A Princess' Fairytales: 『discussionl』 Idols, Agencies and their rules...

I got inspired to write this entry by the announcement of the withdrawal and the cancelation of contract of KAT-TUN's member Tanaka Koki, which got published on 9th October and shocked quite a few people and a whole fandom got woken up about it.

To be hones it's not only that matter, but just the whole Idol Industry in Japan and Korea which always gave me a headache in some way. That's why this entry will not be based on actual facts, nut my opinion and only mine. don't know anything about the whole thing or at least not that much. I'm also not really involved nor active in this kind of field. I just write down my thoughts on it.

The reason why I got inspired is that KAT-TUN is my one and only Jpop band I listen to. To be honest I never called myself a real fan nor a Hyphen (which is what KAT-TUN fans are called), I just like it to listen to them on occasion and when I feel like it or when I need a little cheer up and yes at the meantime I'm able to sing along with nearly every of their songs. That's why even I was shocked about these news. I never thought that something like that will ever hurt my little heart, but it seems like I like them a lot more as expected.

The thing is that I don't get this whole Idol thing. I just can't understand how someone wants to become an Idol, being under so much pressure and following so many rules of an agency. You have to sing, dance, act and if you're popular enough you even get your own little shows or you have to host some variety shows. Even participating in variety shows is a must to get known. It doesn't matter if you're becoming a korean or a japanese Idol, the fact is that you have to do a lot of stupid things, maybe even some more or less inhuman things.

And all these stupid rules by agencies, like no girlfriend/boyfriend until a certain age, no tattoos, no twitter account, no whatever it is else...
(I'm not in all this and I don't know for sure if anything I'm writing is right so please bear with me and my lack of knowledge regarding these things.)

I just can't understand how someone can send their child/ children to such an agency. Is it really only for the money? Do they really think that they will ever see something of it?
Let's be honest, most of the money goes to the agencies no matter what you want to believe. It'll go there and when it's only to pay for all those expensive shows and stupid costumes. (Which I actually not believe, but let's pretend it's the way it works.)

So you get send there by your parents, might have said something like "I wanna be an Idol" at the age of five, you have to work your ass off and in the end if you're not popular enough or "behaving bad" you get cut down, downgraded, punishment of various sorts or the most drastic way, just fired.
It's not counting what fans say or band members or who else. If it seems like you're not worth it or you just don't bring enough money you're out of it.

According to the german article on Wikipedia Idols singed to Johnny & Associates just get a fixed income and some promotions for special activities. That's a reason why I wonder someone would ever send their child to such a company. At least they get something out of it. No one knows how high it is and that's not the reason why I write about this all.

I just really can't understand all the hype about Idols. No matter if they japanese or korean or whatever nationality. I'm not sure if this is really a business to support. For me it sounds more like human slavery or something. Now a lot of people will say that they only try to make a living or that they wanted it of their own free will, but I actually think that only the fewest went there on their own idea. I really think that a lot of the Idols got send to some agency by their parents, because they wanted it that way.

There also was another incident at the beginning of the year. It regarded the events around a female Idol from AKB48. These news went around the world, because she cut of all her hair and recorded a video where she apologized for her bad behavior. Which was staying over night at her boyfriends home at the age of 20 or something.

this is the video I'm talking about

Now there are fans who claim that she did it on her own free will. And I have to add that I don't know anything about them, except their super popular in Japan and always have theses really strange PVs which so not compliment their "oh so innocent" image.

I actually think that it was not that free of mind to do that, even when she decided to do it. I think it's only because of all these stupid rules and the pressure of the agencies/ companies for an "oh so innocent" image. Who want to ask someone if their allowed to love someone or stay over night or what ever. There is always a rule which forbids exactly the thing you want to do. It's always there. Always!

Regarding the punishment she got lucky and just got downgraded. But there always are punishments like canceling a tour, no drama contracts (for a while), no advertisement contracts (for a while), canceling the contract with the agency, maybe even less money. Regarding the tour cancelation it happened to KAT-TUN this year and I think that this is more a punishment for all their fans than for the member who was troublesome or misbehaving. The same goes for the drastic contract cancelation. Do they even think about how much pain this causes the fans. The people who spend all their money on the band of a certain agency?

I think they don't even care about that. They just care for their own money and the "oh so innocent" image of their company and their bands/ Idols in training. Every other band/ Idol already has an image to stand up to.

I just think that all this is kind of ridiculous and some kind of modern slavery. Sure they have to make a living, but they still should be allowed to have some more free time and their own opinion and thoughts. And sure there is a need for certain rules, but it mustn't be the way it is.

I wonder if this will ever change and if it change will it be as successful as it is now?