the kpop edition

[acchikocchi]

1. So give me the lowdown on SM Entertainment as a corporation. How do they recruit/train/market/etc., especially in comparison to JE? Info on shady business practices and lawsuits and things of that sort also welcome. XD ...How does the Korean music industry and market compare to the Japanese in general, actually? There is no such thing as tldr in comments here.

2. Favorite Korean artists/songs/albums/music videos? I am woefully ignorant. Pop, not pop, what have you - hit me. (Assume I know basically no one except Park Ji-yoon, since that's... true. Oh, and BoA.)

Comments

Oh shit, lol, this turned out really long...

[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

Oh oh oh oh, I'm late to this party, but you HAVE to get in to the crazy world of K-Pop. Because it is amazing and terrifying and wonderful. You see the best and the worst of people in this fandom, I think, both in the artists and the fans and the anti-fans. PREPARE FOR ME TO RAMBLE AT YOU.

On SM - SM Ent is scandalicious at the moment. They sort of function like JE, except that the trainees don't really do the years of crushing backdancing thing that JE does - it's both good and bad, the artists don't get the same amount of stage experience before debuting, but the fans can't get attached to anyone who isn't ever GOING to debut either (I see you, Toma and ABC).

SM - and well, the Korean pop companies in general - also have their artists all living together in dorms, which JE doesn't do anymore (since they were banned from it, haha). This means you get some AMAZING lol-tastic hidden camera footage from their homes sometimes, but it's also a bit uncomfortable because seriously, when do these artists get a break? This however, did not stop me watching Super Junior's 'Full House' where they had to share their dorm with two female exchange students for like, three months (hilarious, A+ viewing).

Other people have talked about the current DBSK lawsuit, and there was a similar one a few years back for Shinhwa I believe. The short is, DBSK are all on these ridiculous 13 year contracts, get no time off, are averaging like 4 hours sleep a night, and there are some shading things built into their contracts - which they apparently were not shown in full before signing. Eg. - they don't get any money from CDs sold in Korea, unless the CD sells over 500 000 copies. Only their most recent album managed this. :/ Also, there is some pretty convincing evidence to suggest that they haven't had full profits passed along to them and SM has being cooking the books - and when demanded to present said books to the courts, SM got really cagey about it and didn't provide, so.

And they really do strain their actors, it's terrible. Earlier today I saw a fancam of Leeteuk, Super Junior's leader, on some sort of variety show - he was obviously ill and whenever the host/cameras weren't near him he was wobbling dangerously, and at one point seemed to throw up into a napkin on stage - but the moment the host came over, he was all smiles and stage presence, and it was just heart-breaking. D: Also, the latest SM boyband, SHINee (who are made of TINY ADORABLE WIN) to maintain their appearance aren't allowed to eat after 7pm at nights, and once they confessed in an interview that sometimes they sneak food late at night, and it was just so sad. D:

Despite this though, all the SM groups seem to really love Lee Soo Man, the Johnny Kitagawa equivalent for SM. Except he's not the CEO anymore, apparently, which could be why they still love him despite being given the shaft.

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[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

As for recruiting, I believe that SM just does yearly auditions or something. But I know that they - and a lot of other Korean agencies - have fairly recently started to do their talent hunts overseas for Asian artists abroad, everywhere from China to America, which is really cool. Like, in Super Junior they've got HanGeng from China; in Super Junior M they've got well, HanGeng, but also ZhouMi from China, and Henry from Canada; then f(x) has Victoria from China and Amber from America; a few of the SNSD girls were brought up in the States I believe; then in another company, 2PM's leader/former leader (lol, there's an epic scandal in itself!) was American-Korean, and another member is Thai, etc. So I guess it makes them easier to send them abroad for shows when so many of the acts are from abroad anyway.

