Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: If My Favorite Pop Idol Made it to the Budokan, I Would Die
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Yuvelir
 Posts: 1545 |
|
|||
|
I stan Aya now.
Something iffy about the previous episodes seemed to be handwaving Eripiyo's injury as an inconvenience rather a harmful consequence of her attitude and how the industry feeds it by kind of making it "just there" and the origin of the injury being a random wild boar. It wasn't much, but at least Kumasa aknowledged that said injury might have more to do with Eripiyo overworking herself than sheer bad luck. And they did right this time by clearly and unambiguously punishing Eripiyo's unhealthy outlook: she collapsed in the worst place at the worst time, taking away the reward for her efforts, and that was solely because of her own bad decissions.
A little more than "on the verge". Afterall he HAS realized that he was rejoycing over something that was causing Sorane grief. His character is very necessary. He represents more selfish (and believeable) fans and the Sorane falling from grace plotline highlights a very common occurence of the idol fandom at its worst (would that happen at all if there weren't lots of fans like Motoi?), which is something that they must tackle if they really want to show the dark side of the industry. Also, if anything he brought in his imouto who is the healthiest character in the whole cast. |
||||
|
||||
zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
|
|||
Personally, I think the issue is more on the idol industry than idol fandom. You can see similarly possessive fans of pop stars of other countries; the industry in those countries just doesn't listen to those kinds of concerns. Contractually prohibiting relationships just fosters and normalizes such behavior. You could say that "it's just their culture", but the experience of K-Pop makes me skeptical - which also had similar rules in the early days, but not only did they not lose fans after abandoning those rules, K-Pop became a worldwide phenomenon, whereas J-Pop and especially Japanese idols have not really broken out of Japan. In light of that, the industry saying "that's just what the fans want" just seems like excuses to continue a practice that is a piece of a system where the agencies exercise a much greater degree of control over the talent than their counterparts in, say, the US. That doesn't mean the fans aren't responsible for their own behavior, especially individuals who threaten harm or otherwise terrorize idols, but the industry does more to foster - and can do more to discourage - this behavior than they care to admit. At least the larger agencies do, as I think smaller ones are more constrained by industry standards. The question for me is less "Would this happen at all if their weren't so many fans like Motoi?" and more "Would there be so many fans like that if the agencies didn't contractually prohibit their talent for having relationships?" |
||||
|
||||
|
Yuvelir
Posts: 1545 |
|
|||
|
Of course it's mostly the industry's fault, as it always is when there's money to be made, but if such obligations exist at all it's because there's some demand for them.
Motoi can't be blamed for the for the demonic grasp the industry has on its idols just like Eripiyo can't be faulted for how the system is built on syphoning out as much money as possible from its fans. But they can for the parts they do have control over. Disregarding her own health (twice!) is mostly Eripiyo's responsibility, and demanding a potential romantic/sexual outcome is Motoi's. Of course it's likely that this wouldn't happen without the industry fostering these bad habits (and boy could the gambling industry give a crash course into that), but it's also the responsability of the fans to be, well, responsible adults and consider the consequences of their [in]actions. This series, although not as critical as it could be, wants to explore all sides of idol culture, and thus it's only sensible that it would present unhealthy habits and lines of thoughts that fans can get into. Motoi's storyline matters because it represents something bad that is happenning, and hopefully it will also present some things that fans can do to push against it. |
||||
|
||||
|
zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
|
|||
|
Like I said, the industry's behavior doesn't mean fans aren't responsible for their own behavior. I agree that Motoi's storyline is important, as it represents a real line of thinking among idol fandom that is harmful to those idols, and I don't think his inclusion is a knock on the story. It is a necessary part of how the series humanizes the idol fandom, both the good and the bad aspects of it. But there are those who do pin everything on guys like Motoi, even as some agencies take their talent to court for breach of contract over that sort of thing. I don't think the show contributes to that sort of scapegoating, though.
|
||||
|
||||
dragon695
 Posts: 1377 Location: Clemson, SC |
|
|||
I think that’s because purity culture is on a different level in Japan compared to Korea. Idols have been stabbed for even hinting they may be seeing someone. Has that ever happened in Korea? I think that’s how intense the fan culture is in Japan. |
||||
|
||||
|
zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
|
|||
|
^It's certainly possible, but even looking at other parts of the Japanese entertainment industry, I'm skeptical that it is so much higher that they have no choice but to contractually prohibit relationships in order to keep their fanbases. We see marriage announcements for VAs all the time. They do generally seem to keep things on the down low until then, which could indicate some degree of that (or a difference in how people in the industry in Japan prefer to interact with the tabloids), but not enough that they are contractually prohibited for doing so. I'm not as familiar with J-Pop, so I'm not certain about it, but from what I have seen for articles about OP/ED singers, non-idol J-Pop singers seem to be in a similar position as VAs.
