The Idolm@ster SideM idol subunit SEM stands for “Science English Mathematics” and supposedly the seiyuu team put on a hell of a show on the live stage. But it gets me thinking–these idols have the image of that futuristic exoticism that comes with these “SEM” notions, but how?

Science? OK I can see that. What’s exotic about English? Okay, maybe from a Japanese point of view there’s something exotic about the West. But Mathematics? What is exotic about mathematics? Maybe it can be kind of esoteric?

SEM also reminds me of another abbreviation, STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or what is commonly known as “curriculum that will lead to gainful employment that actually makes money.” The SEM idols are three ex-high school teachers who taught those 3 subjects, so it triggers the “public education policy” line of thinking and that leads to STEM.

And SEM is kind of like STEM–they are the hard line items in public education in Japan, which focuses on stuff that is going to be more important and relevant like how STEM subjects are.

If the last blog post I titled is any clue, I recently read a couple bio write-ups of Elon Musk who paints himself as a physicist-engineer-entrepreneur who happens to also be a genius and wants to send a million people to Mars. Is that the kind of appeal SideM wants to uh, emulate?

To mix it up, recently I came across a spoiler about the latest Metal Gear Solid (V), which in short, reminded me of Itou Project’s Genocidal Organ. In both cases, language is part of a greater science-fictional plot about killing a lot of people. I’m not sure, but this seems a very novel idea. Which is to say, does English have a place in STEM? I think it absolutely does.

Of course, this isn’t really the case if you are talking about public education in an English-speaking country, but English is the language of science, and not knowing English as a scientist or tech/engineering person is like being a weeaboo who can’t understand Japanese. I can’t imagine someone who is at the top of the game in those subject matters not know enough English to get around. Maybe they don’t speak it (since most of the time it’s reading and writing only) but it is just another kind of barrier, perhaps, that the Japanese feel especially. And I can see how some people would take that idea far enough–to equate English as some kind of symbol of western imperialism, or what comes more recently as American dominance of global culture, in popular or as a world police-type entity.

Well, making SEM seem sexy is all good in my book. Very positive development if you ask me.

I was reading this translation of Takahashi Chiaki’s write-up on the seiyuu business, her career and some notable past stories she wanted tell. It occured to me, the way she talk about seiyuu is really similar to how IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls works.

Pilot + seiyuu doesn’t quite exist in CG universe, or is there? Maybe in SideM… I guess, it’s okay to be the best French or Russian or Esper or Rock or Mushroom or Creepy or Smiling or Flutist or Dairy Farmer or whatever. You get the idea. Who knows what will happen to you?

Just to talk about Chiaking a bit more, recently, she participated in the Aice5 Reunion as a part of the Sore ga Seiyuu event featuring Aice5. There was the drama about her torn achilles heel, possibly a stress injury as a consequence to her knee problem from a couple years ago. It happened during the Aice5 event rehursal, and people were obviously upset over that. The silver lining was that she was very much up for the event regardless, and there was enough time between her immediate recovery and the event to plan around having a Chiaking who can’t walk unassisted. Namely, a cool couch and someone to push it around.

It’s pretty neat.

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I searched my blog to see when and how often I use the term “waifu.” The first hit date was in 2010. Recently more and more I feel otherwise about the term, however.

The bottom line problem here is that waifu is equivocal to the “yome” in “ore no yome.” Japanese otaku claim their wives, 2D or 3D, it doesn’t matter, in this way. But this is not exactly with that tinge of irony that a weeaboo-ized term of the same literal meaning carries. In this sense you are just declaring your wife in that otaku context. It still can be ironic, but this is not why it’s done. But I think when westerners co-opt this concept in “waifu” we do it in a way how we use “otaku” to equivocate “fans.” And I mean this is the super-gate-keeping, lock-us-up-and-throw-away-the-keys kind of way. It really should only mean “hardcore fans” at the most, but that’s not how marketing out west handles it. Obviously in glorious year 2015 of our Lord the O word no longer carry the thick stigma of yore in Japan, but when a blessed nerd finds and declares wife (or husband), this is done without irony, East or West. Because it would be disrespectful otherwise.

And this is why I find waifu problematic. The term is built-in with irony. Like, at best, we use the term to signify the context in which a wife is declared, like an anime nerd and his or her animu character. But this context is always never positive; maybe it’s pretty much neutral usually, but why even bother? If you call Shimakaze your wife I don’t think anyone will be confused, or at least no more than if you were to call Shimakaze your waifu. So why the linguistic twist? What does it mean?

If people were calling their wives ironically in Japan I don’t think I would be as bent over this. Or maybe I just don’t have the same notion about marriages in general, since I probably lean conservative in those topics? I don’t think that even matters.

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It’s that month of the year. I have stuff planned. Will write. God speed in Deresute.