Alright!!!
After confirming I wasn't the only one confused about the real date of Friendship and Love Day because of the mixed signals sent by the media (see related post ), I feel so much more motivated to write something else!!! And yes, it will involve fangirling!!! So sit down and enjoy my fangirl moment (you are allowed to laugh at me or puke if I get too kimochi warui for your taste). Just imagine I look like this right now:
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the graphic definition of "kimochi warui"
At least in Otani's standard
A-RA-SHI, A-RA-SHI FOR DREEEEEEEEEEEAM
Yup, Arashi
You know, I wasn't so much into them at the beginning. In fact my first impression of them wasughLet me tell you the story of how it all started
The Long Story Of How I Came Across Arashi
It was around two years ago. Based on what I was doing back then (what I can remember), I think it was around September or October. It might have been earlier that year, I don't really know *spends five minutes trying to figure out which month was it* *bitchslaps herself* *back to the story* Anyway, I was checking a Teppei Koike fanpage that day and came across a list, whose title was "Ranking of the 100 hottest Asian celebrities". It was a fanmade list, and right now I'm not even able to remember which fanpage linked the youtube video (or the youtube video title), so I can't really show you that list, but it wasinteresting.
For those of you wondering, THIS is Teppei Koike
Yes, the guy who played Otani in the live-action movie!!!
In the aforementioned list there were so many names I can't even remember who were on it or who weren't. I just remember one thing: I WANTED TO KILL THE LIST-MAKER!!! I mean, come on!!! She (it MUST have been a "she") said that the ugly guy who looks like a transvestite from KAT-TUN was more good-looking than Teppei!!! And YES, I remember he was from KAT-TUN!!! (Was it Ueda or Tanaka? That isn't so clear, but it was probably UedaI hate Ueda ). The only time I said "okay, I can agree to that" was when I saw the photo of the #1 in that list:
FYI, This was the same photo the list-maker used in that video
Below the photo was written the name "Jun Matsumoto". I was like "hmmmWho is that Matsumoto guy? He's gorgeous!!!", so I made the first mistake: I googled him. A ton of breathtakingly beautiful pictures of Jun appeared right before my eyes. then I made the second mistake: I read the Wikipedia article about him. That's the first time I read about that idol group called "Arashi". Since I was so bored, I searched for videos of them on youtube. That would have been the third mistake ifthe video I watched hadn't been the first one that appeared. I have no idea if it was the right "Arashi". All I can remember is a group of old guys singing some boring song in a red scenery. Yeah, I knowNow that I come to think about it, it was probably SMAP or TOKIO (no offense to their fans, but they do look old to me!!!). My opinion regarding to the list maker's criteria of who was the "hottest" Asian celebrity changed drastically in that moment
So, nauseated as I was, I just blocked that image from my memory and forgot about the whole thing
Months passed, a lot of things happened: I was forced to quit university due to financial reasons, I even applied for a scholarship but didn't obtain it, my dad lost his job, there were discussions at home almost everyday, I had an argument with my parents about getting another (yes! ANOTHER!!!) loan to continue studying (which I refused to do, since our situation was already bad enough), I even thought about applying for a scholarship in a foreign country *cough* Japan *cough*, which my parents didn't approveAhI could go on all day long talking about those dark, pitch-black months, but it wouldn't make sense in this post, would it?
I sought for refuge in the only drug I used back then: ANIME. I don't know how many series I watched during those monthsHmmm, let me see: Rozen Maiden (both seasons and the OVA), Zero no Tsukaima (only the first season), Hunter X Hunter (first version with all the OVAs), Kaichou wa Maid-Sama!, Kimi to Boku, Hetalia (Axis Powers and World Series, plus especial chapters), and a part of One Piece. It surely doesn't sound like a lot, but take into account that I didn't own alaptop back then, my parents HATE anime (or anything Japaneseshocking because me and my sister know they were otakus back when they were young), and they only let me use the computer 2 or 3 hours a day. So it's actually a lot!!!
Of course everything changed in December and January, when I was no longer concerned about grades since I dropped out of college, and I spent waaaaaay more time in front of that computer. I remember we didn't have any money, not even for food, that December, so my sister and I spent most of that month eating tangerines and chocolate cookies in front of the computer while watching One Piece (trust me, it's not as cool as it sounds). Our hands started smelling like tangerines, even after washing them several times!!!
Just like Nami's!!!
Sadly, I couldn't continue watching One Piece, since my parents said Luffy's screams freaked them out, and that "if you don't stop watching those noisy cartoons, we won't allow you to use the computer ever again!!!".
I know Luffy, it's really unfair, isn't it?
