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The story
When figure skating pair “Rikuryu” announced their marriage, 5ch was filled less with congratulations than with questions about the timing of the announcement and how the media had been hyping the couple up.
Thread comments compared it to “Ohtani Harassment” (a term for relentless, forced media coverage of star athletes), while others voiced frustration that the pair had never openly confirmed they were dating — leaving the discussion split between support and criticism.
What people said
If they'd been keeping it vague until now, they needed to start with an 'officially dating' phase first. Jumping straight from that to an engagement announcement just leaves everyone with that nagging 'wait, so you WERE together — why keep it vague??' feeling.
If it was going to be like this, they should've just announced it when they retired.
Show some respect for the original meme
tps://i.imgur.com/iBVfI9q.jpeg
That's not the same as two kids flirting in the corner of a classroom, come on
It's sad that this is getting piled on with replies instead of actual congratulations.
Once your heart gets that poor, it's over.
First time Soshima (comedian from duo Shimofuri Myojo) has ever made me laugh
Just like Ohtani, getting out of Japan is the right move.
When the media does nothing but glorify 'winner' athletes nonstop, a group of people who resent it inevitably shows up.
Makes you think, 'oh, so that's just how pairs skating is.'
Feels less like a sport and more like an expression of romantic/sexual chemistry.
Made this 42-year-old want to get married too. Congratulations.
https://www.youtube.com/live/tR0Tcfp4lbo?si=pamkT06Ti17dMeTP
They're probably desperate since there aren't any easy-to-sell stars left these days, but overdoing it backfires.
The husband-and-wife 'yami baito' (shady, anonymously-recruited crime job) duo from Tochigi — that's the real 'Tokuryu Pair'
There are people out there with unbelievably twisted hearts.
X (Twitter) these days might honestly be worse than old 5ch.
It's because they were obviously dating this whole time, kept saying 'no we're not,' and then dropped the marriage announcement at some weird moment, isn't it
The press conference after the Olympics made zero sense.
I don't get why they bothered hiding it at all.
Something about these two just feels off.
Like their communication is a bit out of sync, maybe.
They'll probably keep doing ice shows
They mean pairs figure skating is like 'the corner of the classroom' within the whole entertainment-sports world.
It's sarcasm about them not being the ones in the spotlight.
Can you not read between the lines?
Oh really? 'Corner of the classroom,' huh — even though 'Rikuryu' was up for Buzzword of the Year. Figure skating ratings are higher than pro baseball or the J.League, you know.
Same as the Ohtani-jealousy crowd. Some people complain about Ohtani too, like 'why does the news bother spending airtime on some random athlete?'
Exactly, you get it.
Just like with 'Ohtani Harassment,' the vast majority of ordinary people have zero interest in figure skating.
Background and Key Points
Backlash Erupts Over ‘Rikuryu’ Pair’s Marriage Announcement, 5ch Split on Reaction
“Rikuryu” is the nickname for a Japanese pairs figure skating duo, formed by combining parts of each skater’s name — a common practice in Japan for celebrity couples and sports partnerships. Pairs skating itself is a niche discipline in Japan compared to singles skating, but this duo drew unusually large mainstream attention, reportedly even generating higher TV ratings than baseball or soccer broadcasts, and was nominated for the year’s Buzzword of the Year award — a sign of just how far their fame spread beyond the sport itself. That mainstream crossover is central to the backlash: Japanese media has a well-documented pattern of manufacturing “booms” around marketable athletes, and posters explicitly likened this to “Ohtani Harassment,” the term for the fatigue and resentment that builds when a star is covered relentlessly regardless of actual public interest.
The thread didn’t split over the marriage itself — congratulations were common — but over how it was announced. Critics argued the pair had spent years deflecting questions about their relationship with noncommittal answers, then jumped straight to a marriage announcement without ever confirming they were a couple, which felt manipulative or poorly handled from a publicity standpoint. Others pushed back that this was simply ordinary media overexposure translating into ordinary anti-fan resentment, unrelated to anything the couple did.
What outside readers likely miss is that this isn’t really about the couple’s conduct at all — it’s a recurring Japanese media-criticism script (seen with Ohtani and other crossover stars) where saturation coverage itself, not the subject, generates the backlash. The thread also never engages with why pairs skaters conventionally stay vague about relationships: partners training and performing intimately together for years routinely fuel dating rumors, so ambiguity is often a deliberate, standard practice in the sport rather than unique evasiveness from this pair.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] The ‘Rikuryu’ Pair Is Getting Hated On Big Time.”
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