It's not all roses for foreign-born in Korea though - until recently there was a law restricting how many TV shows a foreign artist could do, so I know both HanGeng and solo singer Zhang LiYin, despite both working under SM, could only sign up for a couple of TV stations, and had to keep going back to China to get fresh entertainment visas or something. HanGeng used to sneakily perform in a mask and hat to hide himself (until Heechul de-masked him one day, HA). Then there was the recent 2PM scandal - long story short, Leader says dumb-shit anti-Korean stuff in his Myspace just after arriving in Korea to train (so presumably going through massive culture shock) - four years later, comments are leaked, super-nationalistic Korea flips its lid over his comments and tells him to GTFO, pop-music meltdown follows. A few days later it was revealed that a few years after he made pro-Korea comments in the Myspace and everyone felt bad. >_>

My opinion on the Korea vs Japan music market is that Korean acts tend to be more slick and cookie-cutter than the Japanese ones. I guess because in Japan the major idol manufacturing machines are pretty much JE and to a lesser degree Hello Project. You don't really hear about any others. But Korea has SM, JYP and YG as the big three, then with smaller but also fairly aggressive agencies also fighting for a piece of the pie. So when a trend appears, everyone seems to follow it - eg, Korea has been inundated with girl groups this year, because they've been selling well, to the point that the market is well and truly saturated, but the idol factories keep pumping them out. And while I feel that Korean idols generally are better singers and dancers, they can all kind of seem like clones of one another too, so you have to sift through to find the gold, or at least your favourite group.

Also, sales seem to be significantly less, despite the idols being (IMO) worked harder, and having less of a claim to their own lives. I suspect this is because Koreans are WAY more technologically literate than their Japanese equivalents, and so music piracy is a bigger thing there. Also, digital-only singles and such seem to be used in Korea far more than Japan, so there is less moving of physical units. And maybe they're just not as good at 'collecting' as Japanese fans are - I don't really see Korea releasing like, 8 different editions of albums at the same time the way Japan does, with the fans picking up each edition all at once. Instead they seem to go in for 'repackaged albums' - a month or two after a release, they'll do repackage with a couple of extra songs, or different versions or something. But rather than buying again, I suspect Koreans tend to download instead.

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[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

But that doesn't make fans any less fervent though. Like I said earlier, you see the best and worst of people in K-Pop fandom. A lot of Korean artists seem to be great people, even accounting for fake TV personas (I often think of DBSK's Yunho, who was actually homeless for a while before succeeding, and is just so humble and sweet all the time; or SuJu's Kim Heechul, who is such an abrasive, eccentric character who spews whatever he's thinking all over his Cyworld consequences be damned, and is so damn loyal to his friends, its really charming lol). Then the fans themselves can be crazy and scary - this sums that up nicely - but then they can also be really sweet and lovely - like, there was an oil spill a few years ago in Korea, and the fans of DBSK's Changmin, as a birthday present to him, went and cleaned the beach of oil, rather than give gifts (Korean fanclubs generally spend quite a bit of cash on luxurious gifts, but lately a lot more seem to be turning their efforts to charity on behalf of their favourite artists instead, which is lovely). Then there are the antifans of course, who are the lowest of the low and delight in doing the most awful of things - like poisoning Yunho's drink, or starting petitions asking for Jae (leader of 2PM) to kill himself, and that sort of thing. -_-' So it's a real mixed-bag of extremes in K-Pop fandom.

Pimp time! Hopefully I can promote a few different genres.

- Super Junior. Totally my bias. I love them so much. They are so dumb and charming and it's worth the effort to learn who all 15 of them are. Unfortunately their fans are in fact bonkers (to the point that they actually own shares in SM Ent, it's a long story why lol). But SuJu themselves are wonderful! For viewing, if you're keen on TV shows, the aforementioned Full House with the exchange students is lol-tastic. Then Exploring the Human Body is a great series where every week they had to well, explore the human body (the 'breathing underwater' episode is comedy gold). Then the Super Junior movie, 'Attack on the Pinup Boys' is HILARIOUS, and actually quite good. As for music - Miracle, the song that started it all; Happiness CUTEST ENDING EVER, especially if you've ever seen that 'free hugs' video; Don't Don because they are FIERCE; It's You; I guess you've already seen Sorry Sorry judging by your 'current music', lol; and SuJu M's Super Girl because it's by the same composer as Sorry Sorry and is ridiculously catchy. And the MV is cutely hilarious.


