The K-Pop Guide: Shipping

Ah, yes. One of the more divisive topics among fans, though generally viewed as harmless. Shipping.

You probably got a taste of it in my SHINee guide, but here’s a little refresher: shipping is basically making up couples, usually in the same band. Today I’ll expand a little more into it, as well as the good and the dangers of it.

Shipping is spread in different fandoms in different degrees. If you’re into SHINee, you’ll see ships everywhere. In B2ST they’re rare. You’ll have to dig if you want Block B ships. The reasons for why there’s little or more shipping vary, but usually it’s based on two factors: the members themselves and the company. SM (who own TVXQ!, Super Junior, SHINee, SNSD etc) promote shipping like crazy. They’ll make the members of the ship have same clothes or accessories, or the choreography or something will coincidentally have the ship members fall together. This is why SM bands generally have more ships. It also depends greatly on the members of course. When we have fan-service kings like Jonghyun and super-affectionate guys like Siwon, ships are bound to sail.

Ships usually have names. Since Korean first names are usually two-part, most ship names are made by joining two parts together. Like YunJae (Yunho and Jaejoong), EunHae (Eunhyuk and Donghae), JongKey (Jonghyun and Key)

JongKey

The sequence of names in the ship name also matter. If you’re more well-versed with yaoi (the standard name for male×male fiction) you’ll know that when things get… adult… there’s usually a top and a bottom. The ‘top’s name comes first, usually. For example, YunJae is sometimes made into JaeHo, where Yunho bottoms (but I find that kind of awkward to think about).

There’re a few categories of ships (well, in my mind anyway) so I’ll list them:

The Fan-Service Ship

This one is caused by the members actually doing their best to promote the ship, usually egged on by the company. Most ships, if they get popular enough, eventually roll on into this kind of ship. The members just get more touchy than usual, describe the other by more… suggestive terms. Since I adore Super Junior’s Kyuhyun, I’ll use his ships to describe. A proper example of a fan-service ship for Kyuhyun would be KyuMin, his ship with Sungmin. Kyuhyun’s a pretty good fan-servicer, and this ship goes far in SJ.

KyuMin

The Personal Ship

My favourite kind of ship. This one is a ship-starter, and might tumble into a fan-service ship, depending on popularity. This one is just genuine closeness, no fan-service. For example, JongKey of SHINee started as a personal ship, but then became a fan-service ship. The Kyuhyun ship would be KyuMi (yes, the names are close, it’s also called QMi), his ship with Zhou Mi. It’s the Kyuhyun ship I ship.

KyuMi

 

The Crack Ship

This one… just stems. From nothing really, it just occurred. We just need one frame, or one picture, or one word, and it booms. These are usually just fringe ships, difficult to find stuff for, and usually just done in good humour. Occasionally this is just done to make up ship names. I’ll just leave my once-shipped OnHo of SHINee here.

OnHo

 

The Cross-Band Ship

Most ships are in one band, but some cross-over to other bands. These are somewhat rarer than in-band ships. A nice example would be KyuMin, the Kyuhyun×Changmin ship. Kyuhyun’s from SJ, and Changmin TVXQ! They are quite good friends, which is usually the base of a cross-band ship. I ship this too, actually. Sorry Mimi. 

The cross-band ship is also the root of:

The Hetero Ship

Most ships are homosexual, since co-ed bands (bands with both guys and girls) are rare. They’re usually done for fun– very few ships are viewed as ‘real’ by usual shippers. Hetero ships (where it’s actually male×female) are sometimes viewed as just fun, but also sometimes viewed seriously. Some stem from dating rumours, like Kyutoria (Kyuhyun and f(x)’s Victoria) or from shows like We Got Married, like Yongseo (CN: Blue’s Yonghwa and SNSD’s Seohyun). 

YongSeo

  

Now remember, shipping is usually done just for fun. Very few actually think their ships are real. It’s just fun to squee over some of your favourite members of your band acting all sweet or lovey with each other, or just saving some pictures or writing some (occasionally hilarious) fanfiction. Most shippers usually have a multitude of ships they support, usually with overlapping members. Just don’t take it too seriously, don’t bring down other people’s ships, and you’ll be fine. 

For example, my recent cross-band crack ship of B.A.P's Daehyun and B2ST's Gikwang. People, they wore the same shirt in a very short amount of time! Couple matching!

Gikwang extreme right

Daehyun on the right. Same shirt.

 

But of course, there always is a section of those who take it too seriously, and it gets completely out of control.

YunJae was a ship in TVXQ! (DBSK), and it was immensely popular. In 2009, three members of TVXQ! left, Jaejoong one of them. So the ship ended, right?

Nope. A great deal of YunJae shippers believed YunJae was real, and it followed the two of them. Matching them up, rumours flying every time they happened to be in the same country. People went to TVXQ! and Jaejoong concerts (his solo concerts, plus ones with his new band JYJ) and held up YunJae banners, went to fanmeets and randomly yelled out the other’s name. People, the TVXQ! split up was really painful, I’m sure, for the members as well, so I think the least we could do is not keep yelling out ‘Yunho’ or ‘YunJae’ at their concerts, whether or not YunJae was ever real.

Though Jaejoong is totally gay and Yunho is questionable.

Well, I hope my guide on shipping did something for you, and if not, I’m just happy to say a little about my favourite ships.