Open Thread 2 + Pic Spam
I was thinking about having an Open Thread maybe once a month (first Friday of every month?), but we'll see how it goes biweekly. (I just checked and the other Open Thread was only eight posts ago, lol.)
Again, this is a free-for-all thread. Throw out your questions, random thoughts, inspirational quotes, fun facts, what-have-you. Please keep it ( Read more... )
Again, this is a free-for-all thread. Throw out your questions, random thoughts, inspirational quotes, fun facts, what-have-you. Please keep it ( Read more... )
That's interesting. For me, the Gorokkies seem ages older than SNSD, and the rest of current H!P for that matter. Even Sayumi. The gap is there, since the next in line is a late 91er since the oldest H!P Kid (4/91 I think?) just graduated. It might be all of their experience, but then again technically the H!PK joined before 6th gen. So I have to revise my statement, and ironically to a Kpop dichotomy I saw discussed somewhere else. There's a "cute vs. mature" dichotomy going on, and H!P either de-ages or ages as such. Nakazawa was 24 when she joined MM, and she looked way older than BEG's Narsha, who's 29. And most of the OGs, especially the 85ers, started looking like their current ages about three years ago, right around when they all started graduating from MM. For them, it's like they've just caught up with their ages. I remember my mind being blown when I realized in the Mechaike field trip Yaguchi would be only 18-19? Captain Saki of Berryz just turned 18. Here's what she looks like now: http://superhappygenki.com/blog/?p=465
Um, yeah. Ishiyoshi already looked older than that by RR21, when they were still 15.
Like I said before, the "cute vs. mature" = age image is also happening in Kpop. Was it here that people pitied BEG for being forced to 'play' with the younger groups on the girl group specials? I'd say SNSD used to be in the de-aging camp(lollipops, for pete's sake), but now with the entire scene moving away from cute everyone's getting closer to their age image-wise.
H!P has also been moving towards more serious things, as well, starting most prominently with EmoMusume. The Gorokkies(except Takahashi. She gets younger as her hair grows. XD) looked vaguely their ages before Yossie's graduation. But now, they all seem like they should be in their mid-twentys, graduated out of college. Of their released singles, only one was a happy uplifting song.
I still think experience still plays a role, though. The aging is most apparent between BKBKB, their first concert without any Golden-Age members, and All-Singles, their first Asia tour.
BTW, Sayumi and Reina have definitely been breaking out of image. On London Hearts(basically a trash talk show), Sayumi does still primarily use her narcissistic cute schtick, but her other comments are so sharp that she gets her own "Momusu Bomb" caption for them. Reina has talked on the recent concert tour about who the flat-chested character of MM is, and how she wants her own to grow. XD
--AG (Bah, I'm rambling because it's way too late. The above post is pretty incoherent, and I'm not even sure what point I'm trying to make. But yeah, I feel like Sayumi and Reina are much older than me than they really are, as opposed to SNSD who I am identifying with way more than is healthy. D: Maybe it's because the 90ers are actually going to college. :D)
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The Rokkies, though, just never seemed to age for me. Since I don't follow their variety show exploits, it's the on-stage styling that gets me more and the mannerisms that seem like they haven't changed in years. Songs aside, it's when I see them in pictures at like their concerts that I feel like time has frozen for them in some way. I was even surprised to see that Kamei and Niigaki were the same age since Niigaki feels so much older than Kamei to me. And this is with the "sexier" stages they've been putting on.
The impression that they might be older than they are probably also derives from the fact that they've been in show business for so long. When you start at 12 and are still around almost decade later, it feels like you've been around the block, lol. But like I said, this had the opposite effect on me; they may not be as baby-faced anymore, but I look at them and see the same faces (and sometimes hairstyles) from all those years ago.
And most of the OGs, especially the 85ers, started looking like their current ages about three years ago, right around when they all started graduating from MM.
I agree with this so much. I see Yossie nowadays and I can't believe the woman she's grown up to become. Though I look at Nono and cannot believe she is a mother. Someone tell her to stop wearing ridiculous large bows in her hair. Nono is a victim of that time-freezing. Cannot compute that she's a mother.
but now with the entire scene moving away from cute everyone's getting closer to their age image-wise.
Or not. F(x) so young. D: D: D:
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