What's Your Age? (Ramblings from an older Johnny's fan.)

For various reasons the topic of the ages and idols and of idol fans has been on my mind recently. Like do idols of certain ages have to have fans around their age and have their fans age with them? Or are there set age limits for all that. Should there be? Or can there be fans of all ages for idols of all ages without older fans being automatically being considered creeps if they actually like the younger idols for non-sexual reasons.

I know I have never stated my age, but have pointed out that I am an older fan yet I know that is an ambiguous statement as when some of the fandoms you are in are known for having many fans in their teens and early twenties. But honestly as someone older than that and a fan of younger groups I know by being honest about my age will invite people in making judgments about me even though they are not true. But honestly at this point I do not think it matters. I like what I like and I have been in fandom long enough I think people will have a good enough idea of who I am and what my views are going to be.

I know there are fans that do not seem to understand how it is difficult for me to think of idols like Yamada Ryosuke and Chinen Yuri as sexy, and even now I am very borderline with that, with most of the time still consider them just cute and nothing more. In fact I can remember some exchanges with other fans who seemed offended that I did not find their favorites sexy or found them to just be simply cute. Honestly it is because teens usually do not do anything for me. A lot of that is probably do to the fact that I am thirty-one and if I want to look at idols that I find sexy I have Nagase Tomoya and Matsuoka Masahiro to top my list.

My interest in the Juniors and younger groups are more because I enjoy watching them grow up and get better. As well as because they tend to fall into the things I like because they are cute with cats, Hello Kitty, Stitch and Pikachu. But it is mainly the former as I have always loved to watch things change over time. Like being able to open up the first volume of a long running manga series and compare the art with the most recent volume that has come out. There is just something about seeing improvement or change over time that interests me, and with the way Johnny's is set up it gives me the chance to see their idols from the start grow and improve in the hopes of one day debuting. I enjoy it in the same way I enjoy American Idol, because you get to watch these journeys of people trying to follow their dreams and how they change and grow throughout the season as they go through performances and receive different feedback. The Juniors to me are in the same vein but you get to watch them for longer and of course some of them are much younger.

That said while I cannot see the younger Johnny's or idols in general as sexy I can appreciate them for being attractive. The two are not mutually exclusive and when it comes to the younger idols they are different things for me. They are attractive in a cute sense for me and when they are older and have lost most of their younger features is when I feel okay at beginning to look at them in a different light. But even then very few idols are the type that I find actually sexually attractive. Which of course can be seen that I prefer Nagase and Mabo over other Johnny's for that.

That being said I do not hold it against the younger fans if they feel like idols like Yamada or even Sato Shori are sexy to them, because they are closer to their ages so it makes sense. I know back when I was in my early teens I had no trouble thinking of other teens as sexy, but it was something I outgrew as I grew up. And I think in the early teen years is when some concepts are beginning to be understood, like sex, though usually not perfectly but enough that teens will want to show they understand these things as the believe it will make them more adult. I know, I was once there.

I mean I can understand if there are younger fans that are okay with the name Sexy Zone or Sexy Boyz for those groups, but personally I think it is on the creepy side of things for adults not to at least do a double take when seeing how young the group is. It may not be such an issue when the members are older but right now the youngest members are under 13 and assigning the "sexy" label to them should be eye brow raising at least, as there is a chance of the members not being able to understand the concept of it themselves, which is usually very telling when they do magazine articles.

I do not think it is enough to stop someone older from being a fan, I do like the members of the groups but there is no way I will be able to look at those names without embarrassment. And I think I am better off being an international fan as I would not be able to buy their releases in stores. I have no idea what to do about the posters they keep releasing as the first press bonuses as there is no way I would ever hang one up with those names on them, if just because I do not want to have to say everything I have just written every time someone new happens to see them.

I guess to sum everything up, I think there is a place for older fans like me to be a part of these fandoms and to be fans of the younger idols. Sure there will be questions that I will have to field about being my age and being a fan of those idols but I think my reasons for liking them have nothing with them that will send up red flags with others. And honestly with how anonymous the internet is having people be wary of older fans (and when I say older I do mean fans that are 30 and over) being into younger idols is not a bad thing as you do not really know who the person on the other side of the screen is, and sometimes they can be potentially be dangerous, sometimes not but one honestly can never know.