Controversy has erupted about the newest AKB48 member, Eguchi Aimi.
Of course, AKB48 is Japan’s hugely successful and popular all-girl pop group. Fans of the girls vote on their favorites of the group, who appear in commercials for various products. The newest girl, Eguchi, has become the focus of a hotly-contested (or at least blogged) online argument of late.
Apparently, some dedicated AKB48 fans are under the suspicion that Eguchi is a composite computer-generated girl as opposed to a living, breathing human.
Kotaku weighed in on the issue, giving some background about Eguchi herself:
She apparently tried out for the Osaka-based version of AKB48, NMB48, but is joining AKB48 as a research student (think, idol-in-training). Following the announcement of this news on June 11, Eguchi appeared in the Weekly Playboy (no relation to the “entertainment for men” Playboy) cover spread and a nationwide ad campaign for Aisu no Mi—both of which are unheard of for an AKB48 research student. Aisu no Mi is from candy maker Glico, based in Osaka.
Tokyo Hive discussed the difference between AKB48′s management’s response to questions about the controversy:
However, the girls of AKB48 seemed to have unintentionally revealed that she is, indeed, a fake. Kikuchi Ayaka busted Eguchi out first in her blog entry, which has since been edited / deleted, but not before fans allegedly took some screencaps. She wrote, “Eguchi Aimi-san is cute <3 She’s just too pretty! lol lol lol She’s in the 12.5 generation~ I also did a shoot! I wonder when a part of my face will be used (hehe)” However, some fans believe that the blog screencap may be a fake as well.
Read the rest of Tokyo Hive’s piece for more heated gossip, if this is something you care about.
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