Fans These Days
Hi, guys!
It's been awhile since I made a personal entry on this account (I've been using Livejournal to post translations ^_^;). Anyway, I decided to blog this time because I have observed so many things about fans lately.
You see, I've been interacting with a lot of Japanese people from the Johnny's fandom and even the fandom for comedians. But I'm not going into details because it's gonna be a really long and complicated story :)) But the bottom line is
NEVER MIX YOUR PERSONAL EMOTIONS WITH YOUR FEELINGS AS A FAN.
This is one important thing I've learned about being a fan of something. You can never put your personal feelings together with your heart as a fan.
I observed that many fans get into fights with other fans because they express too much of their personal opinions on things related to the fandom when in fact, fans shouldn't be fighting because all fans have one thing in common ― it's the fact that they support the same thing. You wouldn't hate on other fans and give negative comments about them if you don't carry any personal feelings towards them. Of course as human beings, I don't expect everyone to love everyone. You're not God to be able to do something like that. But just because having someone you dislike is normal doesn't mean that you should express that dislike. If you don't like them, you can do anything to avoid them. But it's wrong to express that hate on places where everyone can see. If you're going to rant about these things, make sure to do that privately. You can hate without being noticed.
But in the contrary, you shouldn't also pretend to be nice in front of everyone. If you don't like them, keep it to yourself. If you need to rant about someone you don't like in your fandom, go and rant to someone you only trust. Don't talk about it to many people because it's just gonna end up as bullying. If you don't have anything good to say, just keep your mouth shut. But don't tell white lies either.
People who can only think about themselves don't have the rights to be called a fan. This is also common in any fandom. Most people are self-centered. I'll use NEWS fans as an example. In 2013, their release after their last release in 2012 (World Quest) had quite a long gap (was it half a year? I forget). So I've seen a lot of fans complain about how 'NEWS was making the fans wait again' like that they did during their almost 2-years of hiatus. I personally believe that these fans wouldn't have complained if they weren't thinking about themselves. "When will WE get a release from NEWS? When can WE ever see them again?" It was always about WE. It's true that these public figures, idols and comedians alike, their job is to make people happy. But don't you think you're making these public figures an obligation for them to do something for their fans all the time? I've been exposed to underground comedians for the past few months. One of those that I've been really into is Okayama's independent comedian agency Showgekidan ("SHOW激DAN”). They're not so well-known yet like the Yoshimoto group, but they're a slowly-growing agency. Right now, there are only 3 groups ― Last Chance (ラストチャンス), Skit (すきっと) and Gingerkind (ジンジャーカインド). So I've been watching Last Chance the most (thanks to my V6 fan friend who introduced me to them). They do live broadcast on Twitcasting every day [so you might wanna check them out ;D] even after they hold live events or after doing different kinds of activities even with personal affairs because they think about their fans so well. But I've seen a couple of fans saying, "You don't have to do live casting today since you might be tired" while most fans say completely the opposite "I hope Yuu-san (Last Chance) does live casting today!" even they're tired. The problem with us fans is that at some point, we only see ourselves, expecting the ones they like to go beyond their limits FOR THEM.
Romantic love and love as a fan are two different things. You can't say that you are a fan of a group if you only care about one member (applicable for groups, at least). Again, these things are VERY evident in any fandom. I do admit that sometimes, I only look at Hiroshi in V6. When I play Lovecen (「ラブセン～V6と秘密の恋～」V6's dating game by Gree), I only usually pick Hiroshi during scenario events because I don't get to usually play the other members (you need to spend real money just to be able to play all members in those limited scenario events). And even with shop photos, I only buy a whole set of Hiroshi all the time and hardly buy other members. And all I talk about most of the time is Hiroshi. So most people might think I'm a hypocrite for saying something like, "You shouldn't call yourself a fan if you only care about one member." But I wouldn't feel bad about missing Maakun's play 2 years ago "Frankenstein" or feel bad about missing Go's plays for the past 2 years (especially Buenos Aires!!!). I wouldn't bother watching Gunshi Kanbee or translating Okada no Hanashi. Or even try to catch Asaichi whenever I can and watch Hottokenai Majotachi if I didn't care about the other members.
I would completely understand that you say you started liking a group because of one member (I admit that I knew NEWS because of Tegomass). But you can't say that you're a fan of this group if you dislike even just one member. You don't deserve to be called a fan of a group if you only care about one member. That would only make you a fan of that person, but not the entire group.
Having personal feelings for the idol is not wrong. I'm not saying this to justify people like me. But I'm saying this too all those people who call themselves 'fans' when in fact they only look at just one member. Having a favorite is not wrong. But don't ever say that you like the group because of your favorite.
I love Hiroshi not just as an idol, but as a person. People in Japan would call it "本気愛”. Most international fans would probably never understand that (nor do I expect the international fans to even understand the full scope of how the entertainment industry in Japan even works). And maybe most people would never ever understand fans who don't like making friends with other friends who have the same favorites as them (people in Japan would call this as "同担拒否”). There are people like these because they feel rivalry. Of course, if you like the person so much, you wouldn't want to make friends with other people who also like the same person as you, right? That's exactly why there are people like these. You can't blame them for that if they're like that. As long as they're not hurting other fans, I don't see anything wrong with that.
But just because I have 本気愛 for Hiroshi doesn't mean that I hate on other Hiroshi fans. I love making friends with other Hiroshi fans (heck, one of my closest online friends is a Hiroshi fan) as long as they're not seriously in love with Hiroshi. And I make friends with other Hiroshi fans because I am a fan as well. But once my personal feelings get involved, that's when I won't make friends with other fans who have personal feelings too.
To conclude all these, I hope fans would stop putting their personal feelings in fandom. You don't have to be goody two-shoes. But showing too much hate for others is wrong too. Learn to separate things.
Idols separate their work as idols with their private life. I believe that fans should do the same too.