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General Discussion Thread

Exemplar

Veteran
May 17, 2018
1,028
Here's a interview Kumiko Murayama (1st Place's head honco) did a few weeks before the IA concert in Atlanta

The most interesting part was near the end of the interview.
Are there any exciting new plans you have for the upcoming year on the horizon?

Absolutely. In addition to conducting a full-scale ARIA tour, we’re hoping to release IA’s music in the U.S. as our new challenge. Please keep an eye on our updates.
 

Exemplar

Veteran
May 17, 2018
1,028

Japan is home to a wide variety of otaku “geeks” that show their fandom for things like trains, manga, anime and video games. However, being classified as an “otaku” comes with a stigma attached, as the term is often connected to individuals who choose to escape from the real world by staying at home and indulging in their solitary obsessions, which can make it hard for them to find someone to date or marry.

This quandary led Japanese matchmaking consultancy Partner Agent to conduct a survey into the issue, asking 1,500 single Japanese men and women, aged from their teens to their thirties, to answer a number of questions relating to whether or not they would hook up with an otaku, and what type of otaku obsessions they would be most willing to let slide.
If you were to marry an otaku, which of the following interests would be tolerable?

Manga (44.1 percent)
Anime (41.5 percent)
Games (35 percent)
Video games (30.7 percent)
Idol / Voice Actor (26.1 percent)
Singer / Vocaloid (25.7 percent)
Boys’ Love (16.6 percent)
Dream Girls (13.4 percent)

According to the responses, the most common types of otaku obsessions (manga, anime and video games) would be most tolerable to a prospective love interest, dropping dramatically for those into boys’ love or 2-D character obsessions classified as “Dream Girls”.
I don't get how vocaloid polled lower than idol fandom. Vocaloid fandom and companies are pretty transparent at all levels unlike idol companies which generates a lot of their cash via all of the creepy sh** they done over the years AKBaby invites fans to breed with their favorite pop idols | The Japan Times

I wonder how much of it comes from anti-moe sentiments *shrugs*
 

___

Oct 8, 2019
1,546
I don't get how vocaloid polled lower than idol fandom. Vocaloid fandom and companies are pretty transparent at all levels unlike idol companies which generates a lot of their cash via all of the creepy sh** they done over the years
Perhaps it has something to do with the stigma surronding vocaloids. Yknow, them not being real/real singers? Guess they find it more creppy when a person is infatuated by a ""fake"" singer.
 

Exemplar

Veteran
May 17, 2018
1,028
Perhaps it has something to do with the stigma surronding vocaloids. Yknow, them not being real/real singers? Guess they find it more creppy when a person is infatuated by a ""fake"" singer.
The problem with that sort of thinking is not acknowledging or refusing to acknowledge how society relates to celebrity in a pretty shallow way (aka parasocial relationships). People refusing to treat flawed human beings as human is more of an problem that you can believe. I have seen and heard plenty of creepy stuff from being deep within and into a fandom for many years. Being able to dig up a ton of stuff from search engines and being repeatedly praised for by online communities and even by the subject of those communities has given me a different perspective on how toxic fame and celebrity can be.

The vocaloid community has been in a way, much more naked about this process even to the point of confounding a few outsiders looking at it. Companies put out the engines, voicebanks along with mascots/avatars to go with them and licensing out merch and concerts. Producers at all levels make the music, artists make the art that goes along with it and the fans fill in the rest.

Real life flesh and blood celebrities go through significantly more complex plans to move forward to achieve their goals. Idealogues, sociopaths and generally unwell people get drawn to a particular celebrity, celebrities and even the idea of celebrity. People get hurt emotionally and sometimes physically at all levels of celebrity culture. That is not a new thing regardless of how technology has put a harsher light on it while also magnifying it like a lens being used to look at an ant while a concentrated point of light fries the ant alive. It's difficult for people in general to see how celebrity culture affects them.
 

___

Oct 8, 2019
1,546
I mean...I'm with you on this, I don't need convincing .Just saying that people don't automatically make the connection in context of vocaloid, they just see "creepy robot singers" and don't give it much thought beyond that :miku2_move: They don't see how this connects to other serious issues. I know I once found vocie synths weird and also didn't give it a second thought. I get where they're coming from but it is an issue I agree.
 
