Kobushi Factory's Fujii Rio has left H!P (7/6/17)

[Shoujo Q]

Well this sucks. I was at a funeral and came out to my phone exploded with messages, most of which was this. What a crappy day. I'm going to miss her.

[sukibeam]

Celedam - I appreciate where you're coming from, and would normally agree about judging things from half-way around the world...

But honestly? In the end, she chose to be an idol, knowing full well what that entailed from watching her seniors as a KSS. Before this, I was neither here nor there regarding her, but now I am just plain disappointed in her. She couldn't have pulled herself together for two months? This hurts the other 7 members, Hello! Pro, and most importantly her fans who will never get to send her off.

Maybe she did have something personal going on causing her act out in whatever way that was breaching her contract, but you know what? Grown-ups still have to do their jobs even if something is sucking for them, and ultimately, she agreed to the responsibilities entailed onto her as a member of Kobushi Factory. She was selfish and irresponsible by not following through on her duties or listening to management the first time around, and now her shadow is always going to loom over the other girls. Just like Aina does for Juice=Juice and Uta does for Country Girls. She's caused a scandal - albeit less serious than Kago smoking or she-who-I-refuse-to-name becoming an adulteress. Hirose seems very composed and sweet in her blog, but if I were a KF member I would be pissed off.

I just feel bad for all the fans who were saving up, making plans, and looking forward to cheering her on at her graduation.

[Amped]

Fujii Rio is front page news on Yahoo.jp
https://www.yahoo.co.jp/
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/6246028

[RpgN]

Celedam - I appreciate where you're coming from, and would normally agree about judging things from half-way around the world...

But honestly? In the end, she chose to be an idol, knowing full well what that entailed from watching her seniors as a KSS. Before this, I was neither here nor there regarding her, but now I am just plain disappointed in her. She couldn't have pulled herself together for two months? This hurts the other 7 members, Hello! Pro, and most importantly her fans who will never get to send her off.

Maybe she did have something personal going on causing her act out in whatever way that was breaching her contract, but you know what? Grown-ups still have to do their jobs even if something is sucking for them, and ultimately, she agreed to the responsibilities entailed onto her as a member of Kobushi Factory. She was selfish and irresponsible by not following through on her duties or listening to management the first time around, and now her shadow is always going to loom over the other girls. Just like Aina does for Juice=Juice and Uta does for Country Girls. She's caused a scandal - albeit less serious than Kago smoking or she-who-I-refuse-to-name becoming an adulteress. Hirose seems very composed and sweet in her blog, but if I were a KF member I would be pissed off.

I just feel bad for all the fans who were saving up, making plans, and looking forward to cheering her on at her graduation.

Well...C-ute managed to end on a high note and were loved by many despite the graduations and scandals they dealt with. While I understand what you're saying I don't think Rio will affect the group greatly, especially if the other 7 remain motivated and willing to improve.

It's still very odd though...only 2 months left. It's very unfortunate that they won't be celebrating her graduation.

[Celedam]

*cracks knuckles*

Celedam - I appreciate where you're coming from, and would normally agree about judging things from half-way around the world...

I don't believe that for a moment. You just say that in order to excuse everything else that follows.

But honestly? In the end, she chose to be an idol, knowing full well what that entailed from watching her seniors as a KSS.

She became an idol when she was only 14 years old. Do I get to hold you forever responsible for what you did at 14?

Before this, I was neither here nor there regarding her, but now I am just plain disappointed in her.

Guess how much I care about your disappointment.

She couldn't have pulled herself together for two months?

And we don't know why. We never will.

This hurts the other 7 members, Hello! Pro

Well, yeah…

and most importantly her fans who will never get to send her off.

…aaaaaaaand there it is, the reason why I hate most other idol fans, including many of you who are reading this: you think you own these girls. You think they owe you something. You forget that it's a business arrangement and you are nothing more than a glorified customer.

Maybe she did have something personal going on causing her act out in whatever way that was breaching her contract, but you know what?

Again you say "but", so again I say you just say that in order to excuse everything else that follows.

Grown-ups still have to do their jobs even if something is sucking for them

For better or worse, we've spent the last few decades trying to get away from that attitude. We supposedly want people to be able to balance work and life and be happy with their careers, and we've passed a lot of laws in order to make that possible. Was I just imagining all of that?

and ultimately, she agreed to the responsibilities entailed onto her as a member of Kobushi Factory. She was selfish and irresponsible by not following through on her duties or listening to management the first time around

She said she wanted to retire, and since we're speculating wildly here, I speculate that she wanted to retire immediately. I speculate that Up-Front forced her to continue until the end of the summer so that they could do the whole graduation thing and exploit the hell out of her, with very little regard for what she actually wanted and what was actually happening in her life. I speculate that whatever it was got much worse since the initial announcement, to the point where the whole situation became untenable, so she did whatever she had to do in order to break the contract and get out. And I speculate that Up-Front is spinning this hard in order to save face, maintain order, and keep the rest of the members in line.

In my speculation, Rio is the victim and Up-Front is the villain. Is it true? We don't know. We can't know. And that's the point.

and now her shadow is always going to loom over the other girls. Just like Aina does for Juice=Juice and Uta does for Country Girls.

Yes, that's true, and that's unfortunate, but that's life.

She's caused a scandal - albeit less serious than Kago smoking or she-who-I-refuse-to-name becoming an adulteress.

For fuck's sake…

Hirose seems very composed and sweet in her blog, but if I were a KF member I would be pissed off.

Puh-lease. The rest of those members probably know exactly what's going on and have had months if not years to prepare for this. They don't need you to be outrageously outraged for them.

I just feel bad for all the fans who were saving up, making plans, and looking forward to cheering her on at her graduation.

GET OVER IT.

[Denki]

I guess it's time to change the header, since she didn't got the chance to graduate...

[resop2]

^^
I think that wota should speak up sometimes, if for no other reason than to let an idol know that her new hairstyle simply is not working.

[Shoujo Q]

Now that I've collected my thoughts. You can't blame fans for speculating. That's usually what happens when shocking things occur and you're given a vague understanding of what went down. Knee jerk reaction defaults on boyfriends, drugs, inappropriate behavior every time without fail. That's just human nature at work. It sucks that this happened and I wish it didn't. We may find out the truth some day, but not today. Hell, it took almost 20 years for us to find out the truth on why Fukuda Asuka left. Idol life isn't for everyone and a lot of the idols today only see this as a side job, something to make a little extra cash, not a life long gig. Some girls can take it, and others can't. You can't blame them and you shouldn't blame them or think less of them because of the paths they take. Not everyone is a Momochi. I'm sad that Rio couldn't hold out nor to I feel any ill will towards her for not making it to her ending. Some flames just don't make it to the end. I wish her the best in her future life, whatever it is she plans to do and I hope she is happy for it.

[erin]

I just hope everything is alright with Rio, I wish her the best of luck with her future.

[AyuHikaru]

Speculation is fine, but putting blame on the girl because of that speculation is not. We don't even know if it was because of her bad attitude, we're just assuming a bunch of stuff and blaming her for it. THAT is unfair.