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INTEREST: Former AKB48 Idol's Crowdfunding Campaign Includes Date Rewards


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Tomibiki



Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 834
PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 7:09 pm Reply with quote
Dammit Japan.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 7:28 pm Reply with quote
You sure you wanna offer dates that cheap, considering you don't know what kind of stalker creeps you might encounter?
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 8:38 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
You sure you wanna offer dates that cheap, considering you don't know what kind of stalker creeps you might encounter?


I'm sure Anna will be fine, she isn't even in AKB anymore. Also, 200,000 yen isn't that cheap.
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reanimator





PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:49 pm Reply with quote
I wonder about Japanese fans who spent so much on dating some former celebrity as bragging rights.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:12 pm Reply with quote
The Japanese in general seem much more averse to crowdfunding than the West, otherwise I'm sure the reward level for that would have been at least 10x higher.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:59 pm Reply with quote
Hoppy: It's cheap enough for the nutjobs with disposable cash to get in. Rolling Eyes But I guess they knew only otaku would buy into it.
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reanimator





PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:50 am Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
The Japanese in general seem much more averse to crowdfunding than the West, otherwise I'm sure the reward level for that would have been at least 10x higher.


That's a generalization though. I was looking at the rewards and they don't offer much. They still have 35 days to go, so it's too early to judge how it'll turn out.
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Usagi-kun



Joined: 03 Jul 2013
Posts: 877
Location: Nashville, TN
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:56 am Reply with quote
I personally find the whole 'idol' thing over there intensely creepy. Singing and dancing is one thing, but the part about completely exposing yourself and keeping your own identity in check to meet a preset criteria of someone else's fantasy...and treating it like a normal business transaction...yeesh. No thanks.
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 3679
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 2:08 am Reply with quote
Is that really a wise thing to offer paid, offline meetings as a monetary reward? The question is raised before we discuss how she's an idol (even if a former one), and the buyers are fans.

Only way I can see something like this going through is with a personal bodyguard
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 2:12 am Reply with quote
Quote:
newer groups like the recently formed Happening Girls use their ability to date, and even marry, their fans as a selling point.


So basically vanilla prostitution?

Seriously, Japan, do something about your creepy otaku for crying out loud. I know money makes the world go round, but I just can't fathom who would want to get themselves exposed to creepos like the ones that tried to stab the AKB48 girls. How about the disturbing elementary girls idol group that holds meet & greets that allow their middle-aged creepy otaku fans to get their slimy hands all over ten-year-old girls? I wish producers would stop encouraging this horrible behavior. How about trying to make money off the quality of the music instead of the girls' cuteness and the otaku creepiness?
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Guile



Joined: 18 Jun 2013
Posts: 595
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:16 am Reply with quote
CrowLia wrote:
Seriously, Japan, do something about your creepy otaku for crying out loud. I know money makes the world go round, but I just can't fathom who would want to get themselves exposed to creepos like the ones that tried to stab the AKB48 girls. How about the disturbing elementary girls idol group that holds meet & greets that allow their middle-aged creepy otaku fans to get their slimy hands all over ten-year-old girls? I wish producers would stop encouraging this horrible behavior. How about trying to make money off the quality of the music instead of the girls' cuteness and the otaku creepiness?


Victim blaming is not appreciated when it comes to topics like these. It's also sexist to try to co-op idols as being a male only otaku thing when they are just as huge if not more so with female audiences. Women matter too. You're asking for Japan to become a sensationalist country over one isolated incident. Not even the west would do that. The industry did not change when Lennon was murdered, and it wont change due to a case of random assault
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
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Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:54 am Reply with quote
I'm not blaming the girls, please pay attention when you read. I'm blaming the producers and companies that make these campaigns and market these girls as "pure and innocent" but "cute in a sexy way that you can get your slimy otaku hands on if you pay enough". They're basically pimping them out. Besides, most pictures of these m&g/handshake events are full of middle-aged male fans, and although I never said there weren't any female fans of these idols groups, most incidents (that I've heard of) involve male fans, including some infamous ones in which AKB48 fans smear the girls' hands with literally slimy substances that may or may not be semen.

It furthermore feels insanely hypocritical to forbid the girls from having their own private life (the article references some examples of girls that had to shame themselves publicly for having the gall of having a romantic relationship), but then exploiting their sexual appeal in a disguise of "purity".

What I'm saying is that Japanese music producers should market the girls' music, make an effort to produce actually good music, not try to fill their pockets with cash while throwing the girls into cages full of hungry creepy otaku that will pay millions for the chance to get a date or even marry their favorite teenage idol. They're basically selling the girls as if they were some piece of meat and that's what I find disgusting. There's a famous picture of the AKB48 girls in one of those handshake events and all of them look terrified while shaking hands with their devoted fans. And there's also that disgusting collection of pictures from an elementary schoolgirls idol group having a meet&greet with their 40 year old fans that gives these disgusting creepos the chance to get their disgusting hands all over 10-year-old girls, even playing Twister or holding them up in their arms.
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grouwl



Joined: 12 Jun 2013
Posts: 69
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:49 pm Reply with quote
hahahaah, you can get a japanese girl that look EXACTLY like her and get more "bang" for your buck with 000000.0/1 fraction of the cost.
just cause she goes on a tv show and sell books she can oversell herself and underdeliver...yeah...prostitution at best here.
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NorbieH



Joined: 24 Feb 2010
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 7:11 pm Reply with quote
Isn't it a bit heavy handed labeling it a form of prostitution? Don't you have competitions in USA/UK/Australia where if you buy a cd (which you have to pay for) where if you win you can spend a day with that artist? This sort of weirdness doesn't only apply for Japan.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 8:21 pm Reply with quote
^Not talking about "spending one day with your favorite artist" when I called it vanilla prostitution, but about some modern idol groups that sell the idea that fans have a chance to have romantic relationships and even marry their favorite idols (I think one of these groups even offered a reality show to the lucky creepo), which the article mentioned.

On the other hand, I'm not familiar with how it works in 'Murica, but the Japanese idol industry is coated in this disgusting sexualization of female purity, so I think depending on the situation, the "spend one day with your favorite artist" could be seen as basically pimping the girls to sell discs. And in the particular case of that elementary school idol group, there's just a fine line between those disgusting meet & greets and pederasty.
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