[Entry #19] 5th Year Anniversary
So. I've been hard at work studying and then I decided to take a break and look through my old photos of when I was in Japan and then I sat back and thought about stuff and I realized I've pretty much hit my 5th year anniversary of being an Arashi fan. I don't exactly remember when I got into them, I just know it was somewhere in between February and March Break of 2008. But yeah. 5 years! That's absolutely insane. If you asked me, at the age of 13 - honestly, when I FIRST entered high school, whether I could imagine myself being a fangirl of some Japanese boyband I would've laughed at you so hard tears would be falling out of my ears in rivers.
And then Arashi showed up and I don't even know what happened. 5 years. I went through High School with these guys. Hell. I'm probably going to go through University with them too. That's a weird thought. Since it's 5 years I just want to recap a bit because I'm honestly just so surprised at how long I've loved these guys for. I honestly never would've predicted anything like this happening to me and frankly, considering I got in to them at the age of 13 I think I can give them some credit in how I've turned out today at the age of 18. I mean - I'm not going to lie - I did pretty much go to Japan because of them (and other reasons like anime and what not but I just really wanted to see Arashi - which didn't end up happening but that is besides the point). So I'm rambling but here we go - a recap of my years as an Arashi fangirl
How I got into Fandom
- One of my friends was absolutely in love with Oguri Shun and kept talking about Shun and Jun, managed to convince me to watch Gokusen (I have no idea how since I was hard core into anime - absolutely hate (still do) shoujo and wtf gokusen? really?) and then I finally learned who Shun and Jun was and was highly unimpressed by the latter. Honestly thought Jun looked funny but then in one episode he had this really big smile on his face and I was like "wow he has such a nice smile" (and frankly to this day I still think Jun has an amazing smile)
- So then I learned Shun and Jun did HYD together and I am a sucker for bromance and stuff and I watched HYD. Now - I should note that being an anime fan I have a habit of downloading the theme song to every single show I watched and 'Wish' was kinda catchy so I downloaded it. This WOULD have been end of story if not for the fact that...
- I realized I had zero interest in music, artists etc. honestly all I listened to were anime theme songs, I never bothered searching up the artists to the songs so I figured I'd start with Arashi. Found some PV's on Veoh/YT, heard Sakura Sake and was totally hooked along with Kitto Daijoubu. And then somehow I managed to click on an episode of Mago Mago Arashi and lo' and behold there is MatsuJun (Domyouji Tsukasa in my mind) being kicked in the face by a little kid. I was hooked. I thought it was the most hilarious thing ever.
- I started watching MMA cause I thought it was cute, helping old ladies. I was like "these guys are a boyband? They don't seem like that at all..." and then I branched off into Shukudai and DnA, and GnA (taijiproject started subbing these eps around this time I think?)
Now throughout grade 8 and 9 I liked them but I kind of.. i mean, Arashi was my first experience as a fangirl and I honestly thought fangirls were all crazy and creepy and why are they so obsessed with talking aout how sexy they are? (cause I just thought Arashi was funny). See i was going through some heavy conflict at this stage because I always grew up thinking Asian boybands were stupid, and people who fangirled them were crazy, and asian dramas are like LOLOMGNO (I really I am still not much of a drama fan) but then there was Arashi and I was just like "THESE GUYS". And yet this is probably my most 'active' time as a fangirl cause I drew fanart and made really shitty wallpapers and icons and banners and blah.
And then I went to Japan. And if you want to know what happened after I hit Japan all you really need to look at is this
oh and I was looking for this pic around Sho's b-day but I couldn't find it on my computer and I stupidly forgot I had uploaded it to my long-forgotten photobucket account.
Being in Japan - not surprisingly - was probably the peak of my fangirling xD. I mean, I finally got to buy DVD's, albums etc. I even went to Fukuoka Dome when they had a concert (I didn't go TOO the concert, just the dome). That and I actually had a friend to fangirl with and well, we fangirled. Hardcore. God I miss her. She goes to McMasters now but she's just as nerdy/lazy as I am so our chances of meeting are NEVER. We only did this for Sho's birthday because on Ohno's we still weren't that crazy yet and on Aiba's/Nino's we weren't at school.
and then I came home. And 2010-2011 and the crazy kind of got replaced by ... well what I am today pretty much. Watch their shows when they're released, downloading their songs/concerts, .....and tumblr. I actually do other stuff now like read, and play vido games, and hang out with friends! One thing I have stopped though is drawing fanart which I regret. I keep telling myself I will draw Enamoto (Ohno) and it has yet to happen. I WILL. READING WEEK PROJECT.
but yeah. 5 freakin years. Can you tell that I'm slightly in shock over this considering how many times I've mentioned "5 years" within this entry alone? I dunno. Whenever I talk with my closest friends they're always like "yeah, you don't seem like someone that fangirls a boyband at all" and I'm like "I know right?" - it's honestly like.. the biggest joke to us because it's like WHERE THE HELL DID THESE GUYS COME FROM. But they all think it's really amusing because normally I'm just so chill and blah and whatever I don't care and swearing like a sailor while playing video games and then suddenly it's like rainbow boyband of awesome dancing on rainbows and wearing nipple shirts yo~!
so yeah. 5 years. Damn.