- DBSK. Sweet and lovely and hard-working, but best of all, they can really sing. It's hard to know where to start with DBSK because they've just got so much music out there. Mirotic; Balloons (this is so retarded and hilarious, if you don't smile you possibly have no soul XD); Stand By U (their voices, so pretty *_*); Colours ~Melody and Harmony~ (this is currently the number 1 single in Japan - ok, it's only 2/5 the band, but Jaejoong and Yoochun are the world's best girlfriends. They have matching tattoos. OVER THEIR HEARTS. And on their backs. :D)

Re: Oh shit, lol, this turned out really long...

[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

- SHINee. IDGAF that they are babies still, think of them as an investment plan. They're like tiny adorable puppies at the moment, its impossible not to love them, but you can already see that by the time they're fully baked, they are going to be HOT. Also, they sing and dance REALLY FREAKING WELL. Also, I love their leader, Onew so much. He has a beautiful smile and trips over things all the time. He's also famous for making un-funny jokes, to the point that the rest of his band has called his particular brand of fail 'The Onew Condition' and they have a SONG about it, a;sdf lol-ingforever. Noona is so Pretty - translation, the pedo-song that started it all; Ah.Mi.Go; Juliette ie, how many plastic bugs can we stick on our faces; Please Don't Go (Onew and Jonghyun duet).

- Big Bang. IDEK how to describe these guys, lol. They're 'style icons' or something, but just basically kind of amazing and lol-tastic, especially G-Dragon who is SUCH a little queen. Haru Haru (boys wearing copious amounts of eyeliner + homoerotic violence, lol); Gara Gara Go (this song had mixed reactions, but I really dug it, so); Lies; Lollipop with 2NE1 which leads me nicely too...

- 2NE1. These girls are FIERCE, and my favourite of the girl groups. Fire consumed my brain for like, three weeks, and I Don't Care is cool too.

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[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

- SNSD (Girl's Generation). I'm only recently coming to like these girls, but Gee is pretty much the most addictive song in the world (bonus! lol-tastic cover of it by various boybanders)

- Trax. The most underrated Korean band ever, and my first Korean band. They had a teeny bit of a visual kei thing going on for a while and were also a rock band, which didn't do well in Korea, so they took their show on the road to Japan, where it didn't do well because Japan had plenty of their own rock acts. D: They've been on hiatus for a while, which breaks me a little, because lead singer Jay has a BEAUTIFUL voice, and guitarist Jungmo is this freak of nature genius musician who can play like, everything. Blaze Away; Liez; Tears (X Japan cover)

- Epik High. I don't ALWAYS get their music, because I'm not so into hip hop, but I have a LOT of respect for them as artists. They dropped their label to start their own because they felt the label was charging fans too much for CDs; their lyrics are always pretty deep. Also Tablo, the leader, is pretty much awesome incarnate ha. Fan (my favourite version of this song *_*); One; Wannabe (this MV cracks me up SO BAD)

Oh shit, lol, this comment is getting ridiculously long, so I think I'll leave off there. ^^; That should be enough spam to work through for now!

Re: Oh shit, lol, this turned out really long...

[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

>_> sorry for the spam. I was typing this in notepad and didn't realise how crazy-long it had become.

Re: Oh shit, lol, this turned out really long...

