#i love yakkai so much

[pocketramblr]

Can you tell us more about Tamaki's mom, Yakkai, in Mol? She's such a good mom and it's cute how Tamaki collects flower seeds for her.

Yakkai is a good mom and i love her!! i uh, may seem to have a think about Tamaki’s mother, considering i have three different versions of her and they’re all decently important in those stories, but Yakkai’s the one i came up with first and she’s just great.

this got long so read on

So, Yakkai is the youngest daughter of Viscount Amajiki, a noble from moon. Her oldest sister is Ikuya, who married Lord Yaoyorozu and had Momo. There are a few other sisters between, but Yakkai was the baby and the shyest of the lot. She married Emori Seizaki, the younger of two sons, from an estate close to Onouchi. The Seizaki have a prominent elf heritage that mostly shows as pointed ears and fangs, but are generally fairer haired. Yakkai has black hair and grey eyes that mostly took over. The Seizaki lands and title are also entailed so that one must be both sunborn and a certain amount of elf to inherit it, so Tamaki won’t ever get it.

Yakkai love flowers, and Emori gave her many as they courted. He really enjoyed painting, and left her a few pieces depicting her in lovely gardens. Two of them were never finished though, as when Tamaki was a few months old he went back to his parents home for a bit. And then he and his older brother were killed, so. that sucks. Yakkai is still mourning, but never liked Emori’s parents and so never visited them. The feeling is mutual. 

So uh yeah there’s a lot of sad things in her life, but that’s part of why she’s so doting on Tamaki, and loves her son so much. He makes sure to visit monthly or as close to it as he can, and she’s always excited to see him. Her household is run rather tight and small, and her closest friends are probably her sisters, who she visits with some regularity, and her gardeners- who may complain she doesn’t let them do her job enough. 

Oh! She’s also a very good singer, and Tamaki actually inherits some musicality from her. here’s a lullaby for MoL that seems like one she’d use when her son was little

oh stars, let me hold you, my baby, tonight 

and stars, let me sing, my babe, in delight 

away from the future’s offered years and plight 

only warm in my arms in the now’s sweet moonlight

I sort of designed her to be somewhat of a foil to Inko- both single mothers, both rather missing their husbands, and both removed from their community a bit, but very different past that.

[instigare]

Opinion: Love Live! Concerts are Anisong Concerts, not Idol Concerts, and should be treated as such

Before I start, let me just preface this by saying I am very much an idol fan and I love the whole idea of yakkai. I love mixing and tigering wherever I can. I wouldn’t do it for Love Live!, but I definitely wish I could.

In recent years Love Live! and other 2.5D idol franchises have been gaining a lot of popularity by linking together both the 2D side and 3D side of the series. This is not limited to the characters and their specific seiyuu either, as many of these franchises take place in real life locations as well allowing for activities like butai meguri. Some of these groups are so popular, they have live viewings of their concerts in various countries outside Japan, and the thought of overseas performances are no longer a dream.

By linking 2D with 3D, these franchises have brought together both anisong and idol fans, which is great, but this results in a culture clash as both sides have very different cultures regarding concerts. In idol concerts, not doing mixes and calls is disruptive because it gives people around you the impression that you are not excited or enjoying the concert, while in anisong concerts, mixing and tigering is disruptive because it ruins the mood of the song and the environment. What this means is that these 2.5D concerts are littered with people from both sides, neither being aware of the other sides concert culture. With Love Live! being a series with a majority of its fans coming from the anisong side, the actions of idol fans are not well accepted, and even yield hostile reactions from the other side. You could bring up the recent rise in popularity of mixing and tigering in anisong concerts as a counter-argument, but I feel this is also a result of 2.5D idol franchises reaching the mainstream.

In regards to the recent Tigers vs ONIBE incident, some people have brought up to me that many of the “problematic” people at these DVs, who they call tigers, have been to Anisong World Matsuri and so they must have an idea of how an anisong concert works. What I speculate is that those idol fans at AWM just assumed the crowd was filled with casual NA anime fans, people unware of the very existence of calls and penlights, and did not think too much of it. They then went to the 2nd Live delayed viewings and behaved as though they were at a regular idol concert and were frustrated over their actions not being well received. These people most likely assumed that because it’s a Love Live! Concert DV, most people there, unlike AWM, must be fellow idol fans, and so they must be accepting of idol culture, completely oblivious to the fact that most Love Livers are anisong fans and idol culture is completely foreign to them, thus complaining about these “yakkai” fans being disruptive and ruining the mood.

