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The story
Fukumura Sei, who continues performing as a Hello! Project OG, called out to the crowd during the MC segment of a release event: “Think about how fun today was and soak in the bathtub — no skipping your bath before a show!” The moment blew up on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. “Furo-kyan” (bath-skip) is otaku slang for skipping a bath or shower before rushing to a live venue, and it had usually been told as an anecdote about a different member. Because Fukumura herself brought it up this time, the thread filled with fans’ concrete stories about body odor at venues and how the smell varies from one venue to another.
What people said
Fukumura: "Think about how fun today was and soak in the bathtub! No skipping baths before shows!!!"
What kind of request is that, lol 🤣
Venues get cramped too, nobody could stand it otherwise
Probably because the crowd's mostly female otaku
Though there are smelly female otaku too
it's just that way more of them are careful about odor compared to male otaku
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7FdEBQUIAEiiBC.jpg
But at halls or joint-event type shows, the odds of hitting a stinky one go way up
Guess the fanbase is well-trained
Go take a bath!
Ba-ban ba-ban-ban-ban, Habaiba-non-no (riffing on comedian Kato Cha's classic bathtime gag song)
Even when you're exhausted, it's better to go in anyway
Wait, you weren't even showering before now…
Is this for real? That's way too much
Anyone who still doesn't bathe properly after this has failed as an otaku
Guys should honestly just carry parasols too
I go about twice a week and nobody's ever said a thing to me
That's because nobody wants to get involved with the sketchy guy
Is there some story behind it?
Fix your diet
I interact with other people normally through work and everything
so I'm probably not smelly at all
That's exactly what every smelly person says
Background and Key Points of This Topic
“Furo-kyan” (bath-skip) is otaku slang originally referring to skipping a bath or shower in order to make it to a live show on a packed schedule, and among Hello! Project fans it had long been told as an anecdote about a different member. In the thread, some reactions tied this remark back to that member’s running joke, but others pointed out, “For Fukumura this is probably just about otaku smelling horrendously bad, plain and simple,” and the prevailing view was that her call-out was simply meant as a countermeasure against body odor at venues. Multiple fans also shared firsthand experiences of how the smell changes depending on a venue’s size and audience makeup, with some noting that the odds of running into a bad smell go up at halls and joint events, while others recommended antiperspirants or baking soda — making for an interesting look at a worry unique to live venues.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Fukumura Sei tells otaku to take a bath during her release-event greeting — “no skipping baths!” lmaooooooooooooooo.”
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