And you thought cheerleading was for girls. (お前は応援団が女子向けだと思ったやん。)

How about a little 応援団 (ouendan, cheering squad) to get me revved up just before graduation, eh?

応援団 comes from the word 応援, ouen, meaning to cheer on , support, reinforce, what have you. You tell someone that you are 応援-ing them when they're about to take on a big project, present a thesis, play in a soccer match, whatever.

An 応援団 is just a more official version of that, really.



It is, for lack of a better word, hard core.

While they were originally intended to support sports teams and perform at school pride festivals and the like, they now, as you can see above,have their own competitions, which I guess would be comparable to cheerleading competitions.

Most places do, however, have what we would think of as cheerleaders on top of these 応援団. Oftentimes, they perform together, the girls in their skirts and the men with their yelling.

But we know which one we prefer.



I do apologize for the poor quality of these videos, but, alas, I do not have access at the moment to 応援団　performances myself, and thus must rely upon the offerings of youtube and all the shake camcorder-holders therein.

I think the bad-ass-ness translates, though; even through poor quality filming.



I mean, look at this. They're not even wearing shirts, that's how awesome they are.

... yes, awesome can be measured in terms of clothing. As though you didn't know.

I find it interesting that in such a traditional (cough) activity as this, the rough ヤンキー type look is almost encouraged.

Admittedly, it could just be another factor adding to their image of bad-ass-ness. Who knows.

I do apologize, dear readers, for the failure in managing my update schedule, but... well, graduation weekend. I'm sure you understand.

In fact, who do you think you are, complaining about a lack of posts? Consider yourselves lucky you got anything at all! Ha-rumph, I say!

This is Edo, signing off while pondering her place in the world as a soon-to-be-graduate.