As Indonesia gears up for a presidential election, candidates vying for the top job are trying to woo young voters, particularly the country's huge number of Korean pop (K-pop) and Japanese anime fans.
Anies Baswedan is one of the presidential candidates and his popularity among the K-pop fan community increased after an X account called @aniesbubble came into the picture.
The account translated quotes from his livestreams from Indonesian into Korean, and its original 400 followers grew by 1,000 an hour after the first post, to about 180,000 people.
The ABC has spoken to the person behind @aniesbubble, who asked not to be identified to avoid online harassment.
They said the account initially wasn't made to support the former Jakarta governor, but to sell Korean products.
But it grew as they kept posting content of Mr Baswedan doing TikTok livestreams.
The X account owner said that they weren't paid by Mr Baswedan's national campaign team and wouldn't "necessarily vote for him" in the election.
They said they wanted to give people, especially the Gen Zs who like him, the opportunity to check his track record.
They said Mr Baswedan's TikTok livestreams were popular because they resembled the way Korean superstars live streamed themselves in cars while on tour.
"I think it's just likeable and appropriate," they said.
Another leading presidential candidate is the former general Prabowo Subianto, who's running alongside President Joko Widodo's son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Ganjar Pranowo, the former governor of Central Java, is also running for candidacy in the non-compulsory national election.
Their team is also trying to appeal to younger voters.
Young people the driving force
Indonesians will vote next Wednesday, and the younger people in the country will play a big part in shaping the outcome.
About 60 per cent of eligible voters are Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z, according to the country’s election commission.
Korean pop culture has infiltrated the lives of many these young people in Indonesia through dramas, music, and even skincare products.
While there's no exact number on the size of the K-pop fanbase in Indonesia, the enthusiasm is significant.
For example, a Twitter analysis has revealed Indonesia topped the list for "countries tweeting the most about K-pop" and "countries with the most K-pop fans" last year.
The fandom in the archipelago not only appears to be united by the love of their idols, but also through supporting victims of natural disasters by fundraising.
Two years ago, when a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Sulawesi and severe flooding occurred in the province of South Kalimantan, at least 16 K-pop groups in Indonesia organised fundraising for the victims.
They raised about $100,000 in 10 days.
Mr Baswedan’s national election team told Indonesian media they're "optimistic" his appeal would continue to rise due to the TikTok livestreams.
Ashanti Widyana, Korean culture expert from Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, said targeting Kpop fans through TikTok livestreaming has created a reaction "that exceeds expectations".
"But the K-pop fans might not pick candidate … they just like hyping something that resembles their idols," she said.
Have candidates 'wibu-nised' themselves?
Jakarta resident Annisa Maharani dubbed herself as a "wibu".
In some countries the term has been used to pejoratively describe an anime or manga fan.
"The connotation in Indonesia is different, and not only refers to anime and manga fans, but to those who are obsessed with Japanese culture," Ms Maharani told the ABC.
Ms Maharani said many Wibu community members were leaning more towards Ganjar Pranowo in the upcoming election, and his popularity has been helped by being likened to a popular character from their fandom.
"They initially compared Ganjar [Pranowo] to the character of Gojo Satoru because they both have white hair," said Ms Maharani, who added that she hadn't yet decided if she would vote for Mr Pranowo.
She said what Mr Pranowo did was more "organic".
"So, what we saw was it's the wibu community trying to reach out to Ganjar's election team, it wasn't Ganjar who wibu-nised himself," she said.
The tactic isn't always successful
Ms Maharani said when other presidential candidates, such as Mr Subianto and Mr Raka, tried to be more appealing to wibu communities, it seemed like it was not working well.
Joko Widodo's son has made several references to the character of Naruto Uzumaki, including during his campaign.
In a manga series, Naruto is a young man who vowed to be a ninja as he sought recognition to become a village leader.
Because of trademark laws in Japan, manga and anime characters cannot be used like they are in Indonesia for political purposes, Ms Maharani said.
"Many of us didn't like the fact that they used this for political gain — I think it's a similar sentiment shared with K-pop fans."
The ABC has approached three presidential candidates’ campaign teams for comment.
Last year, Gerindra – the political party that supported Mr Subianto and Mr Raka — gave away tickets to see Korean girl band Blackpink in Indonesia.
The tickets came with a condition that participants pose for photos with a campaign billboard.
One fan account of Blackpink criticised the gimmick.
"Please don't use the name BLACKPINK for your political interests," @Blink_OFCINDO replied to Gerindra's giveaway post on X.
Another presidential candidate and former governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo copped a backlash from the community after asking on X which K-pop group he should invite to the province.
Fans accused him of using the huge interest in K-pop as a political tool to gain votes, although he later denied the tweet had anything to do with politics.
Ms Widyana said K-pop fans have "a very strict boundary".
"When some candidates want to enter the K-pop fan circles they couldn't because they didn't understand the language, and were reminded by the fans to not enter," she said.
"They are asked to observe from afar … and to let the fans do their activities the way they like it."
Candidates' efforts to appeal to fandom won't be successful unless they happen organically, Ms Widyana said.
"I think it would be difficult for the fans to be controlled by the candidates," she said.
"It's clear they have very high barriers."
Ms Widyana said the fanbase has a "scary" way of dealing with people who try to use their idols for political purposes.
"When a K-pop fan speaks badly of other candidates or uses their idol's attributes to promote candidates, they will be told off — or even blocked," she said.
However, many young people, including Ms Maharani said they were unsure if all the K-pop and anime references made by the presidential candidates would help to win the election.
"[From] at least what I saw, K-pop and the wibu-nised helped the young voters to be more interested in politics and made the campaigns even more fun," she said.
"I really hope that young people in Indonesia are still objective, and find and vote for those who are open to criticism."