I hope something like this wasn't discussed already

While taking a huge interest in something/being a fan, it's natural at some point to meet other people - one way or another - who share your passion (like me, I'll be actively searching for them).
For instance, being a manga and anime fan, I met two of my closest friends years ago and we still have great relations, although we rarely chat about M&A nowadays. The same goes for my friend from studies - it's possible we would barely talk to each other if I hadn't seen her reading Evangelion once before a lecture^^

I feel like I hadn't been in the Arashi fandom for that long to say something in the matter, but I enjoy being a part of it, chatting with other fans and I think it's one of the best things that comes from all of this. I mean, I love the boys and all the crack they're providing XD but I feel a part of that are people who we share it with.

Which brings me to the point of this thread - express your thoughts. For example, have you met someone really important to you in the fandom? Do you have some funny/interesting/heartwarming/bad (I hope not) experience being a part of it?

I want to use this opportunity (yeah, I'm the worst XD) also, to thank all the wonderful Arashi fans here - Doumo arigatou gozaimasu~ without you, it would be much harder (and sadder) to continue this
I'm not trying to be a suck-up, bare with me, please^^

I had a high school friend who introduced me to her friends three months ago, who kind of knew each other through networks and stuff (college is insane like that). I found out that one of them vaguely knew Arashi, and another liked Japanese drama. I made them listen to some Arashi songs and watch a few videos, and about a month or so later, they're as big of a fangirl as I am (they call me sempai in fangirling ^^)

So you could say it's the other way around. Instead of meeting someone because of the fandom, I met someone and made them part of the fandom. ^^

Is this a good response? :3

I had made my best friends fans of Arashi, which is great since we had some much in common, having also this that makes us happy (like the utaban nakai vs ohno thing) and we enjoy the music. So it kinda made us closer
And what's funny, my bf also likes arashi. He's like "why arashi among all the other groups in JE?" and I don't know the answer but it's my fave JE group

HAHA believe it or not zheinpathos is referring to me and our other friend. XD We were studying for our midterms when I saw her ipod and she was listening to Love so sweet. Then I recognized the title because of Matsujun's HYD. She made me listen to it and then made me watch Arashi's PV's. If i'm not mistaken, the first pv i saw was sakura sake then happiness and then kitto daijoubu.
I even got more into them when she showed me clips from their concerts.
(and yes, we call her sempai whenever we're fangirling which is fun.)

Being in the fandom is awesome. It gives me something to do and it's really interesting. I have to say the fans are completely different from other fandoms I know. Here, they're all heart warming and really amazing; how they spread arashi love and all. I love this fandom even though I haven't been it for a long time unlike the others.

^^ just when I thought of deleting this, if no one answered for couple more days

violentxxxpose wrote:

I have to say the fans are completely different from other fandoms I know.

Hm, that's interesting too - how Arashi fandom is different from the others...?
I haven't been a part of that many, maybe "more experienced" members could do some comparing^^, e.g. Arashi fans/other JE group fans or Arashi/anything, I don't know...

I don't want to say which (besides I hate generalization, I'm not saying all people), but I had an experience when a fandom drove me away, because of rudeness and constant bashing and critisizing of new members (not me though, I ran away quickly ;p).

zheinpathos wrote:

And fangirling in the presence of non-fans is amusing as well, yes? The reactions of those around us while we fangirl, even just on YM, is amusing to see. It can range from "there they go again..." to "May I see?" to "NOT THE JAPANESE BOYBAND AGAIN??" The second reaction is what I want to hear the most, of course! Sharing the love is one of the joys being in a fandom! ^^

Oh yes! And I've never had so vivid reactions for anything before, so I'm probably amusing to observe when I flail in front of my PC, like "What's the matter with her?" XD

^^
HAHA "What's the matter with her?"
That's why I'm always alone whenever I do something Arashi related. XD I'm afraid they would all disown me for laughing out loud at something I don't even know what they're saying (but I know what they're doing lol).

