Even After Becoming Superstars, They Are Still Being Idiots on Our Smartphones Today.

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※19.4.17 Kanta from Mizutamari Bond himself read this article, which was reprinted in HuffPost, and tweeted about it.

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It was around the summer of 2016 that I became a fan of the YouTuber duo "Mizutamari Bond".

I joined a large company as a new graduate in 2015. My initial assignment was a transfer to a sales office in a regional city I had no connection to. As a sheltered young woman born and raised in Tokyo who had never left her parents' home for 23 years, living alone for three years in a place with zero relatives or friends was a source of great pain (though looking back now, I think it was a truly valuable life experience).

In the midst of that, my only emotional support was "Mizutamari Bond".

I no longer remember how I started watching them. It was that kind of casual moment. I probably just happened to be watching a video by HIKAKIN or Hajime Syacho, and watched them as part of that flow. Their way of earnestly and seriously finding fun in things—like experiments that elementary school boys might like, or urban legends that middle schoolers of any gender might enjoy—was endearing.

At first, I didn't think much of it. Just a feeling of, "Wow, they're working hard to upload every day." I'd finish work, eat dinner, and get home by 9 PM. Oh, right, they should have uploaded something (at the time, Mizutamari Bond uploaded daily at 8 PM). So, I'd lazily lie on my bed, turn on my smartphone, watch a 7-8 minute video, take a bath, and go to sleep. Before I knew it, they had become a part of my daily routine.

About half a year later, I was so bad at my job that I wanted to die. I couldn't do things that were "expected to be done." Communication with clients wasn't going well. I was afraid to accept my own incompetence, so I couldn't honestly listen to advice from my seniors. And so, the negative spiral of getting scolded, shrinking away, and failing again continued. When I walked, tears would naturally fall. When I saw the train tracks, I wanted to jump in. It is no exaggeration to say that this state continued for a while.

One day, I came home, collapsed onto my bed without even taking off my suit, turned on my smartphone as usual, opened YouTube as usual, and played the video uploaded that day as usual. Just as one of them returned home, the other was dropping a massive amount of superballs from the top of the stairs near the entrance.

The visuals were colorful and beautiful, the use of background music was interesting, and above all, it was incredibly funny to see Tommy laughing his head off while genuinely enjoying such a silly thing, and Kanta being completely bewildered by the sudden shower of superballs. How stupid. What are these guys doing? I thought, while laughing out loud alone on my bed.

Before I knew it, I had watched it about three times, and before I knew it, I was sobbing.

I realized I was crying and wondered why, but without really understanding, I just wailed. My pillow became soaked, and I cried until I felt like all the moisture in my body was gone. Even now, I don't know why I cried.

But perhaps, I felt relieved. Every day was tough, and even though I had no family or friends at home, when I turned on my smartphone, I could meet these two guys being idiots. Every day, they were doing some kind of different stupid thing. There was no complexity, no malice, and no transparent ulterior motives there. (Well, maybe there were some ulterior motives.) I felt that sense of relief again from the falling superballs, Tommy's mischievous laugh, and Kanta's confusion, and I felt at ease again. I think everything I had been suppressing just overflowed.

Mizutamari Bond is on the cover of the magazine "Quick Japan" released on February 23rd.

They themselves have publicly stated, "We've always wanted to be on it." That's amazing, I'm so happy for you. I look at the two of them through my smartphone screen as they convey their joy to the camera, and I call out to them.

When I say I like YouTubers and watch them all the time, there are still many adults who make fun of me. "Ugh, like an elementary schooler. Stop it." "YouTubers are basically just part-timers, right?" "I wish I could live like a NEET and have fun like that too." "It's stupid, what's so funny about it?"

It is true that they make a living doing what they enjoy. But it is also true that to make a living doing what they enjoy, they spend every day from morning till night, sacrificing sleep to plan, film, edit, and check social media. And it is also true that because they diligently continue that effort every day, there is one office worker here at the edge of the world who has been saved and is still working energetically today.

I hope their existence is increasingly recognized by mass media, their exposure increases, and those "facts" are increasingly conveyed to the adults who make fun of them.

It's not a new era, nor is it post-Heisei,
because the stars of 'now' are acting like fools on their smartphone screens every single day.