My Life as an Obsessive Fangirl.
It all started off with Sailor Moon. I loved Sailor Moon. I loved it so much I would wake up everyone Saturday morning to watch it. I would wake up at 4 am on Sundays just to see it. Sailor Moon came stateside when I was 7. I am now 26. I've spent almost 20 years of my life, being an obsessive fangirl.
I have to add obsessive in there. Because it's not like I'm just a huge fan... I obsess. Always.
I grew up with anime.
Rurouni Kenshin
Yu Yu Hakusho
Sailor Moon
Cowboy Bebop
Zoids
Big O
Inuyasha
Fullmetal Alchemist
Wolf's Rain
Toonami.
Omigosh, I loved Toonami.
Adult Swim.
You know, the basics. Once I was more familiar and the internet was easier to navigate, I was finally able to check out more beyond what was airing on tv. Admittedly this wasn't until closer to high school. Even though I was majorly obsessed, it never occurred to me to take to the internet. Besides, back then it wasn't as easy as it is now to check this stuff out. But once I did, I really fell into this world.
While I was in high school, I started checking out manga. Could have been in middle school yet, but I'm not 100% sure, so I'm going to say early Freshman year. Now until I graduated, I only checked out maybe a few titles. Otherwise it was all anime for me. But I started to really get into the music, So I started researching more on it. I still have the CD's I burned with all the anime music I collected. But as I got into the music, I started to go beyond just artists that sand anime openings and closings. I looked into others. And I just kept going.
Now once I got out of high school, I took a small break from the anime/manga/jpop/jrock world. I was still watching and buying manga to read, but I wasn't as hardcore as I was about it. I got a job my senior year, I started to really look into rock bands based here in america. Now, don't get me wrong, I was listening to american music my whole life (Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, you name it). I just really got into the rock scene though. I started working at Walmart, had two credit cards and a need to travel. So I checked out a few groups, went to a few places out of state, made a few friends along the way.
Then I became something of a hermit. I reintroduced myself to anime and manga and thanks to my job (and lack of bills at the time) I was on a spending spree. Buying any and everything anime and manga related that interested me. I was constantly on the internet downloading or checking out anime. Reading fanfictions. Constantly involved with anime and manga. That was pretty much my life. It was thanks to that, that I earned my title of the "Japanese fangirl" at work. You liked that kind of stuff? Go talk to Anna. Met one of my best friends that way XD
Now I want to take a quick moment to tell you that I was also into video games. Final Fantasy, Legend of the Dragoon, Dragon Warrior. Love RPG's. While I love video games, I'm not quite as obsessed as I am with other things. I also love to read. I have a bazillion books (not nearly as many as my mother though). I do have favorite authors. For example Tami Hoag, Raymond Khoury, Dean Koontz to name a few. I read just about anything that piques my interest, but I'm admittedly a mystery girl. Now, these have always been a part of my life and while I'm happy to say I'm a bookworm and love to play games, I don't necessarily obsess over them. Except for Devil May Cry and Assassin's Creed. Oh, and Kefka. I love Kefka. He's my favorite villian of all time. So yeah...
Anywho's.
Now at some point I ended up liking more than just the anime. I was really into the voice actors too. So I started looking into them more. I LOVE Jason Leibrecht, Chuck Huber, J. Michael Tatum, Crispin Freeman, Greg Ayres, Chris Patton, Todd Haberkorn, Laura Baily, Luci Christian, Colleen Clinkenbeard, John Burgmeier, and a bazillion others. I was checking out animes simply because certain voice actors were involved. So now I was obsessed with voice actors. Even considered finding a way to become one. Sadly...I don't really have the skills XD;; But yes, I really loved them. I've always been a fan of both Japanese and English. But I watched most of anything that was English dubbed, in English...except for Prince of Tennis. I tried. I really did *cries*
And to give my opinion on the subs vs. dub argument: Watch it however you like. You prefer subtitles, watch it with subtitles. You prefer watching it in English dub...then watch it in English dub. Who cares what others think about how you watch it. Watch in the way that makes you comfortable. As long as you enjoy it, what does it matter how you watched it? And for the record, I like both. Now, back to my story.
Eventually I discovered that Ouran High School Host Club has a live-action drama. So I checked it out. Needless to say Kyoya was flawless. Daito Shunsuke. I liked him so much I looked into other works he's been in. There I found out about Nobuta wa Produce. Andt that's where I met Yamashita Tomohisa (aka Yamapi) and Kamenashi Kazuya (aka Kame). I don't really understand why, or what made me decide to look more into them, but I did. I found out they were both part of an idol group. Yamapi was from NEWS, and Kame from KAT-TUN. Both groups are part of a male Japanese idol company called Johnny's Entertainment. At first I was only interested in both of their acting skills, but something in me wanted to know more about their music, and as a result, I took a dive into the Johnny's World.
