1936 replies to this topic

[Touki]

The fans are at fault, but UFP is the most major culprit here

[Lurkette]

No, they're not. Just because they didn't find the explanation satisfactorily detailed doesn't mean that it gave people the right to jump to conclusions about her family being selfish or controlling or greedy or any of the other things people have said. They made a similar statement about Aina when she left Juice=Juice, as I recall, and there weren't half as many things said about that.

[Touki]

These people don't have the right to make such hasty conclusions, and they're at fault, but the company is the one who has the most responsibility. The manager was the one who released the statement, so he/she knew the best what the consequences were. I accuse both sides, just that I accuse the company's action more.

[Lurkette]

Okay. You're wrong, but okay. The agency stated the situation plainly, with no intent to damage her mother's reputation (because seriously). And the truth is, even if they told us it was because if her health, people would have jumped to the same conclusions. It's the fans' fault for being nasty and feeling like they're owed something from a 14 year old.

[Juandalyn]

I guess the first problem was people finding out Uta's mom was an idol herself.

It is a bit surprising though that Up Front announced Uta left because of contract problems. The translation on the wiki says "it became clear that there was a gap that could not be filled between her family and our company". The original might have been different, though.*

 

Both probably lead to speculations. Aina, for example, pretty quickly wrote a blog entry about why she left, half a year later, opposed to Uta who disappeared for 3 years. We also never knew Aina's family so there simply couldn't be a person to pinpoint speculation to. Had Up Front simply announced she left because of health reasons there would not have been as many speculations.

 

Of course, the main fault lies with the fans who speculated around, but the agency could have worded it better.

 

*/EDIT: Considering that there was also speculation on the Japanese side means that this was not only a translation error, though.

[Lurkette]

Fair enough. I feel, however, that there is generally too much speculation over why the girls make the decisions they do, when we aren't owed explanations, and the fans who did say things that hurt Uta need to hold themselves accountable rather than try to blame someone else.

[Juandalyn]

That is absolutely true of course. Some people still act like they should know very sensitive parts of the idol's life just because she's in the entertainment industry, which is very problematic.

[ItsudemoAibon]

Fair enough. I feel, however, that there is generally too much speculation over why the girls make the decisions they do, when we aren't owed explanations, and the fans who did say things that hurt Uta need to hold themselves accountable rather than try to blame someone else.

Amazing that you made three comments where you were adamant the company bore no responsibility until someone reminded you that the official company line was "unable to reach a contract." What we can't ignore is that Utachan's appearance was virtually earth-shaking which led people to speculate her mom was trying to make bank and cost Uta her career because of it. Of course nothing of the sort happened to Aina because nobody cared enough about her to take her contract demands seriously.

Of course the haters deserve most of the blame. They're assholes and Japan, like everywhere else, has its share of assholes.

BTW, Uta's uncle, a musician himself, dispelled the contract rumors a long time ago. But nobody listened, evidently.

[Greyface]

BTW, Uta's uncle, a musician himself, dispelled the contract rumors a long time ago. But nobody listened, evidently.

Nobody listens to anything. They believe that everything that confirms their beliefs is 100% true and anything that opposes them is lies.

If it comes from the girl's own mouth, they were put up to it. If it comes from management it is a business plan/money-grab/lies-from-the-mouth-of-satan-because-management-is-inherently-evil/whatever.

There is not such thing as a "reliable source" except whoever happens to say what you want to hear.
 
Anyway.... when you think about it (I did not at the time) being FRONT & CENTER for being a woobie is really hard.

How is somebody supposed to feel when the thing that makes the fans go wild is your weakness, your mistakes, your fear? (everybody's "cute" Shimamura's hatare-moe was what made her unique) Are you supposed to be able to serve that up to them every day? At 14 years old?

