Otsuka Aina to resign from Juice=Juice and H!P

[Shoujo Q]

Well, this sucks and only confirms my Juice=Juice is the new C-ute curse. Oops.
 
<a href="http://www.up-fc.jp/helloproject/news_I ... >Source</a>
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
Juice=Juice 大塚愛菜に関するお知らせ
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大塚愛菜 本人並びにご家族と契約に関しての協議を重ねてまいりましたが、

残念ながら契約条件で合意に達するに至らず、ご家族からの契約辞退の申入れもあった為、

7月5日をもって大塚愛菜はJuice=Juice及び、ハロプロ研修生から脱退することとなりました。


今後Juice=Juiceは5名で活動していきます。

ファンの皆様には、何卒ご理解の上、引き続き応援の程宜しくお願い致します。


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</blockquote>
 

[NekoKaiSai]

This is disappointing and unfortunate, though I wonder if it had anything do to with her injury.

[Shoujo Q]

No, it had to do with contract issues and her parents not liking any of it. I wonder what was in her contract that made her parents squash her dreams?

[bowbow0720]

This sucks, which leaves Sayubee the only one I care about in JJ.
 
I could be completely off, but sometimes Aina gives me a vibe that she does not want to be there (rebellious stage perhaps?) 
 
 

[aine]

The benefit of taking forever to learn their names and recognize faces is that I'm not too phased by it (even though I regard J=J as the best newcomer group in H!P ever). It sucks regardless of that though and I hope they will continue as strong even one member short.
 
IIRC the J=J lineup was supposed to be dynamic, so perhaps they will actually do that this time after failing to with Berryz and C-ute.

[momoirosaya]

WHY DO MY FAVORITE MEMBERS KEEP LEAVING!?!?!?! *sobs hysterically*
I was really looking forward to JJ growing as a group, and I was really happy Aina was in it... :( This just sucks.
She must really be upset though that her family rejected her dreams...

[Melon]

Ugh dynamic lineups is a failed concept. MM never measures up to its past members as it is.


The reason why Berry z/C-ute a re so amazing onstage is because they have had time to mature as a group together. :/

[yuzuriha]

I am in an absolute rage over this.  I said on facebook...I would rather if there were a real scandal here instead of just a case of greedy parents.
 
 
As a child who wanted to get into the entertainment industry, if I was THISFUCKINGCLOSE to my MAJOR FUCKING DEBUT and my parents pulled this shit on me I would never speak to them again.  She has worked her ass off to get this far and they blew it for her over MONEY.

[AurA]

Tragic, but at least it was the short haired girl.  
 
 
[quote="yuzuriha"]
MONEY.
[/quote]
We can't assume that.

[al kusanagi]

Well, this leaves a perfectly Nanami-sized hole, doesn't it?

[smtmissin]

Aina wasn't my absolute favorite like Sayuki and Tomoko but this is just so, so sad. The group will never be the same without her.
This was apparently not her idea. She must have cried and tried to persuade her parents (I believe so because I would do the same) but didn't succeed.
Stupid parents are stupid.

[Mukuro]

Well this was completely unexpected. Seriously, I liked her too! It's unfair.

[Enmiz]

Damn. I was so excited for her to get her major debut after she worked so hard, especially because she didn't pass the 9ki auditions.


...Which makes me wonder if her parents would've let her actually join MM if she had passed since the contracts are probably very similar.


Tsunku seemed to be relying on her a lot, too.


Well, dang.


But I don't want him to add anyone. It'll mess up their chemistry.

[Anderei]

Wouldn't they have needed to sign a contract to release the indies stuff? What's so different about the old contract and the new one that she had to completely quit?

[Kahoryn]

ugh... I don't know what to say other than I knew someone would leave but I didn't think it would be this soon. Blows.

[yuzuriha]

Considering her parents knew what being an idol consisted of and all that, I very much do believe it had to do with money.  I know I can't say 100% that that IS what it was, but my GUESS is that they expected "MAJOR DEBUT" to mean a much bigger pay raise, especially since she is one of the more popular members, and said screw it when it wasn't as much as they wanted.
 
That's just my guess.

[Anderei]

No one has posted the translation of the message, so here it is (Estrea@H!O):
We sincerely thank you for always supporting Juice=Juice.


In line with Otsuka Aina's own wishes, along with some overlap of contractual issues with her family, we were unfortunately unable to reach an agreement with the terms of the contract, and with respect to her family's non acceptance of the contract terms, from July 5th Otsuka Aina will no longer be part of Juice=Juice or the Hello!Pro Kenshuusei.


From now on Juice=Juice will continue on with only 5 members.

We beg the understanding of the fans on this matter, and hope that you will continue to support them.
 

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Anderei" data-cid="156973" data-time="1373036819">Wouldn't they have needed to sign a contract to release the indies stuff? What's so different about the old contract and the new one that she had to completely quit?</blockquote>I can think of a whole lot of things that could be different, money being just one and most trivial of them. Eg. contractual obligation to do photobooks, to do a certain number of events, to be attend a certain amount of rehearsal hours per week, to move to a place designated by the company for convenience, etc. I imagine an indie contract could be much more lax in that regard, whereas with a major contract you need to fully give yourself under the company's control.

We won't know for certain, but I wouldn't automatically demonize the parents. It could be that Aina wanted out herself when she realized the increase in the workload after becoming major. And even if it was her parents who disagreed, my bet would that they were concerned more about her education rather than the money she would or would not be making.

