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The Meeting Between Taro-chin and Shiohigari

Shiohigari

The guest this time is Taro-chin, a game commentator who has transitioned to freelancing after working as a writer and editor for Netorabo.

Taro-chin

This is Taro-chin. Nice to meet you.

Shiohigari

Nice to meet you!

Taro-chin

I spoke at length, didn’t I?

Shiohigari

Yes, quite lengthy. I wrote this down in my notes.

Taro-chin

I thought you shouldn’t read it. Well then, nice to meet you.

Shiohigari

Nice to meet you. Let me introduce your profile again.

Born in 1985. Real name: Shotaro Oi. In 2008, he started game commentary on Nico Nico Douga under the name “Taro-chin.” After working as a writer and editor for the web news site “Netorabo,” he is currently freelancing. He was a person who loved alcohol, but in 2022, he suffered from a serious illness called “severe acute pancreatitis,” resulting in the necrosis of two-thirds of his pancreas. He is now permanently abstaining from alcohol.

Taro-chin

Alright.

Shiohigari

That was quite a lot to cover.

Taro-chin

It was indeed lengthy. It was a lot to say.

Shiohigari

Yes, it was quite a lot. You wrote it down, didn’t you?

Taro-chin

Yes, I did.

Shiohigari

So, let’s get started. How have you been lately?

Taro-chin

What about you? We’re in the same boat here. Nothing much happening.

Shiohigari

Let’s start with how you became a game commentator.

Taro-chin

Sure, I can explain that. Should I go in order?

Shiohigari

Yes, please do. Just go ahead.

Taro-chin Tells His Mother He Won’t Go to School While She Watches Fishing Fool’s Diary

Taro-chin

So, I’ll just go ahead and say it, but I’ve lived my life alongside the internet for a long time.

Shiohigari

That’s right, especially you. Yes, Taro-chin.

Taro-chin

Yes. The name Taro-chin that I use now started when I began game commentary on Nico Nico Douga in 2008. That led to me being approached and becoming a freelance writer. Since then, I’ve been living as a writer and editor. I first encountered the internet in junior high school. Up until the second year of junior high, I was extremely serious.

Shiohigari

Oh, really?

Taro-chin

I went to school properly, listened to my teachers, and didn’t do anything bad. I would stop at red lights, for example.

Shiohigari

That’s the type of person you were, checking both ways before crossing.

Taro-chin

Yes, I was the type who would pick up a 100 yen coin at an intersection and take it to the police box.

Shiohigari

That’s admirable.

Taro-chin

I was very much a model student…

Shiohigari

You were very rigid.

Taro-chin

I was a rigid, serious person. I was scared of getting scolded. I didn’t want to be scolded by my teachers, so I did my homework even if I wasn’t interested. I was the shy, serious type.

Shiohigari

I understand that.

Taro-chin

Most middle school students go through a rebellious phase, but I was more focused on societal norms rather than rebelling against my parents. I questioned the very concept of compulsory education, asking who decided that.

Shiohigari

Like a little Hiroyuki.

Taro-chin

Exactly, I was like a little Hiroyuki, saying things like him. So, in the second year of junior high, I told my mom, “I don’t want to go to school anymore because studying is meaningless.” At that time, my mom was watching Fishing Fool’s Diary. She just said, “Well, that’s fine,” and supported me.

Shiohigari

Oh, I see. So she was quite understanding.

Taro-chin

She was too understanding. Normally, a parent would say, “That’s not good,” and expect me to go back to school the next day. But there was no scolding at all. I thought it was okay, and I really stopped going to school.

Shiohigari

That must have been quite a surprising reaction. Normally, parents would stop you.

Taro-chin

I thought she might say, “But there are drawbacks,” or something like that. Instead, she encouraged me, saying, “You should do what you want.” So, I was thrilled and stopped going to school.

Shiohigari

So, you really didn’t go anymore.

Taro-chin

Strictly speaking, I did go to school, but I didn’t attend classes. I was like a semi-truant student.

Shiohigari

I see. So, you just went for lunch or something?

Taro-chin

Exactly. I would attend the morning assembly, and there was a room for semi-truant students. They would say, “You don’t have to go to class; just come to the consultation room.” I would go to the classroom once, attend the morning assembly, then go to that room. I would return to the classroom just for lunch and participate in events like the sports festival.

