2 posts tagged “fandom”

It's funny how random personality traits can have a huge impact on your fandom experience. The ones that I've discovered influencing my Hello! Project fandoms are possessiveness and jealousy in particular. I am an incredibly possessive/jealous person, and this post will take a look at how these qualities have effected my fandom...

Most fans I know actually like spending time with people who share the same favourite member as them. However, that has never been the case with me. I've never really had other Nacchi fans as friends and even now if I talk to one, I feel like I've been put into a competition that I don't want to participate in. I'm not really competitive at all, so having to constantly try to keep up with the other fans might actually make me want to give up altogether and not even try to be a "good" fan. It's just too much pressure. Additionally, I just simply cannot share. Nothing annoys me more than if some other fan starts the "____ is mine!!" "___ steals ____ from shirenu!!" kind of argument with me, even if only as a joke. I guess you could say that I have no sense of humour when it comes to this. I think I fear that someone might actually take my precious idol away from me, even if there is no way that could possibly happen. It's an illogical way of thinking, but I can't really help it.

I get along the best with people who like the same members as I do, but whose top favourite is not the same as mine.

I'd like to say something about my H!P Egg fandom, too. When I first got into Eggs, it was so refreshing that nobody seemed to know a thing about them and I felt like I was the only person on earth (well, outside of Japan) who cared. For a little while they were all mine, my own, my precioussss. But my actions that followed this seemed to contradict the possessive side of my personality. I kept trying to tell people more about the Eggs, post their pictures, share information. I've made a fansite to them, a gallery; I've put lots of effort into making people notice them more than before. Basically, I wanted the Eggs to become more known, more popular... And I still do. However, there have been times when someone has posted some Egg-related picture or piece of news before me and I've felt like crap because of it - I've felt like I'm not doing my job properly or that I'm "losing power" if someone posts something before I do. This is NOT the kind of fan I want to be - I want to be the kind of person who can smile and think "wow, I'm so lucky that I don't have to juggle these Eggs all by myself anymore". I want to be able to appreciate and respect the work of others instead of feeling like "these strangers are trying to take over my territory". I am going to be an absolute mess if I keep feeling this way because a.) there are over 20 Eggs, I will really need help in the future to keep up with everyone's career, and b.) more Eggs ARE going to debut and become more popular, which means I will have to learn to share.

So my jealous & possessive personality effects my H!P Egg fandom, but I really want that to change. Luckily I already feel incredibly happy when I see random people say good things about Eggs, like "oh that Egg in Ongaku Gatas is really cute", or "could you post more pics of Sayaka? She's my favourite". These kinds of comments are why I do what I do in the end. It's not because I want to be The Ultimate Best Egg Fan. It's because I want others to become The Ultimate Best Fans of different Eggs. Because I'm daredemodaisuki when it comes to Eggs (which means that I love them all), I want others to choose their favourite Egg and treasure her. I can't give each girl the special attention she deserves because I'm too busy loving 20 other girls at the same time.

Perhaps I have got into Eggs so much because being a daredemodaisuki type of fan suits me the best. If I don't have a #1 favourite member, I won't have to compete with anyone. (I only need to learn that I can't always be the fastest to post something.) It makes me so happy to see someone declare they now have a favourite Egg, or pretty much say anything remotely positive about them. I hope they will become more popular soon. Ongaku Gatas is a good start.

Well, I think that was as brutally honest as I could make it... Heh.

I'm way too lazy to write the kind of entry I had planned at first, so here are just some reasons why I'm into Hello! Project.

• Music
• Personalities
• Looks
• Cuteness
• Misc
• Favourite members
  

I like H!P's music because in general it's upbeat, catchy pop music sung in Japanese. That's all there is to say, really. I'll leave deeper analysis of the music to people who'd actually know what they're talking about...

Personalities in Hello! Project are important to me. My favourite members are people who aren't afraid to be goofy on camera, aren't afraid to embarrass themselves a bit to bring entertainment to others. My favourites aren't in general the best at telling jokes, but instead the humour (or cuteness) results from how 'bad' the jokes are, how they tell the jokes and how they expect people to find them funny. Their reactions to all kinds of things are also usually exaggerated, which makes them entertaining. This kind of outgoing humorous characteristic is what makes some members likeable to me.

