I’ve been thinking about how to combine both fashion and anime, and I haven’t found a way to do it in a way that’s relevant to the lives of the general public while being light-hearted and humorous. In the middle of this dilemma, my girlfriend dragged me to watch a Korean variety show with her. As a pseudo-nerd who usually immerses himself in the world of his hobbies and interests, at first I had little patience for watching this kind of variety shows where the celebrities are just showboating and not being nutritious. This is my sincere inner monologue, I think variety shows are just commodities made from scripts to highlight the stars, and there is nothing nutritious about them, and I wouldn’t have given them a second thought if my girlfriend hadn’t told me about them.

But since it was my girlfriend’s request, I would have tried my best to accommodate her, but little did I know that it was this very act that would affect the series of tests I would later take. The show I was watching was called Earth Arcade, a live-action variety show produced by South Korea’s tvN, a new concept Hybrid action-adventure variety show in which four warriors who have come together to capture a moon bunny that has escaped to Earth travel through time and space. Set in the unique backdrop of Thailand, the show features a variety of games that will create fun and smiles like no other. The four characters are from hip-hop, comedy and idol groups.

Not knowing much about KPOP culture, I had a sneaking feeling at the beginning of the show that the next 40 minutes might not be easy to get through. As it turned out, within the first 10 minutes, I immediately realised that my stereotypes were about to be washed away and I was immediately enamoured by the show’s hilarious and nonsensical programming, even though I didn’t know any of them. The cast had no idol baggage at all, they came on with big grins on their faces and didn’t care about their image, and the most charming part was the freedom to show off their dance moves even if they made mistakes, and the time passed quickly in a hilarious way. I couldn’t get enough of the show, and I even spent a couple of days just watching the whole thing.

Of course, if it was just funny, it wouldn’t have caused me to think deeply, but what I cared more about was the show’s export of KPOP culture and the cast’s travel routine: the development of pop songs over a period of 20 years and the spread of different kinds of songs throughout the show made me aware of some of the works that fit my aesthetic, even though I usually only know some well-known groups; at the same time, it also satisfied the audience’s interest in the mysterious celebrities’ daily lives that are usually inaccessible. of celebrities on a daily basis.

After realising these key points, I started to connect my own project to the possibility of incorporating anime and fashion together in a variety show. Fashion shows have naturally been launched, but the audience’s sense of distance from the field of fashion has not diminished: fashion is still highbrow, it is not required to be accessible, but it is hoped that the audience will naturally see it as part of life and that there is a group of people who do it as a profession and not just as a hobby or vanity. Anime, naturally, is popular with many people and has a huge industry chain and system but more than that, there is a lack of understanding of the act of liking anime: what is the difference between this and cartoons, shouldn’t this be something childish that children like?

I was suddenly excited to look back at the masterpiece promoting the natural integration of foreign culture into inland Chinese culture, The Rap Of China. Again, I was an outsider with little knowledge of rap culture, but curiosity about the culture and partial approval from the show’s four producers led me to start watching this first show about a rap competition in mainland China at university. I can responsibly say that the show was a real catalyst for the frenzy of hip-hop culture in mainland China, with a culture that had been underground jumping into the mainstream, countless underground artists emerging, more and more viewers becoming fans as a result of the show, and a re-emergence of the domestic music industry. Despite the fact that six years have passed since the show was broadcast and a lot has happened outside of the show, I still don’t know much about rap, but I must admit that rap culture has become a major force in the mainland Chinese music market.

If music culture from across the pond can get a foothold in this Eastern country, can the combination of anime and fashion do the same?

I don’t expect all audiences to watch anime and manga and necessarily give their paychecks to fashion, I just hope that both cultures can also develop freely and equally in the everyday lives of ordinary people, expanding their audiences.