[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

PLEASE DON'T APOLOGIZE. THIS IS WONDERFUL. I meant it 100% when I said no such thing as teal deers here. XD Wow, it's going to take me a bit to digest everything but I may jump on you again with questions! eeee, this is so great! *revels*

SuJu's Kim Heechul, who is such an abrasive, eccentric character who spews whatever he's thinking all over his Cyworld consequences be damned, and is so damn loyal to his friends, its really charming lol

I, uh. May have a bias a mile wide in this direction already. Actually, why bother beating around the bush, I ADORE HEECHUL SO MUCH HE IS MY FAVORITE FOREVER AND EVER. ♥_♥ I did not actually come out and say this in the post but this was totally prompted by how, after two and a half years of knowing them and having basic exposure to them, in the space of like a day I fell madly in love with Super Junior and have been rolling gleefully in the shiny glow of a New Fandom all week. Half week. Whatever. Everything they say about the zeal of the recently converted is true. ♥ x infinity

...where was I? Got distracted there. Oh, oh, I didn't realize Trax was a rock band THAT COVERED X JAPAN, that is awesome. They go up to the top of the list. :D :D :D

Seriously, thank you again for everything, this is so fabulous!!

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[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

Hit me up with questions whenever you want, hopefully I'll know the answers! But I'm pretty keen to drag more people into this fandom. :D :D :D

Also. Also. HEECHUL BIAS, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, I LOVE YOU FOR LOVING HIM. Heechul is pretty much amazing ALL THE TIME. And ahahaha, I don't know how you resisted the shiny gay that is SuJu for so long, but I'm dying to know what made you fall in love with them in a DAY. XD

Oh, oh, I didn't realize Trax was a rock band THAT COVERED X JAPAN, that is awesome

YOU'VE MADE ME HAPPIER THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW BY SAYING THAT. Actually, Yoshiki from X Japan actually used to produce Trax - I hear he used to be completely in love with Rose (Min Woo) the drummer. XD; They were all total X Japan fanboys beforehand too. It's just a pity they didn't do better in Japan. D:

OH OH OH. But. Also! :D Jay, the lead singer and Heechul have some hard-core BFFery going on! I didn't realise until after I was into both bands, but Heechul was like, Trax's biggest fanboy, and he and Jay used to live together in dorms (along with HanGeng and...Kibum, I believe). Jay actually once said that Heechul "was like his girlfriend" BRB LOL-ING FOREVER.

Last year Jay and Jungmo from Trax did a show together with Heechul and Kangin from SuJu called Band of Brothers which I haven't watched all the way through yet, but was pretty decent. And now Jungmo is working with Sungmin on Oppa Band. So the Suju/Trax collaborations are wonderful and plentiful. :D

>_> I REALLY LOVE TRAX, OK. XD

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[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

THE FEELING IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT MUTUAL. ♥ ahahaha this is, like, the carbon copy of a comment exchange I had with ununoriginal a couple days ago ahahahahaha it must be something about his fans - "YOU RECOGNIZE HIS AMAZINGNESS TOO, YOU MUST BE WONDERFUL."

re: Trax: skjdl;adjk;ls really?? omg! That basically just multipled by enthusiasm to hear them by a factor of ten. :D Oh Yoshiki, ahaha, I believe it. Aw man, that really is a shame! D:

Clearly this Jay person has excellent taste. :D (see first paragraph. XD) You do a very good job of spiking my interest in this group overall, I am downloading a sampler of their music right now!

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[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

Ha, I'll try and reply to these all at once!

If you ever want any music by Trax, I've got their whole discography and I'm not afraid to share it. XD My love for them is as deep as the ocean.

As for the L in Leeteuk...I don't know for sure, I just have theories lol. It's a stage name anyway (real name is Jungsu, way to make things hard for us haha). It sounds (to me anyway) that it's pronounced 'Eeteuk' but I tend to see it written as Leeteuk on promotional stuff, so I think it's the official romanisation of it, and that's what I go with. I tend to shake it up a bit anyway, depending on what trend fandom is running with at the time (Leeteuk vs Eeteuk, Shiwon vs Siwon, Hankyung vs Hangeng, etc.)

Korean tends to be a bit crazy like that anyway with it's romanisations - I took a Korean history class last year, and we were learning about past presidents of the country and discovered that 'Roh Tae Woo' could also be written as 'Noh Tae Woo', and 'Rhee Syngman' could be 'Yi Seungman' and I was just like, "...s;lkjsdf;j, WHAT IS THIS SHIT."

