They know that fans are gonna attend. Maho has had a massive amount of support, and they wanna get the most out of it before she leaves them. Could you (or anyone else?) elaborate on that? It seemed to me like Rika was supportive of Maho The group itself, or its members, have never claimed to be divided (an article did). Funny, though, how Ayaka is able to talk about Team 8 members, whom she's probably never met personally or at least not talked to properly, but won't say a word about at least two of the girls she was having so much fun with in this video. She is ignoring the matter so blatantly obviously that it hurts. If you want to be subtle about it, at least not mention anyone's graduation announcements at all.
Actually Tano pretty close with some eito, especially with Yamada and Ikumin Fyi before join ngt, Tano was finalist for team 8 Hyogo prefecture audition...so she still connected with Yamada even after the audition.. But just to be clear, Yamada and Ikumi's graduation has nothing to do with this ngt case..it's pure their own decision for their better future
Oh no I wasn't trying to insinuate that, I hope it didn't sound like I did. That actually makes a small difference. Still, Tano was team and generation members with Maho. They were Kenkyuusei together, they were at the NGT audition together, they were in Team NIII together up until last year... quite sad. If she wasn't involved and hadn't done anything wrong, she would've also said something about Maho's graduation announcement (or Riko or Rena, as she was still happily spending time with them in December).
I didn't say she didn't support Maho, people are asking why people are using the term burned bridges, it's nothing to do with Rika but with Maho not believing her at first until the damage to whatever their relationship was, was already done.
I at least hoped they would (both) be a bit less disingenuous in their purposes and direction of their image manipulation: - Instead of making public the name of the members consorting with fans, for example, the purported scoop today is to make public the alleged name of "the member who came to the scene" to help Maho (the point being...?) - Alleged second-hand(?) story coming from someone who claim to have heard the "tape" (what is it with Bunshun's articles and those antiquated terms, even the story by "A-san" on the other issue starts calling the 1st generation senpais "furukabu", who uses that term in this day and age?), in other words the same voice recordings of the culprits confessing during the famous questioning at the park on the night of the assault, which Maho herself recorded and later gave to the third-party committee as proof of evidence. Yet after months Bunshun still running with the story that Maho randomly brought up other member's names in an argument with the culprits. This is in direct contraddition with the analysis of the recorded data in the report document, for what it's worth, which speaks of the culprits saying the names and the way they got their informations in a questioning in which Maho was also present (see the page marked as 10 here, complete with quotes and all). - Add to it that Bunshun blatantly lied about factual details already in the past, like Maho denying fingerprint check on the door when it was done regularly (page 9). Or trying to make Imamura into a heroical (self-insert...?) figure by claiming he personally went to the scene when in fact in the report it says it was three unnamed member's managers (earlier on the same page 9), while the rest of the document is sanitized of any mention of Imamura (referred to as 前支配人) where there should be instead. And of course then there's AKS sitting back watching through all of this and not taking any action, in fact the only time they ever made an announcement was to show strong disapproval at Tokyo Sports for publishing that gossip story of the female manager getting duct-taped by the gang, which is a typical ToSpo joke article on par with their UFO stories by comparison. Never before have I seen a group trying so hard to hide themselves behind a tabloid like Bunshun while literally begging for understanding, trust (and government's taxpayer money) in the public. Good luck to anyone still willing to support this inaka group after this mess.
Did I say anything about Rika burning bridges? You are welcome to try and find 中井 here but I wouldn't get your hopes up: https://twitter.com/maho_yamaguchi/following ------ Although since wetpantsu insists When are you pretending that happened? Right after the case broke? Before Maho unfollowed her and deleted the tweets she'd made speaking well of her? Feel free to try and find any recent mention of Maho here, because I sure couldn't: https://selca.kastden.org/owner/ngt48_rikahime/ That doesn't show text posts, like the tweet she made about the graduations which a certain scandal hawk noticed didn't mention anyone by name. But you said instastory and they're all there. Maybe she's ignoring it because it hurts. I mean, the rest of the eight weren't affected by this until January or later, but Ayakani and Gatanee were accused from day one. All of these members have good reason to resent Maho's actions, which have set a horde of angry netizens and bad press on them, made their lives a living hell, and quite possibly destroyed their careers and futures. Regardless of whether the accusations were true, but especially if they weren't. As for Riko and Rena, Riko has been ardent in her support of Mahohon, even going beyond Maho sometimes. Rena hasn't been as vocal, at least not in public, but she did end up graduating with her when Mofu didn't. And even if they did say something, people would still find something in it to bash them over so why bother.
