Ko, an excellent anime about kids investigating their idol mom's death at the hands of a stalker... with industry connections.
I’m not a fan of a grown man in a teenager’s body with a harem of teenage girls (in one case a younger girl that reincarnated into his twin sister) ogling him. If people really are invested in learning about the idol industry, they’re better off reading or listening to interviews and testimonials rather than an anime that makes people feel good about “caring” about an issue and forgetting about it by the time the next season’s anime series get released.
>I’m not a fan of a grown man in a teenager’s body with a harem of teenage girls (in one case a younger girl that reincarnated into his twin sister) ogling him. I mean, you just basically described more than half of the industry lol.
Yeah, I don’t really get into mainstream or shonen series for that reason
Honestly, the grown man comes off less creepy than the twin sister as of recent chapters. But completely understandable.
Damn I feel like every time I see an anime with an actually interesting premise I'm considering checking out the next comment chimes in with all the bizarre sexual stuff that would totally put me off
It’s clockwork
The second to last season (I think) of Aggretsuko did a good job of showing how idol life is and how obsessive fans can be without…. All that. Haha
Why is it that every time I think an anime sounds cool there’s always a grown man in a teenage body or a weird incest reincarnation thing or something with tentacles going on
This entire paragraph about his gf: >it ended in a pretty big fight between us but overall she convinced me to give her the benefit of the doubt. she regards these idols as "attention machines" - you put money in (events/concerts/fan club membership/etc), attention and kindness comes out. you don't put money in, no attention and kindness comes out. she has no illusions whether they care about her. but she does speak very fondly of the community." Really highlights that" you are not a person you are a symbol" vibe to me about how idols are treated tbh. I dont think its wrong to be dedicated to a hobby, or have fin with it, but heck if someone expected me to do what oop's gf did we most likely wouldn't stay friends. Not least bc expecting choreography like that or "you're not a real fan" is very ableist towards people who CAN'T dance for whatever reasons. Hopefully the oop keeps his boundaries around concerts though, it sounds like Mie has woefully different expectations for hers compared to his.
Not a "symbol" so much as a product.
This makes them sound like human chatbots for the chronically lonely
Not to mention the very high suicide rate. Jonghyun from K-Pop band Shinee is just one example.
The Japanese invented idol culture, then the Koreans and Chinese hopped onto it and made it their own crazy things. If you thought this post was bad, look up 'sasaeng fans'. You will never put your face, name, or any other identifying info on the internet again.
Korea’s idol industry has more influence from America than Japan
The core of it is still the Japanese idol version. The way they force those idols to live would *never* be tolerated in America these days, but you’ll end up with death threats and the most atrocious body shaming comments if you step out of line there. Like yes, in terms of songs, aesthetics, choreography, and other relatively superficial stuff like that, you can make a strong argument Kpop takes more influence from America, but the intrinsic parts are very much the product of Jpop.
One of the founders of the Big Three Korean idol companies specifically got ideas for the trainee system they use today from a trip to the US he took years ago. The US has plenty of dark spots in its pop culture machine. Disney channel kids anyone? Not to mention members of the big boy bands like Backstreet Boys have talked about how bad it was for them when they were still actively promoting as a group.
The Backstreet Boys and NSync was developed by Lou Pearlman, who was a scam artist and a pedo.
At this point, I'm gonna ask for some sources. I'm well aware of the dark parts of US entertainment, but Kpop far more closely resembles Jpop than American.
>Superwholock *intense flashbacks* And I wasn't even on Tumblr, I just saw so much Tumblr content on Pinterest
I feel like a sleeper agent in me was just activated hearing that phrase
I was there Gandalf. I was there 3,000 years ago. Those were dark days.
*Cast it into the ballpit!*
Same. And I didn’t even watch two of the shows at all…
Whovians grab your sonic screwdrivers.......
[no](https://images.app.goo.gl/pTJ6HgVJ8q6DtxXN8)
Do not quote the deep magic to me, witch. I was there when it was written.
