Fuck Yeah PGSM Girls

Oh no worries!  I actually meant to explain what it’s all about in one of the posts earlier, and then must have spaced.  And I don’t blame you for being confused; it took me about a month to sort it out.

Basically, the show’s a mockumentary.  The fake premise is that this TV show is looking to put together a new idol group (think AKB48), and they’re using the show as a way to try the girls out.  In addition, they also follow them around and you see “real” problems/issues gravure idols have to deal with.  For example, in Ayaka’s episode, in addition to having difficulty with the dance routine and being made fun of by some of the girls for being involved with Sailor Moon, she’s followed around by a female fan who dresses exactly like her and flat out attacks a papparazzo for taking her picture without permission.  I actually think it’s brilliant and I’d love to watch the whole series some time.

So yeah: fake documentary about a fake contest following real idols around, who are playing dramatized versions of themselves, and those idols find themelves in fake situations based on real things they have to deal with.

Totally straightforward, right?

Here’s the definition via Wikipedia, which I actually think is a fairly good explanation of what it means in this context.

A gravure idol (グラビアアイドル gurabia aidoru^?), often abbreviated to gradol (グラドル guradoru^?),^[17] is a Japanese female model who primarily models on magazines, especially men’s magazines, photobooks or DVDs. Gravure idols, in most cases, emphasize their sexual attractiveness and often model in swimsuits or lingerie.

“Gravure” (グラビア) is a Wasei-eigo term derived from “Rotogravure”, which is a type of intaglio printing process that was once a staple of newspaper photo features. The rotogravure process is still used for commercial printing of magazines,postcards, and cardboard product packaging.

Gravure idols appear in a wide range of photography styles and genres. Their photos are largely aimed at male audiences with poses or activities often intended to be provocative or suggestive, generally accentuated by an air of playfulness and innocence rather than aggressive sexuality. Though gravure models may sometimes wear clothing that exposes most of their body, their nipples and genitals are generally covered and they seldom appear fully nude. It is also common for gravure idols to have very large breasts and in their videos models are often shown performing activities specifically intended to cause their breasts to bounce or shake such as jogging or doing jumping jacks.

Gravure models may be of any age but usually range from their late teens to their mid-twenties. In addition to appearing in mainstream magazines, gravure idols often release their own professional photobooks and DVDs for their fans. Many popular female idols in Japan launched their careers by starting out as gravure idols.

Gravure models are commonly photographed wearing bikinis or lingerie but may also appear wearing schoolgirl uniforms, Japanese street fashion, and kimonos.