Introduction: My Arashi Discovery
Hello !
For starters, my name is Marie. I'm a 23 years-old belgian girl rather shy and introvert. My friends say I'm (too) kind and trustful. For my flaws, I'm easily stressed and very stubborn. I like watching anime and I'm also a big fan of asian music in general.
I started by liking Tamaki Nami because of her "Gundam Seed" songs in 2005. In 2007, I've discovered An Cafe and I began to listen to other oshare-kei and visual-kei bands. After a period without a computer anymore, I unfortunately discovered they were in hiatus when I came back on the internet. My way of keeping track of what are the most popular new songs in Japan is listening to Weekly Oricon Charts videos. In March 2010, while listening to one of those videos, Arashi's "Troublemaker" was playing. I told to myself "Well, again one of those boysbands whose members have nothing but their physical appearance.". "Troublemaker" remained long enough in the charts so that I came to like the excerpt I always heard. Out of curiosity, I looked for the full clip. I found it really funny with the members enjoying themselves. The voice of one of them remained stuck in my head for some days and so, I've decided to rewatch the PV to see to who that voice was belonging to. "The guy wearing blue doesn't look bad. But I obviously like the voice of the ugliest . What is he doing in an idol group in the first place? Well, at least for once it's not the leader I like. The leader must be the one in red..." was what I was thinking. I made some research and found out Ohno Satoshi was already 29 years old, and Arashi's leader. As it's his only solo song, I listened to "Kumori nochi, Kaisei". Good voice, nice PV, but it was not my cup of tea and I decided to give up.
In May 2010, I was listening to a Weekly Oricon Charts video. "Monster" was at the top. "This song is kind of strange but I quite like it, even if I don't know why. Arashi... it reminds me of something... Arashi... Nooo, it can not be the group that was singing "Troublemaker", it's too different." I was chocked when I reaised it was really the same boysband. I started to search for other songs by, not Arashi, but Ohno. I fell for "Take me faraway" and an accapella version of "Tokei Jikake no Umbrella". I also remember laughing at a certain video of Tennen pair who weren't able to speak in English. [Q: What's your hobby? A: Happy? Yes, I'm happy.] Fans would understand.
End of June 2010, I started to watch their TV shows regularly. Each week. I downloaded all their discography, feeling the need to know them more and more.
Today, I'm an Arashist. Ohno was my first favorite member and he always is after all this time. I love their bond, their personality, what emanes from them. Each moment "with them" is an escape. There isn't a day I don't do something related to them (at least checking tumblr and LJ). I'm grateful to my bestfriend and love to bear with me and listening to me (or at least faking to listen XD) when I feel the need to speak about them, my passion. I can't help.