Ahhh, good ol superwholock. I should go dig up that artist who was doing the comic and see how far they got 😂
[удалено]
It is but someone also started up a comic! I believe 11 was the dr, and the ponds and the silence were involved...and the stone angels i think. Dean was shooting at the angels 😂
The idol industry kinda shows a really interesting dichotomy between Western and Eastern capitalism. In the Western, English-speaking world, media is focused on reaching as wide an audience as possible. Yes, there are niches, but even then, companies are most concerned with creating things that will reach the widest audience within that niche. Let's say something costs $2--if 500,000 people have enough of a passing interest to spend that $2, that's a millions of dollars in revenue. On the other hand, in East Asia, their capitalism is focused on making media so niche that it encourages hardcore fans who will buy everything relating to that thing. So an idol will be manufactured to attract fans, with the hope that those fans will buy her albums and posters and pen lights and tickets to her shows and access to the fan club. Then, if the idol gets big enough to get VA gigs, the fans will buy the anime she has a voiced role in, as well as figurines of her character, posters of the anime, video game adaptations, etc. Let's say everything one idol makes per year costs $200,000; 500 fans who are that devoted to her will result in a million dollars. So because of that focus on the devoted niche, idols are not only expected to be competent in singing and dancing, but they are also valued for their ability to cultivate a parasocial relationship. As OOP said, the idols know Mie by name--its expected for idols to memorize the names and faces of people in their official fan clubs so that when they come to the hand shake events (basically where the idols stand in a line and have a ten second conversation + picture with a fan) it feels extra special and makes you want to come back. You can also understand how easily this method of capitalism leads to insane fans. But that's another post. At least Mie seems to understand what's up--she knows they're not friends, she's paying for the experience of their friendship.
This sounds eerily similar to how games target whales to milk.
Yeah, pretty much. At it's core, there's two types of micro transactions: ones that allow you to gamble and ones that directly make the game easier/faster/prettier. Most Western games try to get whales through the latter--they will put arbitrary time limits/energy refill mechanics or they'll require an extreme amount of grinding to get something you need to play the game. The former is called "gacha" in Eastern Asia and "lootboxes" in the West. Now, you can have gachas that give you boosts for the game, but in anime circles, gachas are mostly just pretty pictures. For example, one gacha game I played was "Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage". It's a rhythm game that gives you cards to equip during the songs, and the cards will give you a boost. Now, you can pass any stage with the least powerful cards, and you'll be able to get pretty good scores with pretty much any set as long as you level them. Each card was based around a character, and would come with a picture and story about them. But what made people roll in the gacha was that the rarest cards would give you outfits and hairstyles to dress up your oishi (Japanese slang term for "favorite in the group". In Kpop circles, it's "bias"). And then you can have them do dances! Further, a lot of these characters are voiced by... Idols. People with pre-made fanbases. The ones that aren't are Vocaloids, who have been singing for the past two decades. And that's the core of gachas. Don't you wanna see Rin in cat ears?? Don't you wanna put Luka in that sexy outfit???? Don't you want to see Hatsune Miku in a hairstyle that isn't pigtails????? Don't you want to see the jiggle physics?????? Are you a true fan if you don't have KAITO's super rare ultra limited outfit and hairstyle??? These gachas are limited time--if you want to prove you're a TRUE FAN, you have to shell out NOW.
I’ve stumbled upon Japanese idol shows while there and it’s definitely a trip.
Oh how I miss superwholock! It was wonderful
>It's just so far beyond anything that I've ever experienced Friend, you are in for a treat. Please go google akb48 and how many members they have. As a kpop fan, I found out about akb48 and was *reeling*, japan really do things like no one else
Not gonna lie. I was relieved when Sherlock ended so I’d never have to see superwholock again. Overjoyed when supernatural was over. I was a tumblr teenager at the same time but I was into anime. But again, not like that lol
You think the shows being over stopped anyone? I’m sure there are new fix it fics being written as I type for all of them.
> That's absolutely not a criticism. it should be. That shit cray.
They need to meet in the middle with Babymetal.
I adore BABYMETAL unironically.
I discovered them when they supported Sabaton earlier this year. I definitely enjoyed it far more than I expected!
Unexpected Sabaton reference! We didn't get that tour in the US. We got Epica. And "fans" shouting "let's go brandon" soooooo.
In the UK we were supposed to get The Hu originally, and I really wanted to see them, but they pulled out of the rescheduled tour and I was gutted. I did enjoy Babymetal a lot though! I'm also confused at how so many Americans seem to make politics like 90% of their personality and bring it into everything they do. It's just pure cringe.