Do occasionally hear things about new subgroups and expansion wank and kissing attacks. XD

ROFL, think I know who that last one refers to. XD

Also, it saddens me that you were bitterly opposed to K-Pop fandom so long, but I love that you've seen the error of your ways now. YOU SHOULD REALLY FINISH FULL HOUSE, ASAP.

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[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, I do have a question! A simple one, but. XD Okay, so, I get that Hankyung is the hangul-ization of Hangeng, but - Eeteuk/Leeteuk: where does the L come from? Should I be using it? *g*

Re: Oh shit, lol, this turned out really long...

[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot to explain how I actually resisted them for so long. XD I am going to put this down for posterity so I can come back and look at this and laugh at myself later.

September 2006 - February 2007: Am bitterly opposed to kpop on principle. XD;

March 2007:
Visit corimari, am made to watch the U PV.
Me: ................................who - who is the one with the ponytail. *_* (internally, gibbering: he looks like a manga character! one that would be my favorite!)
Cori: So there's this show called Full House I think you should watch.
Me: HE'S SUCH A BRAT, I LOVE HIM. omg this whole show is hilarious. But I'm still not a fan.
Cori: Uh-huh.

March - August 2007:
Drop out of fandom just as I have been weakened and therefore delay my kpop doom by a whole two years. XD

August 2007 - September 2009:
Come back to fandom bursting with love for JE (as Jin had come back somewhere during that period), in complete tunnel vision. Retain fondness for Heechul and the five Suju songs I downloaded before I left but never finish watching Full House (more fool me! XD) and memories become v. hazy. Become once again bitterly opposed to joining kpop fandom on principle. MY MISTAKE. Do occasionally hear things about new subgroups and expansion wank and kissing attacks. XD

A week or so ago:
Flister posts this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4tP1Mk7-kc), I have nothing to do and click. "skdja;sd that's right, I remember how fond I was of him, ahaha. omg what a special snowflake. ♥"

Wednesday - Thursday:
Flister #2 posts this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aqzxpD_KpA). Casually click on it before class. Watch. Watch again. Drool over Siwon. Leave faux-casual comments asking just who is who again? Watch the PV. Watch the PV again. Add Sorry Sorry to my ipod. Drag myself to class. Come home. Spaz at anyone who will listen to me. Comment thread becomes more demanding. Pounce on Wikipedia. Pounce on Youtube. Watch Sorry Sorry, uh, some more. Click from clip to clip to clip. Watch Intimate Note. DIE OF GLEE. Admit that I am well and truly done for.

...And here we are now. Joy. Joy and rapture, I'm telling you. Shiny new fandom ALL FOR ME.

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[catskilt.livejournal.com]

BUTTING IN BUT I SAW EUNHYUK IN YOUR ICON *___________*

Also, I was so biased about Suju in my comments. I think you and I agree that acchikocchi will find lots of happiness in Suju :DD

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[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

OMG, FELLOW SUJU PIMPER, HIGHFIVES ALL AROUND. :D :D :D Plus bonus Eunhyuk icon from you too. How beautiful has he been lately? I don't know what happened to him but he's recently become less cute-spaz more long-limbed-sexy-dancer. *_*

I just read your comment and it was A+, full of lots of vital information and much less flailing. *thumbs up* Plus, there is so much happiness to be HAD in Suju. Her life will be brighter just by knowing them. And our lives will be brighter if she becomes keen enough on them to write fic. >_>

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[catskilt.livejournal.com]

OMG, HI. *WAVES MANIACALLY* and yes, Hyuk. He has been keysmashingly beautiful lately (eyeliner and red hair in Japan Premium Live?! *spazzes for life*) How did he go from awkward dorky spaz into beautiful-piece-of-man, not that I'm complaining (I love Eunhyuk like burning blazing) *_______*

Your comment was A++. It's such a pity to miss out on Suju and all the bitchiness, ~love~, tears, soppiness, wit, abuse, insanity, dorkiness, amazing performances, and hilarity that come with them. of course, that is always the ultimate intention XD

Re: Oh shit, lol, this turned out really long...