[Juandalyn]

She explained that she was physically falling apart back in Country Girls, and even though a doctor advised against her continuing, her mom told her she could still go to lessons and such if she wanted to. Uta is the one who decided that she couldn't keep doing it. She also explains that her mom is a single mother, so it was especially hard to hear all the things being said about her mom when it was always just the two of them supporting each other. She knows people are still spreading rumors about her mom and she wants everyone to stop talking about her.

From what I've heard the ill person was also not Uta but her mother, who was mainly in hospital around that time and in a rather serious condition.

Therefore, yeah, it makes kind of sense that Up Front didn't mean any illness. Uta withdrew from the contract and couldn't fulfill it, therefore probably the "gap that could not be filled between her family and our company". It's just very unlucky that this statement left so much room for speculation. On the other hand Uta herself says that she has no bad blood with Up Front at all.

 

^And this probably added to Uta feeling ill, too. Worrying for her mother, being suddenly put into center because you were shy and insecure and therefore cute.

 

And unfortunately, yes, some people will NEVER listen to facts.

[Ares13]

What are the facts?

She was hot during that time. The company definitely wanted to keep her as she would help them make more money.

The management are able to announce health issues if it was a health issue. (Making health reasons unlikely if the management don't say so.)

Uta came in auditioning for MM and not CG.

And I can't remember exactly but there were evidence showing Uta's mum being "upmarket".

The contract should be negotiated between adults.

If you put the fact together, it tend to resulted in the speculation we get from the fans.

It's very hard to come up with another logical guess.

 

Even if the fan speculation are true, it is not Uta fault so there is no reason for the fans to attack her after so long.
I think it's just Covid-19 making all the fans emo and driving them crazy. Especially recently things seem to be looking up then it got really bad and now everything seem to take many step back which is really disappointing.

[Lurkette]

Amazing that you made three comments where you were adamant the company bore no responsibility until someone reminded you that the official company line was "unable to reach a contract." What we can't ignore is that Utachan's appearance was virtually earth-shaking which led people to speculate her mom was trying to make bank and cost Uta her career because of it. Of course nothing of the sort happened to Aina because nobody cared enough about her to take her contract demands seriously.

Of course the haters deserve most of the blame. They're assholes and Japan, like everywhere else, has its share of assholes.

BTW, Uta's uncle, a musician himself, dispelled the contract rumors a long time ago. But nobody listened, evidently.

 

 

Amazing that you overlooked that I was arguing with someone who said the company bore the majority of the responsibility and that I never said they bore zero responsibility. But go off, since you agree with me anyway.

 

 

Nobody listens to anything. They believe that everything that confirms their beliefs is 100% true and anything that opposes them is lies.

If it comes from the girl's own mouth, they were put up to it. If it comes from management it is a business plan/money-grab/lies-from-the-mouth-of-satan-because-management-is-inherently-evil/whatever.

There is not such thing as a "reliable source" except whoever happens to say what you want to hear.
 
Anyway.... when you think about it (I did not at the time) being FRONT & CENTER for being a woobie is really hard.

How is somebody supposed to feel when the thing that makes the fans go wild is your weakness, your mistakes, your fear? (everybody's "cute" Shimamura's hatare-moe was what made her unique) Are you supposed to be able to serve that up to them every day? At 14 years old?

 

^^^^^^^^^^^

 

 

From what I've heard the ill person was also not Uta but her mother, who was mainly in hospital around that time and in a rather serious condition.

Therefore, yeah, it makes kind of sense that Up Front didn't mean any illness. Uta withdrew from the contract and couldn't fulfill it, therefore probably the "gap that could not be filled between her family and our company". It's just very unlucky that this statement left so much room for speculation. On the other hand Uta herself says that she has no bad blood with Up Front at all.

 

^And this probably added to Uta feeling ill, too. Worrying for her mother, being suddenly put into center because you were shy and insecure and therefore cute.

 

And unfortunately, yes, some people will NEVER listen to facts.

 

 

Ah, yeah, this is correct. I was skipping around in the video because there were so many gaps where she was just crying (and I don't want to watch that), so that's 100% my bad for not catching that. Now some of the comments make more sense in context, as the doctor said that things might progress to be cancer. 

