Whatever you guys do, try not to look as nerdy as the basic idoling fan.
Lol, this post compelled me to share my impressions of the two Idoling x YGA concerts I went to in July. I guess I should explain that while I'm a big Idoling fan, I'm not a "hardcore" fan (hardcore defined as someone who buys every single and dvd) and definitely not a wota. As for YGA... I'm a fan of Hinata Sayo, but outside of her I don't follow the group.
I went to the July 17th and 18th shows. The 7-17 show was Ai's birthday and the 18th was something like "Fonchi" day (a lot of her fans were in attendance and she performed a solo song, Ayumi Hamasaki's "Seasons"). On the 17th I was in row 4 and on the 18th, I had front row (this info is relevant for part two of my write-up.) I was surprised at how few songs Idoling performed. I think they did 5 at both shows, and then Ai (or Fonchi) did their solo songs. YGA on the other hand performed 8-10 songs. It was a lot easier to get into their set because they performed more songs, they're higher energy performers, and Idoling has a tendency of constantly breaking into a MC segment after 2 songs. YGA just went straight through their music. Just pointing this out for overseas fans of Idoling who want to go to a Shinahachi show. If you are fluent in Japanese I'm sure the variety segments would be more enjoyable though.
Now on to what I really wanted to write about. There is some weird stuff that happens at these shows though that I wanted to share. Which is why I found the quote about nerdy Idoling fans amusing. Their Japanese fanbase truly are nerds
. There is a pretty interesting dynamic at these shows because they involve two pop groups that are very different. There are the Idoling-only wota, the YGA-only wota, the wota of both, and then the fans of both, fans of one or the other, and then YGA haters (lame, I know, but also kind of funny). There are also no girls at these concerts. Outside of the girl that handed me glowsticks for Ai's birthday, I think there were only 1 or 2 other girls in attendance. I saw PASSPO the night before and there were hundreds of girls. Obviously that was a bigger concert, but there are different demographics among the idol groups.
I think it is common knowledge, but if not, at the Shinahachi shows Idoling and YGA alternate sets, sometimes YGA opens and Idoling finishes, and vice-versa. Depending on which group is opening, the wota's are wearing either their Idoling or YGA t-shirts. And there are a lot of them, particularly in the front area where I was located. Once one group finishes, there is about a 2-3 minute break until the other group takes the stage. During that period something weird happens. The wotas that are fans of both groups rip off their shirts and grab a towel out of their bags (you can bring bags into this venue btw) and frantically try to clean all of the sweat off them, and then put on the shirt of the group that is coming up. It was weird and gross to suddenly be surrounded by a bunch of sweaty wotas changing their clothes. The guy sitting next to me also didn't like YGA so during their set, he sat down with his back to the group
(this was when I had 4th row seats, so I don't know if the group could see him.) It is also common for fans of only one group to just leave when their group finishes.
Another weird thing that that happens is constant seat changing. If someone is a huge fan of one of the girls, and they have a solo coming up, that fan is going to ask a total stranger to switch seats with them for that song. And they usually agree. Maybe it's the polite thing to do, but when a Fonchi fan from who the hell knows where asked me to switch seats during her solo, I politely refused (I don't like Fonchi but why should I have to switch out just because someone asked me to? For all I know he could have come from the balcony). I don't get why someone would ask the only white guy in attendance to switch seats. Obviously mass-seat switching occurs between Idoling-only and YGA-only fans during their sets. For both shows, I was constantly sitting next to a different wota
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After the show is over, the handshake line starts to form. For those that don't have a ticket, they just relax in their seat... and take off their shirts again and towel off their sweat. Nerds
edit: After re-reading what I wrote, I hope I didn't give a negative image of either Idoling or YGA or possibly discourage anyone from seeing a Shinahachi show. If you are a fan, I would definitely recommend it
. I just wanted to point out some stuff that I found interesting. Also wanted to clarify that owning a Idoling/YGA shirt doesn't make you a nerd or wota... although I think at the shows I went to that was the case
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