Restarting the Old Rusty Engine
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Time's almost up... a roundup of Aibon comeback rumours

Didn't pay for my internet subscription yet. So one last post before it gets suspended until I can restore it on Friday.

So now, it's almost February. In fact in Japan time zone, it's already the 1st of February over there. For us Hello! Project fans, we will always remember that it's on this month Kago Ai was suspended - 10th of February.

As you can see from the JavaScript timer that I put up on the right sidebar, time is almost up. So is she coming back or not?




My daily routine of patrolling are like this ->

1) Start Firefox
2) Browse WHG
3) Browse other BBS and blog communities
4) Browse news sites (e.g. Nikkan, Sanspo)
5) Browse image uploaders
6) Browse fan sites (e.g. tsujikago.com)
7) If news found, blog it. Else pull hair and grind teeth in despair
8) Repeat step 1. on the next day

At this moment, the hair-pulling on step 7 have stopped. It is now reduced to just letting out a soft sigh and shaking of head... I have a feeling that I will be taking down that timer, and Aibon will still not be back yet. I am so tempted to ask my sister's roommate (currently working as translator and escort for Jpop artists that travel out of Japan for events), to scoop out some sort of insider news for me. But I am afraid that she will lose her job...

Commenter Xacur left a message on my previous post citing about the rumour of Aibon's comeback on April. Actually, that's not the first time we hear rumours like this. Here's a breakdown of predictions from last year:

February 2006Mid Feb, because suspension in school is at standard of 2 weeks
March 2006Hello! Project Sports Festival
April 2006With reference to Abe Natsumi's case (2 month suspension)
May 2006Saitama Super Arena concert, comeback to replace Konno Asami
June 2006While handing a bouquet to Tsuji Nozomi on her birthday in a concert
July 2006Comeback at Konno-Ogawa graduation concert
August 200624 hour TV Marathon
September 2006Tsunku's dinner show at Nara
October 2006Re-signing of new contract
November 2006Widely circulated rumours (e.g. saw Aibon going into a TBS building)
December 2006Kouhaku New Year show
January 2007Participating in Momusu A-Team
February 2007One year from the date of suspension (current)

Source from WHG. One rumour for every month, how about that? ^_^


So what else is there?
How about the sighting of Aibon attending the Hello!Project 2007 Winter 〜 Shuugetsu! 10th Anniversary 〜 concert? Apparently, some fan had spotted her weeping when the girls were singing on stage, and that she came with Konno Asami. Are those tears for not being able to sing on stage herself or because she knows that she is not able to comeback?

Other rumours that I've read about:
- Aibon spotted in some health resort in Nara
- Aibon was involved with some guy during the suspension and the management UFA was pissed over it.
- Aibon became fat, and the UFA had to extend her suspension
- Nono (Tsuji Nozomi) was assigned to various solo works, and is following the path of Mari Yaguchi, therefore speculating that Aibon will not come back
- Nono's requesting Tsunku to come up with solo songs for her to sing on the first episode of her online programme "Curious Nono", raising more speculations that Nono knows that Aibon is not allowed to come back

[cheesy TV sales guy voice]But wait.... that's not all~~~! [/cheesy TV sales guy voice]

Topics tagged "Kago Ai" in WHG

As you can see from WHG alone you can read about all Aibon related news, rumours, gossip, teasers, insider information, speculations... etc. And there has never been an end to it. And that's only WHG. There are other BBS, Aibon or DoubleU(W) fansites that I haven't listed.



So what should we do? There are so many circulating hearsays out there, that even I find it hard to separate between fact and fiction. In the meanwhile, I have turned my attention more to the Niigaki Risa's rising popularity, Morning Musume under the leadership of Fujimoto Miki, the Momusu A-Team and their possible expansion, Berryz Koubou's next single... etc. Life goes on... but I hope Aibon will back with us for it.

If not, will we be hearing our beloved Kago Ai saying the most feared words ever? (T.T)

"Sayounara..."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I myself am one of many who live in blind hope that Aibon will be back in the next couple of weeks. Let's face it, if not now, when? Probably never, a suspension of over a year seems unlikely so if she isn't announced to return anytime soon then it looks like it's all over. Although I don't enjoy havingto say this I'd much prefer Tsunku to at least release a statement in February saying Aibon won't be coming back rather than leavingus in the dark and having us hope for something that simply isn't going to happen.

Xacur said...