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mobius017

Aspiring ∞ Creator
Apr 8, 2018
1,982
Hm, so 74.3% of the people polled wouldn't be interested in a member of what is, in general, the largest group of the best people I've met....

(Though, as we've discussed elsewhere, members of the vocal synth fandom obviously aren't all the same everywhere.)

Under the principle that "like" attracts "like," that actually seems like it's only to be expected :miku2_move:. The 75% will stick to itself, and the 25% will stick to itself.

That aside, when you're essentially looking for a needle in a haystack anyway, being incompatible 3/4 of the time doesn't necessarily seem terribly dismaying.
 

uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
I think what comes down to the list is "Are these hobbies broad enough for both partners to enjoy together?" (biased opinion of the girl/guy being asked what he personally likes, basically). For manga, there are SO many types of them ranging from romance, to horror, ones for kids, ones for adults, etc. It seems almost impossible for both people in the relationship to be unable to find a comic they can relate to.

For the ones lower on the list, I think dream girls would not be tolerated by girls, because that would be their boyfriend's waifu and the guy might seem too otaku-ey and have tons of figures of 2D girls lining their room. Guys might not appreciate their girlfriend reading BL because they probably don't read any.

For Vocaloid not being very tolerated, I think most Japanese (including otaku) don't know ALL the Vocaloids out there and probably only know the main Cryptonloids and a few others. So maybe they only know a handful of popular songs (like how "Senbonzakura" was on Kouhaku Uta Gassen) and don't care about those songs/characters, even though they actually have tons of characters/songs to choose from without knowing. I guess we have to keep in mind that Japan is probably aware of (at minimum) Miku's activities such as Snow Miku, maybe they think it's annoying/weird? (Kind of like how Miku is a joke to most English speakers who don't know about the software/scene.) Also, the VocaVerse circle (including our Twitter bubble) are full of hard-core fans, think of the people answering the poll as casual normies.

Lastly, I've read a lot of really stupid dating polls in Japanese, so don't get too insulted by this one. I saw this video recently where ideal boyfriend requirements were REALLY dumb (like he should work part time at a cafe, wears rolled up sleeves, likes cola):

A couple years ago, magazines were even talking about guys being carnivores vs herbivores (basically being an alpha male vs a beta male in the dating world), I feel like getting love advice from a country with a rapidly declining birth rate/people choosing work/hobbies over dating is probably not the best thing to lose sleep over.
 

uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
Was browsing Techno-Speech's Twitter. They said this year's top girl and boy baby names list was released. For girls, the #1 most popular name is Rin. For boys, the #1 most popular name is still Ren, which has been for the last 2 years. (Note: The name is for the reading, not everyone has the same Kanji.)

 

mobius017

Aspiring ∞ Creator
Apr 8, 2018
1,982
Was browsing Techno-Speech's Twitter. They said this year's top girl and boy baby names list was released. For girls, the #1 most popular name is Rin. For boys, the #1 most popular name is still Ren, which has been for the last 2 years. (Note: The name is for the reading, not everyone has the same Kanji.)

Well, the president of CFM did say at one point that he knew of couples who met at concerts and brought their children later. Guess it stands to reason that the names of those children might be influenced, too.

Of course, I assume that isn't responsible for the entirety of the names' popularity. (There's always Kylo-Ren from the Star Wars universe, too? :LOL:)
 

cafenurse

Still misses Anri Rune
Apr 8, 2018
1,803
22
USA
Well, the president of CFM did say at one point that he knew of couples who met at concerts and brought their children later. Guess it stands to reason that the names of those children might be influenced, too.
Aww, that's super cute! Look at Vocaloid bringing people together.
Also, wouldn't it be funny if every couple named their kids related to where they first met? Like ah yes we met at Disneyworld so our son's name is Space Mountain.
 

mobius017

Aspiring ∞ Creator
Apr 8, 2018
1,982
Aww, that's super cute! Look at Vocaloid bringing people together.
Also, wouldn't it be funny if every couple named their kids related to where they first met? Like ah yes we met at Disneyworld so our son's name is Space Mountain.
I'm sure there are kids who would enjoy a name like that! :LOL:
 
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