[Kalle]

I just literally yelled out 'WHAT' at my laptop, this is just a sudden blow and it really sucks :(
Maybe she'll be able to come back to showbiz in some form when she's older, even if not necessarily with H!P, but still.

[Enmiz]

As a person who hopes to be at least a decent parent one day, I should say "good for them!" for doing what they felt was right for their daughter. As an idol fan, though... 
 
Per Amped on Jplop
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
"Good evening. 
Some of you probably already know… 
As the official announcement says, I am leaving Juice=Juice and the Hello!Project trainees today. 

I am so sorry that I couldn’t say a proper good-bye. 

Everybody who cheered for us until this day… 
Thank you so much! 

Well then… bye-cha-ko. (*´ `*)"</blockquote>
<a class="" href="http://ameblo.jp/juicejuice-official/en ... fficial/en ... 29605.html</a>
 
 

[smtmissin]

I wonder at what age can one sign his/her contract without the need of parental consent. Even =the translated message emphasizes contractual issue with the family (with an Aina's own wish sidekick), so I don't think Aina wants to leave at all if not for her parents.
I wouldn't say that the parents made a good decision not letting their daughter walking on idol venue. Only Aina knows what is best for her.

[yuzuriha]

Well even if they're "trying to be good parents" they still let their daughter audition for Morning Musume, enter the egg program, and had to have been aware with all that went with it unless they were living under a rock.  So unless we get some kind of announcement from Aina herself saying it was her decision, I am going to blame the parents.  It may be ignorant of me but I'm just so upset for her.

[MiniLovely]

[quote="Al Kusanagi"]
Well, this leaves a perfectly Nanami-sized hole, doesn't it?
[/quote]
This is the only way this can become good. I'm disappointed!

[kira]

[quote="yuzuriha"]
Well even if they're "trying to be good parents" they still let their daughter audition for Morning Musume, enter the egg program, and had to have been aware with all that went with it unless they were living under a rock.  So unless we get some kind of announcement from Aina herself saying it was her decision, I am going to blame the parents.  It may be ignorant of me but I'm just so upset for her.
[/quote]
I'm wondering if it's a "if it's not MM you can't do it" kind of thing. MM has always had the largest fanbase out of H!P and although J=J has promise, H!P groups have never really hit is as big as MM ever did. Maybe they think it's better for her to spend her time not doing this because of the small amount of guaranteed success. And it's possible they think the time commitment is not worth it for that.
 
We'll never know unless it's said publicly though, so it's all speculation.

[yuzuriha]

Yeah, but even then, why let her get so far as practically a major debut and THEN pull her, that's why I'm so upset.  I just feel bad for her, she practically tasted her dream and BAM gone.

[Shoujo Q]

I think I'd feel better about this if it was a Megumi type leaving. You knew she had a scandal on her hands, so seeing her leave right before the major debut was on some level, okay (not really, I still miss Megumi.)
But this, this is different and it hurts because she did nothing wrong and she's gone without any notice or fanfare. And UF put it out there that she did nothing wrong and this wasn't her reason for leaving. 
 
Other girls who left without much notice, they all made it seem like it was there choice for leaving and they make it seem that way by writing their little blog entries and whatever, this wasn't like that.
 
Reading Aina's little generic blog post, that's not someone who has other plans lined up. 

[Noa]

I am so upset I'm almost crying and I haven't done that over idol graduations since Eri. Aina was my favorite in the 9th gen auditions and ever since then I've been waiting for her debut and now when she was so close she's leaving and I'm just really really sad and upset.

[Farrah]

This is really annoying as a fan, seeing as I sincerely wanted a stable line-up for JJ, and I feel like Aina was a very integral and important part of the group, even if I wasn't particularly fond of her voice. If they had problems with the contract, I understand that, but I also know that H!P is known for giving some of the most agreeable, reasonable contracts in the idol business. Other idols frequently talk about how H!P idols are treated very well by their agency.  Considering how much time this girl has put into becoming an idol, despite failing numerous auditions, I definitely think we'll see her pop up again elsewhere, either as a soloist under some tiny company, or perhaps even in another idol group (hopefully not AKB, mostly because I can see the H!P wota giving her a lot of shit for it, I've seen girls be called traitors and what not for that kind of thing. It's not fair and it doesn't make sense, but since she was so close to major debut, I think they'll judge her especially harshly).

[showraniy]

Well fudge. I adored Aina...


There's nothing new I can say here that hasn't already been said, but I'm still entirely disappointed. I absolutely hope she'll pop up in something in the future, and hey, at least she got to be in Dakishimenakya Ne Blah Blah 'cause that was a fantasticly awesome song.

[yuzuriha]

[quote="Shoujo Q"]
I think I'd feel better about this if it was a Megumi type leaving. You knew she had a scandal on her hands, so seeing her leave right before the major debut was on some level, okay (not really, I still miss Megumi.)
But this, this is different and it hurts because she did nothing wrong and she's gone without any notice or fanfare. And UF put it out there that she did nothing wrong and this wasn't her reason for leaving. 
 
Other girls who left without much notice, they all made it seem like it was there choice for leaving and they make it seem that way by writing their little blog entries and whatever, this wasn't like that.
 
Reading Aina's little generic blog post, that's not someone who has other plans lined up. 
[/quote]
 

This is pretty much exactly what I've said between facebook and chat today.