Naoki Jeong (Kaputt AU)

## Naoki "Hope" Jeong

**Naoki "Hope" Jeong** (born July 7, 1998) is an aspiring ballet dancer, singer and musician from Nagoya, Japan. Currently, he is a student in his final year of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program in Dance at The Juilliard School and a band member of the concept band Travesty. Naoki is the son of the Korean beauty company owner Baek-hyun Jeong and former Japanese model, now beauty and lifestyle blogger Tomoe Jeong. Naoki has made a name for himself as one of the most talented ballet dancers of the last decade and has already been part of several bigger and prestigious performances.

Naoki's mother is the sister of a yakuza member from Nagoya who happens to be the father of Naoki's cousin, Daichi Hamsaki. Ironically, Baek-hyun is also rumoured to have had connections with the jopok through his brother Lee.

## Neurodivergency

Right after his move to New York, Naoki has been diagnosed with ADHD. In order to manage his impulsiveness as well as to improve his attention span, he now takes Ritalin.

## Relationships

### Friendships

#### Janus

Though Naoki and Janus could not be any more different, they find a common ground in expressive arts. Naoki appreciates Janus for his musical talent and open-mindedness in terms of artistic domains.

## Artistic Influences

### Music

Naoki has always been fond of J-Pop as well as -Rock. In his teenage years, he has developed a soft spot for Visual Kei bands such as Dir En Grey, The Gazette, Nightmare and Due'le quartz. As the latter disband, which ultimately results in Miyavi's rise as a solo artist, Naoki finds himself not only completely infatuated with the singer, but also with his guitar skills. Shortly after, he begins to play the guitar, trying to imitiate the unique play style of his idol. While Miyavi remains Naoki's biggest influence, he is also fond of Eve, Kenshi Yonezu, Susumu Hirasawa and Kaze Fujii. He also is an avid fan of Queen Bee, Hikaru Utada and Chanmina, as they stand for being stuck in the in-between; be it gender identities or nationalities. Though he might not admit it, Naoki cherishes classics by Do As Infinity, Ayumi Hamasaki, Maaya Sakamoto, bubble gum-pop singer Momoko Kikuchi as well as *enka*-singer Keiko Fuji.

As he grew up in Japan, Naoki may prefer the music of his place of birth, but also enjoys K-Pop and -Rock. He particularly likes Stella Jang and cherishes the work of the South Korean cover singer Raon. Despite his distaste for idol groups and casted bands, he secretly listens to Stray Kids. Other than that, Naoki appreciates international rock, hiphop, pop and classical music.

Lastly, Naoki enjoys anime songs, particularly those of all-time classics such as *Cowboy Bebop* as well as *Neon Genesis Evangelion,* or rather unknown anime, e. g. *The Flowers of Evil* which may include experimental tracks.

### Dancing

Naoki has always been fascinated by the beauty of movement as well as the symbolical power of it. As he finds it hard to communicate and pinpoint his feelings due to his neurodivergency, he cherishes conveying emotion through motion.

As a child he has been fascinated by ice skating and ballet alike. After a rather disappointing trip to the ice rink, he decides to stick with ballet. While his parents are very supportive of his dreams, he is greatly frowned upon by some of his male classmates.

Though Naoki is an enthusiast of classic ballet, he also enjoys contemporary forms of dance. Aside from the *Tanztheater* of German choreograph Pina Bausch, he takes big interest in Micaela Taylor's art who is keen on mixing contemporary dance, hiphop and ballet. Lastly, Naoki admires the work of Katy Pyle's LGBTQIA+ ballet company.

## Trivia

* Naoki is a big fan of *Lego*. He owns an annual pass for the *Legoland* theme park in Nagoya.
* Finding out that Janus is fond of Susumu Hirasawa’s songs, Naoki invites him to a collaborative playlist on Spotify which is supposed to introduce him to more Japanese and Korean music.
* According to Lee, Naoki’s initiation ceremony was the longest he had ever witnessed. While Janus assumes that Naoki had probably been hesitant due to his friendly and pacifistic demeanour, Lee assures that Naoki throughly enjoyed himself.
* Naoki is lactose intolerant.
* Naoki is into both Martínez siblings which further adds to his sexuality-related confusion.
* Due to their character traits, Naoki and Ibrahim are often called "Phineas and Ferb".