I feel like Kitarie's comment is what many fans feels right now. Hopefully her words and fans reactions (albeit confined to twitter and socials) will make NGT's mngmnt lose their face more. Not that they care about it obviously, but it can make a difference in how other people see NGT. But again, it's up to fans to make things right since they have the money power. The guts to do it, it's another matter... they should have just left after Maho's "apologies"
Seems like Kitarie as an older girl is the more matured one here who knows how to argue back . Younger, less mature girls are more likely to bow to pressure. Anyway, it looks like the ball is in Maho's court on what to do next, if management is unable/unwilling to help her. And regarding the comment that fans have money power, even if some fans quit, other (new) fans will still take their place. It won't make much of a difference (and management probably knows it).
Maybe out of topic. So who do you think will fit the mom figure for NGT and help to bridge the factions within after this incident? Yukirin?
i seriously can't help to get emotional... she really did apologize, she shouldn't do that... i can't believe that humanity failed us all wtf, i'll not forget this issue as long as mahohon got justice.
Kitarie is a brave girl/woman. So far her Tweet has got 1,4 k answers, 20 k retweets and 37 k likes, one from me. Maybe some dislikes from management.
People really expected this time to be different? Or maybe really thought Maho would start a #MeToo movement in 48G? With some luck she'll stick with the group for a year more and have a nice cool graduation. Sorry but yes, their life is a reality show and these kind of incidents are just small issues that need to be solved the Japanese way cause, remember the movie? "Show must go on".
Dont take your hope too high, The management is a bunch of pussy who cant even earn this kids respect, Why do you think they kennin yukirin in the first place?!
What an absolute mess. I don't really follow NGT, but just from reading a casual news article every now and then it was clear to me that they appeared to have more issues than any of the other 48 groups with members being rumored to not get along and such. This was shocking though. I don't want to believe that another member is behind it. The idea of one woman orchestrating the assault of another woman... Sounds like the world really is coming to an end. Very disappointed in how it's been handled. Management should've made an official statement as soon as they found out she was assaulted. How could they keep quiet about it when it involves the safety of all the members?! Their shady smothering of the incident has only led to further speculation. Maho should not have been made to apologize. She did nothing wrong. She kept quiet at first and gave management one month to investigate internally. It was only after she saw nothing was being done that she chose to speak out about what happened to her. And the higher ups believe it was appropriate to cut her live feed and delete her Tweets and force her to make a public apology for disturbing the peace?! Ridiculous... Mark my words, if something isn't done about this it'll only encourage this kind of thing in the future. Whomever is responsible should not be allowed to go unpunished. It only sets a poor example going forward. More shit will happen because people will feel they can get away with it. This isn't right.
@Torigoya-San I disagree. The ball was taken away from Maho the moment she was pressured/convinced to apologize. I liked the fact Kitarie spoke up, I expected nothing less and wasn't disappointed. But she's out. And she doesn't have (or feels like she have) the responsability of a Team, if not the whole group, on her shoulders right now. Yukirin said something? I hoped she would speak up too, but I guess she also can't... yet. In some years perhaps... Fans always have the power. They are the ones who spent their money. And they are the ones who more than anyone can spread NGT true face through SNS and such, so to not create new fans. If they want to do it.
