ใใใฃใ It's Spacy! Ahhh it's been way too long since I posted. Yesterday I wrote the original draft to this blog post, but I personally felt it was too niche while focusing on a broader subject, so i decided to rewrite it. Everyone by now knows of EGG magazines ambitions to make gyaru popular internationally, but will their plan work? Is it a good idea, or is it simply overly ambitious?
Warning: A lot of the things, especially with buying magazines has been my own experiences and research. Obviously im not even 20 yet, I'm still flat broke and jobless, no cash that can be wasted on overly priced clothes or magazines, so my frustrations are pretty personal, and wouldn't apply to the average gal with their life together, ya know like a proper adult.
And if you like SHIBUYA sorry idk what to tell you, maybe click off?
Let's me be honest right now, in the early stages of this all, it's really too early to actually tell how successful this all could be. EGG in general has only somewhat recently started the push to 'globalisation' especially in 2024 with the revival of softboiledegg who are signed to AVEX USA to promote internationally and... stuff. I think this is all in it's early stages and given enough time, EGG's international activities could expand further then they already are, but this is mainly just my opinions and general evaluations.
If we were to start looking into it, we can obviously see the way EGG has gone about promoting gal globally is through music, mainly softboiledegg. EGG had another music group before softboiledegg in 2018/2019 which mainly did cute modern remixes on old Eurobeat iconic songs like Wanna dance, Try me and other songs, but softboiledegg is really what pushed gal and EGG magazine as a second, back into internationally spotlight with Gal is Mind in late 2021. Paired with the success of gal is mind also came the remix of GAL by Ohayo into different languages in spring 2022 and the repopularisation of the gyaru peace sign by kpop idols, Gyaru as a whole surged in popularity. EGG in general has always been the gyaru bible, so of course they capitalised on this new found popularity and released Bad Gals around a year later, which definitely gained some hype, but not nearly as much as Gal is Mind. In my opinion, none of this is bad, actually it is actually pretty good, EGG using music to appeal to non gal audiences, but theres obviously 2 problems with this. First one being is that obviously, gyaru is not a music subculture, gyaru has always and will always be a subculture based around fashion and shopping, so when all EGG does to promote gyaru internationally is release music because 1 of their songs blew up almost 3 years ago, it shows EGG isn't willing to explore another formula for success or do anything but release half decent music. Another thing is which links to my first point actually is that this music idea would be good if EGG actually capitalised on it.
This is obviously frustrating as for gals overseas, since proxy sellers ONLY sell certain volumes, meaning the only way to buy certain volumes they don't resell is literally just to live in Japan. These volumes being few of the 2019/2020 volumes, the winter 2022, December 2023, Ito Momo's graduation volume and the one that graduation edition Chami is on the cover for. Other then those, you can't purchase any other volumes, and in general, you can really only digitally preorder EGG volumes off their website anyway, but they are available in stores across Japan for around 500-550 yen which is round £2.50 or maybe $3. Why do I mention prices, well thats because buying magazines internationally will always set you back like £20-£30 for a single volume, in comparison to physically buying a copy in Japan for only a 10th of the cost, and even preordering a volume online will set you back only £13, incluing a sticker, and autographed magazine, and shipping included in the cost, which is a good deal compared to prices for overseas purchasers. Where I'm getting at this is that EGG creating hype around gyaru was good, but because they haven't taken to steps to atleast let the people overseas theyre targetting purchase new EGG volumes, it's sort of a loss.
I think this also is a huge loss for the reiwa gal movement, honestly you find yourself hooked onto Heisei era magazines, not simply because you may like Heisei magazines and not Reiwa, but because their simply isn't enough magazine media to find yourself immersed in Reiwa gal for. I mean yeah EGG do produce youtube videos and magazine culture isn't as popular as it used to be, but especially for me, magazines have always been a huge source of style, and make references, but magazines are also filled with stories, history and things that are more interesting to observe in that form. There's endless Heisei magazines to read, but for Reiwa it's very limited. If EGG is genuinely serious about using softboiledegg to be the leaders in this new international gal movement, it would be nice for them to make more Reiwa magazine media available. Lot's of Gal history has been preserved in the pages of physical media like magazines, It would simply be a shame to let it all go to waste in this new era of digital media, reject modernity and embrace traditionalism ya know?
Lmao, I also think if EGG wants to use music to promote gyaru internationally, they could atleast make good music. I mean, SHIBUYA which is this big project they hyped up is dog water mixed with these really annoying adlibs, terrible autotune and some pink glitter, atleast it sounds like they gave the girls vocal lessons. I'm actually being very honest when I said if you gave this to those 2014 prince host music groups they'd pick up softboiledegg by the loose sock and absolutely flaw them. Also the song is 2:17, it starts then it stops. If EGG is really hoping for global gal domination with this cat litter they better kiss their dreams goodbye. Maybe this is divine retribution for kicking Airi out instead of disbanding it after Chami and Mami escaped EGG's nasty little claws (graduated). Don't even get me started in SHIRANKEDO ๐ญ. It's like the only way of marketing EGG knows at this point is releasing these quick songs that will trend on tik tok then all these people in 2022 who were saying 'I love gyaru so much' will come and go once again. And the SHIBUYA merch is this ugly overpriced jumper with 7 large pink letters that you can make online yourself for a cheaper price, but EGG is selling it for 9,600 yen or £50? WTF
I think i've led myself nicely into my next point, EGG sort of (sorta kinda) doesn't GAF ab their international audience, to the point where they pulled that SHIRANKEDO crap bc their international audience chewed them up for KOGYARU being a pedo-bait magazines (Good time to drop the entire blog post I made about it if ur interested in reading more about why KOGYARU is poop).
