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A deep dive look into Rise Kujikawa and the Japanese Idol Industry, all in Japanese context.
What is the local idol phenomena and how did AKB48 change everything? How do the management companies, aka the Jimusho, manufacture these idols” personalities and exert complete dominance over their personal lives? All of this and so much more!
I’ll also be discussing Kanami and her group from Persona 4 Dancing!
LINKS TO EVERYTHING / SOURCES (compilation), including YT videos:
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:50 AKB48 Changes Everything (Amateur Idols vs. Artists)
14:21 Difference Between Jpop v Kpop Idols
17:59 Local Idol Phenomena in Japan
21:51 The Jimusho Pt 1 & TV advertising (Rise’s Shadow)
36:44 The Jimusho Pt 2 (Gravure, blacklisting, Kitagawa, etc.)
42:15 Rise’s Social LInk
49:39 Navigator Rise & “The Fool’s Journey”
56:33 Parasocial Relationships + my own story~
1:03:24 The “New Risette” (P4D Insights)
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🐤TWITTER: @VirgiliaLady
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MUSIC:
Corner of Memories
Your Affection
Pancake on the Way Home From School – Trails of Cold Steel III
Same Time, Same Feeling – P4 Dancing
A Sky Full of Stars
Factory City of Zeiss – Trails in the Sky
True Story – P4 Anime
A Boy (instrumental + pitched down) – G-Dragon
Bad Girl, Good Girl (instrumental + pitched down) – Miss A
Like a Dream Come True ~Reincarnation
Specialist
Heartbeat, Heartbreak
Signs of Love
Blade Game – Trails of Cold Steel
Back to the Dorm – Cold Steel
Revache Co. – Trails From Zero
Long Way
Alley of Silence – Cold Steel III
Reverie
Poem of Everyone’s Soul
Lonely Rolling Star – Katamari Damacy
Smile
New Days
Welcome Back! Abend Time – Cold Steel III
Shadow World
#persona4golden #risekujikawa..(read more at source)
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This is honestly the topic I knew least about out of all my videos, so partly the reason why this took so long! I kept going down all these interesting rabbit holes, and scrapped a lot of things that weren't pertinent to Rise's portrayal. Local idols were amazing to learn about haha. Anyway, I'll certainly return to the topic of idols once I'm finished with all of my Persona analyses and begin expanding to other video game and/or anime series~ Then I'll be able to include some of the other microcosms of idol industry that didn't make the cut here!
Btw, if you'd like to see example of some Japanese girl groups that are powerhouses like Kpop groups, check out Happiness and NiziU
https://www.youtube.com/@NiziUOfficial
(Happiness doesn't have official channel of their own, but here's an example: https://youtu.be/j6Ft-ZPBaFU )
PLEASE CHECK OUT OSAKA OBACHAAAN. MY NEW LOVE <3 https://www.youtube.com/@projectobachan
LINKS TO EVERYTHING / SOURCES (compilation), including YT videos:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16B3XJbXHz6axioePC6xqJY6xJ_fwSy-t7IeOLhdy2kY/edit?usp=sharing
🎮TWITCH: https://www.twitch.tv/ladyvirgilia
🐤TWITTER: @VirgiliaLady https://twitter.com/VirgiliaLady
🌟PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/LadyVirgilia
Never been into idols, I knew they were more of a marketing and exploitative gimmick, but I still recognize the girls make a big sacrifice for such a young age. Lately I've been into Enka, such an interesting musical tradition, with such a variety of styles and sounds.
Idol stuff always felt kind of Nick Jr. Like to me with the dances and the sound of the music sometimes but seeing they're supposed to come off as some school production sometimes is really eye opening.
Not even 3 minutes into this video yet, but the timeline described here and the fanbases of the respective games and so forth made it make perfect sense to me why both this and Yakuza were the perfect series to comment upon the idol industry
The biggest thing I learned from this video is that J-Pop and K-Pop are so inherently different. I've never been interested in the idol scene (or pop in general), so most of what I knew was the vague horror stories and a background noise of people pushing back against them. This video has really broadened my outlook on both cultures' pop idol scenes, though I'm still not terribly interested in either. (I just have a general disinterest in songs with lyrics, which is why I lean very far into videogame music.)
I also always saw Rise as a kind of "attractive but not really interesting" character and you've completely 180'd me on that. While I'm still going to have a dislike of the pigtail look (which Rise has for precisely the reason I don't like it: it makes you look artificially young and innocent), it tracks far, far, far better with what her character is meant to be about and I respect that a lot. Awesome video!
Yesssssssss Lady's thinking about covering Judgement stuff!
Can you do one for Kanji next his story is very inspirational for people both men and women.
still is incredibly weird how pinups of minors exist. i cant understand the appeal, but ig its a diff culture? grooming & sexual exploitation of minors shouldnt be excused like that tho
this was a good, informative video. i r like your content & this is another banger 🔥
When it comes to idols not being able to date anyone, that goes for any parasocial entertainment. For example, female twitch streamers lose supporters if they have a boyfriend bc males love fantasizing about being with her
Admittedly, I have only ever looked at the idol aspect of the culture through western eyes. This puts the game, as well as the dancing games, put things into proper perspective. It also lends some tragedy to P4D and how things turned out as they did. Thank you for all that research, it was truly insightful.
The most mind-blowing thing I learned about Japan idols in this video was Osaka Obachan existence. Now i'm curious to hear the songs
20:31 Goro Majima moment
Rise fan here and glad you did right by best girl of P4. Super informative and insightful. You hit all the marks and I’m looking forward to more content, Lady!
After watching this Video like a lot of times, I can imagine a Variant of myself from an Alternate Universe where a majority of Earth's inhabitants are nothing, but Anthropomorphic Talking Cartoon Frogs, just like with the lines of Disney's Amphibia, complete with my Alternate Self as a Cartoon Frog uttering "I don't feel safe!" just like with Hop Pop did.
Me when I met Shadow Rise (if I can do it) in a Nutshell: I don't feel safe!
The Junes concert event alone made Rise one of my fav characters in P4. She showed some great leadership ability and kept the others from losing their motivation and/or panicking.
Excellent video. I've always thought that Rise was probably the most underrated girl of the main cast, despite the fact that she was my best girl, and this video really helps to flesh out why she acts the way she does. Hopefully, this can shed some light to the people who don't necessarily understand her character. A drop of understanding can prevent a well spring of hatred after all.
I'm not an idol person. I'm a music hound. So I prefer the groups that put much more focus on creating polished music.
I do not want AKB48. I want Mary's Blood, Lovebites, Kalafina, and KOKIA.
Well, this video certainly has a lot of work put into it. I can respect that.
But for me, I couldn't care less about this subject. As long as someone I vare about has no relation to the filthy idol industry, Then it's not my problem.
And you said something that bothered me a bit… about that women should be allowed to wear what they want.
While Most of the time, I will agree with that, it's not that simple…
The main issue is modesty. There is a line , for both men and women, that you shouldn't go that far with revealing your body.
I wouldn't want my Mother, My sister, and hopefully one day, My Daughter to dress like that.
Same goes for my father and once again, hopefully one day, My son. Dress however you want, but do not cross the limit.
And please don't tell me you tried to excuse Rise's(and the girls as a whole), Actions in the cursed hot springs. There is no excuse for that.
In the end, just be aware that this is how I look at things. Nothing more, nothing less.
And parasocial relationships are horrifying. But not everythng is black and white, just like you said.
As long as you don't let it dominate you, it's fine.
You'll always be our idol, Lady! But seriously: your subscribers saw you improve on your craft over time and offer needed perspective for these games. Keep rockin'!