Oh, in this fandom i also feel as if anytime I might spontaneously combust because of too much Arashi haha

I have just been baited into the fandom (thanks to Nino I got to know a bunch of lovable and talented guys).. So there. Being a fangirl is something new to me. I don't really go kyaaing and flailing for other artists. But ever since I knew Arashi, that side of me suddenly surfaced! haha... I'm an Arashi fandom noob, by the way. I've been into the addiction for barely 3 months only.

But I love being a fangirl! Some people don't really understand why but I don't mind. We all get addicted to something right? It's just that I chose Arashi as the object of my addiction.

wai~ i'm so happy after reading this. i'm new to being a fangirl since i learn to love our dear arashi about 4 month or so, and i'm not very good at talking with people. aibakaland is the first forum i join actually and i really like how all the members communicate and become friends. each time i read someone's post i feel like i want to reply, i even got so far to click the 'postreply' but then i just cant write anything..ah..i dont know if this related to the topic. sumimasen..ah and i just love weirdo riida!

this is not the first forum/fandom that i've joined but the one thing i love about this place is that, as was said above, everyone's nice and warm... unlike some other forums, which i will not name, where members bash and post rude comments, here it's all rabu rabu.. yay!

but what i really really enjoy about this place is (can't you tell?) it's too much arashi!! aaah! in my world, i'm the only one into arashi. yes, all my friends know them already (how can they not when i talk about the boys 24/7?) but none of them share the same sentiment and arashi love they don't even understand when i say ohmiya or riida... here, it's different, everyone feels the same way as i do... in fact, we have our own little world here that only arashi fans can understand... and that is just so perfect.

I personally think being in this fandom really made my life happier (haha dramatic much?)

The fans are absolutely amazing. It feels like we're all connected like a family through our love for Arashi.

Honestly, all of the members here at Aibakaland are mecha sugoi! ( failure at Japanese ) They inform others of news about Arashi and we help each other out with finding mp3's and such ^___^

I even made a good friend in real life through Aibakaland.

It's nice to be able to fangirl over Arashi with other fans and to everyone here, thank you so much for being in this family (:

Since I knew Arashi my life has changed so much...before I knew them I just saw Anime and read mangas but nowadays I still do it but I prefer see concerts, listen music of Arashi...My boyfriend doesn't get upset for that...if he can dowloading or search a information for me he does it...my bf is so cute with me but now I have a huge problems with two of my friends...they say that they are not into "Arashi world" a lot and the most of the time I just talk about Arashi with another friend who likes larc...so my friend (larc fan) and me feels sad because of them...one of them bought Happiness single and now says "I do not like Arashi"? and both keep talking about matsujun...I think I'm not going to talk about anything when they're beside me...

to add to what I have said earlier and to what the others have said before this post...

being an Arashi fan actually did and does a lot of good things to me. One is being able to meet people who basically have the same interest as mine. *Not just Arashi but other stuff too*... That way, I gain more friends from different ethnic groups and countries where I learn a lot. Second is that I truly get inspired whenever I get a load of these boys. It might sound weird to other people but I feel all "genki"-ed up whenever I see them.

I can easily relate to what everyone is saying ^^

And one more thing - I like to have panpals/e-pals (this started at the end of elementary school), so I'm registered to a couple of those "find a penpal" sites. It's sometimes hard to pick someone when you have 6583653878 profiles with similar hobbies (e.g. "books, music") and not much more data beside the basic. So lately the only thing I fill is "Hobby:" (you may guess what I put there^^), leaving the age/nationality etc. blank. Most of the times there's no one with matching criteria (I actually haven't typed "Arashi" in my profile either, have to edit that:), but sometimes one or two will pop up.
It's not like I'm picking friends only with that - if I get an e-mail from someone "uninvolved" ;), I write back, but it's a good thing to start with - in case we ran out of other topics, it's always that, ne? :D