I'll admit. At first I really did buy into their characters that they put on the screen as ARASHI.

Everytime I see a clip or read an article, I keep telling myself part of it is staged. One thing that really hit me was when I first found out about the whole girlfriend thing...like the Aiba 'scandal' and Nino's girl...etc. That shook me enough to realize that Arashi is not real, but a bunch of characters.

But like everyone else is saying...the imperfections that slip, or them as individual artists, for me, is real.

To me, Ohno is pretty real in a "I want to meet you the most" kind of way. I want to see his art and choreograph with him. That would be sweet. I don't know where I'm going with this, but Arashi isn't real...but being able to daydream about a living growing character isn't a crime now is it?

well they`ve always been real t0 me. and it makes me s0 depressed and frustrated when i figure 0ut that realistically i`ll pr0bably never meet them l0l. and even if i did meet them, i w0uldn`t be able t0 c0mmunicate with them cuz i d0nt kn0w any japanese XD and even if i did they`d just think i`m s0me ann0ying fan. i h0pe 0ne day i marry s0me0ne thats EXACTLY like sh0. except he can speak english XD

well they`ve always been real t0 me. and it makes me s0 depressed and frustrated when i figure 0ut that realistically i`ll pr0bably never meet them l0l. and even if i did meet them, i w0uldn`t be able t0 c0mmunicate with them cuz i d0nt kn0w any japanese XD and even if i did they`d just think i`m s0me ann0ying fan. i h0pe 0ne day i marry s0me0ne thats EXACTLY like sh0. except he can speak english XD

They're real to me.

Becuz, they just laugh if they want, they scream if they want, they trick eachother if they want even hug and so on with eachother.

They don't care about what other people think about them. They just do, what I think is beautiful that; they're a group for like 8 years and still they love eachother as a group of brothers. Well sometimes other raburabu too, hehe, ne ;D?

But compared to Kat-tun, what sadangel88 sad earlier, they're more unreal yes. But I admire Jin Akenishi in a thing, he once said that people think he looks like a girl,but he said he does't care what people think of him.
He feels good like the way he is and that makes me feel good too.

So Akenishi Jin and Arashi have that, not arrogant, but friendly and I admire them for that.

Arashi did open something inside of me, and becuz of that I feel happier than I ever felt. I less became sensitive you know? First people could say things to me and I felt very sad and could cry, but now I share quicker bad things or problems with people I trust.

Arashi do love their fans, they make that clear everytime they perform. Without they have to say words like ; WE LOVE YOU FANS! that's not even neccesary.
On their faces while performing you can see they like what they do.

Hope it's not to long what I said

I love how they go on all these 'adventures'.

It makes them seem more real.

I live in Sweden and sometimes I check my clock and think what time it is in Japan and "Oh, now they probably sleep" and stuff. That really puts things into perspective for me and I can somehow see them as real people; eating, sleeping, walking, having a bad day, etc. Otherwise, it's really hard to relate to them for me.

Oh god, they don't seem real at all to me. It's terrible, but it's true. Maybe it's cos I read a lot of fanfic and I basically never ever do that about real people, so I keep thinking of them as "characters". I feel bad. XD But that's sort of different from what other people are saying. . .

In terms of their real personalities compared to their TV personas, there's definitely going to be a difference, no matter what. 1) People are just too complicated for you to know what they're like from only seeing them in such limited situations. I sometimes think about what would happen if I was a celebrity and was on TV and got interviewed. If I was just totally honest, people wouldn't know what I was like, because they wouldn't be able to understand my answers without knowing me. My personality would come across as odd (which it is, but in a different way) if I just tried to behave totally naturally and like myself and answered all questions completely honestly. It's hard to describe. 2) People behave differently in front of a camera. Apart from the artificial nature of the situations and the fact that they may not feel totally comfortable - people often just sort of act differently when being filmed - but also, they're supposed to be entertaining. So even when they're not working off a script, their conversations are intended to be entertaining to a third party. They can't be totally casual.

That said, I don't think their images are completely fabricated out of no where, they probably contain a foundation of truth. And I think they're all good guys.

Anyway, this was a really interesting question!

I feel the same way alot of you do. Even though they do seem real you can't just figure out a person by looking at them...they're probably a bit different at home. I always do the clock thing to, I have the time here in cali and in Japan showing on my cell.
--And about meeting Arashi..well let me tell you in situations like that instead fo acting like all fangirlish and excited, I actually look serious(still excited though). I dunno why I just do, it's cause its more than just looking a five gorgeous man, you're looking at five talented, gifted even, pleople. (sorry, but I'm the type who looks above and beyond the persons physical features, no matter what.)hmm, I'm being kinda weird...this question makes you think alot. I'll give some more thought...I've written too much already.

That's an interesting question. I haven't really though about that. How REAL is Arashi to me?

I live in a country thousands of miles away from Japan. Their culture and entertainment wold is totally exotic for people in my part of the globe. Seeing a Japanese person on the street doesn't happen often. So my first impression is that they're just two-dimentional kinda guys for me, since I only know them from the sceen of my computer. This should probably be my objective answer.

After all, what do I know about them? Sure I read theirs interviews, watch their perfomances, dramas, concerts and everything. But that doesn't qualify as knowing somebody in my opinion. Because what's the difference between Arashi members and movie characters to a girl, who has never seen them live and probably never will?

But on the other hand, it gives me some kind of comfort that such cool guys exist somewhere. Even if sometimes I doubt that they really do. And I'm grateful for them showing me their wonderful personalities and fantastic skills, cause that's the one thing I'm sure is REAL about them.

And if someday somehow the miracle happens and I'll be able to attend Arashi's concert... It will be something I'll never forget. And maybe I'll start believing in miracles again.

If this is not the answer to your question, I'm sorry.

^No, no you're fine!
I get what you're saying, it's kind of like... there's a certain extent of what you can believe and no one will be able to confirm it unless you see it for youself kind of thing.

..Or at least to me ol

That's cool, I'm not alone on the chacking-the-time-in-Japan thing, yay!

Haha, I remembered my other point, which is why I numbered them. I knew there had to be more than two!

3) I don't think you can fully know what a person is like until you interact with them, and know how they'll respond to you. Like, it can seem like you'd get along great, and you can think "Ah, Nino and I might be friends" (like I do) but you can never know. Actually, even people that you're internet friends with, you might not be able to be friends with them in real life. So we can't know, say, if the Arashi members would share our senses of humor, or live at a similar pace and style to you, sort of thing. The boys are always saying in those "what kind of girl do you like" interviews, "A girl that has similar values," and I think that's something that you can't quite grasp until you've really talked to the person. So in addition to only seeing the TV side of them, we don't see the "response to me" side, which I think is a big part of how we judge people. Maybe that's just me, though - i tend not to like people who don't like me.

Wow guingel, your answer is very in depth and well thought out!

I agree with you especially on the third point. I mean I remember watching/reading interviews where they specifically say "From the beginning our characters were decided in this way..." or "We were given these sort of characters..." so it's hard to say...I mean you can always say one thing or another about the boys's characters on screen/in concert, but for them in real life? Yeah, hard to make a call like that.

But however one thing about the time zone...which is one step above creepy I know...I'm guilty of looking at horoscopes of the boys and wonder what they'll day be like. Like for their concert days ya know? Haha, I know lame.