THE iDOLM@STER and your family

[ninjamitsuki]

What does your family think about THE iDOLM@STER and your love of it, that is, if you don't keep it a secret.

Well, when I showed my mom my newly obtained games, she pointed at Yukiho on the cover and said "She must be the smart one".

I was like "No, that one's the smart one", pointing to Ritsuko, and she said "Oh yeah, stick some glasses on her and she's automatically the smart one". XD

My Grandma's pretty much computer and video game illiterate, but I managed to teach her how to play Animal Crossing, so I showed her THE iDOLM@STER and told her to pick what character she liked best. She chose the Futami twins, and I planned to have her pick a song and outfit for them, and maybe do a few communications, since that doesn't require any hand eye coordination. When she heard the twins talk, she started saying some Japanese/Chinese sounding gibberish and laughing, but she said they were adorable. She couldn't make an outfit even though she could play Animal Crossing, she said it was too confusing for an old lady like her.

Thankfully, I don't have Dearly Stars, so I don't have to explain the whole Ryo situation.

[airgeneralpong]

No matter how's the best I try to explain the good points, my family see that iDOLM@STER is an idiot game for suckers, playing shit songs with the retarded cartoon characters is full of crap, etc. This possibly because of their nature which they extremely hate Japanese Moe culture. So what I can do is to just bear with it since I can only play iDOLM@STER in my living room (which has enough facility for the game).
When they first saw me play this game, they spoke like I have addict some kind of drug. They said like "We couldn't believe you enjoy with such thing. We so disappoint in you." and bah bah bah...
I wonder if anyone else has similar family's reaction like mine...

[blake307]

My brother's first reaction when he saw me watching an im@s video was, "Why do you like Japanese cartoons so much?" 

My stepdad calls idolmaster a bunch of Japanese dancing girls.

Luckily for me my family doesn't mind the fact that I like Idolmaster.  My mom always let me buy some of the figures I have now.

[ninjamitsuki]

Yeah. My family is very tolerant and even interested (In fact, I introduced my mom to Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh, and she loves them, and my brother likes Papuwa and Cromartie High School) in my Japan obsession.

I must be very lucky to have parents like that. Then again, I'm a girl, so I guess it's more socially acceptable in America for a teenaged girl to play a game about dancing teenaged girls than a guy would.

[Scotty]

No one in my family bats an eye at it.

Wouldn't want it any other way.

[Benpc91]

My brother loves it, shares a file with me on the 360 version and owns a copy of SP.
My sisters absolutely love it and try learning the dances.
My parents don't care about my otaku interests unless it is some slice-of-life comedy anime.  Though they do like some of the songs.

[Raestloz]

I don't have the games, but I did order a few copies of the CDs, and my family doesn't seem to mind, about the CDs that is, about the cash... well... since it's MY money, they don't either, it's just they asked me if it's really worth it. Understandable, each copy is worth 1/3 of my monthly money...

[RoninatorMarx]

The only person in my family who has the most knowledge of iM@S (yet knows so little) is my younger brother. He knows I go to these forums and seen me do my sigs of the girls in the past. He's kinda neutral on this, labeling iM@S as 'another thing Japanese my brother likes,' or so it was implied.

The only time I openly talked about iM@S to a family member was when I had an IM chat with my aunt in Japan, seeing if she can get one of those keychain plushies for me (of course, to no avail. I wanted Yayoi >.<).

Long story short: iM@S is just one of the things my family see me having an interest over, but is too mixed up with all the other things I like for them to get a grasp of what it is.

[Cael K.]

I'm not sure my family really knows about Idolm@ster that much, as I keep my otaku tendencies somewhat hidden. In fact, when meeting people for the first time, even other otaku, I usually withhold some of my own otakuness until I ascertain whether or not they're into the same sort of stuff I am. Otaku are wide and varied, you know.

But even if my family did know about my Idolm@ster obsession (or my moe obsession)... if they don't like it, too bad. I don't need anyone's approval to like what I like, and my fandom doesn't cross into anything that's morally wrong. I get the feeling that they'd just accept it as one of my eccentricities, however.

All you guys with families that share in your fandom... respect.

Everything else being said... from my own opinion, Idolm@aster's gameplay is extremely well-balanced, reminding me of rock-paper-scissors (trust me, it makes great games when expanded on), so the gamer in me is really happy. It's just that it's stripped so far down that it's plain to see.

[ninjamitsuki]

To give some more information, my mom is very interested in THE iDOLM@STER (I always spell it with that capitalization because that's how it is on the box and it looks cooler xD), but only in the singing and dancing part, not the idol raising part. If she watches me play most of SP, she gets bored and asks when she's going to sing. I guess she'd like Live For You a lot, since it's all about the music,  but I can't play it due to not having a Japanese 360.

[iDOL15]

I'm in the closet when it comes to THE iDOLM@STER and I would rather keep it that way. Everything I like is practically "Chinese" to my mom.

[mastersteve89]

I don't bother to hide my otakuness yet my family doesn't even know I'm into THE IDOLM@STER or anime for that matter. The closest is my mom who has "My Song" from Angel Beats on her iPod.

Aside from my family, most if not all my friends know I'm into anime and/or THE IDOLM@STER.

[lisondra22]

I have complete freedom and live on my own money since i graduated.
My family doesn't really care about hobbies as long as my grades won't go down(School And College Life)
They were even amazed when i bought a XBOX 360 using my own allowance just for idolm@ster.
I don't think so much people would care if anyone plays idolm@ster in their family.
I only got reactions when i played Dream C Club. Oppai Bounce.

[TweenDoriru]

Hmm...my family doesn't mind it, I guess? Since I only have the PSP version, it's not like they've ever sat down and watched me play it or anything XD

I know my mom knows I'm nuts over it (she'll listen to me talk about the game, even though I'm pretty sure she has no idea what I'm talking about), though my mom supports all of my otaku tendences, whether she actually buys them for me or not. So, from all the odd Japan stuff I obtain (from Revoltechs to games to Dollfies), my mom doesn't mind it (she likes playing with the revoltechs), and my dad just ignores it.

My brother liked to make my iM@S revoltechs "push" each other over, but that's about the only connection he had with iM@S XD

[animagic4u]

Then again, I'm a girl, so I guess it's more socially acceptable in America for a teenaged girl to play a game about dancing teenaged girls than a guy would.

Actually, my mom has the misconception that the Idolm@ster is directly targeted toward a girl audience.