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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The Aftermath of Kago Ai's Scandal

Yeah, I know I shouldn't have posted this. But I cannot get it out of my system just yet.

Seems like Kago Ai's scandal have a significant amount of impact to everyone around her.

First, her now-former agency Up Front Agency. Sports Hochi reports that UFA is reinforcing/reevaluating their system of educating their talents, to avoid similar cases from occurring again. The details are not revealed, but tagged as "industrial secret". Apparently fans were protesting over UFA's decision of terminating Aibon, saying that the punishment is too much. But the agency are not swayed.

Then NikkanSports notes that lots of Aibon related sites have begun shut down, notably a popular Aibon fan site AI am, which will close down by the end of this month. The webmaster came to this conclusion - "you reap what you sow". Also, the man who was in the tabloid with Aibon, Ishimoto, has not appeared in his restaurant in the city and is not available for response/comments, according to the workers there.

As for the fans... not much different from us fans across the oceans. Absolute chaos. There were:
- The calm ones ("Smoking is illegal, she got what she deserves", "Things wouldn't turn out this way if she didn't start it again"),
- The frustrated ones ("Termination is too harsh!", "Give her a second chance")
- The die hard ones ("Aibon, we believe in you!", "It's not her in the photos")
..... etc etc. Like I said - not any different from us. Overall, I think the otakus in Japan has evolved, is more modern-minded and ready to accept the change with the times, not all wotas are necessarily blind followers of their idols. But who knows... we cannot judge the majority based on reactions of the minorities. Myself included.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparently fans were protesting over UFA's decision of terminating Aibon, saying that the punishment is too much. But the agency are not swayed.


The article says the opposite.

Xacur said...

And what is the opposite?
Fans were not protesting, and UFA is swayed?
I would like to speak japanese right now.
I'd like to be in japan right now

Anonymous said...

I don't know whther or not this is good to say now, after it's over, but I read somewhere (probably Hello!Online) that Weekly Gendai's editor (or something) had been changed recently. It was the guy who formerly held that same position for Friday.

Something's weird here...

I think Kago could still come back, if they find out what's going on behind the scenes.

It's good to see that everyone's kind of starting to calm down...

Anonymous said...

Still can't fathom what has occurred with Aibon except for the fact that, like Yaguchi in 2005, she decided to start her adult life and leave a charmed childhood behind.

Anonymous said...

All this could be a good thing in the long term. It is making people (UFA-FANS) think about what they are doing. It could, I hope, bring about some positive changes in the industry. May-be some leeway in some things and greater care for artists. They are after all mostly minors.
Graham. Aust.

faraithi said...

have you guys seen this:

A special letter from a 12-year-old Kago Ai
http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?act=helloonline&CODE=news&topic=76

looks like her dreams are gradually coming true...

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

Yeah... I actually noticed that on the uploaders, before H!O published it. I had thought it was some kind of prank. Until the team at H!O verified it to be authentic. ^_^
It was quite an insight, wasn't it? ^_^

Anonymous said...

>Xacur

And what is the opposite?
Fans were not protesting, and UFA is swayed?


The second(last) paragraph of the article describes how calmly the fans accepted the conclusion without protest.

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

Ah I see... "混乱はなし" is referring to the fans, not UFA. Ok I get it now, thanks! ^_^

faraithi said...

"It was quite an insight, wasn't it"

Yup, it was, indeed; I like to think that God was with Aibon all along, inspiring her and guiding her...no wonder she was able to write such a seemingly prophetic letter before she even auditioned for MoMusu...

Now, the next big Aibon news we can wait for is the revelation of her possible marriage and/or pregnancy...

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