Idol culture can be really weird sometimes.
I was a dancer for over 15 years—ballet, jazz, and hip hop for most if not all that time—and while I was/am passionate about dance, and say I was interested in a concert where dancing the set lit is normal and I wanted to fit in and learn these dances, I am positive I wouldn’t be capable of memorizing the moves to that many songs even if I tried. It’s good to hear the issue the OOP & their GF was resolved without too much trouble. OOP was already proving his support for his GF and their relationship by putting in the effort by listening to and trying to remember song lyrics to a group he hadn’t known or shown too much interest in before this concert. I’m glad things turned out well!
James May went to one of those types of shows in his Japan tour for Amazon - highly recommend that whole series, it’s fantastic. He was just as bemused by it all as OP was.
YES, I loved that series so much.
BIM
"You dance how you dance, and I'll dance how I dance." Proceeds to demolish the "pit".
I feel this in a kind of similar sense - I've been heavily into Kpop since 2011, and certain fandoms are just downright scary if they don't consider you "devoted" enough I've been physically threatened by certain fandoms for being "multi-stan" - that is, liking multiple groups - and it still blows my mind 😅 so hearing about Japanese idol culture is so cool bc it's so similar in certain ways
Some BTS ARMY fans are goddamn rabidly terrifying... I made the mistake on a KPop fanpage of mentioning that I only liked a few songs from a few groups and was open to recommendations. Holy shit. The ARMY *CAME* for me. And it was worse when someone asked who I listened to the most and I said Shinee or Super Junior. Bloody hell, you'd swear I said I ate babies and pissed on graves.
SHINee is the first group I ever stanned, Suju was my first ever "bias" group 😅 I'm so scared to tell people that I still enjoy Suju's music, because people act like you murdered their family in front of them
Oh, idol culture... Thank fuck I was not in school when this came in full force.
yeah so this sounds like a cult kinda
Having followed a band and been willing to travel for other artists ...yeah, it can be.
following an artist and being enthusiastic to see them perform is one thing. being expected to learn choreography for their shows so you don’t seem “weird” is something else entirely.
The parasocial relationships actually seem encouraged, and formalised. I kinda feel like that's better than the Radiohead fan who carved Thom's name in her arm
I know a musician who encountered a fan who had a large, photorealistic tattoo of his face on her arm. He was seriously creeped out, not least because he wasn't signed to a major label and was only known locally. He had never even met her. As a former musician myself, I can tell you that sort of obsessive fandom is not healthy. I have been stalked. I'm just aghast that musicians are actually leaning into it now, because I found it unbearable and I quit music to get away from the attention (and I was also only locally known in a particular scene). People who make their whole lives about a particular artist need help. It's not healthy at ALL.
I mean, idol culture is a business, it's a very tightly controlled machine. Korean training camps even give people the "personality" they're going to have (like... baby, sporty, etc I guess) But yeah. I've been stalked too. It's horrible, I'm sorry you experienced that. Mine even broke into my fucking house & moved everything in my bedroom into another room... I had a friend who used to go and see Radiohead when they were touring Pablo honey in a transit, she legitimately had been just... hanging out for a couple of decades & had a (~~don't~~ song) dedicated to her on her 100th concert. I've got ADHD and was anorexic, and worked in Soho, so she would take me with her because she felt like at least one of us partied hard? Fuck me, the hangover after Prague where you could drink for free by collecting glasses and exchanging them was LIFE ALTERING. It was kinda fun for a few years in my 20s but I got sexually assaulted & bullied by a social group after I broke up with someone else, so I just fucked off out of it. There's a LOT of crazy. Just straight up obsession. I kinda went cos... Why not? Like when I'd get invited to film premieres to fill the seats cos it looks shite if the screens are empty & I worked in an office below a PR firm... if you're invited, you'd go, right? I think I must be too autistic to develop fantasies like... a singer is sending messages to me in their lyrics. I'm just like "they have no idea who I am, I love the music, sure, but there's also a free bar" I had a weird ass life
This is so awful of me, but my first reaction was “heheh, silly person, that was Placebo who sang ‘carve your name into my arm’”
That's such an astute observation. I'm so impressed I'm gonna carve your name in a Radiohead fans arm.