And then Arashi showed up and I don't even know what happened. 5 years. I went through High School with these guys. Hell. I'm probably going to go through University with them too. That's a weird thought. Since it's 5 years I just want to recap a bit because I'm honestly just so surprised at how long I've loved these guys for. I honestly never would've predicted anything like this happening to me and frankly, considering I got in to them at the age of 13 I think I can give them some credit in how I've turned out today at the age of 18. I mean - I'm not going to lie - I did pretty much go to Japan because of them (and other reasons like anime and what not but I just really wanted to see Arashi - which didn't end up happening but that is besides the point). So I'm rambling but here we go - a recap of my years as an Arashi fangirl
How I got into Fandom
- One of my friends was absolutely in love with Oguri Shun and kept talking about Shun and Jun, managed to convince me to watch Gokusen (I have no idea how since I was hard core into anime - absolutely hate (still do) shoujo and wtf gokusen? really?) and then I finally learned who Shun and Jun was and was highly unimpressed by the latter. Honestly thought Jun looked funny but then in one episode he had this really big smile on his face and I was like "wow he has such a nice smile" (and frankly to this day I still think Jun has an amazing smile)
- So then I learned Shun and Jun did HYD together and I am a sucker for bromance and stuff and I watched HYD. Now - I should note that being an anime fan I have a habit of downloading the theme song to every single show I watched and 'Wish' was kinda catchy so I downloaded it. This WOULD have been end of story if not for the fact that...
- I realized I had zero interest in music, artists etc. honestly all I listened to were anime theme songs, I never bothered searching up the artists to the songs so I figured I'd start with Arashi. Found some PV's on Veoh/YT, heard Sakura Sake and was totally hooked along with Kitto Daijoubu. And then somehow I managed to click on an episode of Mago Mago Arashi and lo' and behold there is MatsuJun (Domyouji Tsukasa in my mind) being kicked in the face by a little kid. I was hooked. I thought it was the most hilarious thing ever.
- I started watching MMA cause I thought it was cute, helping old ladies. I was like "these guys are a boyband? They don't seem like that at all..." and then I branched off into Shukudai and DnA, and GnA (taijiproject started subbing these eps around this time I think?)
Now throughout grade 8 and 9 I liked them but I kind of.. i mean, Arashi was my first experience as a fangirl and I honestly thought fangirls were all crazy and creepy and why are they so obsessed with talking aout how sexy they are? (cause I just thought Arashi was funny). See i was going through some heavy conflict at this stage because I always grew up thinking Asian boybands were stupid, and people who fangirled them were crazy, and asian dramas are like LOLOMGNO (I really I am still not much of a drama fan) but then there was Arashi and I was just like "THESE GUYS". And yet this is probably my most 'active' time as a fangirl cause I drew fanart and made really shitty wallpapers and icons and banners and blah.
And then I went to Japan. And if you want to know what happened after I hit Japan all you really need to look at is this
oh and I was looking for this pic around Sho's b-day but I couldn't find it on my computer and I stupidly forgot I had uploaded it to my long-forgotten photobucket account.
Being in Japan - not surprisingly - was probably the peak of my fangirling xD. I mean, I finally got to buy DVD's, albums etc. I even went to Fukuoka Dome when they had a concert (I didn't go TOO the concert, just the dome). That and I actually had a friend to fangirl with and well, we fangirled. Hardcore. God I miss her. She goes to McMasters now but she's just as nerdy/lazy as I am so our chances of meeting are NEVER. We only did this for Sho's birthday because on Ohno's we still weren't that crazy yet and on Aiba's/Nino's we weren't at school.
and then I came home. And 2010-2011 and the crazy kind of got replaced by ... well what I am today pretty much. Watch their shows when they're released, downloading their songs/concerts, .....and tumblr. I actually do other stuff now like read, and play vido games, and hang out with friends! One thing I have stopped though is drawing fanart which I regret. I keep telling myself I will draw Enamoto (Ohno) and it has yet to happen. I WILL. READING WEEK PROJECT.
but yeah. 5 freakin years. Can you tell that I'm slightly in shock over this considering how many times I've mentioned "5 years" within this entry alone? I dunno. Whenever I talk with my closest friends they're always like "yeah, you don't seem like someone that fangirls a boyband at all" and I'm like "I know right?" - it's honestly like.. the biggest joke to us because it's like WHERE THE HELL DID THESE GUYS COME FROM. But they all think it's really amusing because normally I'm just so chill and blah and whatever I don't care and swearing like a sailor while playing video games and then suddenly it's like rainbow boyband of awesome dancing on rainbows and wearing nipple shirts yo~!
so yeah. 5 years. Damn.