[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES, the red hair and eyeliner. *_* Actually, all of them were looking A+ at the Japan Premium Live, I desperately want a copy of the DVD, and am trying to resist until I go to Japan in January. IT'S REALLY HARD. But yeah, Hyukkie, he's like, transformed overnight, I don't know why but I like it! Did you see the Cyworld post he made a few weeks ago in response to the whole 2PM debacle? It was so beautifully written, and I was just there with my mouth hanging open like, "wtf, where did this come from Hyukjae!?"

Oh man, I need sleep, but fangirling with you has left me wanting to hit up YouTube for SuJu videos all night, lol. Must. Resist!

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[catskilt.livejournal.com]

hasdlkcjh LOL. Um, do. not. go. on. youtube. You and I both know that is an extremely dangerous pit XD

Yes, they all looked amazing in the Japan Premium Live, Donghae especially. That ponytail and exposed chest and half-gloves, just GUH. I loved Heechul's hair too. And Sungmin looking ~fierce~. And Ryeowook in a FEDORA. And Kyuhyun looked fantastic. The performances were unbelievable, I was literally speechless for three days before I could think of what I wanted to say about them XDD

I saw that entry, it was sad and lovely at the same time, and I thought the exact same thing as you. Hyukjae apparently has ~deep~ sides to him that we don't see, huh? Besides, I think Teukie's emo has been rubbing off on him lately. I just love Hyukjae so hard, idek, it's ridiculous ash;cjh his huge softie heart and love for the members and bffery with so many people and dorkiness/clumsiness/fail and dancing machine-ness and tears and. Stop me. ;_;

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[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

And our lives will be brighter if she becomes keen enough on them to write fic.

I would be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind. XD

*is the easiest person in the world ._.*

Who, uh, would I want to keep my eye on in particular if I was scoping out relationship dynamics. For research purposes.

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[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

This comment made me happier than you will ever know. \\^___^// Suju can be easily slashed in pretty much any combination imaginable, but for me the holy trifecta is pretty much Heechul/Siwon/HanGeng.

Heechul/HanGeng have this wonderful dorky BFF thing going on where Heechul pushes HanGeng around but totally adores him, and HanGeng puts up with Heechul's crap with an indulgent smile because he totally adores him back, it's lovely. A list of why Hanchul is great. Hanchul picspam. Dorkery in Japan Gifs!



Then Siwon and Heechul have this great relationship where Siwon kind of thinks Heechul is the greatest thing since sliced bread and is completely blind to Heechul's bitchiness, ahahaha. And Heechul allows Siwon to follow him around like a giant overgrown puppy (because HE TOTALLY IS) and makes fun of him all the time for being a Christian, but actually thinks Siwon is kind of great. Because Siwon is. *_*

Sichul picspam. Heechul bullying, then demanding kisses from Siwon XD (he's totally about to go for it before he remembers the camera, lol). Siwon talking about how great he thinks Heechul is with Heechul cat-calling in the background XD.

Then Siwon and HanGeng, I have this feeling that a lot of their relationship stems from being the sane pair in the Heechul whirlwind of insanity. XD Siwon has been studying Mandarin for a while too, so they hit it off because they could communicate lol. Now they're both in the SuJu M subgroup (M promotes in China) which means there is a whole stack of wonderful footage of them being dorky and wonderful together. :D Also they've had this wonderful testosterone filled friendly rivalry kind of thing going on since they both got to China, it's hot.

shihanaday for all your picspam needs. Siwon talking about HanGeng checking him out in the shower (shitty fancam, but whatever). Tears and hugs on stage. Super Titanic (HanGeng's English cracks me up)

And of course, they're great when it's all three together, because they're all just dumb boy-ish BFFs and it's lovely. *_*

