Virtual boy group PLAVE has garnered much attention as they have been hitting their career high with multiple person records broken with their latest album 'ASTERUM: 134-1.'

According to the Circle chart (formerly Gaon) update this month, the virtual group has sold over one million copies across their entire discography, with two mini-albums and one single album, setting a new career milestone.

Not only that, PLAVE's first fan concert, 'Hello, Asterum!' sold out in just ten minutes of the pre-sale, proving the group's popularity.

However, a heated debate was started in a popular online community when a netizen raised questions on whether the virtual group should be considered K-pop idols.

The K-netizen began the discussion by saying, "Huh? PLAVE are not real humans but they're fake idols, like anime. But people are talking on 'talk choice' discussions as if they're real people and it's creepy. I didn't have any interest in PLAVE and recently found out about them. Their fans seem to be very strange people and their personalities are quirky too."

Other netizens joined the discussion to share their thoughts on this topic. While some agreed that PLAVE is closer to anime characters, some defended the group.

Korean netizens commented, "I think it's weird too... They're no different from otakus," "This is true. Their fans scare me. They have the same personality, talk the same, and also think the same. It was intriguing in many ways," "I think it's crazy how they treat them like real-life people," "
Well, this is the same concept as anime characters, lol it's the same," and "The market is clearly different but they're constantly coming into the idol industry and picking fights so of course people don't like them. They should stay with otakus and stay away from normal people."

Other netizens commented, "There's no use in explaining to people that there are actual people behind the characters," "Where did these people get hurt from? lol," "I don't like the group but there are actual people controlling the characters," "I know PLAVE and know what they are because I saw a few YouTube short videos but I know they're not anime. The OP didn't need to write a whole post on it, lol" "Well I support them because their talent got to see some light through virtual idol," "Just leave them alone, geez," and "I think otakus who are anime fans are the same as K-pop fanatics, lol."