I’m still starting to accept the fact that I won’t be getting any regular updates from SHINee as a whole group for about two years and now, now I also have to accept the reality that I won’t be getting any updates from Arashi as a whole group from 2020 onwards until the time they decided to reunite once again as Arashi.
It’ll be hard, knowing that after 2020, we won’t be seeing them on television as 5, as a group, as Arashi, but rather, as individuals aside from Ohno (maybe), which makes it harder knowing that we won’t be getting anything (maybe) from him because we all know Ohno will want to spend this “hiatus” of his quietly, fishing, doing art and other things that he loves.
From 2020 onwards, we won’t have any new songs/music we can be excited to listen to. We won’t have any single or album to anticipate to. We won’t be seeing these quirky five men on television, on their shows, making jokes, teasing each other and having fun with one another. We won’t be seeing their “gaps” when their on their own variety shows and when they’re on stage, singing and dancing. We won’t have anything to say when they have to sing “Love So Sweet” again and again on music shows. We won’t see them as closing act on different music shows. We won’t see them sing 3 songs (including their new ones) and them also having a medley. There’s also a chance we will not be able to watch VS Arashi and Arashi ni Shiyagare unlike how we’re used to. We won’t see them joke around their guests, how they sometimes turn the tables around during Pin Ball Runner, their Baba Arashi and just how much interesting their matches could be when they’re left to face one another (and yes, I’m talking about THAT time with Oh-chan and Aiba). We won’t see them having fun playing all these games and being competitive against their guests, be it the comedians, their senpais or kouhais, and their friends. We also won’t see them on Death Match anymore, like how “boke” they could be when they answer, them bantering playfully with Yoshimura, their facial expressions and reactions when they’re eating, how Sakurai always says, “We are Arashi” when all of them got the chance to sit and eat, how amazing our Riida is when he’s already in this “senchou mode” of his, how happy Sakurai could be when he hears the teenagers screaming due to seeing him in person, how cool Aiba is when he drives his bike and tours around the different places in Japan, how Nino gets serious when he starts playing the game of his choice and how he teases his guest when they lose and how sometimes, he has to do all those monomane when it’s him who lost, and last of all, how MatsuJun beats his opponents on different taiketsu like so easily and coolly, how carefree he is when he’s with his friends who are also members of MJ Club. We won’t see this other side of them which we are all really eager and happy to see, because their happiness is also our happiness, right?
But the other side of me is also happy that through this “hiatus”, they could finally have the break, the freedom, the rest that they all deserve to have for the past 20 years they’ve been in the industry, for the past 20 years they’ve been striving so hard to make other people happy. It’s time for them to do the things they’ve been wanting to do, the things they’ve been wanting to challenge, the things that they love. It’s time for them to take things a little slower now, without anything to worry about, without any problems to be anxious about, without pushing themselves to their limits. This time, it’s their turn to be happy themselves. It’s this time that they could, even just a little, take break from the stress the entertainment industry has been giving them ever since.
I know that there are some tweets stating the possibility that they may come back but not as Arashi. That there may be a possibility that they won’t continue anymore. That this “hiatus” is just some kind of a camouflage or that this is just a signal of them not coming back on stage as 5 anymore. And that Ohno won’t want to come back anymore. There are doubts and it can’t be helped. But, let’s not dwell on these negative things. Let’s not think of them separating and that this “hiatus” they said is just to make things easier for us to accept. Let’s not think that this “hiatus” will be forever but instead, it’ll just be for a little while until they’re ready again to stand on stage as 5, together. Let’s be positive that despite not seeing them as group, we will still be seeing them individually on television. There are still new things we will be getting from them, from dramas to movies to variety shows. There’s still a lot of sides of them we are yet to see, and maybe, we will see those through this “hiatus”, who knows? This is just a beginning of their journey individually. Let’s just keep on trusting and supporting them, as a group and as individuals.
After this “hiatus”, after 2020, just as MatsuJun said, let us be a home, a stable and safe place for Arashi to return to once they decided to come back and once again stand on stage. Let us all welcome them with open arms while saying “okaeri” once they come back again. Let us all let them know that we are just here, waiting patiently for their return, that we are not rushing them, that we will still walk beside them on their journeys. We are here for them just as they are here for us.
germansingergirl
turnnoffyourmind
titsay
yousharknotpass
gummygunk
vaporwave
stormborns
