Source: AKB48’s Official Blog
by HPriest on February 5, 2011
After yesterday’s article in the tabloid “Shukan Bunshun,” about an upcoming wave of 解僱dismissal for the idol group AKB48, the managers of the group have now made an official statement on the group’s official blog.
Apparently, a lot of people immediately tried to get in contact with the managers to find out whether the rumors about the potential firing of 8 members was true, but the official statement has now completely denied that anything like that is going to happen. They wrote, “We do not plan to ‘discharge’ anyone from the group.”
The whole incident seems like a common case of tabloids interpreting too much into the words of others. In the statement they continued to make clear that all they’ve ever talked about was “going back to the roots”, but that didn’t necessarily mean going back to a member count of 48 girls. Instead it means going back to “being idols you can meet”.
Recently, many fans have voiced that AKB has strayed off this concept and became more like “idols you can’t meet”, due to the various side-activities of many of the original group members. It’s still easy to meet research students and the members of SDN at their regular performances, but for AKB it seemed as if the priorities have shifted away from being close to their fans.
The organizers now simply want to try to restructure some elements of the group in order to become much closer to their fans again, but downsizing the group would obviously result in the exact opposite. Therefore fans can rest assured that none of the popular or underrated members are going to have to leave the group anytime in the near future.
AKB48傳裁員 小嶋陽菜謀過檔
2011/2/4
日本當紅偶像組合AKB48以人多勢眾見稱，但最新一期雜誌《週刊文春》指，監製秋元康上月在一個慶功宴上表示有成員生活態度愈趨怠慢並經常遲到，揚言要把成員數目由56人減至48人，即有8人會被叮走！
有傳有成員已收到工作人員通知，指行為差劣的成員先被叮走，更傳有成員更因壓力導致身體不適。據圈中人估計，在包剪揼(即剪刀,石頭,布)大會勝出的內田真由美因近期的夜蒲傳聞而榜上有名，至於較年長兼具高人氣的小嶋陽菜和篠田麻里子，則盛傳有機過檔姊妹組合SDN48。但有事務所負責人解釋只將8位成員降格做候補，並非炒魷。
Changes coming to AKB48, Akimoto Yasushi to kick 8 halfhearted members?
Source: Shukan Bunshun, entame scoop
by HPriest on February 4, 2011
A couple of girls inside mega group, AKB48 must have gotten quite a shock when producer Akimoto Yasushi announced after the final performance of their annual concert, “Request Hour Set List Best 100” that he is going to restore the member count to 48 girls.
Right now the group has a total of 56 members, which means that eight of them might be kicked out within the next couple of months. “I’ve heard about a lot of members that have a habit of being late and don’t have the right attitude for being in this group.” That’s how Akimoto pretty much announced what kind of members he is going to aim for.
Tabloid “Shukan Bunshun” has asked around some insiders to learn more about the possible candidates. One of them said, “There will be those that will be kicked out because of their ill manners, but there are also a lot of members ready for a graduation.”
It is even said that some of the girls collapsed soon after Akimoto made the announcement, knowing that they might be one of those halfhearted members. Meanwhile, those with endorsement deals, regular appearances on TV shows and sponsorships shouldn’t really be too afraid of getting fired or pushed towards a sudden graduation. The insider continued, “The past graduation of popular member Ono Erena already resulted in various delays of DVDs and so on, so they won’t make the same mistake again of letting an active member leave the group.”
People from their staff also have their own opinions about who should get kicked out of the group, as an insider revealed, “The only person with the right to decide who is going to leave the group is Akimoto Yasushi. Those that didn’t make it at the general election last year and those that only ranked at the bottom all have the same risk of getting sacked. Among us, the officials and the staff, members Masuda Yuka (25th) and Matsubara Natsumi (39th) are two of the top candidates. Also, when thinking about the timing of Akimoto’s announcement, it is more than likely that he is going to announce the eight members that are going to leave at the Yokohama Arena concert in March.”
That might have not been that surprising for you so far, but what is surprising is the fact that the winner and the runner-up of the AKB48 Janken Tournament might be strong candidates for Akimoto’s letter of dismissal as well.
An official of AKB48 revealed, “Ishida Haruka (2nd) is known for her bad attitude and disliked by almost everyone in the staff. Everyone is in the same boat, but she is the one who always has to be diva-like and show her displeasure, create trouble for the staff and make petty complaints like: ‘the dressing room is too small’. We’ve installed cameras in the dressing room for the DVD, but she never even thought about smiling for the camera. Instead she idled in front of her laptop and watched clips on ‘Nico Nico Douga’. As for Uchida Mayumi (1st), there are various rumors about her excessive night amusements.”
Akimoto regularly attends business meetings for all the shows and events his girls visit and speaks with the staff to find out about such things. The girls themselves should know the best whether the rumors about them are true or not, thus they should know what fate is going to await them. You can never work halfheartedly, not even – or especially not – when you’re a member of AKB48.
留言列表
