Hirate Yurina (Techi) / Keyakizaka46 1st Generation

Hirate Locks final episode (for now)

if the video does not show watch the video here

Based on the photos and her voice, she might have recorded this at the same time as last month’s ep. She thanked everyone in SOL team for taking care of her for the past 1 year and 8 months. Honestly I’m really thankful of SOL team, they took care of her better than her own (ex-)agency ever did. Hopefully this parting is short and we’ll have Hirate Locks again soon.

In the midst of slander, mis/disinformation and rumors, we still have people who have actually worked with Techi voice their support for her. Tooyama-sensei, Jane, Higu, Kaze staff, Mikakunin Festival staff… recalled their cute and positive interactions with Techi, which I’m very thankful for. Let’s hope next year is a better year for Techi and Techi oshis

@welp I don’t want to discuss the Bunshun stuff too much but I’d advice you to take Bunshun’s rumors with a grain of salt. From my experiences, they have better success rate with dating news when they can provide actual photos for proof. They haven’t been able to provide any proof for any Techi’s related stuff (some other artists are also victims of the same thing). Some elements might be true but taken out of context and exaggerated. Besides, somewhere in the article mentioned that someone from S&F said “no one is responsible”(?) (I might have to check this again). In short, we don’t know what truly happened and can only wait for her future projects.

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Anyways, NAECO’s CEO Kim Jung Min was behind TVXQ, SNSD, Shinee, NCT127… activities in Japan so I’m confident this guy know what he’s doing. I hope we get more news soon. Techi’s 3rd single is long overdue and this time please bless us with a physical copy.

 

So, you believe Bunshun totally fabricated a story, which later was indirectly affirmed by Daily Shincho? (Daily Shincho pretty much saying that Hirate canceled a film project as reported by Bunshun.) There was also a report of Satou Takeru cast for a film project by Director Mika Ninagawa several months ago.

Some more info from Daily Shincho I find interesting is that HYBE has been headhunting experienced workers in various fields of entertainment industry including video production, HYBE plausibly is founding its own drama production studio and Hirate, who has been established as an actress, might be recruited for her to star in HYBE's self produced web drama, HYBE has no interest on TV broadcast content but streaming platforms. (So, Hirate has no need to be intimidated if she has been blacklisted in J film industry, I guess.)

Another article by Encount is largely a speculation. It says HYBE is a mega company of whopping 700 billion yen market value with the ambition to penetrate into J showbiz. NAECO has been speculated to be headed by a former chief of S.M Ent Japan, who has good network with Japanese TV broadcasters and production studios. Through NAECO, HYBE will tap onto J showbiz, drama industry included. Also, HYBE may acquire some Japanese companies. It also states that Hirate most likely will be active in Japan since she is under HYBE Japan, not the headquarter Korean HYBE.

I'm pretty confidence that will be her last presence on School of Lock yet, there is no need to worry. HYBE will create online contents for her. Perhaps, she will get a Youtube show of her own similar to Fearless Kkura.

 

It seems pretty silly to me to blame S&F for Roppongi Class not being distributed worldwide. If you look at Netflix's selection of Japanese dramas it's pretty bare, the biggest one they have is Alice in Borderland which tbh didn't make that much of an impact internationally. At least not compared to Korean dramas. Idk what Techi expected, but S&F has nothing to do with the distribution of the dramas she takes, that's up to the production company.

As for Bunshun not being right I can't tell if this newest report is true or not, but that Bunshun report from a while ago about certain Hiragana members being chosen for Kaze ni senbatsu and Techi being upset about it was indirectly confirmed by Miipan on a radio show. Or at least the Hiragana part was.

 

The way it was phrased makes it seem that Techi was mad at S&F for the situation, but my interpretation is that she was probably just upset at the whole situation and that prompted her change to an worldwide agency (HYBE) that may fit her interests better.

I heard about that but I don't think Techi was ever mad at Hiragana members or that something happened between them and the Bunshun report was heavily exaggerated. Hinatazaka46's members elected Techi as the utmost idol on MUSIC BLOOD last year and I don't think they would do that if Techi did something against them.