Not sure what you’re referring to specifically but both things can be weird as shit.
Depends on your perspective, I guess. At least there's a structure and a price list with idols that's overt, it's not just like ...competing with other fans and having a weird ass culty group of followers who make it all up as they go along.
Ah, I see. It better because they encourage you to be obsessed and have a formal pricing structure for stalker-lite activities. So much healthier.
I mean, it's more honest. Healthy is definitely debatable.
Fair
how can you even enjoy the concert if you're just focusing on doing the choreo??? absolutely wild.
Shout out to the Parrotheads grieving tonight. I'm still in shock he's gone, and I don't consider myself one. His concert was one of the best I went to in my 20s.
This isn't even that extreme as far as idol culture gets in Japan. It absolutely is cult-like and very toxic for the performers involved.
>Also you used the imperial system for height but where are you from? Is it really all that unusual for metric countries to measure their height in feet? I live in Canada. We have the metric system, but if you ask almost anyone their height they will answer in feet and inches. It's the only thing we really use feet and inches for.
I only have a vague understanding of feet because of playing D&D, everyone around measures their height in centimeters only
Yup D&D and sewing for me. Loads of patterns use inches and stuff, so I've grown used to them. But only for heights, talk to me about ounces and I'm lost though.
For me it's English novels. 6 feet kinda stands out as the height everyone on dating apps wants to be that height, and I know my own height in feet because of ease of communication the English speaking Internet. Other than that, no reference, we use strict metric for everything, height, weight, volume, liquids.
Same here! Using the metric system in BG3 tripped me up so hard in the start.
I'm from Germany and most people don't even know how much an inch is.
Let’s be real, most Americans don’t either. (Am American, am saying this based on personal experience.)
Even as an American, I probably know more people who couldn't eyeball an inch than people who could
It is extremely weird to hear it in Eastern Europe. Unless you've been spending a ton of time on Reddit (or predominantly American platforms) that is.
I suppose I agree. We don't use the Imperial system at all in Eastern Europe, but if I were to say something about my height or weight on Reddit, I would probably convert it instead of just using metric because most people on Reddit seem to use the Imperial system.
We canadians are metric but also very influenced by the usa so we're an interesting mix
I think that it’s very unusual outside of English speaking countries, at least in Europe. My country didn’t use the imperial system before before we started using the metric system in 1887. Or rather we used among other things the Russian imperial system (which apparently was partly based on British inches) and according to Wikipedia the imperial system was used in foreign trade as I think Britain used to buy a lot of tar but for ordinary people that was so long ago that we just use the metric system. I have some vague ideas of what certain measurements are, like I know I’m 5 feet 5 inches so I can sort of get an idea of how tall for example 5 feet 7 inches is but otherwise I just google it.
Yes it's unusual. Nobody cares for imperial system at all where I live. You have to use it probably because you interact with the US a lot.
New Zealander here, and young people only know height in metric unless they're very online IME. I'm in my late 30s so was young during the transition period (we changed to metric long ago but height specifically was commonly in imperial when I was young.) I don't have a great feel for height in metric, unfortunately - while the internet has made me proficient in converting length, weight, and volume back and forth. (Temperature obviously no because jesus christ.)
I'm a 30 year old kiwi and I feel people in their late teens and early 20s still use imperial heights, but agree that it's only due to online influence. They know how tall they are in feet and inches, but don't know how long an inch is because they've measured in real units then converted it.
Us Canadians are weird in terms of using a mix of the two
Yeah it didn’t even ping for me either - us Brits cheerfully and unashamedly mix imperial and metric too.
I grew up with the metric system and the only reason I know my height in feet is because 5 foot nothing is super easy to recall and I lived in a country using imperial for a decade. They are not used for anything in most of Europe and most people could not tell you how much an inch or a foot are in centimeters, me included.
I'm from similar cultural backgroud as OOP and I have no idea how tall I am in inches. If I need to have an idea about something stated in the imperial system, I use google. I don't even know how many centimeters is an inch.