So is there a different level of purity culture in Japan than other countries? There may be. Yet Japanese talent outside of the idol industry doesn't seem to be contractually prohibited from engaging in relationships, which makes the idol industry's high level of it seem less like a Japan thing, and more like something that the industry has cultivated themselves - to the point of contractually obligating it - and something they could turn down the heat on if they so choose. |
||||
|
||||
|
Animegomaniac
Posts: 4074 |
|
|||
I've always thought that the main Idol industry is built on vicarious relationships and this series seems to thrive on that notion. She's your girlfriend, you spend money on her just for a moment of her time and you go away happy just for those few seconds of being acknowledged, having spent thousands of yen for nothing real. Look at the people sponging off of the idol industry here, the ticket sellers and merchandise dealers, they are not attractive people, they're actually less attractive than the fans. Yet they're the ones getting most of the money. There's no purity here. Ironically, I made it through episode 2 when Maina showed up in the "wedding dress" for her fans/fan. I was fine with "do it for the city!" Zombie Land Saga or those "minor league" free School Idols ones but this is just predatory and it's sick. |
||||
|
||||
|
zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
|
|||
I mean, I don't believe for a minute that the sort of guys who buy gravure calendars of teenaged idols are really concerned about the sexualization of minors (also the rules apply equally to non-minor idols, so that's not what it's about), but I think using the term purity is more of a semantic than substantive disagreement. I think it is clear that when the previous poster is using the term "purity culture", they are talking about fans not wanting the idols to be involved in relationships while they are idols. While I would say that the industry is built on at least the appearance of a more human and down to earth connection between the talent and fans than more traditional pop stars, I think calling that "vicarious relationships" is only the more cynical framing of that, not the only one that can be or is used, by the fans, the idols, or the industry. While I don't think that connection is always entirely real, I don't think it is always entirely false, especially for smaller groups and their regulars. At least that's my opinion as someone who had been in the service industry. Not having such contractual obligations certainly doesn't prevent K-Pop groups from having very similar merchandising systems for the members of the groups, so it doesn't necessarily seem required in terms of the business model, per se. I would also say that the show is not built on vicarious relationships. As one of the other posters pointed out, that line of thinking is represented in Motoi's storyline, but the other main characters give him grief about it - calling him creepy and dropping him on his ass at one point - and he seems to be on the verge of learning his lesson on that, as the reviewer mentions in their review of the most recent episode. I would say that the show is built on showing the idol fandom as it is, warts and all, and raises interesting questions about the relationship between idols and fans (and each other for at least some of the idols). More interesting than just "Could I date her?", that is. |
||||
|
||||
|
#903234
Posts: 18 |
|
|||
|
Meh the show is so overrated. It does not deserve any of these high scores
|
||||
|
||||
TanyaTheEvil
 Posts: 331 |
|
|||
|
One of the best anime this season. I am really loving it and look forward to each week
|
||||
|
||||
Panino Manino
 Posts: 734 |
|
|||
I don't even believe that people are praising this enough to be worth calling "overrated". Is just a shallow fun past time. |
||||
|
||||
|
Panino Manino
Posts: 734 |
|
|||
|
#9
Still a funny anime, but Eri and Maina aren't the reason to keep watching. For me Eri is becoming as bad as Subaru (Re:zero) and Maina as bad as Kasuga (Kimagure). It's boring and tiresome how their interactions still remain the same shallow interactions since the beginning, while at the same time all other characters felt like their relationships changed and evolved a bit even with little screen time. |
||||
|
||||
|
maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
|
|||
|
Episode 10
My favorite part of the episode was the gay couple's scene; That whole thing about passing her cold to her "friend"; if this were nanoha people would still deny them being gay, tho. |
||||
|
||||
|
vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
|
|||
Oddly enough, while I couldn't stop thinking about the current pandemic while watching certain scenes in recent episodes of Chihayafuru and Healin' Good Precure, it somehow never once came to my mind in relation to this episode before I read that paragraph from the review. My best guess is that with all the misunderstandings and cringe happening in the show there's enough for me to stress about already, without bringing real life issues into it.. |
||||
|
||||
|
Florete
Posts: 363 |
|
|||
|
Such a fantastic show. If only more people watched it.
|
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group