Ootsuka Aina Has Left Juice=Juice & H!P as of 7/5

[Parhelion69]

edit: Amped beat me to it
Anyway, here are Akari's, and Karin's blog entries thanking Aina for her time in J=J:

Akari:
http://ameblo.jp/juicejuice-official/entry-11567044931.html

Karin:
http://ameblo.jp/juicejuice-official/entry-11567118203.html

Anyone care to translate please?

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Also, I remember Aina was the only one that wasn't excited with J=J debut annoucement, I thought she was told backstage beforehand or smtg, so she lacked enthusiasm after that xD (she injured her hip, and thus she didn't perform and waited for them backstage while they were performing)

So she probably knew already she was gonna leave by then...

[youtube]RyUBTp-7JuU[/youtube]

[Naomi]

Ugh, this sucks. I really liked her, too. I feel really bad for her because it wasn't even her decision.

[LiamMusume]

Let's hope this will not have any negative effect on Juice=Juice!
I am sad she is going, I really liked them all.. I am listening to their 3 songs now, having to lose one of the members already is pretty annoying

[randompasserby]

The other question I have is why is this becoming public knowledge? Normally when a girl leaves a group, we get some bogus "official" PR reason about her wanting to continue her studies or go into modeling or something. Who decided to release the real reason, was it the girl's parents as a way of trashing Up-Front on their way out? Was it Up-Front, as a way of trashing the Ootsuka family on their way out? Or was it some assistant or intern who couldn't keep his mouth shut?

It's public knowledge because it was officially announced of UF's site. There's hardly any chatter on 2ch before that so it's not a leak or anything...

Besides I'm kinda glad the agency decided to be up front (pardon me) about the real issue instead of spinning the usual PR, if it's to be called that. I never had much reason to disbelieve "focusing on school/studies, pursuing another career" as a legitimate reason for an idol's retirement in the first place but now that UF has proved that they can and will point to another reason for it other than that seemingly-generic excuse, it adds a certain air of truth in hindsight for all those out-of-nowhere retirement before this.

At least for me

[Zunu]

^ Oh sorry, I came in on the middle of the thread and didn't see Starra's link until just now. I totally misunderstood -- thought that the news was coming off of 2ch etc. So never mind about the first question but (having just read the notice) the situation makes me think that they were really upset that the Ootsuka family screwed up their plans. Upset enough to point fingers, and to let her family bear the brunt of any fan backlash.

[Amped]

can someone fix the darn extra "O" in Otsuka. it is very distracting.

[Denki]

I woke up to see this bad news.
Poor Aina, her parents just ruined her dreams.
I wonder what her parents would do if she was in a forever indies group like UUG.

[Zunu]

^^ Rather than speaking plainly and saying, "I have a strong preference that 大塚 be written as Otsuka instead of Ootsuka, because that's how it's usually done in Japan and specifically in Aina's case. Would anybody be upset if the topic heading was changed accordingly?" you try to paint the issue as somebody (oh, what a coincidence, Starra!) doing something incorrectly. It's like you're trying on purpose to convey a bad impression of your character.

Anyway, Starra, I'll leave it up to you. How about Ōtsuka...that might satisfy the both of you.

[resop2]

I blame this forum for Aina leaving. Aina leaves right after the last member of J=J is eliminated from H!PS. Coincidence??

[Zunu]

Hmm you do have a point, sir.