I think we have focused on wrong topic. Justice likely is not her main concern anymore, her main concern has shifted from the assault case itself some time ago. She has not talked about it much lately but mainly about the board. The consequence of the assault case has made her, who valued the concept of orthodox idol, that idols should not date, realise that - The agency rejects the value, supporting members dating rich fans - She, an idol, is mere a disposable product to the agency. This definitely makes staying under AKS extremely disheartening to her and it is no other good choice but to quit. So, Maho's personal speculation of what might happen is fact? Tano & friends and the director definitely have different opinions. Their actions suggested they thought Maho overreacted to the situation, the assault was not serious. Maho herself may too have changed her opinion. Seemingly, her anger much has shifted from the attacker to the agency. If I were attempted rape, my main object of anger would always be the attackers regardless how indifferent the agency were to my suffering. The police officer stated suspects said they drank in a room in the same apartment before they came out to approach Maho and made no comment in refute. This meant the officer found the suspects' story was not totally dismissible, suspects did actually drink. They might be not fully sober and actions seemingly unreasonable were not completely incredible. Besides, an attacker said he pressed his hand onto her face to silent her, didn't he? The assault took place in the hallway where a random member could come across in any second. However shameless they were, they must want to intercourse in a more private space. You may argue the attackers planned to drag her to their room but, that will be another assumption. They did nothing that could translate as the attempt to undress her. 5ch detectives have dug into them and found no sexual assault record. If I remember right, some NGT's girl fans complained they groped few pretty fans but there is nothing more serious than this. Groping is a crime but let's agree it's not that grave. It took place close to Maho's room? Were not they in a room close to hers? Of course, they must attack her close to where they rested. They might have attacked her somewhere else if she did not flee to her room. How will you verify the purpose of their attack? Their actions and the context of the incident clearly are subjects of different interpretations. This is not how the law works. I don't have to educate you, right? Nope.
I'm confused because Rika only just denied that she would have yelled 'die!' at Maho two days ago and called her an important member. She also didn't use names in that tweet but she still said she's sad about the graduations because she used to like being a Team G member and she's sorry she couldn't do anything. Also this screenshot from the Senshuuraku performance
Well, the denials of saying 「死ね」 don't say anything about other members. Not sure where she called Maho an important member but I didn't see it among the recent archived stories or in her tweets. Aside, an example of Rika's 「ふぇ」: https://selca.kastden.org/original/1802114/47785594_751786328519649_318115149361475578_n.mp4 That... might very well be the only time they interacted on stage. I didn't catch the entire thing, but I did watch most of it especially the MCs, and the unit that Maho and Rika did together. I didn't see any sign of closeness between them during that time. Both are idols and capable of acting happy for the sake of the audience, but that doesn't mean they'd want to do it again.
In the same tweet where she denied having yelled at Maho https://twitter.com/rika_nakai823/status/1120136545267150848?s=19 I see where you're coming from nut I don't understand why Maho would still feel the need to put up an act now when she's on her way out. But yeah, maybe they're not friends, I don't know them personally of course
Because it was Team G's final stage, and she wanted to make it a happy one. edit: As confirmed in her latest tweet, though iirc she said it in her mobame before the stage as well. Thanks for bringing that tweet to my attention, I think I'd seen it once before but missed it this time because it's a reply. That post was a bit old, don't you think But aye, that's not what happened in that stream at all, only what people made it seem like by cutting out all the earlier discussion of the manager's departure and only including Noe's attempt to cheer up the atmosphere.