Complaining and trying to explain that these actions are disruptive is not going to help in any way whatsoever because what defines disruptive differs from person to person, especially between the average idol fan and the average anisong fan. This whole issue stems from misinformation. As an idol fan myself, I would like to say that other idol fans should understand that Love Live! lies more on the anisong side rather than the idol side, so they should be considerate and attend these concerts as though they are attending an anisong concert. At the same time, anisong fans should understand that these idol fans are not trying to be rude or disruptive, and are not out to annoy you, but rather they’re trying to enjoy the live in their own way, and they should try to inform them about the differences between their concert cultures. Being violent and throwing hate towards each other will not help with anything at all, and will only cause turmoil within the fandom. The only way this issue can be resolved is to inform, and be informed.

Special thanks to link2110 for fixing up my Engrish.

[yujachachacha]

HiHi! same anon who asked you about Yakkai hehe (how did you know my true intentions? jk!) Just to cut you some slack I did try googling it myself before asking again but all I got were results for knb character songs(?) and a bollywood film(???) Frankly, I really do want to know because I've heard the term used in passing. Particularly from reports about the 2nd live Kobe leg. I heard about people doing it in KoiAqua?? To the point where someone got strangled in the Korean LV?? Is it that bad??

Hey there! Not gonna lie, I’m still lowkey pouting in the corner because you did that, but I’m glad to see that you’re genuinely curious. Thanks for trying your best! (☞ >ω･)☞

I have no idea what schools are teaching y’all these days, but research doesn’t mean typing a single word into Google! Also, if you’re gonna look up a Japanese term, you’re not gonna get the right results if you type the word in English without any additional parameters. Here are three methods you should try using when Googling a Japanese term you don’t know:

1. Write it in Japanese, i.e. “やっかい”. The first Google result is in Japanese, but let’s assume that we’re not so good at reading Japanese (since if we were, we’d probably be able to figure out the meaning of “yakkai” pretty quickly), and skip over this one. The second result gives you a Wiktionary link, which is in English and perfect for our purposes. It defines the word 厄介 (yakkai) as “troublesome” or a “burden”. This is literally what “yakkai” means, but for the purposes of idol fan culture, we’ll be adding a bit more meaning to this.

2. If you’re doing your search in English, add the word “Japanese” to your search term. After all, if we’re not so good at reading Japanese, who’s to say that we’ll be able to type something in Japanese? Try Googling the phrase “yakkai japanese”. This guarantees that what you’re typing won’t be mistaken for a word from another language (which is why you got results for a Bollywood film). The Google results are almost the same as in method #1, except that there are a lot more links in English rather than Japanese. So in short, this is basically an alternative to the first method for those of you who can’t read Japanese so well.

3. Include context for your term, i.e. add things like “Love Live” and “idol”. We can now try to figure out what the word means in the context of the LL fandom by googling “yakkai love live”. A bunch of the image results are Bollywood-related (because of yakkai + love, lol), but the top two links give us threads from the /r/LoveLive subreddit. The very first link in particular, “Aqours 2nd Love Live Discussion [Kobe]”, actually contains exactly what we’re looking for.

If you use the “find” function (“ctrl + f”, or “cmd + f” if you’re on a Mac like me) and search for “yakkai”, you’ll eventually see that someone on this thread asked what people meant by yakkai calls in the discussion about the live. /u/MasterMirage himself (a mod of the LL subreddit and a member of Team ONIBE) gives a great explanation:

Um, so if you’re aware of the standard “Fu fu”, “fuwa fuwa” and “hai” chants, these are the standard go to chants to do at lives.

The Koi Aqua Yakkai (troublesome/burden) calls are out of place calls that you normally don’t do at lives since they interrupt the flow of the concert and are considered disruptive by many people.

I guess this video explains it pretty well since the calls here are what you should not do at a live:

https://twitter.com/dan_chii/status/882024909995556864

A common call “IE TAIGA” is something that people are getting annoyed at because people think it’s funny.

Sat from Fripside even called out on these alternative/disruptive calls:

https://twitter.com/Jsan_san/status/896918057397829634

I highly recommend you check out those Twitter links to give you a better understanding of what yakkai calls are (video in the first link) and why you shouldn’t be doing them (translated quote in the second link). For the first link, the yakkai isn’t too bad, at least until you get to the rap portion of the master mix at about 55 seconds in. But just imagine how annoying it would be if the fans were screaming that during a live rather than at a casual wota session at a convention. :’)

Also, I’m gonna go ahead and write down a part of the material in the second link here, because it’s really important:

“That part was made with the idea that the silence could be felt before the hook, you know? It has a purpose. I didn’t want [it] to be destroyed!”

Keep in mind that this was said by Satoshi of fripSide about his own song, while on stage during a concert tour. That’s how annoying these calls are. Instead of respecting the mood that the artists worked so hard to create for the song, yakkai concertgoers try to be as disruptive as possible for their own amusement.