Shiohigari

Oh, so you were still able to communicate with your classmates?

Taro-chin

Yes, I was somewhat present.

Shiohigari

Did anyone think it was strange? Like, “Oh, Oi is acting differently?”

Taro-chin

Well, there might have been some comments, but my school wasn’t particularly chaotic, so everyone just thought, “Oh, that’s how Oi is.”

Shiohigari

So, everyone was quite understanding.

Taro-chin

It was more that I was the one who was different and twisted. I felt like they were on a lower level.

Shiohigari

There are times when you feel like the civilization level of this planet is too low.

Taro-chin

I was the one who built walls around myself, and that was my middle school life. Because of that, I thought studying was meaningless, and I didn’t see the point in going to high school either. I didn’t take any entrance exams and just didn’t go. So, what did I do? I just wandered around without doing anything in particular, but during that time, I encountered the internet. I got a computer just before graduating from junior high, started making a homepage, and began a text site.

Shiohigari

That was popular back then.

Taro-chin

It was indeed popular. At that time, I became aware of expressing myself through writing on the internet. Since videos weren’t possible back then, there was only a bit of FLASH.

Shiohigari

That’s true.

Taro-chin

I thought I could write since there wasn’t much technology for that. I liked reading books, and I thought I wanted to be a writer, but writing a novel seemed difficult. Then the internet was right in front of me, so I started a text site, which was my first encounter with the internet.

Shiohigari

I see, I see.

Going to University to Make Friends While Running a Text Site

Taro-chin

That text site didn’t succeed or anything, so I realized I needed friends and started going to university.

Shiohigari

Oh, so you didn’t go to high school?

Taro-chin

No, I didn’t go to high school. I took the GED, which is now called the “High School Equivalency Test.” I managed to enter university at the right age.

Shiohigari

Oh, I see. That’s quite rare.

Taro-chin

I took a strange detour. I enjoyed university life, and that’s where I started drinking. I realized that drinking made me smile with others, and I could live like this.

Shiohigari

I see, so you learned that there.

Taro-chin

Yes, that was where I completed my development. This eventually led to my severe acute pancreatitis.

Shiohigari

That connects back to your earlier experiences.

Taro-chin

That’s where it all began.

Shiohigari

It’s the beginning of a story.

Taro-chin

Yes… and during university, I ended up repeating a year. I enjoyed my time in the music club. When you do a club for four years, you graduate from that club, but since I repeated a year, I couldn’t graduate. All my friends I made over four years graduated, and I was left with nothing to do. I thought, “Oh, I used to do things on the internet,” and remembered my text site.

Shiohigari

Oh, I see. So you were quite disconnected from the internet during your time at university.

Taro-chin

Not really. I did some blogging here and there, but I was enjoying real life more.

Shiohigari

I understand.

Taro-chin

My relationship with the internet was more of a casual glance. But after repeating a year and having free time, I thought I might try the internet again. At that time, game commentary on Nico Nico Douga was just starting to emerge. It was really in its infancy. So, I thought, “Maybe I should give it a try?” and that was the trigger.

Shiohigari

Oh, I see. What video made you popular back then?

Taro-chin

I’m not sure if I became popular.

Shiohigari

But you had some level of popularity, right?

Taro-chin

Back then, there were very few people doing it. There were only about a hundred game commentators.

Shiohigari

There were few players.

Taro-chin

Now, there are probably billions of people doing it.

Shiohigari

Everyone is doing it now.

Taro-chin

Half of humanity might be game commentators.

Shiohigari

We are in the era of game commentators.

Taro-chin

Back then, there were only about a hundred people on Nico Nico Douga. It felt like the same number of people in my school year, so if you were doing it, everyone would know your name.

I think I started around March or April of 2008. There was a group called “Yutori-gumi,” and there was a legendary game commentator named Shinsuke who was really funny.

Inspired by such people, I started and became memorable enough for them to say, “Oh, you started game commentary too.” If I sent a casual email, we could go out for drinks, and we could easily have offline meetings. It was a time when the barriers were low.

Shiohigari

Yes, that makes sense.