Ah, Johnny's World. So many beautiful...Asian men and boys. So many.
NEWS
KAT-TUN
Kanjani8
Hey!Say!JUMP
Kis-My-Ft2
ABC-Z
TOKIO
V6
Kinki Kids
Tackey&Tsubasa
SMAP
Sexy Zone
Johnny's West
and the Jr's.
There are a few more I failed to mention. Man, I can't even begin to tell you how hard I fell into them. Anime and manga no longer existed in my eyes. I was completely infatuated with this company and it's groups. Next thing you know, I was not just listening to their music, but I was watching anything they were featured in. Every drama I could, every music show, every variety show. I was just so deep into them I couldn't believe it.
Kanjani8 and Hey!Say!JUMP are my favorites by the way.
And let it be known my love for rock music never left me. It was discovered that a former member of NEWS was now the lead singer in an amazing rock group called ONE OK ROCK. One of my all time favorite groups.
I also became familiar with a Nishijima Takahiro thanks to the drama's I was watching and ended up in love with his group, AAA.
At some point I slowed down and allowed anime to creep back into my life. But at this point, I was more for the manga than the anime. But the point is, before I became overly obsessed with Johnny's, I had a lot of anime friends. Now I had anime and Johnny's friends. Some were fans of both. Actually...just about anyone who liked Johnny's, liked anime too. I had this friend though, who liked anime and Japanese music, but not Johnny's. Yet he liked to share songs with me, as I did with him, because it was fun. He randomly posts a video on my wall one day. NU'EST's "Face."
Guys...
Next, he posted BtoB's "Insane."
Seriously guys...
Once you enter the Kpop world, there is no turning back. And I was no exception. I was sucked right in and I'm still there.
I blame my friend for this. I knew of Kpop before and I liked a few things, but I think my other obsessions kept me from falling in. Problem was, now I had a foot on one side of the door and I couldn't close it. Now thanks to my friend, I lost control of everything and just...
Just...
It just happened.
Now I'm all about Kpop. One group led to the next and led to the next. I now have a UB (Kim Sunggyu) and a favorite group (INFINITE). For the first time in a long time I was actually interested in female groups. Variety shows were watched daily. I haven't fallen into the Kdrama trap yet though. Not yet.
I did however fall into the BBC shows trap. My fandom friends were talking about Doctor Who and Sherlock a lot. I was never really interested because I was so caught up in everything else, I just didn't care. But something told me to finally take a peek at Doctor Who. I really shouldn't have done that. Not because I regret it, but because I now have more to obsess over. Next it was Sherlock. And now I'm watching Supernatural. There's a lot more on my list to check into now.
Of course, after a while, you need something new or to just take a break. In this case, I've become interested in a few C/M-pop groups and singers and I'm debating on whether I should look more into them or not.
But the whole point of this story was to tell you this: Try not to get stuck into too many fandoms. It's impossibly hard to keep up.
I'm super behind on new anime. I've been trying to watch more, but there's so much to check out that I just gave up and started watching older ones, or ones I've seen before (Prince of Tennis for example).
I still haven't read some of the manga I've bought YEARS ago. And yet I'm buying new manga...and not reading it. But then I resort to reading it online.
If most J-drama's weren't almost an hour long, I'd be caught up by now. But there are soooo many to watch and I keep finding new actors I like.
I can't seem to keep up with Johnny's anymore. I have so many videos that I are just sitting there waiting to be to watched, but I don't really have the time.
I'm now into so many Kpop groups that I can't keep up with all their tv appearances, or even their old variety shows. I'm still playing catch up. And I'm now falling behind on new releases.
I've got books coming out my ears that need to be read.
I want to play video games but I'm afraid of falling behind on everything else that it's hard for me to pick up the controller...but I'm suffering from "not holding the game controller" syndrome right now.
I have a lot of youtubers that I watch as well, but haven't checked many of them out in a while.
I'm too afraid of doing one thing because it's going to push everything else back even further.
And to top it all off.... I'm now also obsessed with Buzzfeed Video's. Yep.
And I want to draw and catch up on my Japanese studies as well. I also want to maybe craft things...and such. I need to clean. I Yet, I don't want to fall behind. I mean, just writing this entry is making me fall behind. I could have finished an episode of Hanasaki Mai ga Damatte Inai in the time it took me to type this.
I want to sacrifice sleep, but I need energy for work.
I don't want to work, but I need money to buy things with. And to pay bills.
So in the end, I'm far to obsessive. But I don't regret a moment of it. Fangirling is literally my life. I just wish I got paid for it.