Except that, in case you haven't understood the whole story yet or haven't followed what Maho had been telling, dealing with it internally, finding all the culprits, sniffing out in-group moles and firing them, and everything else was what the fucking management had been promising her to do all the way back in December. It's the reason Maho was put on a rest in the first place for so long, staying put and being forced to lie low for a month, basically having to drop her idol activity to zero. Spoiler To get a full understanding of the extent, let's say this included among other things: • Taking a mobame hiatus, with the last relevant mail sent in 2018/12/14 to explain the situation she was going through in as much a roundabout way as possible (now I also get why Maho had to get around wordfilters to get her message sent, like having to write words in full hiragana like "私はアイドルは絶対れんあいきんし派") , before -- being by her own admission -- blocked altogether • Taking a Showroom hiatus, the last appearence being 2018/12/06 • Taking a long pause on Twitter after 2018/12/09, the day after the assault took place, and again every time coming back just for explaining the situation she was going through in as much a roundabout way as possible (who would have ever imagined that the messages which were at first mistaken as a "civil war between Nakai", as AKB48D*ily put it, would have turned out to be this of all things?) • Sitting out on handshake events in between, which was explained away as being just because of health issues • "Opting out" of AKB Kohaku, and basically every single year-end and new year NGT performances such as that on Countdown TV, NPP2019, @JAM 2019 • Only bringing herself to appear in two theater shows That Maho decided to take the matters into her own hands was in response to the fact that it had became evident that after so long neither Imamura nor AKS had any intention at all to take measures against the issues, or were willingly lethargic at it. Part of me also wouldn't hesitate to suspect that the decision to let the culprits be released on December 28 without pressing charges, after 20 days of who knows what (making a deal with Imamura, maybe), also came at the end of much persuasion on the part of the management, with the promise being apparently that: - things would be settled "out of court" so to speak, with the management firing those involved in leak/instigation without it being made into a court case, thus not letting any names be known to the public - details would be kept anonymous in the case news would be published (see Maho's own request of being reported as a "23 year old self-employee", so as to avoid hurting NGT for the sake of the rule-abiding girls inside, etc...) Once it was clear that Maho had forfeited basically everything without getting nothing in return of what she was guaranteed, with no signs of the situation going anywhere, and while still into an imposed hiatus (read "gag orders"), this is when the beans were spilled first on Showroom and then on Twitter as a last ditch resort.
I may be totally naive here, and 100% wrong, but I am going to hold out hope that justice will ultimately be served. And I understand all the patriarchal hegemony that persists in Japanese society, and the men in suits wield all the power in this idol business. That said, I think it is far too late for management to be pulling the "Nothing to see here" card and think it's all going to be swept under the proverbial rug. Think about it... The press has already reported the story The public already knows the story The fans already know the story There are former members expressing sadness and outrage. And believe me, there are likely other members and former members who are feeling equally alienated by this turn of events, but don't feel safe to admit it. The truth is, nobody is buying into the idea that Mahohon wasn't telling the truth, or suffering from delusions. Everyone sees what's going on, and a lot of people are outraged. So if we believe that management's ultimate objective is to save face, it seems to me that it wouldn't be worth the risk alienating the fans, the public, their members, and alumni just to save three NGT girls and a Theater manager. Perhaps they decided that they wanted to get through this anniversary performance without it becoming a complete fiasco. and then figured they will deal with the issue afterwards. Of course, much of that will depend on the press and public outcry. But I'm not going to take Mahohon's unnecessary "apology" as a sign of defeat or submission. She also mentioned talking to AKS as well, and who knows what that's all about. But I gotta think that management are at least somewhat aware that everyone thinks the they are a bunch of heathens right about now, and perhaps their only salvation would be to do the right thing. I hold out hope that they ultimately do.
Bullies won I guess. bye 48 group. After that, I'll never support that business again, poor these girls.
Thank you. It was so hard to work on my trauma, but I stuck it out and now I feel like I can speak out about it. Even though my post got buried, I still feel good about posting. However, I am LIVID. They made her apologize? MAHO? REALLY? I am going to follow through with what I said. Bye, NGT48. Until this is really resolved I am done with this group and mostly 48g as a whole.
see............the management plays the wrong card here, they are not protecting the brand, they are making it worse now there will be people feeling disgusted and wont support the group anymore, in which in return will affect other girls as well maybe when they realize that this will hurt their income, those pussies will understand i feel sorry for the innocent girls whose fans decided to opt out of this group altogether because they felt disgusted by what the management does
I hope not, Cuz if yukirin said anything it would make as if mahohon made wrong decision. This was part of mahohon's experience for her future. Even if yukirin want to say anything to her, it should be off-the-record.[/USER]
Ages ago in Japan things ended in seppuku (or harakiri as it's more commonly referred in the west). Today ends in a public apology and a bow, going from minor offenses to catastrophes (Fukujima reactors, for example). Media was just waiting for someone to "bow out" of this, and Mahohon did. This will now slowly die out. Foreign fans will continue to complain for a week more but then both foreign and local fans will swallow it all and continue as if nothing had happened. You can't change the way it is. And after Kahotaru's issue with management (being called AV idol-like) I learned that the worst thing fans can do (in Japan) is to keep dragging this. No idol wants that a Yahoo! search for her name brings only news regarding this. Imagine if even today fans were still raging about Annin and Ricchan's attack and they would kept been reminded of that moment every time they opened Twitter or Instagram, they just wouldn't be able to carry on. It's the way Japan works.