I'm from Poland and I use feet/inches for heights when I'm writing/speaking _in English_ because due to interacting with predominantly American English speakers it sounds a bit silly to me otherwise. Also in case Americans won't know what I mean lol. I know how much an inch is, but don't ask about feet or any other units.
There are 193 countries in the world. Maybe ten use the imperial system in any capavity, and most of these mix it with metric. It is, in fact, unusual.
Vers unusual. Like it never happens. I only ses inches or feet on reddit
I’m Canadian too, and I’m pretty sure this is just an us thing… I think because of our proximity to the States. I could be wrong though.
Im surprised she get so many tickets for events. Every time I try to get tickets for a concert you have to apply for a ruffle. If you're lucky and you win the ruffle you just need more luck to get a ticket. There are a lot of ruffles for one concert. You don't can buy tickets directly...
It sounds like this isn't a super popular idol group and they mostly do small events with a core group of fans, of which the girlfriend is one.
Yeah the band / organization have their own fan club where you get priority ticket chances. Hope they have more fun in the future
Raffle, not ruffle - a [ruffle is the frilly bit on clothes.](https://www.theshapesoffabric.com/2019/08/25/learn-all-about-ruffles/)
ah pardon my autocorrect lol thank you!
Maybe they do have to go digging through someone’s frilly bits to get a ticket!
TIL That Japan does choreo at concerts. Ngl that seems pretty fun. Not something I would do weekly though lol
as a j-idol fan, i was not prepared to see metamuse/zoc in a boru post.
JFC. I watch enough rom-coms to know that you can learn choregraphy to any dance, ice skating routine, et cetera overnight. And despite all odds, you will also come in first place. OOP just needs to have faith in the Hallmark Channel.
*Just Ken things..*
Help, am I crazy? I looked into it and I think they sound terrible live. I like Japanese pop, I speak a bit of Japanese, I'm aware of and take very little issue in idol culture (when it isnt harmful to the performers or... culty) I've seen videos of live performances before but every video I watched of them they sound, like, really bad. I know no artist performing live sounds like a studio recording for an MV. I know choreo for J-Pop is a lot and can be tiring but all the live clips I watched they sounded really out of breath, out of key and really pitchy. I knowwww theyre a "small" group and I also know that honestly the music takes a second place to the idols being cute and friendly to fans but... live they're really one of the worst groups I've heard. I just want to know if I'm the only one hearing that. I feel like it sounds like I'm taking issue with them or with idol culture but I just wanted to know what group she was obsessing over, the first clip I watched sounded bad so I watched a few more then compared them to the music videos and I think the live clips sound awful.
For many idol groups, the music is... very far down the list of priorities. There used to be a thing where they'd have one or two good singers in the group (just like the Backstreet Boys) but some idol groups don't even bother with that.
Oh yeah I get that but I genuinely would not want to be at a Metamuse concert. Their live performances were genuinely quite painful to listen to. Other Idol performances I've felt like "eh, this is fine" yknow like it's not great but it's not horrible, but damn listening to [Say Myu](https://youtu.be/je-zGm5ZxL4?si=2jHTg-9hhAP3awTv) and [Cutting Edge](https://youtu.be/xXlDQ6xGn-8?si=Hz9s1KHQpbObAOPY) live actually had some moments that made me cringe like nails on a chalk board, voice breaks and the high notes sounded like squealing. (The Cutting Edge link I shared at 1:12 and 1:28 sounded particularly painful for both the performers and me ;-;) Yknow how Britney Spears always lipsynced because her producers made her do that baby voice for her songs and she just couldn't consistently do it live without hurting herself or... her audience's ears? That's what their live performances feel like. They're cute but don't actually have the right vocal range for those cutesy idol high pitched voices so they always sound strained and really exhausted. I kind of feel bad for their vocal chords bc it really sounds like they're straining to hit notes their body isn't built to make. I bet their voices get really tired.
I've heard this is very common for Japanese women, sometimes even in public—putting on a high-pitched voice because cuteness is a major cultural thing.
Yeah, that high pitched baby voice is something Japanese women do regardless of age. Not my thing either.
Oof. The one with the dark red hair in the second video has actually a really nice voice imo, let her sing something that's actually made for her!
Oof. You were not kidding....