Then I also find those members likeable who appear very empathic, friendly and reliable, or seem to be good teachers to the younger members. Basically members who seem warm-hearted. I like members who show their emotions, whether it's laughing or crying. It's difficult to find honesty in idols who grow in front of cameras and learn to follow certain behavioural patterns in the public eye, but I believe that there are also times when you see an honest reaction from the girls. Sometimes the laughter or tears are real, and so on. At those times, being able to connect with the member is very rewarding.

What I personally find extra respectable in H!P members is if they show interest in the world around them. I'm not expecting them to be super knowledgeable, but if they express wishes like "I'd like to learn to speak Korean" or "I'd like to visit Europe", it makes me feel good. I guess it's because I love learning languages myself and am interested in travelling and different cultures. H!P members don't really mention things like these too often, so when they do, it makes me happy.

What I also appreciate in H!P members is ambition and hard work. Some members obviously work harder than others and when I see someone really aiming high, I like to give them props for that. On the other hand, if I feel someone could do better, I feel disappointed and may like the member a bit less because of it.

So these were all some bits and pieces of personalities that I like in H!P members.

When it comes to looks, there are some members I like because they are cute, some because they are pretty/beautiful, and some because they are cute, pretty and sexy (to me if someone isn't cute, they can't really be sexy, either, because for me to be really attracted to someone they need to be able to soften me with their cuteness as well. My favourite member Natsumi Abe is a great example of this). My top favourite members either have all these three qualities looks-wise or are close to this; an exception is Momoko Tsugunaga who is mostly there thanks to her hyper camwhore personality and her weird, high voice. Momoko is cute, but her looks were never really the reason why I started liking her. Anyway, looks are an important reason why I'm into H!P and I'm not going to deny it. I find the majority of H!P to be cute and/or pretty girls and women.

Whether looks, personality, voice or all of these, cuteness is what H!P is about. Cute Japanese girls singing cute songs. Well, lately the songs haven't been too cute, but the girls still are. It also seems like a lot of cute-voiced girls are making it to Hello! Project instead of girls with a deeper, maturer voice. Anyway, I'll admit I love everything cute and that's a big reason of why I love H!P.

Some misc reasons to love H!P... For someone who is as lifeless as me H!P is a great fandom because it's just so damn big and it's been around for 10 years. There's always something to talk about, whether new, old, or comparing the two. I think this year H!P has also picked up on releasing exciting singles/PBs/DVDs because I've recently felt like there's always something to look forward to. There's no time to get bored, really. Especially if you're very hardcore and try to watch everything. I've given up on that a long time ago, but some still do it and I can understand it.

There's one thing about H!P fandom that just came to my mind: the battle of old VS. new. What I've perceived is that the majority of foreign fans are to a large extent living in the past. The "things were better when...." attitude is everywhere. Everyone's wishing for the old H!P groups/members etc. to come back. I suppose this is where I differ from several fans. I like the way H!P is now, I support all the new groups and members. I like Berryz Kobo, C-ute, H!P Eggs and THE Possible. I like Ayaya better in GAM than solo because she was never enough to interest me by herself. I like it that Momusu's going to have two Chinese members for at least some time. I like it that Yossi's graduating and Momusu will be testing their wings lacking all golden era members. I like the current Morning Musume line-up. What I miss from the past are stable subgroups (but I'd like new groups, not the old Tanpopo or Pucchimoni or whatever), shuffles each year and Sports Festival (which could still take place this year, but who knows, maybe it's in the past now). However, I do still respect the old school members a lot, I do like a lot of things in the past - but I don't think they would work in the current Hello! Project and Tsunku's not stupid, he can see it, too.

What I do find funny is how H!P has become so obviously sexier recently. They had a sexy image at times earlier as well, but... For example, when I became a fan, finding a Nacchi pic with cleavage was like finding a needle in a hay stack. She had only worn bikini for MM's very, very early photo shoots and then for Momusu's Alo-Hello 2003, and those were literally the only times you could see that much of her skin. Now she reveals her beautiful shoulders and cleavage area almost more often than not. I'm not complaining because it's very sexy and she's a sexy young woman. But it is funny how the difference is so obvious. If I had even imagined in 2004 Maki doing what she does in her singles now, I would've probably thought "lol I'm crazy, that will never happen". Ch-ch-ch-changes~~

Ok, I almost started writing about my favourite members, but then I realized I'll still write about many of them on my Momusu Focus entries. So instead I guess I should just finally stop here. Wah, what a horrendous entry.