Taro-chin

That’s how I became memorable. It was through that connection that I started to build relationships. I used to call myself a “hanger-on” to famous commentators, and through that, I started to get offers like, “Want to try being a writer?”

Shiohigari

So, that led to you getting work opportunities.

Taro-chin

Yes. When I graduated from university, I barely made it with my credits, so I hardly did any job hunting.

Shiohigari

Oh, I see.

Taro-chin

So, when I was wondering what to do, someone asked me, “Are you interested in being a writer?” Since I had been running a text site, I thought that was exactly what I wanted to do, so I decided to give it a try and became a freelance writer.

Shiohigari

Oh, I see. So the first person who offered you work was from Netorabo?

Taro-chin

No, it was a freelance editor.

Shiohigari

Oh, I see.

Taro-chin

Then there was a web magazine at Gento-sha that has since disappeared, called “Jikkyou Yaro B-TEAM,” which was a series featuring game commentators. At that time, it was rare for game commentators to engage in activities outside of just game commentary, so people interested in that area would come to interview us.

So, some people would say, “Oh, you guys are doing something interesting,” and one of those people later became an employee at Netorabo. That connection eventually led me to join Netorabo as a company employee.

Shiohigari

Oh, I see. That’s how it all came together.

Taro-chin

Exactly.

Shiohigari

Shall we take a break and play a song here? (laughs)

Taro-chin

Shall we play a song? (laughs)

Shiohigari

Yes. Which song should we play?

Taro-chin

Let’s go with the first one I mentioned.

Shiohigari

Alright, please introduce the artist and song title.

Taro-chin

Okay, please listen to “Ore-tachi no Ashita” by Elephant Kashimashi.

The Timeless Universality of Elephant Kashimashi

Taro-chin

Elephant Kashimashi, you see, I started listening to them around the time I was becoming truant in junior high. I thought I should live more rockingly, and that’s when I encountered Elephant Kashimashi. Since then, I’ve been listening to them consistently. While many people might listen to their favorite artists frequently, I tend to listen to Elephant Kashimashi only during significant moments.

Shiohigari

That makes sense.

Taro-chin

I often listen to them during tough times. For instance, when I was not going to school and was worried about what to do with my life. I didn’t go to high school, had no friends, and felt lonely, but I thought, “I chose this path.” During those times, I would listen to Elephant Kashimashi’s “Fight, Man!” and feel determined not to lose.

This song “Ore-tachi no Ashita” came out when I was in university, and I really love the lyrics. Miyamoto sings about how he felt in his teens, twenties, and thirties, encouraging us to do our best now. It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but it resonates with me. In my teens, I was filled with a mix of hatred and love, cursing the world. Miyamoto felt the same way, and I thought school was meaningless.

During my teens, I went through a rebellious phase, and in my twenties, I learned about sadness and wandered the streets, wanting to look away from it all. I might talk more about this later, but in my late twenties, I was drinking a lot with Shiohigari and had no job. There was a period when I would drink every day and just wander around the city.

Shiohigari

Yes, there was a time when you were wandering around.

Taro-chin

There was indeed (laughs). During those times, I felt a lot of overlap with the lyrics. In my thirties, I learned about love and realized that life is for that. Miyamoto sings about getting a job and getting married in your thirties.

He talks about how you have to brace yourself and do your best. Life doesn’t always go as planned, but he encourages us to stand tall and live boldly. This song resonates with anyone from any era, making it quite universal. It carries a positive message. Miyamoto is a sharp person, but he also expresses a lot of positivity and youthfulness. He can sing about “you idiots” and also say, “But let’s do our best,” which is a bit of a double standard.

But he seems to mean both sincerely, and I love that he throws straight pitches. So, when I overthink things, listening to this song really hits home and reminds me to live straightforwardly.

Shiohigari

I see. That makes sense. I also have a similar experience; I only listen to Cocco when I’m really angry. When I listen to “Rapunzel” while I’m furious, it makes me feel like, “Damn it!” It’s nice to have those kinds of songs.

Taro-chin

Those songs are like the ultimate support for those crucial moments.

Shiohigari

That’s what Elephant Kashimashi means to you.

Taro-chin

Yes, that’s Elephant Kashimashi.

#02 continues