NGT48 Assault Case

If I were management, I would have treated this case carefully from the very beginning and shown the public that Maho was at least being taken seriously, even if there was no concrete proof the police could collect to punish the perpetrators. But alas, they decided to ignore it, then half-ass it when it wasn't ignorable anymore.

The kind of mistrust they bred among the public and with Maho can't easily be undone. The steps they took from her Showroom outburst to the press conference weren't to bring Maho justice and peace of mind but rather to cover their own asses and attempt to mitigate the damage to the brand. There is probably no way to salvage the situation at this point because when they did have a chance to salvage it, they showed that they're snakes instead. Fans (and probably members too) have seen no reason to trust them in the days since Maho's assault. And now they seem content to let their brand fall apart because further damage control by a spokesman who knows nothing about what's actually going on is clearly not gonna help, but they've shown pretty clearly that that's all they can think of, or all they are willing to do.

 

@ethereallimbo you start your posts asking what should mngmnt do to salvage the situation (or what we would do if we were mngmnt).

The problem is that since the start mngmnt and AKS did nothing at all to make things clear and to bring truth and justice out.
There's no need for me to list what mngmnt didn't do in the last 4 months. This whole thread is about it; but if tomorrow they would held a public SR or private discussion with Maho I'd be more worried about Maho than I am now.
Why should I believe the same organization that did nothing and made things worse and pushed lies and misinformation now would suddenly change?
They didn't even had the guts and the integrity to apologize for what happened, but made the victim do it, and then conveniently managed to get the responsable fired before he could really be called to answer about his own actions and choices.

Why should I, and other fans as well, give those people the benefict of the doubt?

Every single action they took and every single action they didn't, are the reason they don't deserve it.

And sure AF, Maho doesn't deserve to work under a mngmnt made of people who betrayed her and her fellow members. No one should work in an enviroment like that.

So, I guess there's still something mngmnt can do to save NGT; disband themselves, find another job that won't give them responsability over other people and disappear like that from the idol world. And then, perhaps, a new investigation can be held by qualified and AKS-unrelated people.
Not the farce we saw happen. I mean a real investigation.

But that it would still be too dangerous for AKS, even more than losing the income and the connections they got from NGT.
So I don't see it happen anytime soon and that means all I can do now is watch NGT burn knowing very well that any choice different from the ones AKS and NGT mngmnt made could have changed this whole situation,

More shame on them.

 

they couldn't even get a relevant staff member to take responsibility the first time, and had to outsource an "apology" from whoever that woman was supposed to be. who is hiring these people that don't seem to have a clue what to do? is that somehow part of the plan? i don't think they are going to give up what little control of the situation they may have left so maho can possibly make them look even worse in front of an audience. even if it might work in their favor.

how will more empty lip service benefit maho? this member who has shown zero solidarity and has spent the last 3 or 4 months hanging out with arguably her two worst enemies suddenly makes a pr statement condemning what happened to her? don't forget she was one of the people who posted a hand-me-down note saying she wasn't involved or whatever. maho probably unfollowed certain members for a reason, yeah? why would maho go along with the rest of your plan when she likely knows full well how other members feel and that they'd be putting on a show? is saving the group worth putting up with that?


i'm too sleepy to address this further at the moment. maybe tomorrow...

 

Having a powerul agency doesn’t protect you if none of the shows want anything to do with you.

 

That just means artists from other agencies get all the exposure and work.

 

Actually it's same with TV show in Korea other country. If you have scandal, directly or indirectly, the cameraman and editors will ignore you.

 

i see some people asking how to save ngt and fix this whole situation, but im wondering the opposite. if disbanding ngt is where things are headed, can it get worse? even up to right before the press conference everyone thought things would return to normal. the combined incompetence of management and bravery of mahon might have made that impossible, but how bad can it realistically get for aks

 

Well, I think the fear people are expressing is that harm spreads beyond NGT to the other AKS properties. So particularly 48G and 46G find it harder to make media appearances, lose casual fans, and otherwise have an "unsavory" aura about them (e.g. "Idols are a dirty business"). Then there's financial harm - NGT is a growing drain on AKS finances - that money has to come from somewhere. (I particularly worry about the smaller groups like 22/7 that AKS might decide to just fold and concentrate resources) And sponsors might get scared off, so the other groups start taking a direct hit. Maybe not as dramatically as them bailing from existing NGT deals, but when it comes time to ink new deals for sponsorship, commercials, etc., maybe they'll move away from AKS or give them worse terms.

Hopefully if this really does start to affect the company and other groups like this someone with more sense will take control. Or AKS's big partners like Sony, Keyholder, and STU will come knocking - they could actually make something happen. This could all still happen regardless of what awaits NGT - I think too many things are in motion.

Of course the other "how bad could this get?" thing is if this corruption of management and large-scale members consorting with "fans" for votes/tickets/senbatsu/etc. with at least tacit approval from the management already extends beyond NGT to the other groups. Something beyond members dating in their personal life. If it comes out from disgruntled members/staff (or the public decides based on all the shadiness in NGT) the whole professional idol management has been corrupted into something more like a prostitution ring, well, that would be bad to say the least.

 

April 1 (Mon)
http://40298ch.com/test/read.cgi/karakoro/1548413013/305

• Weezy article: Akimoto Yasushi is not "unrelated" to the case.
• Aki-P gave a message to NMB and SKE staff. (Old messages reinforcing first blurb)
  
• A few members became active again on SNS for the first time since the press conference.
• Yabushita Fuu goes on hiatus. Theories that it might be related to Yakkai army moving on to STU48.
• Girlschan story about Tano and Yamada.
• Josei Jishin: Tunnels' Ishibashi criticized for "inappropriate" humor.
• Cyzo Woman: "Questions about NGT48" are NG according to King Records/AKS.
• EXTRA: Nishigata mobame. "I only look forward."

