In almost every niche online community, there are two types of people: those who enjoy porn related to their obscure interests and those who don’t.
Especially with headphone enthusiasts For those who like Chinese-made or “Chi-Fi” high-performance in-ear monitors (IEMs), the war is less carnal, as the languid anime girls adorning the box art are more like muses because food is portrayed as obviously sexual. But still it goes on.
Although IEM girls are not usually explicit, they are sexualized or at least romanticized by the people who buy them. Headphone fans will occasionally refer to these cartoon girls as “mascots” — which are typically original art created exclusively for a specific IEM, rather than existing anime franchise characters modified for marketing became. But more often they talk about them in terms of “the dead,” the manga trailer short for “attractive, vaguely Asian woman.”
Apparently what makes IEM girls “waifu” material is the fact that they look like kids. They’re often willowy, with ethereal baby faces or actual billowy schoolgirl uniforms, as in the case of $360 Moondrop blessing 2 duska collaboration with well-known headphone reviewers crinacle. Sometimes they just decorate the IEM box, like the girl with snowy hair gazing from Tankhim’s $40 OLAand sometimes they seem destined to embody the soul of a product, like Moondrop’s infamous Instagram post of a girl with torn stockings covered in…um, yogurt?
A console booklet
Since the Xbox Series S is $30 off, you can use that $30 for storage, an extra controller, or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
“Yogurt poured on the headphones,” says a Translation of the now deleted postmeaning the blushing girl is actually moondrop headphones covered in yogurt.
Do they want people to fuck the headphones? The fans I’ve spoken to don’t seem to believe it’s that deep.
Don’t overthink the anime girls
“I did not know it [anime girls on IEM box art] was a “trend” until I heard about it [the company] moon drop and how westerners thought it was unusual,” headphone fan M tells me in a Reddit chat. “I live in Asia, so anime artwork isn’t really that rare or unusual. I think it gives personality to the products and brands.”
Or, if not personality, then at least some mild, catchy sex appeal you wouldn’t normally associate with tech, like how a beer rush gets you pumped about sitting on your couch and eating bugles .
“[IEM anime girls help] are attracting more consumers,” says Jeremiah, another headphone admirer on Reddit. And “sometimes the IEM makes it more recognizable. For example, if you see a girl with a ponytail and glasses, you know immediately that this is Blessing 2 Dusk.”
But even those who appreciate the IEM girls have their limitations. “As someone who enjoys watching anime, I’m enjoying the trend when the box art is done tastefully,” says u/nopunterino. “But sometimes I think manufacturers can go too far.”
“I could [not even be able to order an] IEM I’m interested in the fear that my roommate or relative will open my box and see a bunny girl in a not very appropriate position,” says Jeremiah.
Both referred to SeeAudio’s collaboration with the audiophile reviewer Z ratingsThe $100 collected— which has two bunny-eared girls on the box, their mouths hanging open as they squeeze remarkably spherical breasts together in an embrace — as an example of a brand taking its anime girls “too far”.
“And we can never forget the Moondrop incident with the ‘yogurt’,” says u/nopunterino.
Most people I spoke to were blasé about IEM girls (and indeed they are I.E.M Girls – Over-Ear Headphones Made in China are mass producedno nerd bait like IEMs, and their design is mostly clinical). But it’s clear that some audiophiles are more loyal to them than they care to admit, and they’re particularly willing to defend companies that take it “too far”.
I have to analyze the anime girls
Read the many passionate “Why is this happening?” Threads on R/Headphones for a few minutes will lead you to evidence. Those confused by all the breasts and childish mouths seem afraid their opinions will be unpopular before they even voice them, wonder as cautiously as a deer ducks a hunter: “At the risk of being burned at the stake – what about the ‘waifu’ girls on so many products?” or, recently and in a nutshell, “What’s the deal with IEMs and anime girls?”
“Why? Where did this start?” u/brubby3179, who started the latter thread, asked users. “Never seen that with over-ears.”
“I’m new to the hi-fi headphone scene, so I didn’t realize this until early 2021 when I started looking at headphone reviews on YouTube,” u/brubby3179 tells me about two weeks after his thread had nearly 200 bickering- comments – so much discord that the r/headphones moderators banned the comments. “Some interesting comments on this thread, and what’s even more interesting is how vehemently some of these guys defend the boxing waifus.”
Aside from some vague theories about the crossroads between headphone enthusiasts, anime fans, and techies with money to burn, no one could offer a concrete answer as to “why” IEM anime girls were ubiquitous. Moondrop, the company most frequently cited as a popularizer, also failed to respond in time for publication.
But while the “why” is unclear, defenders are certain they’d like to keep the girls around.
“Looks like harmless fun to me,” said one user. “I don’t want the product, but I don’t want it to appeal to me. Seems weird to ask.” Hm. IEM Tony Soprano doesn’t want people to ask questions. Suspicious.
“Why the hate!!!?? Let me have my waifu. I need the yogurt waifu!” another user wrote repeatedly, each time more frantic. “I need yogurt waifu moondrop? Please make it happen, I’ll have 10 pieces buy it. lol.”
lol I personally like some IEM girls including Moondrop’s box art for the $20 Chu, a stoic figure with ashen bangs and eyes clear as fresh water. Feeling like patron saints or zodiac signs to techies, these less salacious drawings offer an oddly mystical way to imagine your headphones. Personalizing them gives them a heart, and I think that could encourage conservation and care, things that are good for the environment, your wallet, and your happiness.
Still, I wish beautiful IEM art wasn’t limited to girls or more “waifus” who were literally objectified and thrown away. Though many fans claim that “Asian culture” differentiates their waifu from down-to-earth misogyny, IEM sexual art is very similar to the racy souvenirs found at gas stations across the US
How chesty salt shaker or Florida keychains, many of which are documented by feminist artist Portia Munson in her silently devastating drawingsIEM girls encourage men to think of women as pocket-sized trinkets, just something to keep around the house.
“These objects initially appear as a humorous and slightly shocking anomaly depicting the commodification of women’s bodies in tchotchkes,” Munson’s website states, “but taken together, the sheer quantity speaks to deeper issues surrounding societal perceptions of women as accessories. “
I would like to see IEM girls being more clearly valued for what proponents say of them, their collectability and artistry, by being part of a more dynamic box art practice centered on anime males, landscapes or fantasy creatures or literally something else stretches. I’m getting bored of feeling like women are used to selling technology but aren’t welcome.
