Fan Service: Selling the Taboo
This is my final paper for English1. I made up the levels and types for the sake of the expository paper, although we all know that they exist hahaha. :)
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There is music everywhere one goes; there is a natural and international love for it. However, an aspect of the Eastern-particularly of the Japanese-music industry can and will never be embraced by the very macho West: fan service.
Fan service, from the aspect of Japanese pop groups, is two figures either in the same or from different groups engaging in direct or implied sexual behavior for the audience’s satisfaction. It is frequently homosexual in nature and is more often given by males since Jpop fans are mostly females. Fan service can also be performed by an individual if he or she interacts with the audience, but that kind is more associated with the world of animé (Japanese animation) and manga (Japanese comics).
Those who perform fan service are grouped into what are called “pairings.” Duo pairings are the most common type although threesomes, foursomes, and entire groups paired with themselves or with other groups are not rare. Pairings are named by partly combining the individuals’ names; the person mentioned first is considered the dominant [1] 1 one. For example, the pairing of Satoshi Ohno and Kazunari Ninomiya (from Arashi) is called OhMiya, where Ohno is dominant over Ninomiya.
We can categorize pairings into three types: Natural, Set-up, and Special.
Natural pairings are those who begin as friends in real life. As time passes and ever-watchful fans’ eyes detect even the tiniest of developments, two personalities gain supporters and are unofficially made into a couple. If the whole thing continuously sells, the pairing’s talent agency will in time be supportive and will expose the couple to the public as much as possible. Natural pairings are preferred over Set-up pairings because they tend to be intimate with each other on and off stage. Their closeness allows fans to dwell on the possibility of the pairing becoming a real-life couple, which is the ultimate end to any pairing may it be Natural or Set-up.
Set-up pairings are those that are arranged by their talent agencies. They are somehow “forced” to show affection towards each other because it’s what the fans want. However it is not as misfortunate as it seems because more fans mean more sales, and the pairings usually end up liking each other enough to be comfortable with the idea of, say, holding hands in public. Because of that, a lot of Set-up pairings are converted to Natural types.
Lastly, Special pairings are born when one famous figure openly admires another. In a way, they are Natural as well although the “love” is more often than not unrequited or not returned equally in amount, and that quality is exactly what makes this type very successful.
The intensity of fan service can be rated and placed in levels: Mild, Average, Advanced, and Extreme.
Fan service is Mild when the gestures are friendly rather than sexual; examples are holding hands and embracing. “Rabid” fans have the tendency to consider every little thing an act of love, however, like eating off each other’s plates or teasing each other. Mild fan service happens between young or newly-formed pairings, and is “leveled up” only when continued for as long as the individuals are still working.
Average fan service resembles the Mild level but it is more frequent and more consistent. It is all about the time period-Mild fan service can be considered Average if it has lasted for a couple of years or so.
Fan service that is Advanced is of a different intensity level compared to the first two. If they do this, it means that the individuals in the pairing have become very good friends in real life therefore they don’t just spend time together publicly but privately as well. Advanced fan service includes retelling stories of “dates” together, declaring that if they were girls they would date or marry the other, and even pretending to kiss onstage. Of course there is still an air of friendliness so it can still be believed that the individuals are straight if they say so.
Pairings who engage in Extreme fan service are the rarest of all (in the Jpop scene, that is, because the Jrock scene is a different matter altogether). It takes the perfect two people to go up the ladder, from Mild to Advanced, and reach the stage where no one can tell for sure what is real and what is not. Extreme fan service includes every gesture from the other levels plus the following: open and very frequent declarations of love, moments of jealousy, off-camera or backstage fan service (which not often happens in the other levels), sleeping in the same room on the same bed (group members share rooms but not beds), doing the same thing at the same time (for example, if one looks up the other will follow suit without having to be told), groping each other frequently, and kissing for real (and not just on the lips). Pairings who give Extreme fan service can only be Natural-or converted Set-up-types because the intensity of actions under this level cannot be stomached by others. In addition, it is a sure sign that if members of a pairing are warned by their talent agency to not be too intimate with each other as they might be the main focus of fans and not their group, they are performing Extreme fan service. The warnings are not strictly followed, however, much to the delight of the pairing’s fans.
No matter how controversial outside of Japan, fan service in Jpop culture will not disappear soon. As long as there are fans who are for it and until there are talent companies (and talents) who are willing to give it, fan service will continue to live on and make a lot of people squeal in utter excitement and cry with pure bliss…just like me.
[1] There are two types of ranking within a pairing: dominant and subordinate. The dominant person, called the seme, initiates fan service most of the time while the subordinate one, called the uke, follows or has to follow whatever the seme is up to. In a pairing with three or more members, the ranking is the same except for those in the middle. For example in the RyoPiTego pairing (composed of Ryo, Tegoshi, and Yamapi of the group NewS), Ryo is seme to both Yamapi and Tegoshi, Yamapi is uke to Ryo but seme to Tegoshi, and Tegoshi is uke to both Ryo and Yamapi.