So yeah, “ie taiga” (for those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, here’s my explanation from a previous ask) and similar calls/wota are the essence of yakkai. If you’re wondering why it enrages people so much, consider the following:

After spending a lot of money and praying to the gods for luck, a fan manages to score a seat at an Aqours live. At the concert, the fan is enjoying the fact that they’re listening to the Aqours seiyuu singing and dancing in front of them, live. Holy crap! :D But then comes along some asshole who thinks it’s funny to ruin the mood by screaming in the middle of a song. Opportunities to attend an Aqours live aren’t common, so it’s understandable that someone would end up getting very upset.

The same goes for a live viewing. A live viewing is an opportunity to see the seiyuu perform in real-time, and it’s a precious one at that. Footage shown at screenings differs slightly from the more polished versions we get in Blu-rays, so you get to see the raw performance at a viewing. Plus, you’re cheering and jumping and screaming along with the audience like you would at the actual live. “Ie taiga” distracts you from recreating the atmosphere of the performance, and is a huge sign of disrespect towards the other attendees.

Korean LL fans in particular have a deep-seated hatred for “ie taiga” (I’m not quite sure why it’s so intense - perhaps it has to do with the nature of the LLer culture over there?). For example, popular YouChika artist GamGam (@gamjolno on Twitter) has complained heavily about it happening during lives, and even resorted to plugging their ears at the pivotal moment in KoiAqua just to avoid hearing the phrase. As many Korean LLers were at a live viewing for the 2nd Live tour, the combined murderous rage they held for yakkai LLers exploded when they heard it actually happen during the screening.

Of course, I don’t approve of them trying to strangle (or physically harm in general) a yakkai LLer. What I will say, however, is that I can at least see why someone reacted that way.

If you need another example to understand why they went that far: I assume you’re familiar with “Snow halation”, and the famous part of the song where the µ’s members stand still before the audience cracks their UOs. There’s a brief moment, before Honoka’s emotional solo and the explosion of bright orange filling up the concert venue, where everything is silent save for the jingling of bells leading up to the climax (3:08~3:09). It’s a beautiful, almost holy silence, revered by many for this sacred and beloved performance.

Now, imagine if someone suddenly screamed “YEAH TIGERRRR!!!” right at that moment.

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

Understand now? It’s not funny. It’s not impressive. It’s downright infuriating.

First, yakkai LLers took away the enjoyment of the “I miss you~” You solo line in KoiAqua and the build-up to the chorus (see ~1:22 in this video for an audio demonstration). Then, someone decided to ruin the dramatic silence before the final chorus of “Aozora Jumping Heart” (~3:30 in the song). And now, there’s been reports of someone at the Saitama live screaming “IE TAIGAAA” right as the song slows down before the “la la la~” ending portion (~3:33 in the song).

I would hesitantly say that the “ie taiga” for KoiAqua is on the borderline of being tolerable. The song is full of chants anyway, and that part after You’s line does sound like it could accommodate some kind of call - but still, you should save it for a fan mix rather than a live. It’s the kind of thing that’ll make some people giggle at the weirdness, while others roll their eyes and mutter about the newest generation of LLers being yakkai af.

But for AoJump and MiraTicke, the yakkai incidents have been happening at solemn, quieter portions of the song rather than the cheerful and noisy sections. I have seen various posts by LLers claiming that they’re proud to “ie taiga” at a live as the ultimate expression of their wota skills, plus they’re doing it just for teh lulz. Again - it’s highly inappropriate, and disrespectful to both the audience members who are trying to enjoy the performance and the performers who are trying to make the performance enjoyable. If you want to prove that you’re a devoted LLer, your actions shouldn’t be damaging to the community.

To wrap things up: if you happen to search for “yakkai idol” instead, the first result that Google gives you is a blog post that talks about the concept of yakkai at idol events. The author includes some sound wisdom at the end:

What people really mean when they say “don’t be yakkai” is just that don’t go crazy and enjoy being annoying, and taking your entertainment at the cost of the enjoyment of others. Like, it’s fun to troll people, but that’s not good if the other party doesn’t enjoy it. It might be fun to go nuts, but don’t do it when it’s inappropriate.

Basically, it’s okay to go crazy during karaoke sessions or casual wota sessions with friends. Take that tweet in the first link from MasterMirage’s comment. I happen to know one of the people in that video, and he’s an awesome guy who knows a lot about concert calls. These wota bros were being “yakkai” for sure, but they were doing it at the Lumica booth at Anime Expo rather than a live. It was actually pretty amusing, and was almost like a free ad for the booth: “See these LLers partying with their lightsticks? You too can join in on the fun by purchasing a Lumica blade and/or UOs at this booth!” But for the sake of other fans, make sure you keep it clean during actual lives and public screenings.

tl;dr: “Yakkai” literally means “burdensome/troublesome”, and refers to antics of this nature by fans during performances. Notable examples include particularly annoying fans who scream “IE TAIGA” not only during KoiAqua, but also in highly inappropriate moments from other songs. Don’t be like this during a live unless you want to be heavily criticized for disrespecting the performers and lacking common decency for the people around you.