 

Well idk how much HYBE can help there. Netflix clearly isn't interested in distributing Japanese dramas, although it could also be the opposite. We all know how closed off the Japanese entertainment industry can be.

I don't think Techi was mad at the Hiragana members themselves, but she probably wanted to preserve the group as it is. Hinatazaka members have shown to be quite gracious when it comes to the Hiragana time so I'm sure they got over the Kaze ni incident and they can separate their personal feelings from acknowledging Techi as the idol she was.

 

Netflix always distributes "original" Netflix dramas regardless of countries of origins. Netflix has more budget for more Korean dramas yet, they are dramas from other countries too.

About the Japanese being close-minded, Director Koreeda already produced a Korean film and Director Miike a Korean web drama.

Anyway, I'm skeptical if there was a miscalculation. I rather assume HYBE hires new video production staffs for "variety shows", not dramas. HYBE is debuting more idols so, more variety contents must be produced, especially for Weverse.

Most importantly, it was not addressed if the HYBE that headhunting was HYBE Japan. I assume it was the mothership Korean HYBE. What is the logic that a Korean company will produce Japanese web dramas, not Korean, when Korean dramas are more popular on streaming platforms. Neither may mere the Japanese subsidiary have the power to tell the Korean drama studio what project to work on.

Yet, this leads to another question, why they poached Hirate. Clearly, Hirate being actress was a big factor to recruit her. Why might they recruit a Japanese actress if they would not making Japanese dramas?

Netflix does not co-produce nor fund various Korean dramas it distributes worldwide.

I believe "best deal" for artist management agency usually does not include distribution. I can see the agency negotiates on working conditions and wage but not distribution.

 

From her official website:
"HYBE JAPANが設立した新法人ならびに新レーベル「NAECO」（ネイコ）に移籍を発表"
"HYBE JAPAN이 설립한 신규 레이블 NAECO로 이적"

 

The English translation on her site curiously left out the "JAPAN" part that the other timeline translations (Japanese and Korean) had. I'd go with the other two, IMO.

I don't think Hirate will be based outside of Japan anytime soon. From what I can tell, her signing to HYBE means marketing not just in Japan, but abroad as well.

 

Probably just a typo. There are other typos in the English part and I would rely much more on the Japanese and Korean parts of the site since these are the "native" languages of both Hirate and HYBE respectively.

 

Nothing here was said about video production staff recruitment.

Nah. The omission definitely has its purpose. Mind you that the English part is as official as the other 2 and, HYBE (not HYBE Japan), on Twitter, welcomed Hirate as its new member.

My assumption is something with marketing. All these groups, Newjeans, Enhypen, Le Sserafim, are better known as HYBE's groups when they indeed come from different sub-labels of HYBE. It sells better to say Le Sserafim is BTS' labelmate albeit them working with totally different teams of staffers.

 

Techi's name, along with other artists, is on the VLIVE banner. It's about her soon to open Weverse account. I'm not sure how active she'll get as she's not really into social media but it's still something to look forward to.

 

Hirate must be in Korea now.

Many of you may have known that HYBE Japan has had a collaborative girl group project with LDH. Yesterday, LDH announced a prospective member, Mina, had withdrawn from the group during the preparative training in Korea. This suggests HYBE Japan has had no training facility and resorted onto that of the Korean one.

 

Happy New Year to Techi and all Techi oshis. Let this year be a fun and healthy year for our baby otter

 

Happy New Year everyone and wish a great year to our Techi
Can't wait to see what 2023 will bring us all

 

Weverse to become paid service in April. Actually, many fans of idols asked for this as the paywall is believed to filter out some hate commenters. Very recently, Chaeyoung of Fromis_9 cried during a live stream on Weverse after the same old hater yet again released a stream of comments against her.

 

WEVERSE FAN COMMUNITY OPEN
https://twitter.com/weverseofficial/status/1630040523183636482?s=20
https://weverse.io/yurinahirate/feed

 

I'll check it as soon as I have mor time, next week probably, but that pic alone is already worth the wait so far