3 ms·

The title reminds me of the Japanese strip Rent-a-Girlfriend, and how much it, and several similar ideas coming from Japan seem to express how lonely many of it

The title reminds me of the Japanese strip Rent-a-Girlfriend, and how much it, and several similar ideas coming from Japan seem to express how lonely many of it's citizens might be feeling. Japanese commerce seems to have found a rather big market into treating loneliness. From the existence of Host Clubs, bars where the menu is not only food, but a good conversation with one's designated “host” as well, to cafés where the waiter plays a role of one's doting younger sister. Of course, it is probably also indicated by the infamously declining birth rate. Rent-a-Girlfriend is a bizarre thing to read, if one not understand it's target audience. It's a new dimension to The 40 Year Old Virgin, with the exception that the protagonist is supposed to be relatable to the audience — he's unbelievably socially awkward and not in a way that derives humor from it, but is meant to invoke a sense of relatability and it essentially seems to exist as a way to vicariously cope with loneliness, as is surprisingly common in Japanese fiction.

vorpalhex 6y ago
> he's unbelievably socially awkward and not in a way that derives humor from it, but is meant to invoke a sense of relatability Media does usually exaggerate the traits they're attempting to highlight, whether it's bravery or social anxiety. Most people, even if they are popular and charismatic, still feel awkward and anxious sometimes. As much as we talk about how different people are, in some ways we're all the same.
- Blikkentrekker 6y ago
  Yes, but it's still remarkable how common in Japanese fiction the socially awkward, uncomfortable protagonist, meant to be relatable to the audience is. The protagonist of The 40 Year old Virgin is unique for it, and the series is not meant for 40 year old virgins. There is a surprisingly high amount of fiction from Japan that follows a formula similar to this: - The protagonist is socially awkward and nervous, but otherwise has no actual opinions or character traits - The protagonist starts the story rather lonely - The protagonist fairly quickly finds friends, lovers, family, who are very devoted to him - Bonus points for the protagonist being transported to a parallel universe to escape the dreads of social pressure of Japanese office worker life completely — this specific plot device is oddly common. It feels as if one play a first person corridor shooter with a silent protagonist, but it's a book or television series: the protagonist is dragged along with the plot but somehow does not influence it and barely speaks or has opinions: the point is for the reader to mentally replace the protagonist with himself, and experience the story from his own perspective, so he can feel less lonely, just as such video games have a big element of making the player feel like an action hero, but the power phantasy sold here is simply “no longer being lonely”. It's really an oddly big market for such a seemingly quite specific thing. Rent-a-Girlfriend consistently ranks within the top 25 of strip volume sales in Japan, and it's plot is really little more than “Lonely, socially awkward young adult is now less lonely.”.
  - bserge 6y ago
    I assume that's the source for the TV series? I couldn't get past the 6th episode... it's just bad. And I watch a lot of trash haha
    - Blikkentrekker 6y ago
      Yes, the strip was popular enough to receive t.v. series adaptation. I quit the strip in what must be around the same events of the story as the sixth episode — I could not bare with how awkward the protagonist was, and how everyone either really liked him or outright fell in love with him despite being a nervous train wreck who constantly embarrasses himself. I'm not sure it's “bad”; it's as said quite popular and it's probably very good at what it attempts to do and what I consider flaws are probably features.
zanny 6y ago
I eat this stuff up as a constantly lonely person, not in the "I wish I had a boyfriend" sense, in the "theres nobody to talk to, ever" sense. Like you get up, you work, you consume entertainment, maybe you go on HN or Reddit or Twitter or whatever and you throw words out that other people filter through like junk food, maybe you even go so far to join a fan community for something for a week or two and talk about it a bit and then... move on, because none of this is building a meaningful relationship with another human being at all. Its just consumptive, but even trying to be creative nobody has the time or interest to see whatever "ideas you have". Everyone is stuck in their own silos of consumption at this point and it leaves a lot of us just stuck on an isolated island by themselves. It doesn't hurt that from this position almost anyone you would find to interact with is in some way predatory. Like anyone who didn't fail at socializing has their closed off peer group they spend their time with by now. The doors closed and all that is left is this perpetual limbo of fluctuating between distracting from the sadness and being overwhelmed by it. In the same way corporate social media, entertainment, and trying to bond with others over that or the total inability to form creative bonds with others to actually make stuff are all vacuous and unfulfilling. In the same vein paying someone to keep you company ultimately cannot fill that missing piece in a person that wants others to just want them to be there for themselves. You can't commodify that. So uh, I can highly relate to what the Japanese are going through with how even more regimented and structured their society is pressed upon them as being. Its stifling enough in the US culture of hyper-consumerism. It seems like a stifling nightmare over there. Welcome to the NHK is a great anime on this subject if anyone is interested in getting into a, to be fair romanticized, version of these kinds of experiences. It touches well on the psychological hole you get yourself in though. Its kind of absurdist to think about, how capitalism is trying to respond to the endemic loneliness that if you really get into it can kind of be attributed to the way modern life is commodified and made competitive and consumptive. People are lonely because nobody has the time, patience, or desire left to be communal. At least not comprehensively for those of us on the social fringes. But there is no community because it isn't economically efficient to capital for one to exist. It gets eaten away to be replaced with more consumption for more profit and its leaving growing segments of society hollow husks. So you end up with rent a girlfriends and companionship bars instead of actual friends.
- 6y ago

