Let's STARTO
Hello, long time no see!
Various things have happened since the last time I posted. Generally, I tend to keep thoughts and rants to myself or I write a really long post to vent. But after writing things out I usually feel better and then decide not to post it haha... Since 2023 is coming to an end soon (how time flies 💀) I thought I'd sorta summarize or share what's been going on with me...not that anyone cares but I do wanna document my fandom life somewhat LOL
1) So the last time I left off, I probably mentioned that because Kenty had slipped into my dreams, I got into the SexyZone fandom. Still am, still here as a sekuraba!! Fuma has been vying for my attention lately though as I do see him more often 🙈 I watched 2 of his dramas back to back PLUS there's him on Nino's youtube channel! Sorry Kenty!! It also doesn't help that Fuma has ties to both Sho (aniki/marshmallow kai?!) and Nino so that connection makes him more endearing XD
2) In mid 2021 I also fell down the Snow Man rabbit hole and have adopted another oshi in the form of Fukazawa Tatsuya. There was just something about Fukka and his antics in those Jr youtube channel days that made me go "this guy is weird and I love him that way" LOL. Anyway, I'm kind of a full-fledge sunotan nowadays. I've been keeping busy with their youtube vids, concerts, SoreSnow, and other content for the last 2 years.
However, (somewhat of an "entitled" rant coming up, my apologies in advance) a fan that had been sharing Snow Man content all this time has switched to a different way of uploading content and I haven't been able to figure out how to use that new platform. I'm quite bummed because they share so much content and they're like just an amazing person for doing that but also I'm kind of sad? annoyed? dejected? that they're using a platform that's not very user-friendly (yeah, that's my entitled self slipping out). Because of that, I haven't been following Snow Man's content too closely as of late and I sort of feel like I'm not that dedicated as a fan anymore. I guess this old lady just needs to learn how to use that new file sharing platform and get over it 👵
3) The thing with the-company-now-called-Starto, people from different groups collaborate or work together on projects and that's a way for fans of one group to become acquainted with other Starto groups. That's what happened to me this year 😅 I watched the drama Nice Flight because Abe-chan (Abe Ryohei) from Snow Man had a role in it but the starring role was Tamamori Yuta. I knew about Tama-chan and Kis-My-Ft2 from various Starto events like Countdown concerts, the 2021 year-end Festival concert, TV music shows etc. I just wasn't particularly interested in them for some reason. As a pre-cursor for 2022-2023, my brain was probably hinting at something because when I watched the Festival concert (y'know, the one produced by MatsuJun 💜) I fell in love with Kisumai's song Luv Bias and constantly listened to it. But that was it! Nothing more came out of it until Nice Flight triggered my curiosity. I eventually found out that Luv Bias was the theme song to another one of Tama-chan's drama Oh My Boss so of course I went to go watch that. Then, I found his IG account and low-key became enamored with Tama-chan after that LOL. In mid-2023, Tama-chan slipped into my dreams several times. They were all PG and very very sweet (probably influenced by his characters in Nice Flight and Oh My Boss, ngl) so it was at that point that I knew I've officially adopted another oshi in my life 😅😅😅 It's very much a pattern of mine, that when I dream of someone, I become obsessed with them afterwards 🙈
So yeah...currently, I'm falling into ANOTHER rabbit hole called Kis-My-Ft2 which is weird because I NEVER had an inkling of interest even though I knew about them for so long! I don't think I'm in too deep (YET) because it's a little harder to find their older content online in the English-speaking world. There are some resources but I'll need some time to procure them. However, I have been listening to most of their discography 24/7 for the last few months (I'm still not able to find Music Colosseum from 2017 and Sha-la-la Summer from 2016 😭) and am starting to experience some of their concerts by way of generous fans. I don't know why it's taken me so long to realize that Kisumai has so many bops and their style of music/songs is exactly what I love about idol music. I'm constantly humming and bobbing my head to their addictive melodies! I am literally doing this while listening to AAO and typing this line!
