Quote:
Originally Posted by TofuBunny
I think that Kpop fandom's main negative point is the loud and obnoxious fans, while Jpop's negative point is the elitist ones  |
Totally agree with this.
Strictly speaking about foreign fandoms I've encountered: The extremist side of J-pop fandom seems to stem more from a sense of elitism not just towards other music fandoms (Western and K-Pop are the most common) but within the fandom itself. Like others mentioned there's 'rivaling' fandoms between heavy hitters like Koda/Ayu/Namie/Hikki, the sense of superiority some strictly J-music fans have over anime fans/otaku, the stigma attached to idol groups and their fans and the list goes on.
With K-pop, it's like the delusional/overly defensive/overbearing aspects of the worse side of a music fandom taken up to unforeseen levels. I've been in fandoms full of trolls, delusional fans and where dramadramadrama is the name of the game but in all honesty, I have never encounter anything like the K-pop fandom. I'd like to say it's just because most of them are just immature 12 year olds that found something they think is really cool and want to hype it as much as they can but... they can't all fall in that category.
Of course, I know they aren't all this way (AHS has a very pleasant K-pop community <3) but it's really hard to... minimize the problems with the more extreme fans especially when they're so vocal... and loud... and crazy... and great in numbers. lol
I think what it is with the K-pop fandom though is like was previously mentioned they're a much more Idol driven industry than J-pop. With J-pop, just with females idols, the major mainstream idol groups nowadays are under the AKB48 umbrella and before them it was Momosu and all their affiliated acts years before. Very few hit it big and most stay obscure indie acts. With K-pop, most of the major acts are idols and idol fans have a reputation for having a bit of a control problem over the idols they support. The image of that idol within their mind is pure and perfect and they prefer it to stay that way (hence the name). They'll dig up dirt to try to tarnish another idol's reputation just so their favorite within the group can get ahead or even dig up dirt on or bash on their own favorite idol to 'punish' her... it's some freaky need to try to have some power or control in the fandom other then with just their wallets. But again, I've never seen it as bad as I've seen it in the K-pop fandom so irdk.