Pleasure Principled

Revealingly Articulate Idol Worship

Aladdin and Jasmine had ”A Whole New World”.

Sonny and Cher supported each other (until the eventual divorce) with ”I Got You Babe”.

Tony and Maria were joined with ”One Hand, One Heart”.

Nishijima Takahiro and Uno Misako apparently have ”Deai no CHIKARA”. (And II. And III. Possibly even IV.)

But anyone who thinks that the power of meeting – a literal translation of “deai no chikara” – equates to a fairy tale love probably needs their ears checked.

One of the biggest joys in fandom of any sort is the concept of pairing. This also extends to things like slash, the coupling of two same-gender characters.

Conversely, it’s amongst my greatest despairs when joining any idol group’s fandom.

In their defense, it’s not not understandable. When an outgoing person (as most idols tend to be) works together with a group of equally vivacious people for any amount of time, it’s not unlikely that they’ll become good friends hard and fast. Buddy punches and pats on the back will quickly evolve into hugs and suggestive strokes, even pointed glances at inappropriate places. After all, what’s a few sex jokes between friends?

It can happen even with good friends of the withdrawn sort. As an A-bloodtype, I’m apparently the sort to avoid people. (Possibly the only thing about my supposed personality that applies.) My good friends still point out my bust and butt, if they aren’t pointing right into it.

There’s a sort of comfort from having known and being acclimated to these people for a while that raises what would normally be bad to the level of okay. And on their part, they know that if I weren’t okay with it, they wouldn’t do it. So I can take the affectionate pats on the butt, the greeting and departing hugs, the pretend flirting, and even the role of being a replacement boyfriend without caring. It’s all in the name of good – albeit not completely clean – fun.

Marketers take this one step further. When you’re selling people, after all, there’s got to be a reason to like them. The first step is to show that they’re likable to each other. Perhaps they were likable to each other already. As the level of comfort within the group rises, we’re obviously more likely to see them do stuff in front of the cameras that we’d normally associate with private moments. And fans? They love this.

They love seeing it, reading into it, mentally expanding on it. These gestures become hints of something more, possibly something forbidden. Even the tiniest things have a story to them. Probably at least half of any given fandom is devoted to it because of a pairing or two, and the individual members involved in the pairing.

avex, when they made AAA, took it one better. Probably knowing that the mixing of genders in one idol group would lead to speculations of relationships within the group, they took the only singing female (Uno Misako, perhaps better known as the girl raped to death under the covers by the Grudge ghost) and the popular frontman (Nishijima Takahiro, known in 52 states and various outlying countries as “Nissy”) and had them sing a duet on the group’s debut album.

A love song, no less. (As if there were any other option.) Guy meets girl for the first time with a group of friends, feels he’ll never meet her again as they all head home, and pretty much proposes to her right there and then. Classic story.

At first, it seemed like a one-time gimmick. For their sophomore album, instead we had a duet from Nissy and Urata Naoya, the other male lead vocal, over a bittersweet past love. Did the sweet relationship that was formed in Deai no CHIKARA meet a bad end?

Oh, heck no. Nine months later, on the group’s third album, Nissy and Misako resurfaced yet again with ”Deai no CHIKARA II”. And then a year and a third later, we got part III.

It’s now like a bad horror movie. The sequels won’t quit.

But it also effectively feeds every fan who was thinking one of the girls had got to be banging one of the guys, if not with either factor set at a value greater than 1. The fans have their little in-group relationship practically being spoonfed to them, and the powers that be were getting their cashflow.

This supposed lovey-dovey relationship didn’t just extend to their audio releases, though. The music videos began to throw in hints. In “HURRICANE LILI, BOSTON MARI”’s extended version, Nissy wakes up on an island and first finds an unconcious Misako. In “Get CHU!”, Misako, riding on Nissy’s back, leads a charge towards the camera with the other members trailing behind. In “Kuchibiru kara ROMANTIKA”, there are scenes where Misako runs from something (or someone) while leading Nissy by the hand, presumably set sometime after the scene where member Atae Shinjiro levels a gun at the male half of the relationship.

