^And just remember: One of those Onyanko Club members ended up marrying one of those weird old men, their producer Akimoto Yashushi (he's now AKB's answer to Tsunku), so I have no doubt those creepy old geezers'd love to abuse their power. Another reason for me personally to respect Tsunku even more: He looks at the girls as if they were his daughters, rather then some young hot bimbo who they have easy access to.
To make this post somewhat relevant to the topic: My opinion of Gaki-san dropped when she said she actually wanted to graduate with Ai-chan, but management convinced her to stay for a bit instead. While she really deserved the leader title (we all know who the actual leader was during the Platinum Era after all), It was just so obvious she was more than done with the group, that passion she always used to brim with was nowhere to be found, and I felt the way she communicated with the new members at the time also gave this 'can't be arsed' vibe. Especially when you compare her tenure with Sayu, she seemed so lackluster at the end. Such a shame to end her awesome idol career like that. That being said, her graduation concert was great, and she seems a lot happier these days and that's what matters after all.