A post about M!LK’s Hayato Sano greeting an older male fan with a huge smile at a two-shot photo session held to celebrate the release of the new single “LOVE ENG!NE” became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. The fan reportedly hadn’t won a slot himself and ended up attending as a stand-in at his wife’s request. Commenters noted that many photos of young female fans taken at the same event showed a more restrained expression, pointing to an industry-specific dynamic where “idols get slammed if they treat female fans even slightly differently.” This sparked a stream of past examples from other groups — like Johnny’s talent and Dream5 — where idols reportedly let their guard down and showed more genuine expressions around male fans or staff. The thread also touched on opinions both for and against the whole business model of paid meet-and-greet events, and on the fairness of treating fans differently based on gender.
The uncle and Sano-kun 🩷
I'm new to "oshi-katsu" (fan-support culture) and hadn't understood how this worked.
I figured maybe this guy applied on someone else's behalf, then found out only the actual applicant could attend, so he ended up going and taking the photo himself.
But if that's what happened, this line is confusing:
>"I begged him for hours saying he wasn't going to win anyway so just go, but he wouldn't budge — so I played my once-in-a-lifetime favor card and got him to go." ❣
M!LK LOVE ENG!NE Release Commemoration Two-Shot Event, Part 1
Apparently Hayato Sano was all smiles with my kid (so I heard) — I'm melting 🫠🫶 The staff were all so kind too, so I felt totally at ease sending my son into the booth 🫶 love 🫶
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HR_YRC7aIAESW54.jpg:orig#.jpg
This is supposed to look like he's having fun?
His eyes aren't smiling at all.
Same thought.
He looks exhausted — not because of the older guy, more like exhausted from the job itself.
Why does Hello! Project still use those tiny, low-res Cheki (instant film photos)?
Because you guys would just zoom in on the miniskirt outfits.
Gross.
Can't really blame anyone since the poster's the one who shared it herself, no?
So in the end, these meet-and-greet events are basically doping the sales figures.
Guess in the Japanese idol fandom world, wives get a free pass to do whatever.
Guess even in a venue that huge, that kind of thing stands out.
The truly rare days were more like 15+ years ago.
Where's the smile in that?? wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (the string of w's = laughter, like "lol")
we'd fake our voices and scream "Kyaa~!" lol
At the recent Summer Hello! event, when Danbara wrapped up an audition announcement with something like "go ahead and apply, okay?",
I saw the fans respond with an enthusiastic "Yes, ma'am!" and thought, yeah, that vibe is still alive today.
🍼's two-shot session
Fans rotating in about every 6 seconds
Facing 1,800 people like that is brutal 😅😅
Please let him do this at a pace that doesn't wreck him 🥲
so maybe deep down he gets worn out by that.
Compared to that, the innocence of the stand-in uncle and the kid probably felt refreshing and heartwarming.
so keeping a uniformly dead-eyed expression is probably safer and less mentally taxing than trying to hand out equal big smiles to everyone.
Reminds me of Kitagawa's "iron mask" Cheki photos lol
No idea how it is now though.
Dream5 was parading around outside the a-nation venue, and when I waved,
only Akira-kyun waved back with a huge smile lol
Never heard of Johnny's talent doing that.
For actors it's not about padding CD sales though lol
Guess it's padding photobook and calendar sales instead then.
In a good way, I mean.
Really makes you think, what a pro.
You're being way too generous with that read.
It could just as easily look like he's not even into it.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Cheki (instant photo) sessions and two-shot meet-and-greets are a bonus-incentive sales scheme deeply embedded in Japan’s idol industry, directly tied to boosting CD and DVD sales — and commenters on the thread pointed out exactly that, calling it “doping sales figures through meet-and-greets.” Because so many of these photos end up posted on social media, any visible difference in how an idol treats different fans is easily read as favoritism, so many idols reportedly try to keep the same expression and demeanor with everyone. In this case, the reaction to a normally low-profile male fan — and someone attending as a stand-in, no less — happened to spread on social media, and was largely received positively as “fair” and “professional.” At the same time, some pushed back, saying his expression looked stiff and like he wasn’t really into it. It’s worth keeping in mind that this whole discussion grew out of a single social media post, and it’s unclear whether this reflects how he normally interacts with fans.
※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “M!LK’s Hayato Sano Wins Huge Praise for Flashing a Big Smile at an Older Male Otaku Fan at a Two-Shot Photo Session Full of Young Women wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.”
