It was said that Niconico was the first website to invent the scrolling bullet screen feature. After that, ACFun and Bilibili followed suit. Whether it was true or not didn't matter much, but after their rivalry cooled, ACFun remained stagnant.
On the other hand, Bilibili had taken over the entire Chinese market in that field.
In Japan, Niconico faced no real competitors. Its daily active users remained high, very different from Yahoo Video, which had become a gathering place for trolls. The overlap between the two platforms' user bases was minimal.
Except in times of natural disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis, or during prime ministerial elections, it was rare for both sites to headline the same topic on their front pages.
Yahoo Video displayed: [Sony's "Daughters of Chu" Grand Finale, and the star himself makes an appearance.]
Niconico's headline read: [What does a male seducer look like? Three seconds and you'll be bewitched.]
Comments quickly followed:
"Forget the 'Daughters of Chu' final, what I'm really looking forward to is Chu Zhi's performance."
"I can't believe I didn't know Chu Zhi was in Tokyo again."
"Male seducer? A fox spirit in male form? This is exactly my taste, oh ho ho ho."
Soon, Japanese cat-loving fans began hyping him up, among them Ojima Matsushika, who immediately went home to watch it with his mother.
The head of the planning department may have slacked off as a judge, but he was a master at promotion.
For each site, he came up with special hooks. For example, on Niconico, a pop-up window appeared: [What does the fox spirit in your heart look like? Watch the video and tell us your answer.]
Responses varied:
"Obviously, the male fox spirit looks like my boyfriend."
"Six-pack abs and foxy eyes, I can't handle it."
Even well-known Japanese singer Hirokumo Ryoko, a forty-five-year-old "beautiful witch," tuned in. Semi-retired and with plenty of time on her hands, she watched as well.
Hirokumo Ryoko was a face-fan of Chu Zhi. Seeing the prompt, she first thought of her twenty-five-year-old boyfriend. Though she changed partners often, when in love she adored them deeply. As a self-proclaimed "younger men harvester," her joys were beyond what younger women could imagine.
The eight female finalists of the contest had talent, having risen from thousands nationwide. Yet in front of a diva with over two decades of dominance in the music scene, their inexperience was plain.
After a while, Ryoko grew bored. The only thing keeping her from skipping ahead was the scrolling comments praising the young contestants:
[Airi-chan sings so well],
[Such a charming stage presence],
[I love it].
"Naive children," Ryoko thought. In her own concerts back then, she had her audiences utterly entranced.
After about half an hour, she lost patience, set the phone aside, and started cooking while listening.
Listening to variety shows while multitasking was a skill many urban dwellers had mastered. She pulled out a palm-sized block of tofu from the fridge, cut off a sixth to boil, then sliced three pieces of meat and pan-fried them.
She added a small portion of rice. For the Emperor Beast, that would barely fill a tooth gap, but for her, it was indulgence.
To maintain her figure, Ryoko had been strict with her diet for over ten years, eating mostly grains and rarely rice. Daily exercise was mandatory. Of course, it was hard, but every time someone envied her figure, their admiring eyes gave her motivation.
"Oh, it's starting? This is the performance I've been waiting for." Ryoko focused her attention back on her phone.
And then she saw him. The fox in red… cough, no, Chu Zhi.
Oh my. He looked even more enchanting than her young boyfriend. That collarbone, that bell at his neck, those long legs, that perfect proportion. For a woman who had seen everything, Ryoko still felt shaken.
And the real seduction had just begun. The performance of "Explosive and Combustible" started—
🎵 Look at me crazed, yet look at me witty and dignified.
Want me radiant, yet cold-faced and unblinking.
Want me intoxicating, yet lost in my gaze.
Covet my sincerity, yet bewitched by my eyes.
Run away with me, yet swear loyalty to me alone. 🎵
Both platforms thoughtfully added Japanese subtitles. Ryoko's eyes glazed over, and she murmured to herself:
"This description is too mild. Chu Zhi isn't a fox spirit. He's the male version of Yang Guifei."
Thanks to Bai Juyi's poetry and the spread of Tang dynasty culture, Yang Guifei was revered in Japan as the greatest beauty of China. For Ryoko to compare Chu Zhi to her was the highest praise possible.
Think about it. Even Hirokumo Ryoko, who had weathered countless temptations, could not resist Chu Zhi's mix of beauty and song for more than five seconds. What chance did inexperienced boys and girls stand?
The flood of comments exploding across both websites said it all. Compared to the earlier eight contestants, the bullet screens went completely mad, from Ragdoll fans and non-fans alike.