My fandom life has been constantly busy (tunneling down many rabbit holes LOL) so I am truly grateful that my hubby has been supportive of me. He hasn't become irritated with me (yet??), he lets me listen to all of my idol music in our car commutes and even sometimes joins me with watching dramas! I love that every time I start a new drama he'll ask "Who's in it this time (from Starto)?" LOL because he knows that high-chance I'm watching a particular drama because of the actor. He's not interested in watching concerts or variety shows so I love that we can watch dramas together. We get to spend time together AND I can educate him about the specific actor/idol and their groups XD So far, I've educated him about Meguro Ren/Snow Man, Fuma/Sekuzo, Tama-chan/Kisumai, and recently because of Beni Sasu Life, he's now a bit more familiar with Onishi Ryusei/Naniwa Danshi. It's amusing that he can't tell Onishi Ryusei and Sato Shori apart....he thinks they look similar 😅
Speaking of Meguro Ren - funny story (to me) - while we were watching Trillion Game together, hubby saw the lanyard that Haru was wearing around his neck. He wondered out loud whether the TBS merch store would sell them. I was like "Maybe? I know they sell drama merch but I'm not sure if they'll make the lanyards". He then said "If they do sell the lanyard I definitely will buy it". Fast forward to October when we visited Tokyo for a few days. We paid a visit to the TBS store and lo-and-behold, we saw the Trillion Game lanyard!!! LOL Hubby was so excited and bought one for himself!! I don't know why he was so interested in the lanyard in the drama but now we're sharing the lanyard and wearing it to work LOL Yeah, I'm just super glad and appreciative that I can have these moments with someone, especially someone close to me like my hubby because I don't have any IRL friends in any of my fandoms. As an introvert it's hard for me to reach out and make those connections 😢
One last experience I just wanted to share... Over the last couple years, I've come to realize that being a fan of the above mentioned groups (including Arashi) has really helped my mental wellbeing. Even with my limited understanding of Japanese, just listening to those upbeat songs, feeling the positive messages in the lyrics, jamming out to concerts alone in my living room or laughing along with their stupid and silly antics on youtube/variety shows, have lifted my spirits and made me forget about the worthless negative thoughts circling in my head countless times. Just yesterday, I was extremely annoyed about various people and things that happened at work and I kept grumbling about it in my head all the way back home. I'm the kind of person that dwells on things and overthinks everything. So after dinner, I put on a Kisumai concert on TV and just jammed out - jumping, dancing, singing and working up a sweat. I laughed at their MC antics and silly faces; I "kyun'ed" whenever Tama-chan did something cute or sexy; I fangirled so hard at the songs I loved. Basically, all those negative emotions and thoughts on events that weren't in my control melted away and my mind became focused on what was in front of me. Maybe it was the endorphins from smiling so much and working up a sweat? I was much happier by the end of the day and I no longer dwelled on the events from earlier in the day. Does it sound crazy to say that these groups and idols have this positive impact on my wellbeing??
Well, to wrap things up - at the end of the day, I am super grateful for my hubby and for my 'Starto' groups. They bring so much joy and positivity to my life. I hope everything will go off to a good start for everyone in 2024 (it's so hard not to incorporate 'Starto' puns)!
Various things have happened since the last time I posted. Generally, I tend to keep thoughts and rants to myself or I write a really long post to vent. But after writing things out I usually feel better and then decide not to post it haha... Since 2023 is coming to an end soon (how time flies 💀) I thought I'd sorta summarize or share what's been going on with me...not that anyone cares but I do wanna document my fandom life somewhat LOL
1) So the last time I left off, I probably mentioned that because Kenty had slipped into my dreams, I got into the SexyZone fandom. Still am, still here as a sekuraba!! Fuma has been vying for my attention lately though as I do see him more often 🙈 I watched 2 of his dramas back to back PLUS there's him on Nino's youtube channel! Sorry Kenty!! It also doesn't help that Fuma has ties to both Sho (aniki/marshmallow kai?!) and Nino so that connection makes him more endearing XD
2) In mid 2021 I also fell down the Snow Man rabbit hole and have adopted another oshi in the form of Fukazawa Tatsuya. There was just something about Fukka and his antics in those Jr youtube channel days that made me go "this guy is weird and I love him that way" LOL. Anyway, I'm kind of a full-fledge sunotan nowadays. I've been keeping busy with their youtube vids, concerts, SoreSnow, and other content for the last 2 years.