Other pairings that are great for me - Heechul/Kangin (abusive affection, haha), Kyuhyun/Zhoumi (SuJu M are the most amazing subgroup ever), Donghae/Kibum (has died a bit since Kibum went off the radar with family problems this year, but on his birthday Donghae made a surprise visit to him at like, 3 in the morning then fangirled about it in his Cyworld, lol), Donghae/Eunhyuk (dumb friendship of win), Eunhyuk/Junsu (...ok, Junsu is in DBSK, but he an Eunhyuk have been BFFs since they were in school kicking a soccer ball around, and were originally going to be in the same group with Sungmin, but it didn't pan out. You can tell they're the sort of friends who see each other and immediately tackle each other to the ground and bitch about how the other one smells and is ugly, but they actually adore one another), Kangin/Leeteuk (the mummy and daddy of the band, generally their relationship is totally mishandled by fandom, but it has the potential for greatness), Sungmin/Kyuhyun (...ok, hard to find material, but when Kyuhyun first joined SuJu he had this cute hero-worship thing towards Sungmin that I've not forgotten) and...ok, I could be here all day if I list everything, ha. But yeah. Siwon/HanGeng/Heechul, total bias. *_*

Edit: oops, broken link, fixed.

pardon my capslock

[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

*ROLLS IN GLEE* YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GLAD I AM TO READ THIS COMMENT, IT BEARS OUT ALL MY SHALLOW DESIRES. The Heechul bias I have explained and - okay, basically, what tipped me over the edge into full-blown Suju-ism was watching a recent performance of Sorry Sorry via the flist, and near the end Siwon started unbuttoning his shirt and I swear coherent thought completely flew out of my head. So, uh, on purely shallow reasoning I was - I WAS HOPING. *SO PLEASED*

Hangeng (it took me the LONGEST TIME to figure out this was the same person as "Hankyung" ._.) I have not seen much of yet but I will keep an eye on him, this sounds v. promising. (Actually, what this sounds like as far as my - my instinctive reaction is concerned, is akamepi. XD In that even on the basis of mere casual knowledge + only five days' intense fangirling it goes: Favorite/Victim A = A+++, Favorite/Victim B = yup that's good too, Victim A/Favorite/Victim B = tell me more *_*, Victim A/Victim B = NOW WAIT A MINUTE I THINK YOU'RE FORGETTING SOMETHING. *dies* What is my problem. I BARELY KNOW THESE PAIRINGS AS PAIRINGS. At least - at least I'm consistent.)

I have a feeling this trio is going to be The Main Thing as far as I'm concerned, though, unless someone else takes me totally by surprise. XD Will have to check out Suju M carefully, too - I have not seen anything of them yet but on the basis of, like, one picture, Zhoumi is hot. *_* And I love Kyuhyun, hee. Thank you v. v. much for the primer all 'round, it is much appreciated! start taking bets on how quickly I feel I have enough background to ask for fic recs >_>

Re: pardon my capslock

[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha, I am happy to provide! Also. I love so much that what got you into Suju was SIWON TAKING OFF HIS SHIRT. I am lol-ing irl over here, that's the best reason ever. (Have you seen his Don't Don photos? They uh, made a lot of fans happy. *_*) In my experience, it's the kissing card game that brings in the fans, lol (from about 3:40 onwards). Worked for me!

Not gonna lie, Heechul was my first favourite, but he was followed about 0.2 of a second later by HanGeng when I watched this clip. ^^ Heechul thinks he's great so that's enough reason for me to think so too, lol! You should definitely keep an eye out for him, because he's lovely and awesome and he studied dance in China and knows dances for all the ethnic groups and is really beautiful whenever he shows them off. *_*

/mini-pimp


Also. LOL at the Siwon/HanGeng/Heechul = Akamepi thing, that is completely awesome. They totally are like that too, only more...functional, lol. Also, the fans are moderately less crazy (like, you won't see a Geng/Heechul fan battling it out with a Siwon/Heechul fan the way you would say, Akame and Pin fans, lol. ^^;)