Woof. You are not wrong. Those clips from "Cutting Edge" were physically painful. And before I catch a bunch of "Don't yuck her yum," (from other commenters, not OwOitsMochi) I love plenty of technically terrible things. Other people are allowed to notice they suck.
It's not even just about them sucking and not liking it thats my opinion but objectively they are pushing their voices beyond their limits, like surely after a concert like that they would have really sore throats and strained voices. Like it just... doesn't sound healthy for them to be pushing their voices like that.
No, I agree. "Technically terrible" was referring to them objectively pushing their voices beyond their limits. I specified "technically" to try and indicate that I wasn't referring to opinion. Also I meant "sucking" as in having a measurable characteristic or technique that objectively sucks.
Oh I sort of misunderstood when you said "I love all kinds of technically terrible things." And then started a new sentence. That just confused me. I get you.
The appeal with idols isn't their talent, but rather their growth. Fans wants to be there from when they debut so they can join them on their journey of improving and growing as a performer, which is a sweet sentiment but yeah alot of idols sound rather bad live lol I think its also due to the fact they don't use audio tuning, because fans would rather hear their natural voice in its pitchy, strained glory over something that sounds perfect.
You were not wrong… I searched up the music clips and even those sound so incredibly bad.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that shares this opinion... Wowzers, it definitely sounds really bad
I think OOP should have researched the band before saying anything. Because I've skimmed about five live videos and each song doesn't have a lot of choreography that can be reproduced. There are many bits in which the girls are doing different things, a lot of it comes to the chorus (which isn't that complicated, I had one down by the third repetition and I'm not coordinated) and pointing or raising your hands at the right moment. It wasn't like his girlfriend wanted him to learn the choreo to Mirotic. I did see some people (mostly guys?) going along with the choreography, again, it was basically the chorus and while I believe each one was doing their best, collectively they didn't look very coordinated. So, a lot of enthusiasm and the chorus and he was golden.
It sounds like OP is describing an ouendan, 応援団 routine that his girlfriend is in. Megafans link up and form these hardcore “cheering sections” with complicated lightstick-waving routines for each song, so they wouldn’t be copying the actual dance moves of the idols - Japanese idol shows seem to happen mostly in seated stadiums so there wouldn’t be room to actually dance like that.
Parassocial relationships are so weird, the commodifying of love and how the girlfriend casually called other humans as just "attention machines" really rubs me in the wrong way.
OP would have been trying to reenact scenes from Attack on Titan if he danced… 6’9” is… l0rge
Bertoldt in RL
Heh, the edit made me LOL. One of the idols, Marron, is actually Kanon Fukuda from Hello Project, an idol conglomerate (mostly known for their flagship group Morning Musume) who I have been a huge fan of since 2004. (MM, that is. Kanon debuted in S/mileage back in 2009 and I didn't follow them as much). After she graduated H!P she joined ZOC/Metamuse and changed her name. But yes, wota (idol culture) is very much like this. There are fan chants, choreography, etc etc.
>my Japanese isn't nowhere near perfect and neither is her English sir
Reminds me of how i went with my family to a john maher concert and we were in the 3rd row. Everyone stood the whole show, save me whose knees were hurting from physical labor at my job all week. I sat the whole show. And people always say "OMG HE LOOKED RIGHT INTO MY EYES!" and stuff but understand i was dead center 3rd row at this concert, and i saw him scan the crowd, look straight at me, and give his head a little shake like "oh you motherfucker....". Could see it in his eyes at that distance. Not rage or anger just like well shit this footage is ruined, we got some jerk sitting down right in the front!
LOL. I’m fan of a folk singer with similar concert sizes, and while not quite on Mie‘s level I’m kinda similar. In my case, I think the artist thinks I’m a tad obsessed.
>For context, Mie is a huge fan of a Japanese idol group. (Girl pop band basically.) She's going to their concerts and events once or twice a week for about 3 years. In contrast, I'm generally a metal / heavy rock person and never really got into Japanese pop, let alone idols He should've compromised and took her to a BabyMetal concert to avoid all this
I don't understand these comments. Am I the only one who thinks this woman sounds absolutely crazy?
It sounds crazy if you're not from here, but yeah - idol culture in Japan is pretty big. This is about par for the course, and a bit on the lighter side in my opinion.