However, (somewhat of an "entitled" rant coming up, my apologies in advance) a fan that had been sharing Snow Man content all this time has switched to a different way of uploading content and I haven't been able to figure out how to use that new platform. I'm quite bummed because they share so much content and they're like just an amazing person for doing that but also I'm kind of sad? annoyed? dejected? that they're using a platform that's not very user-friendly (yeah, that's my entitled self slipping out). Because of that, I haven't been following Snow Man's content too closely as of late and I sort of feel like I'm not that dedicated as a fan anymore. I guess this old lady just needs to learn how to use that new file sharing platform and get over it 👵
3) The thing with the-company-now-called-Starto, people from different groups collaborate or work together on projects and that's a way for fans of one group to become acquainted with other Starto groups. That's what happened to me this year 😅 I watched the drama Nice Flight because Abe-chan (Abe Ryohei) from Snow Man had a role in it but the starring role was Tamamori Yuta. I knew about Tama-chan and Kis-My-Ft2 from various Starto events like Countdown concerts, the 2021 year-end Festival concert, TV music shows etc. I just wasn't particularly interested in them for some reason. As a pre-cursor for 2022-2023, my brain was probably hinting at something because when I watched the Festival concert (y'know, the one produced by MatsuJun 💜) I fell in love with Kisumai's song Luv Bias and constantly listened to it. But that was it! Nothing more came out of it until Nice Flight triggered my curiosity. I eventually found out that Luv Bias was the theme song to another one of Tama-chan's drama Oh My Boss so of course I went to go watch that. Then, I found his IG account and low-key became enamored with Tama-chan after that LOL. In mid-2023, Tama-chan slipped into my dreams several times. They were all PG and very very sweet (probably influenced by his characters in Nice Flight and Oh My Boss, ngl) so it was at that point that I knew I've officially adopted another oshi in my life 😅😅😅 It's very much a pattern of mine, that when I dream of someone, I become obsessed with them afterwards 🙈
So yeah...currently, I'm falling into ANOTHER rabbit hole called Kis-My-Ft2 which is weird because I NEVER had an inkling of interest even though I knew about them for so long! I don't think I'm in too deep (YET) because it's a little harder to find their older content online in the English-speaking world. There are some resources but I'll need some time to procure them. However, I have been listening to most of their discography 24/7 for the last few months (I'm still not able to find Music Colosseum from 2017 and Sha-la-la Summer from 2016 😭) and am starting to experience some of their concerts by way of generous fans. I don't know why it's taken me so long to realize that Kisumai has so many bops and their style of music/songs is exactly what I love about idol music. I'm constantly humming and bobbing my head to their addictive melodies! I am literally doing this while listening to AAO and typing this line!
My fandom life has been constantly busy (tunneling down many rabbit holes LOL) so I am truly grateful that my hubby has been supportive of me. He hasn't become irritated with me (yet??), he lets me listen to all of my idol music in our car commutes and even sometimes joins me with watching dramas! I love that every time I start a new drama he'll ask "Who's in it this time (from Starto)?" LOL because he knows that high-chance I'm watching a particular drama because of the actor. He's not interested in watching concerts or variety shows so I love that we can watch dramas together. We get to spend time together AND I can educate him about the specific actor/idol and their groups XD So far, I've educated him about Meguro Ren/Snow Man, Fuma/Sekuzo, Tama-chan/Kisumai, and recently because of Beni Sasu Life, he's now a bit more familiar with Onishi Ryusei/Naniwa Danshi. It's amusing that he can't tell Onishi Ryusei and Sato Shori apart....he thinks they look similar 😅
Speaking of Meguro Ren - funny story (to me) - while we were watching Trillion Game together, hubby saw the lanyard that Haru was wearing around his neck. He wondered out loud whether the TBS merch store would sell them. I was like "Maybe? I know they sell drama merch but I'm not sure if they'll make the lanyards". He then said "If they do sell the lanyard I definitely will buy it". Fast forward to October when we visited Tokyo for a few days. We paid a visit to the TBS store and lo-and-behold, we saw the Trillion Game lanyard!!! LOL Hubby was so excited and bought one for himself!! I don't know why he was so interested in the lanyard in the drama but now we're sharing the lanyard and wearing it to work LOL Yeah, I'm just super glad and appreciative that I can have these moments with someone, especially someone close to me like my hubby because I don't have any IRL friends in any of my fandoms. As an introvert it's hard for me to reach out and make those connections 😢
One last experience I just wanted to share... Over the last couple years, I've come to realize that being a fan of the above mentioned groups (including Arashi) has really helped my mental wellbeing. Even with my limited understanding of Japanese, just listening to those upbeat songs, feeling the positive messages in the lyrics, jamming out to concerts alone in my living room or laughing along with their stupid and silly antics on youtube/variety shows, have lifted my spirits and made me forget about the worthless negative thoughts circling in my head countless times. Just yesterday, I was extremely annoyed about various people and things that happened at work and I kept grumbling about it in my head all the way back home. I'm the kind of person that dwells on things and overthinks everything. So after dinner, I put on a Kisumai concert on TV and just jammed out - jumping, dancing, singing and working up a sweat. I laughed at their MC antics and silly faces; I "kyun'ed" whenever Tama-chan did something cute or sexy; I fangirled so hard at the songs I loved. Basically, all those negative emotions and thoughts on events that weren't in my control melted away and my mind became focused on what was in front of me. Maybe it was the endorphins from smiling so much and working up a sweat? I was much happier by the end of the day and I no longer dwelled on the events from earlier in the day. Does it sound crazy to say that these groups and idols have this positive impact on my wellbeing??
Well, to wrap things up - at the end of the day, I am super grateful for my hubby and for my 'Starto' groups. They bring so much joy and positivity to my life. I hope everything will go off to a good start for everyone in 2024 (it's so hard not to incorporate 'Starto' puns)!