I tried to find another interesting anime to watch, but I really couldn't. I kept comparing every anime to One Piece. For example, I watched Love Hina's first chapter and saw that last scene where Naru punches Keitaro, and I was like "who would have thought that innocent-looking girl has the gomu-gomu no mi powers!!!?". YeahI didn't watch the second chapter though
Then, what to watch? This is where Teppei comes back: DORAMAS. The first one was Shibatora. I hated the whole thing, except for that scene where Teppei dresses like a maid *still having H thoughts about that*. Then I watched Ohitorisama, AND I LOVED IT!!! It was the beginning of my romance with doramas (a romance that will never ever end, or at least it seems like that so far). After that I watched Hana-Kimi, and it was AWESOME!!! I loved everything about it!!! My favorite character was definitely Nakatsu, played by Toma Ikuta, but I was also very impressed by Shun Oguri's acting (his role as Izumi Sano). So I thought "how about watching another drama where Oguri-san appears?". And checking the dorama lists in a forum I found
HANA YORI DANGO Or "The Turning Point"
It was listed as the #1 recommended Japanese dorama on a forum, where Hana-kimi was listed as the #2!!! I was like "whoah! this must be good! And Oguri-san appears on it!!!". Besides, I checked a review on page, where Toma Ikuta is listed as a guest actor on season 2. That's when I said "well, I have to watch it!!!". While checking the review I also read the protagonists names, and when I read who played Doumyouji I had a flashback. Remember that celebrities list I mentioned before? That memory came back to me in that moment. "Isn't he that Matsumoto guy again? Now I'm more curious!!!".
Just like everyone I hated Doumyouji from the first moment he appeared in the series. I hated him intensely, with the passion of a thousand suns. I even thought about not watching the series anymore but I said to myself "No!!! I must know what's going to happen to poor Makino!!! Ganbatte Makino!!! You can do it!!!". And, of course, I loved Rui, not only because of Oguri-san, but also due to his sweet and calm temperament. After some episodes (around four or five), my feelings towards Doumyouji changed and I started falling in love with him (especially after the rain scene and when he confesses to Makino after being beaten up by Sakurako's gorillas). I was surprised with that change, and I thought "that Matsumoto guy is really good! It's really believable!!!". I wasn't a fan yet, I just liked his acting a lot. I don't know about other people's opinion, but to me his portrayal of Doumyouji was perfect. I even shouted to the screen, for God's sake!!! That had never happened to me before!!!
Still, there was something that bugged me the whole time about HanaDan, and it wasn't the plot, nor Makino's attitude (the more I loved Doumyouji, the less I could stand MakinoShe made him suffer a lot!!! Deserved or not, the poor guy was in love!!! Stupid Makino!!!). It was something else
THE OPENING SONG!!!
I don't know why, I just hated that song at first!!! I thought "Come on!!! This story is so dramatic, and you use that cheerful song? Talk about ironies!!!". I admit I love the part of the video where Makino and Doumyouji are fighting, then Rui shows up and Makino runs to him, but Doumyouji starts acting jealous and tries to separate them over and over againIt's just so funny!!! But I still thought the song was inappropriate.
However, and this is the weird part, as the chapters advanced I noticed I started dancing to the song involuntarily. Then I was humming the song. Then I was singing along and dancing during that part. I don't even know when, but I downloaded it. I found myself listening to it several times during the day. One night I went to bed and I heard the song in my head and smiled like an idiotThat's when I said "WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!!!!????".
"Whywhy do I smile like an idiot with that song? There! I can listen to it again!!! It'sIT'S EVERYWHERE!!!"
When I heard that season 2 opening "Love so sweet" and the movie's opening "One Love" were also performed by Arashi I got really curious about themI had to know more about that group!!!
I guess you can say I was Jun-baited just based on that
I mean, who can resist this guy?
Butit wouldn't be true if I said that was the reason I started liking Arashi
The Real Culprit Has A Bad-boy FaceAnd A Killer Smile!!!
I searched their videos on Youtube back then. It's a shame that all of them seem to have been taken down for some reasonAnd since WordPress won't allow me to show any video that doesn't come from Youtube (I'm not sure if it's just that I'm doing something wrong, but it only pastes the link ), I'll just copy some images here. Well, the first video I saw was this:
What's with all those hearts?
Yup, Love so Sweet!!! (video ) I really liked this video, especially the part where the guy takes Leader's jacketEhehehehehehe!!! Then I found this:
One Love (video ). It was nice, yes, butI wasn't sure yet about liking them or notSo I found this:
Hatenai Sora (video ). For the record, this was the first time I said "these guys really have something especial". But I still wanted more
YESSSSSS!!!! TROUBLEMAKER!!!! (video ) This song remains one of my favorites until today, and the video is just hilarious!!! I thought they were kind of crazy, and that made me start liking them even more!!!