[secretlyviola]

Aqours 2nd Live Tour Saitama Delayed Viewing in Review

Idk if I'll have much to say on this, but the topic is Love Live so I'm sure I'll be writing more than I think. On that note, this still may be really disorganized & I'll go back & forth about my feelings, but I'll try to go into the order of events this weekend. 

 As a review, I spent Saturday in Fairfax & Sunday in NYC. Main reasoning for doing 2 screenings was to study dances and BOY HOWDY I’M HYPE. I just REALLY want Aqours to release a K-pop style dance practice video once just because Daydream Warrior was THAT GOOD, but it probably won't happen and that makes me disappointed. *sigh* Maybe one day. Favorite part of the live overall had to be that and Cycloning Thrilling One Way just because the level of hype for those songs was unbelievable. Aikyan & Shuka stole the show with "Jimo Ai". 

I could really tell that the seiyuu themselves have grown a lot. Just from the MCs they just seemed to carry themselves a little more confidently and have really started to come out of their shells more. I don't think the word "rookie" really describes them as a group anymore and that was cool to see after having seen 1st live and it just... I don't want to say it felt right, but... it was satisfying... just knowing how much Aqours has been through, they're still only on the up & up. 

I also actually got really emotional during the All Stars promotional video at the NYC viewing. As the video went on, I realized that I was sitting in that same theater a little over two years ago. I was met with the same euphoric feeling that people are passionate about this series and love these girls like I do before we all watched the movie for Generation 1, and I just got so overcome with emotion with how far the series has come that we are even able to have events like this overseas. It makes me very glad that I give this series support and only makes me want to push forward. More J-pop & Anisong in America. 

Other events I took part in were the after party on the lawn outside at the Fairfax location and various restaurant trips which included celebrating Eli's birthday a week early. μnite performed at that after party and while there were some mishaps, it was a reasonable success. I ended up having to do the vault jump in KimiKoko and managed to execute it SUCCESSFULLY despite having some mistakes with the timing & setup. That was the number one thing I was worried about lol but I hoped it looked cool! 

Both delayed viewings were followed by a massive amount of Korean & Japanese barbecue. Like I ate myself into a coma on both days, especially Sunday oh my god I thought I was gonna die haha. Notably on Sunday, when I ordered ramen on top of yakiniku and stuffed myself silly because I didn't realize the bowl was so big jeez. Overall though, really good experience. 

Now unfortunately, there were some bad things that came out of this weekend and that I just want to address. And yes, I am discussing the whole "yakkai" thing that people are going on about. I really hope that I can speak briefly about this and move on but it may end up not being the case. 

I just want to get a few things straight on my stances here: 

 People have different stances on where being yakkai is acceptable for them. (Usually abbreviates to “Time, Place, Occasion”)

I personally don't believe doing it at any kind of official sanctioned events is appropriate, but I know that's not true for everyone. 

Yakkai ≠ anti-fan (they wouldn't buy out almost half the tickets in the theaters or bother going to more than one showing if they were anti-Love Live) 

Most people who were yakkai at these viewings would never actually do that in front of the seiyuu. In fact, you probably sat next to one of them at Anisong World Matsuri this year and didn't even realize it. 

So it isn't the issue of them not knowing how to respect the performers, it's just that they also know that the delayed live viewing is a pre-recorded video, and therefore, cannot really upset said performers. 

I'm going to just leave it at this: I'm sorry if you feel like your experience was ruined, but this is honestly a really trivial matter in my eyes compared to the recording and taking pictures of the lives and then posting them online, which could actually make us lose our privilege to have these viewings in the first place. (On the subject, by the way, I had to stop way too many more people from doing this time around.) I also understand being annoyed, but to be so upset that you threaten physically harming someone over these types of things is taking it way too far in my honest opinion. 

My advice is this: People being Yakkai isn't going to take away North American viewings, unless people have either visibly, or by monetary reputation, damaged the theaters the viewings were held in, which didn't happen. If it's really going to cause that much damage, an official outlet will make a statement about it before we’re set to lose the events. Recording and taking picture of the lives, which violates copyright--which the Japanese entertainment industry takes VERY seriously by the way--will get the North American Viewings taken away. Save your breath for that. And for the love of God, you don't need to threaten people with physical violence over anything in any fandom; that will literally do nothing but make things worse.

Physical fandom violence is never in any way okay. I don't care what justifications you have for that.

Now honestly, I really hate going off on that kind of tangent, but it just really ate away at me and something I really felt the need to just lay out there because it’s just been frustrating me lately. I want to make it clear that I really did enjoy this weekend in good company, but witch hunts, hurting people and the like will get us nowhere as a community. I just really hope the younger Love Live fans come to learn that.