Now that it’s been a few days since Hirajima Natsumi’s resignation, I can look at the event in a calmer and less emotion filled manor. I’m still very upset. So much so that anytime I see Nacchan my stomach churns violently. Perhaps it’s the Jalapeño stuffed cheesy bread I ate the other night, I don’t know. But what I do know is that my stance of the subject hasn’t changed.
I feel Nacchan should be allowed to stay in AKB48. I’m still clinging to news sites and Google+ for any word of a change of heart from Akimoto. But as the days go on, everything seems to be getting much more final. Somewhere inside I’m coming to terms with it all, accepting the fate that Nacchan dealt herself by breaking the most important rule of an Idol. She was without a doubt at fault and these consequences are warranted.
You can’t destroy the pure image of an Idol. When she compromised that image, she compromised her career with AKB48. — This is the mature way of looking at it of course. And I know that it’s the correct way to look at this situation. Personally, I don’t care for that image. I still believe an Idol can be “pure” and “innocent” even after having sex or getting a boyfriend. And the enjoyment I get from watching an Idol doesn’t diminish whatsoever.
When I become a fan of someone, my fandom runs deeper than a childish industry rule. I want an Idol to have it all. I want her to be as happy as she makes me. And this means if she’s happiest in a relationship, then I want her to go ahead. Idols make me so happy. They can turn my shit day upside down and have me good and jolly within a few minutes. To be quite honest, I prefer these idols to have some type of experience in love. Simply because they relate better to that image they push through their songs.
One of my favorite songs, dances and overall shows is Kuchi Utsushi No Chocolate. Performed by Kashiwagi Yuki, Oota Aika and the idol we’re focusing in on at the moment, Natsumi Hirajima. The song is seductive, concentrated sexiness bottled and fermented over time into a tale of pure teenage wild love and sexual exploration. That’s a mouthful, but to put it simply, its dope.
The idea that these “pure” girls are singing these songs without any background experience in what they’re singing, makes that song a bit hard for me to listen to.
It almost disgusts and offends me. And this is simply due to the fact that the song is suggesting the opposite of what these girls are meant to promote as Idols. If you’re giving me a pure image, please, don’t play with it! When you introduce actual experience into that equation, it makes listening to that song a bit easier. At least that’s the case for me. Now when I watch those performances I look at Hirajima differently. I look at her as a girl who’s lived that song, a girl who’s speaking from experience, a girl who’s being sincere to her image of purity by not lying to me.
This makes Nacchan shine all the more!
I think the image of an idol has changed from the 80’s. And it continues to do so as time goes on. Perhaps in 20 years, the idea of an Idol dating won’t be so absurd or taboo. I notice that the natural progression of things is leading towards youth, youth being the key ingredient and prerequisite. Right now everything’s a bit warped, but at the core I believe we watch idols because their youthful. Youth comes with scandal, teens fight with parents, run away from home, get knocked up at 16, the works. None of that’s “perfect” by ideal Idol Ideology (hahaha, try saying that 3x fast—I can’t say it once.), however its nothing but when considering “youth”.
Youth is inexperience and curiosity. When we age we lose both of those elements in our lives. By watching the youthful we’re reminded of those times and revisit them with a renewed interest. We can appreciate it more than we could when we were living it ourselves. In a sense, our nostalgia becomes a reason to live vicariously through Idols. Of course if you’re in your teens, you’d see it differently and wouldn’t approach any of this with “nostalgia”. However, hopefully in generations to come, the youth will be aware of the fact that this is their time to play the game of life with calculated carelessness. They wouldn’t look towards their Idol peers, as objects of hopeless fantasy, holding them up to an unrealistic standard that they themselves probably couldn’t live by.
The progression of the Idol class over the years has brought them closer to us, the fans. People want something they can touch. People prefer the realistic even if they chose to cling on to the fantasy. As time goes on Idols will become more and more like you or me. And it won’t be “Idols you can meet” (a slogan that would have not been possible in the 80′s), but rather “Idols you can date”.Hirajima Natsumi is a victim of today’s standards, nothing more. And its my personal opinion that within the Idol world, there is room for the Tainted Idol. By no means do I want it to be the norm, I enjoy my idols as they are, but I think that an occasional diversity is a good thing. Yonezawa Rumi on the other hand, had a bit too much information divulged. I’m for Idols having more freedoms, however her overall character was compromised and dirtied. She would just seem like a lie if she returned. I’m pro-Idols leading two lives, but prefer if we knew little of the second life.
On a side note, Akimoto is a class act and will guide her to a new career, which is putting my mind at rest quite a bit. I was most concerned with never seeing Nacchan again! Akimoto really does care for the girls and it shows. His leadership of AKB48 is outstanding.
For guiding Nacchan, I thank you Akimoto. With your guidance, I’m sure she’ll be fine.
