The name of this section stands for “Some FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONs.”
Ever since the blowing up of MADKID’s 3rd major single RISE 1 and its music video, several comments have flooded the music video with a lot of curiosity and some (rather ignorant) assumptions regarding MADKID.
Because a lot of those commenters are curious about MADKID, I decided to respond by opening this Frequently Asked Questions “AXCEL STYLE”, posting some of the most common questions and comments gathered from YouTube.
Trolls and anime-related comments not included. This is simply strictly to MADKID as a group who not only performed the song but also written, composed and produced the song.
Alright, let’s do this.
About MADKID and the members
-
You’ll find all your answers at the Throwback Timeline section. This includes their milestones, accomplishments, and a few details about the singles they released.
-
- Leader/Main Vocal: YOU-TA
- Vocal: KAZUKI
- Vocal/Main Dancer: SHIN
- Rapper/Composer/Producer: LIN
- Rapper/Dancer/Lyricist: YUKI
About 99% of their songs are composed and produced by the group themselves. They do get a few contributions from fellow songwriters and artists within their agency. 2 LIN and YUKI also contribute some of their songs to fellow agency artists as well. 3
-
MADKID is being managed by a small management company, Slow Jam Productions. I often refer to them as SJP, but many other fans refer to them simply as Slow Jam.
You can visit their official site here.
-
From time to time, individual members do livestreams so they’re able to keep in touch with the fans worldwide. Check out the SLYKY section for more information.
-
The funny thing about this question is that the majority of those who made these comments are (male) anime/manga otaku fans. The majority of the current global MADKID Axcels are current (or former) K-Pop fans, meaning K-Pop fans in general can easily tell who’s a K-Pop artist and a J-Pop artist.
As a long-time J-Pop music and Japanese Pop Culture fan in general, I’ve seen and somewhat got exposed to different styles of their own pop culture. Anime cosplaying, Visual Kei bands, and the general Harajuku Fashion scene 5 all have one thing in common: They all sport out elaborately colored hair 6, all sport out very intricate fashion designs, very high-detailed makeup, and very fashionable jewelry. These trends within Japanese Pop Culture have come to existence since the ’70s and are one of the pioneers of Modern Asian pop culture. Neighboring Asian countries (especially South Korea) have been exposed to them.
So in short, because of the global popularity of K-Pop, a lot of the “newer” fans think that S. Korea invented general Asian Pop culture with those traits mentioned above. Their thoughts completely contradicts what many scholarly-written textbooks about K-Pop and Korean Pop Culture mentioned otherwise. Just search around Google for its history.
And the whole “they look like Korean” bit? This is like saying “all East and Southeast Asians look Korean.” It’s like how others see Caucasian people look like one another, African-descent people look like one another, etc. In addition to this, centuries of history of connections and tensions between Japan and Korean also come into play.
In short, none of the MADKID members are Korean. All five of them were born and raised in Japan and Japanese is their native language.
-
This is a very common stereotype from non-Asians (especially non-Asian anime/manga otaku fans) that all Japanese are anime/manga fans. That’s like saying that all Americans are Disney fans.
Among the MADKID members, there is only one member who considers himself a certified otaku: LIN.
YUKI is a casual anime/manga fan and really enjoys anisongs. 7
The three vocalists (YOU-TA, SHIN, KAZUKI) all mentioned that The Rising of the Shield Hero is the first anime series they’ve ever watched in their lives, only because they produced and sang both opening themes. Other than that, the only anime/manga they can recall are the ones they’ve watched during childhood. 8
-
LIN is not a very photogenic person and being that he’s aware of his public figure presence, he also doesn’t like to be repeatedly being tagged on (official) photos by several people. It floods his timeline. If you were in his shoes and then get tagged at photos you’ve already seen several times by random people, wouldn’t you be annoyed?
His Instagram account barely has anything except for those famous Instagram grids. He is not a selfies-type person, nor that he likes his photo to be taken in general unless if it’s career or promotion-related.
