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In a thread that kicked off with the post “I don’t get how idol otaku feel…,” the original poster asked why anyone would spend money on an idol who’s basically a stranger to them. 5ch users tried one explanation after another — comparing it to hostess clubs, watching theater, cheering for a baseball team, or the closeness you can have with underground idols. But no matter what reason was offered, the OP kept coming back with “that still doesn’t sit right with me!”, never quite convinced. In the end, the discussion wrapped up without a clear conclusion. Along the way, someone pointed out that “understanding and empathizing are two different things,” highlighting just how hard it is to bridge a genuine gap in values.
What people said
on some total stranger?
If it were me, I'd spend it on people who actually matter to me.
Spending your precious time making a garbage thread just to give us G-board regulars something to kill time with is just as baffling a move, honestly.
Exactly!
I don't get it AT ALL.
And on top of that, they even tell her not to get married…
So it's like appreciating a performance?
If that's the case, you'd get interested in stuff your oshi isn't even in.
The hostess bar comparison makes more sense to me.
Like how women get hooked on host clubs.
That's just too dumb…
Female fans who oshi other women are just projecting their own dream of being an idol onto her.
What about women who oshi male idols, then?
Thinking everything has to make sense to you is just arrogance.
But it still bugs me!
Yeah, you can kind of guess what that side of things is like.
Unless you're just trying to farm affiliate clicks.
I want to hear it straight from real people!
I already grilled Gemini about it and googled a ton, but I still don't get it!
My bad!
I really want you to explain it to me!
Help me out here!
And what would you even do once you knew?
I think it's fine to just leave the things you don't get as things you don't get.
But it still bugs me!
It's the same with watching baseball.
I hear this a lot, but do you actually feel like you accomplished something just from watching baseball?
Then isn't it weird to get all worked up over your oshi's private life?
All you're doing is analytically putting someone's feelings into words so you can feel like you understand them.
If you were empathizing, fine, but honestly that's kind of a rude thing to do.
You're basically that guy who asks "so how did that feel?"
It'd be fine if I could understand it just by imagining it, but I can't — that's the whole problem.
Understanding and empathizing aren't the same thing.
You're paying for time spent with them.
Isn't that basically the same as a hostess club?
At a hostess club you actually get to share her time to some extent, and get to make her spend her time on you.
What does an idol give you in return?
Depends on the idol's level.
With idols built around the idea of "getting fans to spend money,"
the more you spend, the more time you get with her.
You get more say too — you can even talk to management and help shape events to some extent.
Young women — you like those, right?
Cute women — you like those too, right?
Women who flatter you — you like that as well, right?
So why would anyone dislike idols?
It's no different from hosts or hostess-club girls tricking people out of their money.
At least hosts and hostesses direct some effort toward actually caring about you — idols don't do that at all.
There's no sincerity in it.
Because you can actually connect with underground idols.
Well, do whatever you want then.
You mean like Johnny's fans versus underground idol otaku?
I get that it runs the gamut, but what I don't understand in the first place is sacrificing investment in yourself just to support somebody else.
Originally, oshi-katsu (fan-support activities) was something done by people who couldn't hope for marriage, but the mass media hyped it up and now regular people and young folks do it too.
Normally you'd pour that energy into supporting your own kids —
this is just people without kids redirecting it toward idols instead.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The psychology behind spending money on “oshi-katsu” (supporting one’s favorite idol or celebrity) is a recurring debate topic on 5ch, and this time the discussion unfolded through comparisons to hostess clubs, the sex industry, watching baseball, and visiting host clubs, all in search of a “convincing reason.” What stands out is that even when offered multiple explanations — that cheering someone on makes you feel accomplished, that it’s like watching theater, or the closeness unique to underground idols — the original poster kept responding that it “still doesn’t sit right,” no matter what. This shows just how fundamentally hard it is to bridge differences in values and money sense through explanation alone. At the same time, some responses included sweeping generalizations, like the claim that “male idol otaku are just lolicons” — applying a tendency seen in some cases to the whole group, which doesn’t reflect the reality of everyone involved in oshi-katsu. It’s also worth noting that anonymous-board threads like this tend to attract extreme opinions, and actual spending behavior among “oshi-katsu” fans ranges widely, from low-cost concert attendance to merchandise collecting — it’s not something that can be reduced to the simplified terms of this thread’s debate.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “I don’t get how idol otaku feel…”.
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