"IETTAIGA YAMEROU!!": The Use and Abuse of Chikagei in Modern Anisong & J-Pop Cheering
(Disclaimer: everything contained in this blog post is highly formed opinion. Please do not take this blog post as complete factual information.)
This is a bit of a hot-take blog post and definitely was not planned to be my next post, (or the first of 2018, or yknow, planed at all) but with recent events, I feel like speaking up about something I’ve been seeing in comments about a recent seiyuu idol fan meeting tour leg.
“Iettaiga” as a call is:
✖️Yakkai in every sense
✖️A call made to distract people
✔️A legitimate call that is abused in a number of contexts
You see, a lot of people have this complex that it’s inherently wrong to use “Iettaiga” as a call and that it’s always Yakkai. The truth about it, however, is that it was born out of chikagei, which is essentially a derivative of wotagei that comes from the underground idol scene and is unfortunately, now wildly being abused because it’s outside of the norm. The Shanghai Aqours Fanmeeting was an example of this abuse on a large scale.
Now on the notion of chikagei, I’m almost certain that most people will look at it and go “Whoa, that’s really Yakkai” or “That’s disruptive. Why are they doing that?” or even “Why would anyone go to a show to do that? They have to be antifans” when that’s not always the case. In fact, some of the people I know who practice chikagei, find it fun, and advocate for it are some of the most passionate fans of j-music that I know. (Albeit they continually make jokes about it.) Popularized chikagei moves and calls such as Namaste Snake and the infamous “iettaiga” are now becoming more widely known–especially in my area–as a result of internet memes & videos of wotagei events spreading on Twitter and YouTube.
So you may go to an anisong event at a con (anisong is music that’s from, about, or related to anime. Love Live and Idolm@ster fall under this category.) or see an idol group perform online and you may hear the crowd shout a call or a mix during a song or in a way that you aren’t familiar with. But whether that means they dislike the group is taken completely out of context.
With anisong events, a lot of people have a perception of a standardization of calls that makes everything easy to follow and fits under a lot of genres, and that does hold a lot of ground due to the vast amounts of musical styles from Wake Up, Girls! to Linked Horizon. It’s because of this that people will usually stick to standardized calls and even promote them, since it’s what’s easiest and what’s established. However, there are individuals that will do chikagei at more public events that include anisong and this is where things can get a bit confusing.
From my observations, there are two major categories of people who use chikagei & “outside anisong standard” calls at anisong concerts, live viewings, and events like them. This is by no means definitive, will depend on where you are, and comes with a large amount of grey area:
Chikagei Advocates - There are the people who are trying to legitimize and normalize chikagei and introduce it to a new audience. Some people just see chikagei as what it is–a way of cheering–and just find it more fun to do. Now, of course there is a time & a place for it, and usually that place is not in front of the artists/performers themselves unless there’s something said or an implication that it is acceptable to do.
The Abusers - Then, there are the ones who abuse this, who can be implied antifans and will do it in front of artists/performers even after statements have been made by official outlets not to do this type of cheering or make it glaringly obvious that it is to make other fans or the artist themselves angry.
Both are generalized under being Yakkai, and understandably so. It’s loud, it’s distracting, it’s unusual, and it’s out of the norm. So there are people around that police it (the keisatsu, as they’re formally known) but there’s no way to really tell these groups apart at events like a Live Viewing.
The grey area is huge, honestly. And it falls at different points for different people. Some people find it unacceptable at any level, some think it’s ok in private, some think it’s ok if the artist isn’t physically present.
The takeaways are this:
Yakkai is very subjective. What’s different isn’t inherently bad when it comes to wotagei or chikagei. Deviating from the mean is how wotagei grows and how new techniques are created.
Not everyone who acts Yakkai hates or is trying to show disrespect towards the performers. There are people out there who are legitimately trying to change the face of cheering. Sometimes they can be confused for the abusers, but there are some indicators that differentiate the two.
There are no real authorities on what calls for certain songs are, but if you don’t know much, it is just best to try and follow along as best you can with the majority if you ever find yourself at a live concert.
If you do come across someone who you believe is falling under the abuser category, don’t give them the benefit of your attention because at that level, they probably know what’s accepted. If something needs to be said or done, officials or security will do something about it. However, if they are harassing you directly, be it physically, verbally or otherwise in a way that makes you feel unsafe, please absolutely call over security or get someone who can.
UOs or ultra orange glow sticks are honestly a large part of j-music concert culture in general. Banning them is like banning moshing at a metal concert. In other words, it’s an extreme reaction and also won’t solve much of anything.
No matter what, violence is never the answer. Just cheer louder :)
Edited: Essentially, if the artist or company explicitly say not to do it, just don’t do it.
Some further resources on this topic & examples of chikagei:
A very informative video on MIX and how it came to popularity (which has similar beginnings to how “iettaiga” is being treated now): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhNg7JPrK7c&feature=youtu.be
Namaste Snake (song: “Rising Hope” -LiSA): https://youtu.be/udx4JkFJ0oA
“Rage On” (Free!) swimming chikagei: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RmrO1avxYM
“Walküre ga Tomaranai” (Macross Delta) exercising chikagei: https://twitter.com/aIisuzi/status/954660291760959488