It’s a bad idea to bring this issue up with LIN (when he does his InstaLive livestreams) because unlike the rest of the members, this guy does not sugarcoat and he’ll be direct with you on the spot.
About this site and owner
-
Late June 2018. This was right after the fandom name Axcel was established by MADKID through their unanimous voting and through livestream fan/viewer voting.
Rather than using MADKID as part of the URL, I wanted this site to be completely fan-based, which is why I went for the fandom name for the URL.
AXCEL STYLE: it has a bit of a ring to it.
-
I have to go where the majority of the Axcel fanbase is. Most Japanese artists don’t use Facebook; same with their fans. If you think about this from a promotional perspective, you will aim at where the majority is.
MADKID’s primary social media channel is Twitter. It has been a very efficient and convenient microblogging system that enables Japanese users to write long passages in Japanese text under only 240 characters. Wherever MADKID is active, the Axcels will follow.
But, if you also want from a technical standpoint, I also don’t have any confidence in opening a fanpage dedicated to MADKID – privacy reasons. I understand why some fans would rather keep themselves under an alias rather than their real identity and Facebook has no way of enabling users to go under an alias, so I’m honoring every fan’s privacy by not having a Facebook page.
Personal-wise, I don’t use Facebook that much except for making contacts with irl friends and family. -
Just another global Axcel showing her love and appreciation for MADKID, like any other fan. You can learn more about me in the About section or follow me on my social media accounts if you want.
-
I don’t know if “friends” is the right term, so I don’t dare claim this as such. 9
I am a regular livestream viewer/commenter when the members 10 do their livestreams, so that’s the only chance that I actually get to communicate with them, even for a bit. And it’s because that I go to their streams a lot often and comment using the same username, it’s easy for the members to remember my name and even my Twitter handle. It also came to the point that because many of us are regulars that our relationships with the members have elevated more towards the homeboys and homegirls level than just idols/celebrities and fans. Does that make sense?
In short, some of the members 11 are very good at remembering names of their fans, mostly those who come regularly to their live events or even come to their livestreams. None of us get personal, as all our communications are open. Whatever you share in their livestreams, your fellow fans present will see it, so please be discreet with what you share. 12
If you’re wondering if I have other forms of reaching out to them, that would be their Twitter, Instagram, and livestreaming. They’re all provided all over this site. That’s it.
-
The MADKID Official Twitter provides plenty of MADKID photos from their official ones to their candid ones. It’s better to get their photos from the actual sources. Also, you can check out the member individual accounts too (both Twitter and Instagram). A lot of them 13 post and share a lot of photos of themselves.
Plus, not having an image gallery of the guys on the site is less work for me as a dev/producer in maintaining this site.
-
When MADKID Twitter announces something new that also impacts global fans or yearly alerts, like member birthdays. Also, I would update this site when I have the time or motivation to update.
-
If you’re interested, please contact me directly. I think we can work something out one way or the other.
-
I’m available on Twitter and Instagram. I’m also available on our Discord Chat Server. Contact me anytime.
If you can’t find any answers from this section, feel free to contact me anytime.
Some sidenotes...
- Thanks to the anime The Rising of the Shield Hero/Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari.
- Sing for You (bonus track from their CIRCUS album) was composed by their fellow agency artist, songwriter Yumemi Ikeda.
- namely boy group NONAME (their debut single was composed by LIN) and sister group GeeSLY (their debut single was composed by YUKI).
- For safety/security reasons, of course.
- Goth Lolita, gyaru, etc.
- wigs and dyes
- Anime music and soundtracks.
- Doraemon, Anpanman, Sazae-san, etc.
- Although it be an honor if they do consider me as one…
- Except LIN, because he comes on at the times I’m not available – my work hours.
- namely KAZUKI, SHIN, and YUKI
- Sometimes, SHIN can get a bit “intimate” with the fan, by asking that fan a few curious personal questions (not too personal though). For example, he knows my birthday, he knows what I do for a living, he also knows my baby nephew’s name too…
- except LIN