EGG obviously uses certain criticisms to show of that 'idgaf about what you say about my lifestyle' gal attitude, but thats cool when the criticism is 'you look stupid' and not 'stop exploiting these children' or 'take those box braids down rastaboo' it genuinely shows the clashes between 'ideologies' (I'm saying this lightly) between EGG magazines and the international audience theyre trying to scoop up. In reality, it almost feels like EGG wants an international fan club for their models rather then an actual global community where gals all over the worlds are viewed equally in 'galness' (does this make sense?). This also isn't something unheard of, This happened with BDI (Black diamond international) in 2012. This Blog post is not mine, this belongs to Amani, but in her blog talking about the frustrations she felt when dealing with Black Diamond international she stated here
Where I'm going with this one is the way EGG treats its international audiences is literally like trash, making a whole diss track (SHIRANKEDO) against non Japanese gals while trying to attract non Japanese people into the subculture is nasty let me be honest. If EGG also were interested in maintaining an international audience they could also tell Momoa Box braids warrior Seto to lay off those braids, but ofc they won't do that. Momoa being the face theyre trying to promote internationally while people criticise her for constantly wearing box braids and getting Jamaican style nails which is something only a Jamacian themselves would get (imo) isn't the best look EGG should be going for.
However, I need to make my religious education teacher proud of me and obviously break down why it's unfair to sit down and drill screws into HJ's head. It's pretty obvious why EGG hasn't made the push to market more internationally beyond music, and thats because they aren't ready yet. EGG need these results theyre looking for to continue with their goal, one step at a time. Breaking into the western market definitely won't be easy, and seeing the way apps like tik tok have influenced the way music is produced in other industries like KPOP, where music has gone from 3-4 minutes down to 2-3 minutes. EGG definitely knows what is good for them, and like I said before, I don't think the idea of releasing music is actually bad, it's just the way EGG has failed to capitalise on it, but SHIBUYA is a unique project compared to GAL is Mind or the Bad Gals album or their music group that predeceases softboiledegg, being that revived SBE is actually trying to target international audiences. EGG is obviously serious ab this gal domination business, so I hope they start taking more measures to give non Japanese gals more access to their content if they see the success theyre looking for with SHIBUYA, but in my little honest opinion, this coulda been done earlier, which is why I'm chewing them out now and not later.
The last part i'm gonna touch on is the actual international gal community itself. Gals obviously live all over the world, and different trends and styles appeal to different gals from different countries, for example, gals in china will sometimes mix decora in with their style, or sometimes black american gals will reclaim b-gyaru or korean gals love pink and cuter styles of gal blah di blah (do you get what imonabout?) , however, EGG as a magazine will only appeal to a certain demographic of those gals, an EGG as a magazine before specifically targeted girls 15-19 or around that early adulthood age. Lots of international gal communities generally like to focus on earlier eras of gal, while EGG likes to promote new era Reiwa gal. EGG as a magazine definitely doesn't appeal to the tastes of all gals in the international gal community (community?) nor does it even appeal to the ideals of it either. Not to sugar coat but some gals really do love gatekeeping, no shade, but with EGG trying to spread gal international, there will be resistance from other international gals to the wave of people (especially on tik tok) who come in and sort of wreck the subculture as a whole which isn't unseen of. And even tho I think the people who bring over stupid gyaru tik tok nonsense onto my twitter fyp when I don't even have tik tok, looking to start discourse around the same 5 topics every 2-5 business days are incredibly annoying, they aren't wrong in their frustration. Gyaru IS a subculture, and the rise of people who only care about aesthetics is very troublesome for others.
Time to cap off this blog post before I start swearing. So, what is my opinion in the end? Can EGG go global? Maybe, I would still give them some time. On one hand you can very reasonably point out that trying to break into the international market by selling physical EGG copies would probably be a failed venture BECAUSE gyaru isn't global yet, which means EGG using music to venture internationally will go hand in hand in how they will start branching out and start selling to non Japanese gals rather then us having to spend bank buying through proxies who charge like 4x the amount in your cart for good shipping, but on the other hand, you can point out theres nothing stopping EGG from doing some international shipping... a little wouldn't hurt right? I also wouldn't be too upset if EGG released e-book versions of magazines at a higher price then physical magazines, just like LOALO sells their magazines on amazon that can be read digitally for around 1500yen or £8, which would be a good deal.... if it wasn't LOALO. I also think EGG should at least bother to make their digital content more easily accessible for internationally audiences, like you can't even make an account on their website, nor can you sign up for them email magazine because you need a Japanese address, or atleast subtitle some youtube videos instead of their crappy instagram reels. What confuses me in general is EGG IS actively trying to appeal to international audiences while also moving in a way that actively means they can't do anything but be fans/ admirers of these random models or canon fodder for their shitty diss tracks. In short, EGG will only go global when they properly capitalise on the success softboiledegg is earningYa know, I wanna own an 2024 EGG volume and not oogle over the cover i screenshotted from instagram on my twitter like a fuckin clown.
If theres anything wrong that you don't like with my blog post, pls message me and i'll try to fix this, this is all my opinions aswell.
bye bye...
Will this blog post be contreversial? I rlly hope not, I don't think it would be but I wonder if anyone will wildly disagree with me, maybe this is all because im tragically broke, who knows. Ik I contradicted myself a lot actually, maybe I should start writing scripts for these blog posts instead of sitting down and rambling like im gal jesus or something like that ๐๐๐ญ
k bye
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