Forum - View topicINTEREST: Voice Actress Yū Serizawa Apologizes to Fans For Wearing Ring
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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You are absolutely correct, this was never about a women-only problem. First it was about a lone woman who had a problem with her private life interfering with her being an idol. You know, what the article was about; Yu Serizawa and her apology for wearing a ring. Then the discussion naturally progressed into a condemnation of a rotten industry built on massively unhealthy (and I would argue unreasonable) expectations. Whether or not Serizawa was faking it as a publicity stunt is hard to say, but that's almost irrelevant. There's no denying that idols - all idols - do face those sorts of pressure and expectations all the time. And there's a long and sordid history of fans being abusive jerks towards any idol who breaks the illusion of purity, no matter the gender of the idol and fanbase. I went back and checked earlier parts of the thread to see how we got into this mess. At the start of the thread people were just pretty much either talking about Serizawa or the industry in its entirety, no-one was really differentiating on gender. It was zeo1fan who started the "what about men?" train of thought that brought up male idols specifically rather than idols in general. Even to me that was unnecessary since male idols are still idols. Because men were never being excluded in the first place, there was no reason for him to bring them up as a specific case. zeo1fan's post would have been relevant had Serizawa been male and people had not been as outraged as with female idols, but with the actual circumstances his post just looks (to me) like trolling. |
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zeo1fan
Posts: 1016 |
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I wasn't trying to "troll" I noticed a drop-off in mentions to the male idols, and it seemed to me like Misogyny was the sole context being given for the problem. I said my piece and then I left. Unless you think I'm secretly Bright_Spear? |
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Bright_Spear
Posts: 340 |
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zeo1fan
Posts: 1016 |
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Aw, man.  I guess I should stop partying with those mafia loan sharks.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Like I said, there was absolutely no need to talk about male idols when we were talking about the industry as a whole, not female idols in particular. You may not have been intentionally trolling*, but the result of your post was just as destructive as if you had been. * Heck, you may have genuinely (but incorrectly) thought that you were raising a legitimate point. |
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zeo1fan
Posts: 1016 |
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Nah. I did see a drop-off after the first few pages. If you're upset that people had an extended argument over my observation, then you ought to admonish them for arguing rather than admonishing me for sharing an observation. I'm not some sort of chessmaster. Merely a humble college student.
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yu3lora
 Posts: 288 |
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I'be been observing this industry (seiyuu) for a not so little while now. In my opinion, fans now are becoming more open minded unlike the k-on days or, the Aya Hirano day's. More true fans are speaking up their opinion that their beloved idol's or seiyuu's has their own life and deserved to be happy. More agencies are now standing up for the protection of their talents. I hope the government is doing something about this.
Although I still think that there are some unlikely things that still happening in the industry. People should also look with the improvements. And I believe its also because of you guys giving them a butt comments. And like I always said, " A true fan love, support and most of all, respect their favorite idols/artists". |
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Mister Ryan Andrews
 Posts: 219 |
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Actually if you want to get technical, the first instance would be posts like merr using gender specific terms like 'her' and 'misogynistic' when referring to the idol industry in general, not just this case. Using those words gives the implication that the idol industry is only women. It's no different than correcting someone automatically assuming all doctors are men. And given a lot of the posts in this thread, it's probably a good idea to correct people on what an idol is and what an idol does and how it differs from a regular celebrity because there still seems to be confusion with people on the subject. It doesn't help stories like this always draw more attention than all the normal/good press about idols. One or two bad idol controversies a year overshadow the dozens of stories on how they're beneficial, assuming they even get reported at all which I doubt given the language barrier makes it hard. Charity events, relief efforts, role models, activism, all that evaporates the minute a 'look at this person who was dropped by their agency' story pops up. Those stories are the exceptions, not the rules. Idols are quickly becoming one of those distorted half-truths everyone will eventually parrot everywhere and become "common knowledge" despite being total BS, just like "Japan has used panty vending machines everywhere LOL" It's even more silly when you realize Serizawa isn't even really an "idol" to cause any of this to begin with. She's a newcomer who's only performances so far are mainly in children's shows. I doubt very many people, if any at all, was complaining about her having a ring. This was most likely a publicity stunt to make a newcomer stand out from all the other up and coming seiyuu/singers out there more than likely, so we're jumping the gun with this. If this is the first big "idol" controversy of 2014 then we're doing pretty well for ourselves I got to say 
Are you sure you're not thinking of normal seiyuu who live open lives? Just like with singers, there's a difference between idol seiyuu and normal seiyuu.
Nothing anyone says here really means anything. Westerners ranting on the internet about Shonen Jump Weekly stuff seem to have little to no effect on Japan if these past few years in video games have been any indication. Japan's not going to just straight up abandon one of their biggest and culturally embedded entertainment outlets just because a few people here have this warped misconception about it. |
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casualfan
Posts: 333 |
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The way I see it is that idol is just a job where one of the restrictions is that the worker must not have a relationship in real life. It's similar to any job where you have to give up personal freedom. Like secret service agents can't get prostitutes. Or a porn star would have to eff her co-stars all for entertainment sake . There are also the nuns although they do it for religious reasons. I don't see anything wrong with it as long as they become idols out of their own will.
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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This is an interesting column. I'm not really much into pop idol groups. Never have been either East or West. JPop singers which is something I do enjoy but I don't follow various artists 24/7 picking up every album they make. My 12-yr old niece is into Morning Musume [now] 14. Which I'd been familiar with in name only long before she came into this world. Now I'm stuck in the MM club, cutting out pictures of underage girls save one (who's leaving) until the one my niece favors graduates from the group or outgrows it.
But I've learned quite a bit from actually sitting and watching these idols. It's like a "study' in itself. I tell you if it wasn't for my niece this wouldn't have even cared. Every since that incident with AKB0048 member I'd began to become curious about how their pop idol industry works. Who owns them, what's the "dope" their selling to their fans and why all the restrictions. I'm sure it's self explanatory. Satoshi Kon's movie Perfect Blue, is an excellent movie that gives you just a taste of what the world of Jpop idols is about. But there's always more. I would love to find an article that talks a bit more about this subject matter.
But man even something like this would be stressful matter. But hey that's the price you pay if you want to be on stage in front of millions of fans. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Well they can and have done so. Perhaps you're suggesting they shouldn't? |
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zeo1fan
Posts: 1016 |
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Thank you. That is what I was referring it. |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11305 Location: Frisco, TX |
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fudge this thread.
And fudge the over-quoting. Yeah.. that, too >_>... |
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