That trio is definitely my main thing, but the great thing about SuJu is that there are SO MANY PAIRINGS, so there's less risk of fandom being saturated by one thing (looking at you again Akame, lol). So I'm always getting plenty of variety in my fandom. :3

Zhoumi is incredibly hot and an AMAZING singer, and the other SuJu M ring-in, Henry, is totally adorable as well. I have a huge soft-spot for those two + M, because they went through a lot of crap with the fans early on (and still kind of do :( ). Henry performed in Don't Don with SuJu, playing the violin, and when some rumours came out that he would be the 14th SuJu member, the fans reacted very badly, and there were protests and nonsense. And for ages - actually, I think it still happens - whenever SuJu performed Don't Don live, when Henry came out for his violin solo the fans would all shout "Only 13!" at him (or "we will protect 13", something like that). Then when M started, Zhoumi got a lot of crap from people asking why he was there, saying he was unnecessary and didn't bring anything to the group like Henry, who had his violin. D: Completely disregarding that he's a) talented, b) hot, c) regularly gropes Kyuhyun on TV shows. I don't get it. So yeah, I have a massive place in my heart for them.

Re: pardon my capslock

[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

*DIES* IT SOUNDS SO SHALLOW WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY. it is so shallow, i know, i know.

Have you seen his Don't Don photos?

sdjkaldl;sadlsdlkdflgjkl;fj;d'asl;d'sdl'sldskdlgs'akd;aklsjfghfgf *keysmashes off into infinity*

Thank you. Thank you so much. *stares*

(This is particularly hilarious because I explicitly said to someone at one point after my initial exposure to Suju, explaining why it wouldn't threaten my JE love, "Yeah, they were super entertaining, but it's not like with Jin, say. They're not hot." OH HOW THE MIGHTY ARE FALLEN.)

JE has infected my brain for good. I keep thinking Hangeng looks like Ohno. (I SWEAR HE DOES. Thinner face.) That clip is beautiful. Beautiful. ♥_♥ They are adorable friends, all the more because of His Highness' acidic exterior, ahahaha. (I will never forget the comment I saw on this clip of Heechul actually shedding tears on some show or other - "So he does have a heart!" XDDDD) Anyway. Dancers = yes plz.

Ahhhh, so many people to learn about. So much variety. So much potential material. I am so happy. :D

For one thing, they all seem to get along well, so that right there is one up forever on Akamepi. XDD You would not believe how happy I am to hear the fans are not competitive, though, sheesh. The source of so much of my fandom irritation, argh.

Re: pardon my capslock

[guiltyschu.livejournal.com]

Siwon's six-pack makes me want to do obscene things. *_* I'm not about to judge for shallowness, lol, I'm in that handbasket with you! Siwon cracks me up because he has this amazing body and face and he looks like he should be out there living a crazy party-life and banging a different hot girl every night, but he's just a total sweet-heart marshmallow that wants his friends to come to church with him, lol.

(This is particularly hilarious because I explicitly said to someone at one point after my initial exposure to Suju, explaining why it wouldn't threaten my JE love, "Yeah, they were super entertaining, but it's not like with Jin, say. They're not hot." OH HOW THE MIGHTY ARE FALLEN.)

BRB, LOL-ING. But really. There's no resisting the Sibrows. XD (sorry, I'll stop spamming you with pictures and shit soon, I promise haha)

Also this -

I keep thinking Hangeng looks like Ohno. (I SWEAR HE DOES. Thinner face.)

I KIND OF SEE IT. Now I want them to be on a program together or something, because Hangeng would just TOWER over Ohno, it'd be like a tiny chipmunk faced Mini-me. :D

General fandom attitude towards pairings in Suju seems to be 'if it's hot and/or crack, it's good with us'. Actually, when I first got into Suju I don't recall fandom being that mature, but the LJ fans these days seem pretty respectable. I tend to be a fringe-lurker in fandom, so perhaps there's a spiraling vortex of wank in the centre that I've not discovered yet, but from where I'm sitting generally all the haters seem to get out all their rage on the hate memes, then go back to being quiet. ^^ I like it.