Wotagei Guide

Wotagei Guide (By Melos125 from Stage48/Melos no Michi Blog)
November 2, 2010 at 9:20am

A guide I made for people who want to learn how to wotagei, in preparation for the upcoming AKB48 'live' at AFA X in 2 weeks! Wotagei is something very hard to teach, you have to learn it yourself through watching AKB concerts and LODs. The most I can do is tell you which is which and how to do it, what to say etc. But an important part of wotagei is the timing. Not only do you need to know what to do, but the timing has to be accurate too. You don't want it to turn out like THIS (http://www.zshare.net/audio/8208207812c01a9b/). I won't be able to teach you the timing because it's something you feel

There is another thing I want to stress. All songs more or less have a set Wotagei routine. There is a reason for it. This is not a rock concert where you are allowed to just scream your head off whenever you want to. Rock concerts are different from Idol concerts. The Wotageis are planned so they do not interrupt and go nicely with the girls singing. That and.... well it's gonna sound messy if there's 3 different chants being shouted at the same time. It is very important that you do not create your own Wotagei routine. There's a derogatory term for those kind of people, their called Pinchike. But I won't go into that because the introduction is already long.


1.1 - What are Wotas?
WOTA (ヲタ), pronounced as OO-TA, are fans of Japanese Female Idols. The name originated from the word OTAKU, which are fans of anime and manga. WOTA was once known as 'Idol Otaku', but to differentiate themselves from the normal Otaku they changed the name slightly to 'Wota'.

1.2 - What is Wotagei?
If you watch an idol concert, be it AKB48, Hello!Project, Tokyo Girls Style etc etc, you would have probably noticed some form of cheering or dancing from the audience. That is Wotagei. Wotagei (ヲタ芸) refers to a type of dancing and cheering gestures performed by Wota. These involve jumping, clapping, arm-waving and chanting (not the type of chanting by priests or monks though). There are more extreme forms of Wotagei, but luckily for you Wotageis for AKB48 are limited to chants, cheers and hand movements. There's a reason for that but I won't go into it.

1.3 - Why Wotagei?
In Japan, the concerts are very different from those in the west. Audience participation is just as important as the singer/band/group performing. It's the same reason why you don't see the "sea of lightsticks" in western concerts, but they are a staple in Japanese concerts and events. And the Idols and Wotas take audience participation to a whole new level with Wotagei. It adds to the atmosphere of the concert.

1.4 - Ewww no way! They look like creeps.
That was what I thought the first time I saw a Wota Wotageing. That was until I attended an anime concert. Surrounded by fans doing the chants and lightstick calls, I couldn't help but to join in with them. And there is where it started. In short, it's the experience.

If your still doubtful then consider this: When clips of the concert appear on Japanese news, do you want the audience to see THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwddLM8BWlY) or THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMNZTF4amvw) ? Obviously the latter. We will all be representing the AKB48 fans in Singapore, remember that.

2.0 - The MIX The MIX are those chants you hear being shouted by the Wotas in lots of AKB songs. They are always shouted during the instrumental parts of the song and never overlap with the girl's singing. MIXes are only shouted in upbeat songs, so you don't shut them during a ballad or slow song. There are many newer variations but these 3 are the main and most important ones. You can hear all 3 mixes in The Overture MIX video.

btw when I say "1st instrumental" that includes the one at the start of the song.

MIX 1: Yosh iku zoh!!! Tiger, Fire, Cyber, Fiber, Diver, Viber, Jya Jya!!! The first MIX is used for almost all of AKB48 songs (except the slow ones of course), and is mostly shouted at the beginning of the song. MIX 1 ends just before the members start singing. You can hear it here.

MIX 2: Moh iccho iku zoh!!! Torah, Hii, Jinzou, Sen-ii, Ama, Shindou, Kasentobijokyo!!! MIX 2 is used in the 2nd instrumental in the middle of the song. The only exception is in Ponytail to Shushu where you shout MIX 1 and 2 in the first instrumental, but you still shout the 2nd MIX in the 2nd instrumental. It is never used by it's own and is always after MIX 1.

MIX 3: Moh iccho iku zoh!!! Chape, Ape, Kara, Kira, Rara, Tusuke, Moyhontusuke!!! The 3rd MIX isn't used much, but is still important. The reason why it isn't used much is because it is only shouted during the 3rd instrumental of a song, or in a song with a long 2nd instrumental, and few songs have those. Songs with MIX 3 include: Beginner, Ponytail to Shushu, Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara, Wagamama na Nagareboshi, Shonichi, Kodoku na Runner

2.1 - The overture MIX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKdo3UCIXBw&feature=player_embedded#!
hai! hai! hai! hai! hai! hai! ahhhhhh hai! hai! haihaihaihai! Tiger, Fire, Cyber, Fiber, Diver, Viber, Jya Jya!!! Torah, Hii, Jinzou, Sen-ii, Ama, Shindou, Kasentobijokyo!!! Chape, Ape, Kara, Kira, Rara, Tusuke, Moyhontusuke!!! A! K! B! fourty eight! soresoresoresore!

3.0 - NAME CALLS Pretty simple but is one of the most important parts of wotagei. All you gotta do is shout out the name or nickname of the member you support during her solo or duet line. The reason why I said "name or nickname" is because for some members you don't shout the nickname but the name of the member instead. For example, Maeda Atsuko's name call is "ACCHAN!", but for Takahashi Minami, it's "MINAMI!". This is used for members with nicknames consisting of 4 or more syllables.

4.0 - CALLS In some songs you shout out certain stuff at certain points of time. Some examples:

Skirt Hirari: "sekai de ichiban suki na no" at the same time the girls sing it.Oogoe Diamond: "suki!!" together with the girls when they sing it (sukitte kotoba wa saikou sa).RIVER: "Got it!", "RIVER!!!!" and the whole chant in the beginning together with the girls.10nen Zakura & Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru: at the start you shout "OGS". Lots of people make the mistake and shout "fourty-eight", this is wrong.Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara: "daisuki" and "yoroshiku" same time as when the girls sing it.Namida Surprise: "3, 2, 1, GO!" same time as when the girls sing it.Heavy Rotation: "I want you, I need you, I love you" etc. after they sing it.

4.1 - Other shouting stuff Just the normal "HAI! HAI! HAI!", "HEY! HEY! HEY!", "ooooOOOO Hai!" and "SORE SORE SORE" stuff

5.0 - HAND MOVEMENTS This one is a little tricky. There are 3 main movements for this.

Furicopi: For this, you just copy the member's hand movements.Kecha: This is the tricky one. Generally the movement is both hands sweeping upwards towards your oshimen. HERE IS A EXAMPLE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Icchv2O0oU#t=4m52s) . Usually done when the song slows down.Lightstick movement: You guys should know this. Just wake your lightsticks according to the beat.