Major news breaking this morning as AKB48, the outsized J-pop unit that even has its own theater in Tokyo, has fired Ayaka Kikuchi from their lineup. I’m not a fan (actually, I’ve never heard a note of their music and I’m sure some folks would say I’m missing out) but this news still made me say whoa (as did the fact that Tokyograph, a frequent news source for J-Pop bloggers, actually linked to IntlWota and one of its member sites – nice job, guys!).

With such a large lineup (albeit often split into three smaller groups), I have to wonder if the departure, forced or otherwise (six members have already graduated from the group), actually affects the makeup of the band in any way. When someone graduates from Morning Musume, the effect is obvious at first with the next single to come out after the member’s departure, but the band adapts relatively quickly and continues to make high-quality music. I wonder if someone separating from AKB48 would be as noticeable as a member or two leaving a symphony orchestra – again, though, I’m not familiar with AKB48’s music so I personally don’t know for sure. I am sure, however, that like with Morning Musume, when a favorite member departs it’s a sad day for their fans. I’m sure that Cat at the AKB48 blog Aitakatta! is taking it hard – the news that Kikuchi had been caught had already upset her before today’s news broke. Being a longtime MoMusu fan, I can’t help but sympathize with AKB48 fans in an instance such as this.

Whether AKB48’s handlers are looking to be more hardcore than Up-Front Works regarding the personal lives of their contracted talent is up for debate – members have already stated in interviews long before today’s news broke that having boyfriends while being a member of the band is prohibited. It will be interesting to see if (god forbid) any of the older members gets in worse trouble for following an Aibon-esque path in their offstage lives.

ETA: Ouch. They sure moved fast. Her picture’s been ripped off of the wall at their theatre (thanks to Julia for the pic):

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 3:32 pm and is filed under AKB48, Randoms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.