Edit: Added explanation of Aki-P messages and extra blurb about Nishigata mobame.

 

Do you go to the thread linked at the beginning of my posts? It has pictures and videos and links related to the blurbs...

The original thread is made by an anon who wanted to keep a list for people just jumping in and wanting to know what happened so far. He adds the daily relevant items around 11pm Japan time. I just translate/sum up the blurbs when I end up looking at the thread and post them here for those interested. A lot of times, I haven't read the threads where they were talking about the stories, or just skimmed them, so I can't really give an evaluation.

As for the Yabushita Fuu, they announced her hiatus on the official site. The bit about the Inaoka army is just 5ch chatter so there's no clear confirmation.

 

Small correction about this one, but those are old messages, which are used to disprove the excuse that Matsumura made at the press conference that Akimoto is refusing to make any statement on the case because he's not involved in any management or decision-making process and he's just a mere producer.
This was repeated, for example, at this point:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190322-00010002-wordleaf-soci&p=5

NHK：このように、例えば今は松村取締役をはじめ、早川支配人が会見に対応していますが、秋元康さんがなぜ今回の一連の問題であったり、調査報告書が出たことについてこのように公式なところで発言されないのでしょうか。
NHK reporter: This time, to name some, it's board director Matsumura and theater manager Hayakawa that are present to respond to the press conference, but why is it that Akimoto Yasushi himself is refusing to make a statement at an official venue regarding today's series of issues, or what has been brought up with the investigation report?

松村：NGTの運営ということに関しては弊社AKSが全権を握っております。それを全面的に対応しております。この報告書の中にもございましたように、秋元さんはクリエーティブなところを中心にご担当されているのでということでご理解いただければというふうに思っております。
Matsumura: When it comes to NGT mangement, it's the AKS company that is holding all the rights on it. We are personally handling it on all aspects. As it is said inside of this report, Akimoto is responsible mainly for the creative part, so I'd hope you'll understand.

The topic came up again during the debate they had on Sunday Japon just the other day, coincidentally, and the one doing apologetics couldn't be anyone else but old shill Yoshida Go:
https://twitter.com/cizmjo/status/1112186883499425792

Dave Spector: "So, Akimoto himself isn't speaking on the matter, right? Even though he could settle things up with just a single word, how come he isn't showing up? This is what I'm wondering to Yoshida. He's the person with the most liability, after all."

Yoshida Go: "The public is misunderstanding that since it's an issue concerning AKS's management, they are wondering why Akimoto isn't showing up. Akimoto and AKS are unrelated with each other, to put it better, Akimoto is unrelated with AKS -- this is just an affiliated company but he's not part of AKS. He's running things like with the ramen chain franchising business, so all the responsibility is left to the management. So Akimoto, on his part, must be feeling like: why does it have to be me...?"

This, of course, is pure bullshit to avoid public embarrassment when even a person in high places like Matsumura couldn't get away without a couple eggs on his face.
Just pointing out what the A in AKS stands for (the other two initials are for Kubota and Shiba, two other individuals of ill repute) is enough to disprove his non-involvement, but those G+ messages where he's seen busy giving orders around to the sister group staff just a few years back serve as yet another reminder.
Basically, we all know he's the "kingmaker" responsible for giving goripushes and whatnot while the going is good, and when the going gets bad he's a mere "creator" that has nothing to do with his own creations.

 

In my opinion NGT48 is done at this point. I don't think there is any real comeback at this point and they really need to bring it to an end soon before it adversely affects the other '48 groups further.

It's sad, and I feel sorry for any of the girls which have done nothing wrong who are now in this situation, but transfering anybody to one of the other group would also be problematic at this point. Media and public will consider NGT48 as a whole as being bad at this point (apart from the obvious, due to the lack of clarity) so any transfer would be considered as spreading the "infection".

If people want to re-enter then allow them to re-audition / have a draft and consider their previous "activities" as part of that and make it clear that that will happen. As for NGT48 management ... Bringing an organisation into disrepute is normally a dismissal offence ...

 

I wonder what maho would feel if NGT do got shut down....

it is 100% the management incompetence that brought all these, but she is the one who bring the incompetence to light.


I agree with the above, tranferring NGT girls without knowing who the problematic members are would brings trouble to the other sister group.

 

That's sort of implying these issues aren't going on or have gone on in the other groups whatsoever and I feel that might be wrong to think. Maho outed NGT, but let's remember if Maho never came out with her abuse we would still be going on regularly without thinking twice about what's going on behind those close doors. NGT is new. They learned from the others I feel. Unless no one from all the managements knew?? Which I doubt since it seems even the other members knew this was already going on.

tiny edit: I just realized no member was like "omg this is brand new information!!! Fans and idols being super close in intimate ways to get ahead? Blasphemy" lolol.

 

If NGT did shut down it is because AKS decided to protect the identities and careers of the few delinquent members instead of the rest of group. I also think disbanding is inevitable because it’s the only way AKS can get rid of Maho without singling her out and firing her.

 

Most members aren't even talking about it either way.

 

Well, there's a reason for that right. Talking badly about ur boss's rarely ever goes for well anyone lol

 

From how I see it, NGT's disbandment would affect the incompetent staff more than the members so I'm all for it.

 

I'm not so sure about that. The girls will likely never get work as idols again, and the management will just get shuffled to other rolls within AKS.