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THICK_AND_THIN

                                                December 25, 2013
                                                March    17, 2014


In many ways, I find AKB48 to be an even harder            HATSUNE_MIKU
case to deal with than Hatsune Miku, if you're
interested in issues surrounding authenticity              AKB48
in music.  AKB48 (and it's related franchises)
are veritable armies of women attacking in
divisions of 16 or so, dancing around on stage,
lip-synching to a chorus that is almost
certainly not their own voices (really, it                 That's Dangerbaby's 
sounds like one voice over-dubbed), all of whom            observation.
have taken vows of chastity (this is rumored to                        
be included in their contracts, and certainly                   DANGERBABY
weird "scandals" break out whenever it's
suggested that one of them might be secretly
involved with some man).


They regularly dominate the top of the sales
charts because they've subverted the system
of CD sales: their disks contain ballots to
let their fans vote in popularity contests
and such-- many of the fans buy hundreds of
them to be able to vote multiple times, and
then throw the disks away.

      When you watch the audience
      cheer-on Hatsune Miku's
      hologram, there's no question
      that they've decided to play
      along with an illusion.

      With AKB48, the fan response is
      much harder to grasp... what are      At the Sankaku Complex,
      they really thinking?  What do        they comment that AKB48
      they expect out of this?              fans appear to believe
                                            they have a time-share
         I suppose it's much like           rental on the girl's
         the classic whore & john           hymens.
         head games... does the john
         sincerely believe in the
         whore's show of enthusiasm?




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