For their second anniversary and 5th ATTACK concert, they made a little play of it, where there is rampant flirting, an unfortunate confession from the aforementioned Shinjiro, jealousy, and even a kiss. (Perhaps not the expected one, though fans were just as loud for the near-result and the actual thing.) On variety shows and radio programs, because a group of 7 would’ve been too much to handle, a few chosen representatives are usually sent to be the face of the group. Nissy and Misako made a good number of appearances as these ambassadors, which gave plenty of screen time for the two to add fuel to the pairing fire, intentionally or otherwise. They even used to host an avex show called ON TIME together with motsu and yuri of m.o.v.e, though Nissy has since been replaced by fellow AAA member Ito Chiaki.

Fans have lapped this all up, some joining this “Takauno” (Nishijima Takahiro and Uno Misako) movement the instant they joined the fandom. One can’t deny that the duo – and avex – certainly have sold this concept well. It’s even gotten to the point where one can find fan groups calling them the canon (used in the fictional capacity of being “official”) couple of AAA and being overjoyed at the two just being near each other in official photoshoots.

But it should also be worth noting that short of fond glances and holding hands, they have never done anything to actually give proof that this relationship is real. Even the kiss referenced above was one between a guy and a guy, not from the supposed couple themselves. Certainly, there’s hints. Suggestions. Possibly subliminal messages, but feel free to contact me if you really want to put the effort into finding those out.

None of it means that it’s real, and yet the fans want so badly for it to be real. Perhaps for them, it needs to be more than just an accepted principle. In some cases it may be the desire for subsitution; if they can’t have the guy or girl themselves, then s/he had better go to someone who they approve of. In others, it may just be the confirmation of their own fantasies, a chance to cry “I knew it!” in triumph when it finally reveals itself to be true. And yet others may have their own reasons of wanting a romance of whatever sorts.

While I don’t dare delve into the mind of the common fan – Psychology 101 was nowhere near enough preparation for that mission – this happens far too often in far too many fandoms with pairings of every sort.

It can happens with the side characters, it can be unconventional, it can be unlikely, it can even be a massive group orgy. For example, in X-Files, a surprisingly liked pairing is that of Knowle Rohrer and Monica Reyes. In Psych, despite all evidence pointing to main character Shawn Spencer being straight, there is an abundance of fanwork pairing him with the male cop that begrudges his existence, Carlton Lassiter. Every main character from the first two seasons of Digimon got paired with each other at some point or another, and then some.

All of it was taken seriously, sometimes replete with arguments and debates as to how A and B being together was more likely than C having a relationship with A even as the people themselves or the creator pointed in an opposite direction – A and C hated each other’s guts, and were going out with D and E respectively. B probably didn’t even know A, at least not well enough to be involved. But there it is, a stunning 20-page forum discussion on the possibility of A and B versus A and C, right there on the Internets for all to see.

Well, unless you’re like me, with the sense of humor that declares stuff like Misako x Chair. (It was a very sensual chair, that fit perfectly to all her contours in ways no other member’s lap could possibly do.) But clearly this isn’t something to take seriously, and if you did, I’d suggest help. Again, preferably from someone who took more than Psych 101.

Heading back to the prime example of Nissy and Misako, all evidence points to the idea that this is a fabricated concept. If at any point the two dated, or desired to date, it is not something we see or really ought to see. Even with the cute little smiles at each other and the adorable hugs and sugary words of encouragement, any further interest beyond friendship that we may see between the two is in our own heads. As fun as it is to watch, at the end of the day, it is what it is: a highly attractive marketing point in avex’s favor. This is what logical thinking says.

And that is why it irks me so much when it is insisted that a relationship has to be real. Visual proof can be doctored, supposed eyewitness accounts can be biased. Unless there is an official statement from the management or either party, we can’t call it “official.” We can’t say anything is happening. And we can’t read between the lines to see what we don’t know is there. That there are people who insist “These two people being together romantically is nothing short of the truth,” is probably the most baffling thing I have encountered in fandom yet. I’d go as far to call it the fandom equivalent of conspiracy theorists – only our crazies are much more numerous.

Perhaps I’m in the wrong here. Romance is based on emotions, not proof and precise arguments, and who’s to say something in good fun, the intention most fans tackle pairings with, should be looked at with the amount of disdain I have for it? But this is an integral part of my concept of fandom – that unless any two people are actually involved, they should not be forced into such a situation by the fans – and in the realm of idol groups, where relationships form a heavy part of the process, it’s something that will never entirely fade away.