The point of your post is by law the gang did no crime right? How do we know the purpose of their assault? We already know their stalking habit and as you said earlier, they already groped numerous female fans. Many criminals all over the world tend to repeat and escalate their action and if AKS decide to sue them, they can easily use the gang past to make a case That if AKS don’t collude with the gang as from what I’ve heard they are whale fans with lots of money If AKS want they can even make it as AKS vs the gang. Stalking members, molesting 48 group female fans and then attacked Maho, they can easily make all that as attack to the company Their legal department can do many thing by themselves if the prosecutor think there is no case, they can do many thing to show that they care and they don't need public prosecutor to do it AKS legal department do many things, they even constantly take down Youtube videos I think they’re just don’t care about Maho or they think members on opposite side are more important If you think I'm wrong then please educate us about the law, you seems to have many knowledge in this area
Excuse me, but what police officier are you even referring to in every post you make? I can't find anything like that in the third-party committee report, I haven't ever found anything like that on the press and the only semblance of an interview with a policeman (the Department's deputy chief, to be exact) was actually as early as January 26 on FRIDAY, which is pretty standard fare ("Can't answer") and says nothing of this (the rest of the damn article is balderdash, again with the same old "NGT kankeisha" claiming Maho denied police home investigation, which turned out a lie, so forgive me for only cutting out the relevant interview bit rather than linking it straight): Spoiler: Old, predictable answers The introduction of the article [note: "There's a lot of different thoughts bearing on anyone’s mind"] is part of a question and answer session with deputy chief Umeda of the Niigata Police Department. Here we present the whole of it. -- Did the victim (Yamaguchi-san) end up injured? There were no injuries. If there would be injuries, it would otherwise go on to constitute a bodily injury offence. [note: in contrast to physical assault offences] -- Is there any verbal testimony saying that the suspects came out of another apartment of the building in question? Can't answer. -- They were encroaching into the victim's place of residence, but doesn't it constitute house invasion? I believe there exist -- to say -- the basis proving their (the perpetrators') presence in there. -- Was it in the [building's] common hallway that the police officers then arrived at? Can't comment on this. -- Any verbal testimony that a conversation happened between the victim and the two men at a nearby park? Can't comment on this, either. -- What was the motive [of the offence]? They gave a statement that they wanted to have a talk with that girl (Yamaguchi-san). -- Wasn't there any aim to inflict a physical assault? In their initial statements, they were denying that saying "we didn't commit any such aggression". -- Isn’t there any risk that the two people who ended up committing the crime this time may turn to stalker behavior, now? Being this an accident between a male and a female, we are taking measures by hypothesizing every scenario possible, including also such a risk. -- Have you issued a restraining order against them? We can't say what the police is doing. Otherwise, they (the perpetrators) may find workarounds to break through it as a result. -- How come it ended in a non-prosecution? It's the Local Prosecutor Office that decides so (whether or not to prosecute). This is not something we are able to answer about, on our side. There's various kinds of assault. Maybe there's a malicious intention. Maybe not. We ourselves simply did the investigations and sent it all to the prosecutor. The case had been declared closed. -- The police would perform investigations in order to initiate a prosecution lawsuit. In this case, did they carry out their checks while keeping such people in custody until the maximum time period, as it appears, or...? I do believe so. Can't answer about such things as the police custody period in detail. -- As the case has been gaining public attention, there are also many opinions that have arisen saying "The police's response was odd". There's a lot of thoughts weighing on anyone’s mind... --- Lawyers Ochiai Yoji, who's an expert in privacy violations and such issues, raises an eyebrow on it: "I find it perplexing that they ended it into a non-prosecution so easily". Care to provide me, for once, the source of this ultra-rare claim that you keep repeating continously like it's a well-known story, since it's constantly at the basis of your premise? Now that you mention it, I just realized there has always been an annoying lack of interviews with the Niigata cops anywhere I see. Oh, note also how to the question of why they were released with no prosecution, the cops' answer was blissfully ignorant: they don't know, they only perform investigations and what comes after is up to the Prosecutor office to decide, not theirs. No further research was taken. Please tell me you are on the same page as me, or you are arguing for the sake of arguing by injecting false