The character merchandise was made into what looks like enormous samurai armor, but event officials weren’t impressed.
Love Live! is a popular anime, video game, and music franchise about high school-age idols whose fans, like real idol fans, can get a little bit fanatical. Many have become so enamored with the show and its characters that they’ve sometimes become a public nuisance, to the point where the official website of the franchise had to warn them to behave.
In fact, Love Live! fans have such a reputation that they ranked number one on a list of anime fans that weird people out. But that’s simply because the anime is their life, and fans are so devoted to their idols that they will do anything to show it, including wearing mountains of merchandise on their backs.
Yes, my friends, underneath the neatly hanging lines of pillows, key chains, towels and pins, there is a human being demonstrating their unrestrained devotion for their favorite anime character. This is what is known as a “Buso Liver” (武装ライバー, pronounced like ‘alive’), which literally means “Armored Love Live! fan”. This get-up is a way for hardcore Love Live! fans to show their love for a single character by collecting hundreds of goods and arranging them on clothing, bags, and other fabrics so that they look like samurai armor.
▼ The costume they wore to last year’s Thanksgiving event. This is the full armor that fans create to display their collection, though they will only wear what’s on their back when inside the venue, for obvious reasons.
Apparently, the more goods you mount on your back, and the heavier the whole thing is, the more you’ve displayed your absolute and complete devotion to your favorite character, and the better a fan you are. The point is to be as showy and gaudy as possible. Clearly, this fan’s above-and-beyond creation speaks volumes about their love for the character Nozomi Tojo.
▼ The various levels of “Buso Liver” fandom
@gai_nozomi, the person behind this particular costume, claims on their Twitter profile that they are the number one public Buso Liver for this character. They wore the above costume to the Love Live! School Idol Festival Thanksgiving event that just happened last weekend, but sadly their peacock-like display earned them an escort out of the building.
It’s not clear as to exactly why the Buso Liver was asked to leave, but the rules for the event state that “You may not wear clothing or bring in large baggage that will cause problems for other guests,” so presumably it is because officials deemed this Liver’s costume a nuisance or a danger.
The costume that @gai_nozomi wore this past weekend, may not have the extra pieces like the full get-up above, but you can tell in the below video of the fan trying to play a Love Live! dance game that it’s a rather tall and wide costume, which could be dangerous or at least an inconvenience to other guests at the event. While it might seem innocuous to express your fandom with a display of your favorite goods, in a country like Japan where courtesy to others is valued above all else, such an enormous and frankly cumbersome costume would almost certainly be frowned upon.
The fact that it was a rule at all implies that Buso Livers’ costumes have been considered a problem in the past, which is a concern for the die-hard fans. What this means for those attending future events is unclear, but as of yet there are no official or specific bans on the armor. Still, this incident serves as a warning to fans that they should keep the size of their armor in check otherwise they run the risk of missing out on future events.
These super fans certainly don’t shy away from being true to themselves and their passions. When you’re zealous enough to wear such an overt display of your fandom in public, or to swarm a shopping mall and chant along to your favorite animated idol song, then it’s safe to say that nothing is ever going to hold you back.
Source: Twitter/@Yudzua_ via My Game News Flash and Hachima Kiko
Featured image: Twitter/@Yudzua_