[How can a man's voice sound this beautiful?]
[His eyes hold the stars, and me within them.]
[I've fallen in love. I know I've fallen in love. I'll never marry anyone but him.]
[What song is this? I'm a man, and my face is burning red.]
[I think I finally understand why this Chinese singer has so many fans here. He could just stand on stage, and I could watch him all day.]
These were just a fraction of Niconico's barrage. Countless "kksk" and "sk" filled the screen too—forum slang from Japan, short for "koko suki" (I like this part) and "suki" (like).
It was clear that with his "voice of seduction," Chu Zhi had won another wave of fans, this time among Japan's most financially powerful anime otaku.
Normally, these otaku only loved two-dimensional characters. Real people could never compete. In Japanese manga, characters' noses were often simplified or omitted just to make them prettier. That was why idol performances usually failed in this circle.
But Chu Zhi opened their eyes. Renowned female manga artist Takahashi posted on Twitter after capturing a screenshot of Chu Zhi's performance: [This man's beauty, I couldn't capture even one-third of it in my art.]
Thus, Chu Zhi earned a new title: "Beauty beyond the reach of 2D." Many otaku began spamming their favorite anime forums with blood-written pleas, begging Chu Zhi to play certain characters in live-action adaptations.
If the frenzy on anime platforms could be explained, the comments on Yahoo Video were simply baffling—
[You all call Chu-san handsome from a woman's perspective. But from a man's perspective, his looks are more precious than an F-22 fighter jet.]
[Let's buy Chu-san from China and have him sing for us every day.]
[Question: Is the man in the video a succubus or an elf?]
[Could Chu-san actually be South Korean? And if South Korea belongs to us, then so does he.]
Of course, Yahoo Video's crowd included extremists and troublemakers, so insults toward Chu Zhi also appeared. Those don't need repeating. As they say, you don't keep staring at a wound just because a dog bit you. …Sorry, that's an insult to dogs.
Meanwhile, Ōmori Gento was thrilled. Sony Music had been waiting for this. They rushed Chu Zhi to record the studio version of "Explosive and Combustible," timing its release perfectly.
If they were going to do it, they had to go big. Otherwise, there was no reason for an executive like Ōmori Gento to personally take the helm of a single.
And the results did not disappoint.
===
Yang Guifei (杨贵妃, 719–756 CE) is one of the most famous women in Chinese history. Her real name was Yang Yuhuan (杨玉环). She became the beloved consort of Emperor Xuan Zong of the Tang Dynasty and is remembered as one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China (alongside Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, and Diao Chan).
She was celebrated for her extraordinary beauty, her plump yet graceful figure (considered the ideal of Tang aesthetics), and her talent in music and dance. But her story ended tragically: during the An Lushan Rebellion (755–763 CE), Emperor Xuan Zong was forced to flee. His soldiers, blaming Yang Guifei and her powerful family for the empire's downfall, demanded her death. She was executed at Mawei Post Station in 756, and her life became a symbol of beauty entwined with political disaster.
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The link between fox spirits or vixen (狐狸精, huli jing) and seduction comes from a long tradition in Chinese folklore and Daoist mythology:
Shapeshifting into Beautiful Women
Fox spirits were believed to be able to transform into humans, most often into beautiful women. They would use this form to enchant or seduce men, sometimes draining their energy or life force to strengthen themselves.
Ambiguity: Evil vs. Benevolent
Not all fox spirits were malevolent. Some were tricksters or even loyal lovers. However, the dangerous seductress image became the most culturally enduring. In patriarchal society, stories of fox spirits often carried a cautionary undertone: beware of lust, temptation, and women who might "ruin" households.
Association with Women's Sexuality
The term huli jing later became a derogatory metaphor for "homewreckers" or women who seduce married men. In modern Chinese, calling someone a fox spirit still implies they are a manipulative seductress.
Parallels with Yang Guifei
While Yang Guifei herself was not literally called a fox spirit in history, later literature and criticism often cast beautiful, politically influential women (like her or Daji, the concubine blamed for the fall of the Shang Dynasty) in that role. Their beauty and intimacy with rulers were seen as dangerous forces that led to dynastic collapse. This moralizing tendency tied female sexuality and allure with downfall and chaos.
In short:
Yang Guifei symbolizes overwhelming beauty and tragic romance, but also the danger of female influence at court.
Fox spirits/vixens became a mythological projection of the same idea: irresistible seduction that can bring both pleasure and ruin.