How I Discovered ARASHI
Curious on how I became a fan of ARASHI? Have fun reading my ramblings..
For about 2 years in 2022 and 2024, I was a biiig fan of Ensemble Stars. Actually, Project SEKAI got me into Ensemble Stars and the whole "idol rhythm game" scene. But anyways, there is a character in the game named Arashi Narukami, and I drew her a few times because a friend of mine was a fan of her. I would look up pictures for reference, and while I do not remember exactly if and when, but I'm pretty sure that I came across a group picture of ARASHI the boyband while searching. So unfortunately, my very very first encounter with ARASHI was a negative one, because I was like "No, Arashi the EnStars character! Who are these guys??"
While I'm not 100% sure if I stumbled across ARASHI through those EnStars searches, the first time (that I know for sure) I encountered ARASHI was in November 2023, when I came across a 3-hour VOD from this channel called The Jaboody Show where these guys reacted to all these Japanese commercials. And honestly, I watched the video mainly to look for some good-lookin' guys to simp for. I was getting tired of 2D boys, so it was high time I start simping for some 3D boys lol. And wouldn't you know, at around the 20-minute mark...
Nino!!!!
But this commercial wasn't the one that got me to look into who he was. The Jaboody Show has another VOD with an hour worth of more commercials. and NOW lo and behold...
Nino again!!!!!!!
Funnily enough, I thought the guys in each commercial were two different people. Nino shows up two more times later in the second VOD: another Nanox commercial and a JCB commercial, but again, I didn't recognize that he was the same person at first! Minus the second Nanox commercial, I simped for every appearance he was in!
Side note, rewatching the two VODs recently, every member of ARASHI appears in at least one commercial across both VODs! I really had to do some combing through to find them, but trust me, they're all there!
So I see a hot guy... and I look the brand name up... and I see that his name is Kazunari Ninomiya... and that he's in an idol group... but then I stop there. Yep, back then, even when I did look him up, I failed to see and tumble down the ARASHI rabbit hole... To be fair, it was prime-time EnStars fan era, and I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to trying to get into new things unless it REALLY interests me, but unfortunately Nino in all his clean, white shirt glory ultimately did not prompt me to learn more about him. So how did I end up being a simp after all?
Simple. EnStars fatigue. Playing Ensemble Stars!! every day for almost 2 years straight, does something to you. And that something is getting really tired of the game. Yes, even when new things pop up on both the EN and JP side of the game, I just got super tired of it all. I don't regret it, because I met my best friend through the game, but I was seriously burned out. So in April of 2024 I stopped playing the game and took an indefinite hiatus. I wanted to play something new, something fresh, something like... a horse-girl racing sim???
Another side note, after leaving EnStars abandoned and cold in the rain, I immediately picked up Umamusume: Pretty Derby, and still play it now. If it weren't for my relatively new interest in Formula 1, I may not have gotten into that game, either. My interests lead me to the strangest things...
With EnStars let go, that also meant my then-current simp target, Yuzuru Fushimi, also had to go. With no main man, real or fictional, to simp for, I was hot to trot for a new hot guy. It was then in September of that year when I decided that I wanted to watch those Jaboody Show VODs again, so I did, looked for that Nanox commercial again, and looked him up again. But this time, I actually went through and did some research on him!
This was finally the time when I took some time to explore ARASHI and what they were all about. Again, my stubborn self payed more attention to information/footage about Nino than the other members, but I grew to like them all. I started watching these short clips by selkie2sato on YouTube, having absolutely no idea what was going on, but happy to see a bunch of silly hot guys singing, dancing, and other silly things. The clips contained some of their music, so I eventually started to listen to them too. I believe selkie2sato's videos are my first proper look into ARASHI's content, so the first ARASHI song I've ever heard of is probably A・RA・SHI!
I then started to follow some Instagram hastags with more pictures of Nino to further fuel my fangirling. I saw many other pictures/clips of the other members, and I must confess: I often got Sho and Nino mixed up. What can I say? My favorite pictures of them are when they have those simple side bangs and I was still getting familiar with everyone, so what? Anyways, for the next several months, I slowly took in more content. Music videos, variety show clips, songs, etc. were all settling in my mind, with Nino at the helm.
Then I became an ARASHI fan. While I was more of a Nino fan than an ARASHI fan at first, I slowly got attached to the group as a whole, and I am pretty upset that I became a fan of then so late into their career. Several months after I became a fan, they announced that they're suspending activities as a group, and it hit me kinda hard like it did the decade-old fans. While it is upsetting, I do want to say that I am very glad that I, along with the other lifelong fans, am part of ARASHI's history.
Thank you for reading all of this if you did. To brighten up the mood a bit, I'll attach one more picture of Nino that I love. He's just so cute!