 

What are the facts?

She was hot during that time. The company definitely wanted to keep her as she would help them make more money.

The management are able to announce health issues if it was a health issue. (Making health reasons unlikely if the management don't say so.)

Uta came in auditioning for MM and not CG.

And I can't remember exactly but there were evidence showing Uta's mum being "upmarket".

The contract should be negotiated between adults.

If you put the fact together, it tend to resulted in the speculation we get from the fans.

It's very hard to come up with another logical guess.

 

Nope. The only "evidence" was that Uta's mother had briefly worked in entertainment herself, so people leapt to the conclusion that she then must be super business-savvy and wanted her daughter to make more money. Also, the agency is not obligated to announce health issues if the girl and her family don't want that to be public. The correct conclusion would have been, "Wow, I wish things had worked out differently, as obviously something went wrong that they don't want to talk about," not, "Wow, it's sad that her mom was willing so selfish as to sacrifice her career for money," which fully does not make sense, especially since she never went to a different idol company that would hypothetically have paid her more--and no one would have, that's not how the Japanese entertainment industry works. By your own logic, if the company felt Uta was going to make them more money, wouldn't they have paid her more money to get her to stay, if that were truly the demand? 

[Ares13]

By your own logic, if the company felt Uta was going to make them more money, wouldn't they have paid her more money to get her to stay, if that were truly the demand?

Yup, that's how the "money-hungry" speculation came about because it gives people the impression that her mum wanted more money even when the company offered a lot to them.

Anyway just dropping by, it's been so long that I can barely remember how to quote.. lol
I was expecting some cute stuff when I click in
Covid-19 is driving me crazy, for once in my life, I can more than afford to go Japan but I can't.

[Lurkette]

Anyway just dropping by, it's been so long that I can barely remember how to quote.. lol

I was expecting some cute stuff when I click in
Covid-19 is driving me crazy, for once in my life, I can more than afford to go Japan but I can't.

 

Good thing we got haku to fix the quote button before you came back 

 

Have this, since she just posted it:

Spoiler

[Ares13]

^ sorry off topic

Wow when did you became the site manager. There seem to be a change of management here.

 

Thanks for the pic from her twitter.

Oh.. she join a new group and only came back this year.

I guess maybe lesser known groups' fans tend to be unpredictable.

[Touki]

 

By your own logic, if the company felt Uta was going to make them more money, wouldn't they have paid her more money to get her to stay, if that were truly the demand?

Yup, that's how the "money-hungry" speculation came about because it gives people the impression that her mum wanted more money even when the company offered a lot to them.

Anyway just dropping by, it's been so long that I can barely remember how to quote.. lol
I was expecting some cute stuff when I click in
Covid-19 is driving me crazy, for once in my life, I can more than afford to go Japan but I can't.

 

 

Sadly those people really love conspiracy theories. I have no words when they can turn the statement "We cannot fully agree with Uta's family regarding the contracts" into "Uta's mom is money-hungry". It's really difficult to explain what happens to change their thoughts, but what they did to make Uta-chan stand up like that is like a piracy of privacy and unacceptable.

[ItsudemoAibon]

Overhead shot from Utachan's first live.

Attached Files

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[Ruscion]

The stream of Kyurushite's debut live is available to view for only 1500 yen. Honestly, they're pretty bad performers. They sang over the vocal tracks and didn't sound too great. Uyu in particular showed poor stamina. But I guess singing and dancing isn't exactly what I came for. They sang 5 songs and Uta was lovely in each one.

[mizukingdom1]

I was gonna saw from their MV that none of them seem to have had any idol training besides Uta-chan but even then she wasn't active for long.

[Ruscion]

I was gonna saw from their MV that none of them seem to have had any idol training besides Uta-chan but even then she wasn't active for long.

Uyu Tao, the blue girl, also has idol experience. Which makes her deep struggle all the more surprising.