I mean, look at this!!!
I didn't stop there and watched another video right away:
It was the first video "A-RA-SHI" (video ). I was really shocked when I found out it was from 1999!!! It was surprisingBut, again, I wasn't convinced yet (yup, I'm hard to convince!!!). That didn't last long, because after the next video I finally said: "Okay, I like Arashi".
WE CAN MAKE IT!!! (video ) Not only it's a great song, with a really cool video, it also has the thing that captured my attention, even more than Matsujun's hotness and Leader's voice (I realized he was the best singer out of the five of them right from the first moment). It wasn't the dancing, the weird things they do in their videos, the lyrics of the songs or the cute guys (although at the beginning I didn't like Aiba and Leader that muchthey seemed so feminine-looking to me!!!)NO!!! It was all about this part:
THE SAKURAP!!! You may have noticed that until that moment none of the songs I had listened until then has Sakurap. And, surprisingly, it was the reason I decided to keep listening their songs. I can't explain itIf you ask me, I like slow, romantic songs better than the upbeat, fast ones. Still, I became more interested after thisYeah, I prefer not to think about a reason and just enjoy it while thinking: "I'm so glad I found this video, because I wasn't going to see any other video of them after this one!!!".
Sho Sakurai is definitely somethingHe got me since I saw the Troublemaker video.
Now tell me, was I really Jun-baited or Sho-baited? Either is fine with me, but what do you think?
The Rest Is History
I started downloading their songs like crazy!!! I started with their early songs, then moved on to the most recent ones. The only exception to the rule was "Wild at heart", since it was released soon after I started "falling in love" with them. The video was also a big motivation to me: "Finally!!! A group that is still active!!!". I liked WaT and Tegomass before I knew Arashi, and both duets were inactive by that time (Tegomass has some recent stuff, but I'm no longer into it. As for WaT, wellthey haven't done anything in the last two or three years as far as I know). Besides, the dancing part
Need I say more? Oh wait! Thee's actuallya live performance on Youtube I really like!!!
I'm really happy I found Arashi right in that moment of my life. Last year was really difficult for me. Somehow all the doors started to close, and I was left inside a room with no doors and no windows, enclosed, lonelyFinding them was like making a small hole in the ceiling so that I could at least see the sky from the darkness of that cage (curious fact: I actually used to look up at the sky while listening to their songs whenever I was sitting on the bus or from my bedroom's windowit helped me to forget about my "reality"). Right now I still feel like I'm inside that cage, but it's not so dark and lonely anymore, and it's all because of them. If you ask me about my life, it's like that line in Maboroshi: "I'm an empty shell, just wandering through a maze with no exit" (translation quoted from blog, credit to its rightful owner). However, whenever I listen to them, I smile like an idiot again
Just like this!!!
My mom says I'm obsessed with their musicI don't care anymore about that, especially since we both know she likes Sho just as much as I do (funny fact: she hasn't memorized the names of any member, but she says "look! Arashi!" whenever she sees a picture of Sho). During a long time (I mean several months) I didn't really watch their variety shows or their doramas (Jun being the exception to that last part). I watched some videos of their live performances. but it was pretty much about it. Oh! And downloaded like a bazillion pics!!! Especially of Jun, at the beginning
The first time I saw a video of a live performance was Love Situation, form Time concert. It's one of my favorite songs, actually. I found a video that has both that version AND Arafes' version. It's mirrored, though, but it's better than nothing, right?
Another performance I like is Sho's solo T.A.B.O.O. It's so*insert some major drooling, nosebleeding and H thoughts x 1.000.000.000.000 here* Is it okay if I say I wanna rape this guy after watching this video *bitchslaps herself* Okay, I won't rape himunless he wants to *wink wink* LOL NO!!! Ahahahahahahahaha!!! Although I've always wondered what would they say if you raped them, would they be like:
EheheheheheheheheI know I'm a pervert, but just imagine if that was their reaction!!! Wouldn't you find that cute??? I know I would!!! *bitchsalps herself again* Okay, enough with the H thoughts!!! (I still think about raping them though, especially ShoMmmmmGotta get my hands on some of that ). This is the Arafes T.A.B.O.O. video. Enjoy!!!