vorpalhex 6y ago

> he's unbelievably socially awkward and not in a way that derives humor from it, but is meant to invoke a sense of relatability Media does usually exaggerate the traits they're attempting to highlight, whether it's bravery or social anxiety. Most people, even if they are popular and charismatic, still feel awkward and anxious sometimes. As much as we talk about how different people are, in some ways we're all the same.

Blikkentrekker 6y ago
Yes, but it's still remarkable how common in Japanese fiction the socially awkward, uncomfortable protagonist, meant to be relatable to the audience is. The protagonist of The 40 Year old Virgin is unique for it, and the series is not meant for 40 year old virgins. There is a surprisingly high amount of fiction from Japan that follows a formula similar to this: - The protagonist is socially awkward and nervous, but otherwise has no actual opinions or character traits - The protagonist starts the story rather lonely - The protagonist fairly quickly finds friends, lovers, family, who are very devoted to him - Bonus points for the protagonist being transported to a parallel universe to escape the dreads of social pressure of Japanese office worker life completely — this specific plot device is oddly common. It feels as if one play a first person corridor shooter with a silent protagonist, but it's a book or television series: the protagonist is dragged along with the plot but somehow does not influence it and barely speaks or has opinions: the point is for the reader to mentally replace the protagonist with himself, and experience the story from his own perspective, so he can feel less lonely, just as such video games have a big element of making the player feel like an action hero, but the power phantasy sold here is simply “no longer being lonely”. It's really an oddly big market for such a seemingly quite specific thing. Rent-a-Girlfriend consistently ranks within the top 25 of strip volume sales in Japan, and it's plot is really little more than “Lonely, socially awkward young adult is now less lonely.”.
- bserge 6y ago
  I assume that's the source for the TV series? I couldn't get past the 6th episode... it's just bad. And I watch a lot of trash haha
  - Blikkentrekker 6y ago
    Yes, the strip was popular enough to receive t.v. series adaptation. I quit the strip in what must be around the same events of the story as the sixth episode — I could not bare with how awkward the protagonist was, and how everyone either really liked him or outright fell in love with him despite being a nervous train wreck who constantly embarrasses himself. I'm not sure it's “bad”; it's as said quite popular and it's probably very good at what it attempts to do and what I consider flaws are probably features.

zanny 6y ago

I eat this stuff up as a constantly lonely person, not in the "I wish I had a boyfriend" sense, in the "theres nobody to talk to, ever" sense. Like you get up, you work, you consume entertainment, maybe you go on HN or Reddit or Twitter or whatever and you throw words out that other people filter through like junk food, maybe you even go so far to join a fan community for something for a week or two and talk about it a bit and then... move on, because none of this is building a meaningful relationship with another human being at all. Its just consumptive, but even trying to be creative nobody has the time or interest to see whatever "ideas you have". Everyone is stuck in their own silos of consumption at this point and it leaves a lot of us just stuck on an isolated island by themselves. It doesn't hurt that from this position almost anyone you would find to interact with is in some way predatory. Like anyone who didn't fail at socializing has their closed off peer group they spend their time with by now. The doors closed and all that is left is this perpetual limbo of fluctuating between distracting from the sadness and being overwhelmed by it. In the same way corporate social media, entertainment, and trying to bond with others over that or the total inability to form creative bonds with others to actually make stuff are all vacuous and unfulfilling. In the same vein paying someone to keep you company ultimately cannot fill that missing piece in a person that wants others to just want them to be there for themselves. You can't commodify that. So uh, I can highly relate to what the Japanese are going through with how even more regimented and structured their society is pressed upon them as being. Its stifling enough in the US culture of hyper-consumerism. It seems like a stifling nightmare over there. Welcome to the NHK is a great anime on this subject if anyone is interested in getting into a, to be fair romanticized, version of these kinds of experiences. It touches well on the psychological hole you get yourself in though. Its kind of absurdist to think about, how capitalism is trying to respond to the endemic loneliness that if you really get into it can kind of be attributed to the way modern life is commodified and made competitive and consumptive. People are lonely because nobody has the time, patience, or desire left to be communal. At least not comprehensively for those of us on the social fringes. But there is no community because it isn't economically efficient to capital for one to exist. It gets eaten away to be replaced with more consumption for more profit and its leaving growing segments of society hollow husks. So you end up with rent a girlfriends and companionship bars instead of actual friends.

6y ago