From our other sites
The story
On the Hello! Project board of 5ch, a thread blew up over fans who don’t spend a dime on their favorite groups but still keep tabs on members’ skills and activities through illegally uploaded videos. It kicked off with a post claiming “there are people out there judging idols’ skills off pirated clips,” and soon posters were pointing out that how much content you can enjoy from home — without ever going to an event — varies a lot by group. Juice=Juice came up repeatedly as a group with plenty of at-home-friendly content, while others were said to be enjoyable only if you actually show up to events. Counterarguments pushed back, too: “in an era where you can watch for free, of course some fans won’t pay.” The exchange exposed a real divide in how fans feel about the whole culture of paying to support idols.
What people said
15 Anonymous Recruiting… 2024/12/01 (Sun) 18:29:35.33
Are people seriously watching pirated videos and running their mouths about so-and-so's "skills"?
Juice=Juice's about the only group with enough content to actually enjoy from home
Everyone else, it's event-venue-only content
Truth is, they get the least money of anyone
Only freeloading fans show up for Juice=Juice
It's all money going OUT for shared off-shot photo sessions (fans splitting the cost of individual photo ops) — pure deficit
Juice=Juice's numbers are rigged, so their stats are the least trustworthy of all
So what CAN we trust, then?
Juice=Juice really is about the only one with solid at-home content
Just ignore whatever these guys say
The old geezers at events are all exactly like this
Newbie, you've got it backwards
Back before YouTube existed
there were threads giving advice on
which DVDs (including concert ones) to buy
People paid 1000 yen for a single CD track
Once YouTube and other video sites took hold
and official accounts started uploading new songs
for free, that became a dream era
So if you've got no interest in handshake events
or Cheki (instant photo) sales
of course you're not going to pay for what you can watch for free
Re: #20
You can't say that for sure
Got proof?
Ookami is a place to hang out and talk Hello! Project
Maybe you should leave Ookami
and go play with fan accounts on X instead
Hello! Project: 0 yen
Is that in Zimbabwean dollars? (i.e., a hyperinflated, worthless currency — so your "5 million" means nothing)
Yeah, last month Beyooooonds didn't give us anything besides doubling down on 'Ash' (nickname tied to a member's color)
Went to Morning Musume 3 times, ANGERME once, and 3 bar events — here's what I realized
If you're not into the songs, you burn out
I got into Hello! Project after watching Buono!'s graduation concert on Niconico
but I came to understand Buono! was actually the odd one out within Hello! Project, and quit being a fan
On Spotify, Buono! is basically only known for "Hatsukoi Cider" ("First Love Cider"), right?
You could call them at-home-only idols
they get left to rot and die forgotten (slang: "のたれ死ぬ") — that's exactly why
The "skills everyone talks about" in the thread title probably isn't meant as a compliment, is it
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
On 5ch boards devoted to Hello! Project idols, it’s long been noted that some fans watch illegally uploaded footage of concerts and TV appearances and then discuss members’ skills based on that. Juice=Juice, which came up repeatedly in the thread, is seen as putting out more content on YouTube and social media than other groups, making it easier to follow without ever attending an event. Groups that put more weight on live performances and goods-related perks, on the other hand, are said to be harder to keep up with for fans who mainly stay home. The thread split into two camps: one that criticizes watching illegal videos as a symbol of fans who won’t pay, and another that argues it’s unfair to blame fans for not paying when there’s a free way to get the same information. Underlying it all is a temperature gap between the “goes to events” camp and the “stays home” camp within the Hello! Project fanbase. Note that posts asserting specific spending amounts for real public figures, as well as the exchanges of personal attacks over looks and finances, lack solid grounding and have been omitted from this article.
*This article is an excerpt and summary based on the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Ookami: “I don’t feel Hello! Project is worth paying for, but I still watch illegal videos and talk about their skills” / “If I’m not interested in a group, I follow it through illegal videos, and if there aren’t any, my interest fades”.”
Leave a Reply