The antics of otaku and their manic “otagei” are now the subject of some scrutiny; there is a catalogue of unhealthy incidents stemming from this hyper-enthused fandom, and we also had the pleasure of hearing an assertive voice demand their restraint (that of Yui-nyan).
But what constitutes otagei, and are the concerns about it legitimate, or mere media froth? Below there is a representative sample of “normal” otagei performances (no running amok), as compiled by Gigazine. It definitely looks as though the performances are in the eye of the beholder.
Their energetic and excitable performances do look as if they could easily descend into something more disagreeable, though we see nothing of that here.
Here we see the otagei from the periphery… a rather incongruous sight in the mall.
The idols involved must have nerves of steel, or a great deal of possibly misplaced trust in human nature.
Of course, this is only half the story; searching doesn’t turn up any videos of what happens when things get out of hand, but there are plenty of eyewitness audience reports floating around in response to some of the incidents, usually agreeing with the seiyuu account. Perhaps this sort of thing is just part of the business.
Harmless hijinks or the sinister work of obsessive maniacs?
its good to be weird together
Just like those English soccer fans who cheer their teams in similar fashion…..
no prob with that.
Romantic Ukare Mode video (the one in the middle of the street) is from Mexican fans -> hardcore fans xD
as long as it stays at happy cheering i think even the idols are rather happy about it, its kinda funny here we have all the stupid little girls screaming theyr lungs out till they collaps in the croud for some shitty boybands but noone would consider that dangerous (exept for themselves)
i think the main problem about that bad apples is that they somehow change the whole “dynamic” of events
and thats the point where true fans that only want to cheer theyr star on have to stand up and sort them out even at the event instead of just letting themselves swept away to the failures level (what can happen quite fast in a large group unfortunately)
if on a concert some guy next to me would really go over the top i would grab him by the collar and drag him out myself (at least to the security guys) no matter if i would miss some of the show because of it
Most likely some pointless moral panic stirred up by the media (fear young people, they seem different than you!). Ugh.