AKB Scandals Thread

[Moh]

The official website for Kodansha's Young Magazine announced on Thursday that AKB48 idol Tomomi Kasai's photo collection has been cancelled. The magazine's editors apologized for the cancellation of people's orders and thanked them for their understanding. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun paper, the possibility of a different photo collection for Kasai is being explored.


As recently as Monday, the magazine was advertising the "Tomomi Kasai First Solo Photo Collection Tomo no Koto, Suki?" [Do You Love Tomo?] book on its cover with an "early February" release date. The latest issue of the magazine was delayed and then revised to remove an "inappropriate" photo of Kasai.


Asahi, Sankei, and other news organizations reported on Friday that Kodansha is under investigation by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department for possible child pornography charges due to the book and its promotion in Young Magazine. Masaaki Hiruma, a media commentator with experience in editing weekly magazines, projected that the incident will cost Kodansha more than 300 million yen (about US$3.4 million) for just revising and reprinting the magazine issue alone. (Hiruma's estimate does not include the cost of cancelling the photo book entirely.)

[sb]

Wow, sucks for them!

I'm guessing whoever's idea it was for the photo is gonna pay the price with their job too.

[randompasserby]

Well there goes that "any exposure is good exposure" theory because no way in seven hells any immediate added exposure/fame/infamy from this fiasco is gonna be worth more than 300million yen in cold hard cash to the publisher, agency, and the idol herself

[DSQueenie]

Apparently the reason they are investigating is because in Japan nipples are considered a genital and if it's true they got the boy to touch it then they broke the law big stylie.

Have you guys been watching the Top 100 2013 concerts on Youtube? Tomorrow is the last and best day (since it's the top 20), they've been quite good. Usually all of the singles rank in the top 20 but even this years singles have ranked all ready so it shows either this years song just haven't been good enough or that casual fans have become wota's or the one I think is most likely is that they've reach their peak.

I think that's good for them though because to become legend you can't just be popular you have to be memorable and to tell you I barely remember half the songs they put out in 2011 (coincidently that was when my beloved Sayaka was in hardly any singles hm... ).

I hope MM doesn't supplant them say most popular group but that they find a stable place in the industry and are able to do interesting things without worrying about money. I think that for AKB the next two years is critical in trying to find that stable place in the industry when they aren't top dog any more.

In case you wanna watch the concert it's at 18:00 JST on their Youtube channel.

[DSQueenie]

^
On it's own Mariko's solo is a great song!

But yeah am I the only one who thinks this:
[youtube]UlzrIgacADU[/youtube]

I mean it's AKB48 not the army. The boyfriend rule is so stupid.

[randompasserby]

Is this because of the leak about the private party with some guys or something?
That same article mentioned a member of MM or h!p (i forgot, not by name) too but i never give it any thought ... since all seems peaceful enough on morningcoffee lol

But seriously, wow what the hell is this
care to elaborate on the backstory?

[Zunu]

She spent the night with Alan Shirahama from GENERATIONS. It was reported on in a gossip tabloid with photos of her leaving his place in a mask. Like that EVER works. Upon the story being released, she shaved her head in grief. She's apologizing to the fans and saying she'll leave her fate up to Aki-P, but that she wants to stay in AKB.

Her punishment is that she's being demoted to a Research Student (Kenkyuusei). Don't know what this means in terms of No Sleeves. Too bad, because it seems to me that she's really been peaking as of late; making commercials, losing weight, releasing singles, etc.

Takamina must be heartbroken.

I'm still pissed off about Masuda being forced out. She was easily the most talented girl ever in AKB, and it feels like they didn't even try to hold onto her.

[otaku_blue]

Nobody really reads the AKB thread, and it still kinda relates.

But there is no official word management made her cut her hair, but her demotion was enforced by management.

Its so messed up! Im glad this never happens to our Hp girls.

[Starra]

Miichan said herself that she shaved her head as atonement. It had nothing to do with the management. She acted on her own.

And what's so wrong with a demotion? She was caught breaking the rules. The Kenkyuusei don't even do much, so she's essentially in limbo. I think girls should get punished for breaking the rules, tbh. And sometimes they don't really (hey Sasshi).

I don't think she should've gotten away with it. She was caught doing something she shouldn't do. Maybe the rule is bullshit, but it's still a rule and she still breached her contract.

[otaku_blue]

Im more shocked about the whole shaving thing. Like an idol cant do that?