Hohoho. thank you for this thread. With james ji, i think it's either you like him or you hate him. I am actually a James Ji fangirl. my case is so bad, I was actually considering shelling out around a thousand bucks (USD) to go to Thailand and watch his concert. The only thing that stopped/stops me is that I've never been to Thailand, and I'm afraid I'll be so lost in translation during the concert with all the happy hyper fangirls that I'd end up ... well, lost basically, especially since I'd have to go alone since my friends are... well... yeah. :scratchhead2:
As a fan of his, I want to say that yes, indeed, he can hold a tune but he's definitely not a singer. He can sort-of-dance but I did cringe when I saw his first dance number in his Monkey King fan meeting. (What bothers me is that he's not made to dance ballroom dancing things when supposedly, that's his selling point since he learned it when he was young. I don't know why they're forcing him to dance like a k-pop act.) Heck, event that poster of his is..... well..... GAY in a bad way. (No offense to gay people.) and Magic James, what the heck, most definitely it wouldn't have come from Magic Mike but they could have chosen a better title.
But anyway, he's a bundle of imperfect things but that, to me, is precisely his charm, since he tries so hard and still does everything with a smile, without coming off as cocky. (He can be a tad bit too confident, or rather shameless, but to me, he doesn't come off as cocky).
I've been reading in other forums how he gets bashed all the time, especially in English forums. I don't know if majority of his bashers are non-thai, or if he gets bashed by non-Thai and Thai people equally. My judgement may be clouded since I see him through his Thai fans, but I feel that he has a really strong fanbase in Thailand. And I think I understand why. I am a 90's kid (stated otherwise, I'm close to my 30's. In this fandom, I'm a grandma. :cry: ) and I've never been into boy bands or kpop or what. I was into Johnny's entertainment (Japan) at some point but it was more of like a peer pressure thing than a real fan addiction. But with James Ji, this is funny, but I tried so hard to resist it because he's so frickin young and I feel too old to be fangirling him, but what the heck. He's like a drug. The guy is so funny he cracks me up. He has interviews where he says he just wants to make people happy, he's basically "selling" happiness, etc. and it works. I go through a long boring day, no life, no nothing, and this guy basically cheers me up.
So when fans watch his concert (of course only a fan of his would watch his concert, unless they get forced or something, right?) I don't think they'll watch it for his song, or his dance, I think the attraction there is seeing him smile and looking like he's having fun and "selling happiness." I've been following him the past few months, and lately his sched is nuts. I often wonder if he sleeps enough at all. His fans are tailing him around like crazy, and he's sweaty and tired and all that but he he hasn't had a tantrum so far (well... as far as I know).
He keeps on training, working on dancing, but still he looks gay when doing it, and people still bash him, but you know, when I see his effort, I get swayed and I want to watch him more and more. I think more than fangirl instincts, he brings out my maternal instincts. :bhehe: It's more of me thinking "Go my child! Reach for your dreams! and don't forget to drink your vitamins! Let me wipe off the sweat in your back for you." When you put things in perspective, you'll realize how hardworking he is. He's 22 and already getting so exploited. He didn't get to maximize his growth spurt because he has pictorials and shooting and all that. It's crazy. When I was 22, I was basically... a bum. So when I see him working so hard, I just want to support him more.
As to his so-bad-it's-good dancing skills, I think the charm there is that he's not afraid to look stupid. If you're into Japanese boy bands, you'll understand that that "shameless" quality is so endearing. Anyway, I'm so sorry. I think I turned this into a rant. I was just holding this up inside for so long, I don't know if I could say it out loud considering he has a lot haters everywhere. Well, just to put things into perspective, this is how a person who likes him feels. thanks a lot for reading.