recollections in the talk. In all these long months I have never seen anyone or anywhere on the Japanese side pointing at any statement that they were "drunk", either. And with the way they planned the assault in a way to find the right timing when Maho would be alone (this is not only my own conclusion, but also that of the third-party committee's report), even as a theory this is of course ridiculously out of question, it was so back in January, let alone right now in April with all the facts at hand,. Otherwise Man #3, the partner in crime of the other two, wouldn't have gone out of his way to additionally ask member A, who got off the bus on their way back home from the theater, if member E (who, not-so coincidentally enough, lived in the same apartment complex as Maho, and the same floor too) was riding on the bus as well apart from Maho (the answer, as it turned out, being no), before relaying it back to Man #1 and Man #2. This is even written in A's own testimony on page 6 of the committee's research report, for the record. Man #1 and Man #2, by the way, apparently were "drunk" enough to have "randomly" rented an apartment in what was supposed to be an idol dormitory many months in advance right in front of Maho's room, so yeah all things considered it could be any "random member", except it isn't... Why do I even have to state such obvious facts 4 months into the case is beyond me. By liking a tweet demanding when the management intends to announce the legal measures to be taken against the perpetrators, among other unanswered questions that they were asked over a month ago by now? If anything, the anger is at the management for denying her even the possibility of taking any actions against the offenders, all of this based on wrongful arguments from the agency's boss. It's no wonder that even the lawyers present to discuss Maho's graduation announcement on talk shows duly pointed that the CEO's excuse for denying Maho, that "ending in no prosecution means it's not a criminal case", is full-on bullshit (like from 0:57 in this segment, for example). Well, what else can you expect from a company's president who until now only dealt with mechanical gambling machines only good for spitting out steel balls, and now apparently finds herself at the helm of hundreds of girls each with their own issues both personal and professional? AKS is filled with persons unfit to manage other person's lives, even Imamura's only merit is that he was Akimoto's friend of 30 years, and now we saw a prime example of it. I hate these debates, it only takes away time from me. At least let's get all facts straight first.
Here is a short story about the cancellation of her appearance. "On the 24th, the fashion brand for women "Heather" has canceled the promotion with Yuka Ogino (20) of the idol group "NGT 48" and deleted the "special serialization page" on the official site. On this day, the official site reported that "We received various opinions about the promotion we released last week. We have decided to delete the content related to this promotion based on the opinions we received." Furthermore, I apologize, "I am sorry for the concern I've given to the customers who have always been patronizing them." https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/entame/akb/1365381/
If management still thinks everything will be forgotten once Maho, Riko and Rena are gone, they are absolute fools. If they have no sponsors left and the rest of the girls can't get work outside of NGT anymore because the brands will be criticised for associating with them, the group as well as the individuals are doomed for not doing anything.
Local idol groups still survive by releasing singles, albums, handshakes, performing at theater. It's quite far from not doing anything. It's really funny if AKS thinks NGT or NGT girls can get sponsors.
I meant for not doing anything regarding Maho's situation and simply standing by, not that they won't be doing anything (won't be working). They are doomed and getting their karma back for not standing up for Maho and defending her, and for letting all of this happen.
AKS only option is to sue them at a civil court and they announced that they ought to do so (albeit quite late). But don't keep your hopes high, because none of this will directly result in a prison sentence. This can only be achieved at a criminal court and if the state prosecutor says there is no case then that's it. At a civil court options are mostly limited to requests for compensation or injunctive relief. In case of compensation AKS will likely have to detail how much money they lost because of the attack. However the defendants will argue that the prosecutor already ruled that, in his opinion, the attack was minor at best. All the money they lost on cancelled sponsorships/contracts could be attributed to their own mishandling of the situation. They will have a hard time representing their case. Regarding their past wrong-doings: This is not really relevant in a potential civil case since it has no impact on the amount of damages AKS has received. A criminal court would have more interest in it but only if one can prove this accusations, either by police records or witness accounts. However requesting this information is the job of the prosecutor. That's Copyright Law, an entirely different set of books.