~
There is music everywhere one goes; there is a natural and international love for it. However, an aspect of the Eastern-particularly of the Japanese-music industry can and will never be embraced by the very macho West: fan service.
Fan service, from the aspect of Japanese pop groups, is two figures either in the same or from different groups engaging in direct or implied sexual behavior for the audience’s satisfaction. It is frequently homosexual in nature and is more often given by males since Jpop fans are mostly females. Fan service can also be performed by an individual if he or she interacts with the audience, but that kind is more associated with the world of animé (Japanese animation) and manga (Japanese comics).
Those who perform fan service are grouped into what are called “pairings.” Duo pairings are the most common type although threesomes, foursomes, and entire groups paired with themselves or with other groups are not rare. Pairings are named by partly combining the individuals’ names; the person mentioned first is considered the dominant [1] 1 one. For example, the pairing of Satoshi Ohno and Kazunari Ninomiya (from Arashi) is called OhMiya, where Ohno is dominant over Ninomiya.
We can categorize pairings into three types: Natural, Set-up, and Special.
Natural pairings are those who begin as friends in real life. As time passes and ever-watchful fans’ eyes detect even the tiniest of developments, two personalities gain supporters and are unofficially made into a couple. If the whole thing continuously sells, the pairing’s talent agency will in time be supportive and will expose the couple to the public as much as possible. Natural pairings are preferred over Set-up pairings because they tend to be intimate with each other on and off stage. Their closeness allows fans to dwell on the possibility of the pairing becoming a real-life couple, which is the ultimate end to any pairing may it be Natural or Set-up.
Set-up pairings are those that are arranged by their talent agencies. They are somehow “forced” to show affection towards each other because it’s what the fans want. However it is not as misfortunate as it seems because more fans mean more sales, and the pairings usually end up liking each other enough to be comfortable with the idea of, say, holding hands in public. Because of that, a lot of Set-up pairings are converted to Natural types.
Lastly, Special pairings are born when one famous figure openly admires another. In a way, they are Natural as well although the “love” is more often than not unrequited or not returned equally in amount, and that quality is exactly what makes this type very successful.
The intensity of fan service can be rated and placed in levels: Mild, Average, Advanced, and Extreme.
Fan service is Mild when the gestures are friendly rather than sexual; examples are holding hands and embracing. “Rabid” fans have the tendency to consider every little thing an act of love, however, like eating off each other’s plates or teasing each other. Mild fan service happens between young or newly-formed pairings, and is “leveled up” only when continued for as long as the individuals are still working.
Average fan service resembles the Mild level but it is more frequent and more consistent. It is all about the time period-Mild fan service can be considered Average if it has lasted for a couple of years or so.
Fan service that is Advanced is of a different intensity level compared to the first two. If they do this, it means that the individuals in the pairing have become very good friends in real life therefore they don’t just spend time together publicly but privately as well. Advanced fan service includes retelling stories of “dates” together, declaring that if they were girls they would date or marry the other, and even pretending to kiss onstage. Of course there is still an air of friendliness so it can still be believed that the individuals are straight if they say so.
Pairings who engage in Extreme fan service are the rarest of all (in the Jpop scene, that is, because the Jrock scene is a different matter altogether). It takes the perfect two people to go up the ladder, from Mild to Advanced, and reach the stage where no one can tell for sure what is real and what is not. Extreme fan service includes every gesture from the other levels plus the following: open and very frequent declarations of love, moments of jealousy, off-camera or backstage fan service (which not often happens in the other levels), sleeping in the same room on the same bed (group members share rooms but not beds), doing the same thing at the same time (for example, if one looks up the other will follow suit without having to be told), groping each other frequently, and kissing for real (and not just on the lips). Pairings who give Extreme fan service can only be Natural-or converted Set-up-types because the intensity of actions under this level cannot be stomached by others. In addition, it is a sure sign that if members of a pairing are warned by their talent agency to not be too intimate with each other as they might be the main focus of fans and not their group, they are performing Extreme fan service. The warnings are not strictly followed, however, much to the delight of the pairing’s fans.
No matter how controversial outside of Japan, fan service in Jpop culture will not disappear soon. As long as there are fans who are for it and until there are talent companies (and talents) who are willing to give it, fan service will continue to live on and make a lot of people squeal in utter excitement and cry with pure bliss…just like me.
[1] There are two types of ranking within a pairing: dominant and subordinate. The dominant person, called the seme, initiates fan service most of the time while the subordinate one, called the uke, follows or has to follow whatever the seme is up to. In a pairing with three or more members, the ranking is the same except for those in the middle. For example in the RyoPiTego pairing (composed of Ryo, Tegoshi, and Yamapi of the group NewS), Ryo is seme to both Yamapi and Tegoshi, Yamapi is uke to Ryo but seme to Tegoshi, and Tegoshi is uke to both Ryo and Yamapi.