This year I watched some doramas where they appear. OkayOnly Nino and Sho appear in the doramas I watched!!! I can't help it!!! I loved Kazoku Game, Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de, Stand Up! and Yamada Taro Monogatari. I stopped after watching Yoiko no Mikata because*sigh* because it made me cry right form the first chapter. I can't tell whyEvery time Taiyo-sensei cried, I cried too. Every time he smiled, I smiled too. My only thought "this is wrong in so many ways I can't even describe it". HE WAS ADORRRRABLE!!! But I didn't want to watch any other dorama where Sho appeared because I was afraid it would have the same effect on meI don't know
Just like someone mentioned in a post I read somewhere once: "that smile is a weapon of massive destruction"
As for their variety shows, I've watched some chapters of Arashi no Shukudai-kun, Himistu no Arashi-chan, Vs Arashi and Arashi ni Shiyagare. I'm so sad the first two got canceledThe chapters I've seen so far are really entertaining!!! Well, and out of the random videos I've watched recently these are the ones I like the most:
Ehehehehehhehehehe the last one is my favorite, I think xDDDDDD Leader is todo un loquillo xDDDDDDDD Sho's Harlem Shake was very cute in my opinion, with the bunny ears and all thatThe horror house is so funny, I couldn't stop laughing the whole time!!! Jun is such a tiny fluffy little thing in that waking up video!!! And Aiba's teddy bear!!! I meltedAiba's level of cuteness is unbearableHis English sucks, but he's so kawaii that I can forgive that xDDDDDDDD I even use that "VERY DANGER!!!" expression sometimes!!!
Fantasizing, graphic description
I must admit there's a part of me which doesn't want to be a fangirl. If you look at what I do, you'll say "you're a fan", but inside of me there's a battle about whether I want to be like that or not. No offense to all fangirls out there (of any artist), but we all know what is said about them: annoying, don't have a life of their own, kinda like psychos, have delusional thoughts, and so on. And while all of those might be true for me because of another reasons (LOL, that's true!!!), I don't want anyone to get the idea that I think about Arashi 24/7, because I don't!!! Again, no offense to other fangirls out there, this is just how I feel sometimes, like: "What am I doing? I'll never meet those guys anyway!!! Why would I want to know more about them? I don't even pay attention to my classmates!!! Why them?".
If I could do that, I totally would!!!
But then I listen to them singing and say "you know what, it's okay. Even if my friends start thinking I'm crazy (and they do), it's okay. Because they managed to make me smile again when I had no reasons to feel happy". I'm not gonna go all fangirly the whole time, but I won't fight against it either. I'll just be happy and procrastinate while watching their variety shows. I love how they bully each other and make a fool out of themselves with no shame at all. It makes them feel more real.
On the ninth cloud, smiling like an idiot
In the near future I might continue procrastinating and staying up until 3:00 a.m. because of these guys. Okay, I won't put the blame on themI'm a lazy girl and I have insomnia, so they're just a "plus" here (wait what?). Anywaythe point here is: they're great AND I can't help but love them more than I've ever loved something before. I have a really short attention span, and I've liked them for a year and a half. That's a record for me!!! I'm happy about it, I really am. And I'm also proud to say that I truly admire these silly guys and that I hope they continue being their adorkable selves for a long long time.
I know I didn't fangirl as much as I wanted to in this post (I may do that tomorrow in another post), but I wanted to share that story hereNone of my friends like Arashi, and there isn't even a fanpage in my country. Isn't that sad? In the whole country there aren't enough fans to support a Facebook page!!! That's depressingI can't watch their videos with other fellow fans as they do in other countries not so far away from here!!! So I'm a "solo" fanI can't even join the forums on LJ because of the ridiculous amount of requirements, I don't have access to subbed videos (since you basically have to sell your soul to the communities that have them if you want access, no offense to the members but it's true) so I watch them in Japanese (even though I just started to study Japanesebut that's just another motivation to go on with that online course!!!), I haven't listened to half of their songs yetand I think I've downloaded too many pictures already .
Ahahahahahhahahahaha!!! I have to work hard if I want to "catch up"with the recent stuff!!!
Well, I'm sleepy, and I'm starting to write more nonsense than the habitual, so I'll just leave it here and write something more tomorrow
Arashi, wherever you are right now, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GUYS!!!* I don't own any of the gifs posted here. Same goes for images, but usually no one complains about this kind of images (they're not edited, there's no fanart, there isn't any collage or something as fancy as that), so it's not big deal (?). I can't quote every source, but I know most of the gifs are from tumblror LJ
** The crazy amount of Lovely Complex images here is only a proof that I don't think only about Arashi the whole time. Okay, it was because of the facial expressions, you happy now? I also love that animeEspecially the rooftop scene
Full Post
No comments:
Post a Comment