I feel the same. February seems the last of this kind of coutdown. Some say that there's still hope 'till she turns 20 or 21 but that the age for a ending an Idol career not to come back, and even more it's just a lot of time. 2 or 3 years?? If she comes back no matter when I would be happy and will support her but I don't think it could be the same for her career.
Other thing, Tsunku not saying a thing. H!P not givin any news or explanation seems like offensive to me and all other H!P fans specially Aibon's fans. Returning Aibon or not, I think it have been a grave offense to us.

Anonymous said...

Don't give up hope I'm sure Aibon will be back *crosses fingers*.
But I definitely agree that a statement needs to be made to let us know what is happening and I would like to hope that on the anniversary of this event somebody from within H!P says something whether good or bad just to put our minds at rest.

Anonymous said...

It's good to see people are on a similar wave-length. I have to say though, if Tsuknu is to leave it this long without saying anything at all and then announcing that Aibonwon't be coming back it will be evry strange. There's plenty fo fans in Japan waiting for news too and too keep them in the dark for so long and then say her career is over seems strange, I'm hoping this is a sign she will be back soon but I'm not holding my breath.

Anonymous said...

As much as I would like to see it, there's no way it can happen, because: 1) "W" was such a supercharged duo, that I don't think it's feasible to expect Aibon to have enough initiative to muster the energy required for a comeback, and 2) No doubt a weight problem is certainly likely. Note how Aibon got way, way down for the "Wonderful Hearts" concert, her last effort. She looked a little pale and weak (Nono was really skinny, scarily so), but that performance remained great. Once you lose it, you lose it, and it will be very hard to make it back. But she will always hold a special place in my mind and heart.

Mick a.k.a. jinryuichi said...

Got my internet connection activated again... ^_^

Good to see you guys on a positive side. some good points noted... ^_^

Yeah, H!P/UFA are known for announcing their activities or status of their projects to everyone even months ahead. Like what Tom said, that they have been silent on Aibon's case, which gets us fans worried.

Related to RadP's points... I also worry that if Aibon DOES come back, she may end up like Yaguchi or Nono - a non-singing solo act. Non-singing in a sense that they don't get their own solo albums.... :(

Xacur said...

It seems like there are too few possibilities of this having a good end in any way T_T.
But I'm still waiting, hopefully.

Anonymous said...

Even if Aibon comes back and is not singing, i can't imagine she'd be separated from nono, it would simply be bad business sense to separate them and make them work on there own, individually they are good...together they are great!

You would also imagine that if she does return, W's 3rd album will be released, all the packaging and cd's must have been printed and sitting in some warehouse somewhere...which would then mean some kind of promotional events would be needed, which would naturally mean that Aibon and Nono would be performing again.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Aibon will suddenly pop up, unannounced, in a new W single or something? You know, something we'd never expect. That way, we'd all be pleasantly surprised.

If not,adn there is an announcement, 1 of 2 things will happen:

1. People will be jumping for joy in front of their tV's and computers

2. People will feel just about as bad as they did when they heard about Yossie's brother. Thousands of remotes and keyboards will be ruined by tears... or something to that effect.

Anyway, something has me thinking a lot about Yossie lately, and now that I'm reading a lot about Aibon, maybe there's a connection there? I'm going to be keeping an eye on Yossie's news for a while...

Come back soon Aibon!

Mick a.k.a. jinryuichi said...

@paul.thomas...... Good point. That's the kind of thing that keeps my hopes up. Logically, they can't throw all those merchandise away without making use of it.

@Ayu-chan...... This "pop up, unannounced" thing is not UFA's practice. I don't foresee that happening. I'm real scared about your point 2.

Funny you mention Yossie.... because I'm REALLY curious of finding pictures at the uploaders marked "呪う"... meaning "curse".

http://hellogirls.myphotos.cc/files/data/hellogirls30880.jpg
http://hellogirls.myphotos.cc/files/data/hellogirls30885.jpg
http://hellogirls.myphotos.cc/files/data/hellogirls30887.jpg
http://hellogirls.myphotos.cc/files/data/hellogirls30888.jpg
http://hellogirls.myphotos.cc/files/data/hellogirls30894.jpg
http://hellogirls.myphotos.cc/files/data/hellogirls30897.jpg
http://hellogirls.myphotos.cc/files/data/hellogirls30902.jpg

They all have pictures of Yossie and Aibon together. Now if only I can find out who uploaded it and why....

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