An AKB48 fan boasting of buying 1500 singles has become the latest example of the unbelievable creepiness such fans have become a byword for.
As usual, the primary motivation for this obsessive feat appears to be the extras the CDs contain – typically tickets which allow access to handshaking events or voting rights in AKB popularity contests, which is apparently the case here.
Aside from the opprobrium the frequently unbalanced antics such obsessive fans get up to attracts, AKB’s owners have come in for plenty of criticism for encouraging them with such sales tactics.
Even some in the music business appear to be unhappy at the influence such tactics have on Japan’s music charts (the singles charts are now at such low sales volumes that it seems multiple buying by otaku influences them).
Such high level behaviour has its detractors, even on 2ch:
“Having my little sister sign all of those was quite a hassle for her.”
[…]
“I don’t want to see Yuria’s sad face! You guys hang in there too!”
[…]
“Ah, I got 200 of the tickets out. Only 1300 left…”
[…]
“It looks like I’ll get it done today. After that I’ll need to get the handshaking event tickets out as well. More arrive tomorrow so I have a lot of work left!”
“They may as well just leave out the CDs now.”
“This is crazy.”
“These guys have more money than sense…”
“How do they even get that much money?”
“Probably students working part time with no real living expenses of their own?”
“It’s certainly their money to do with as they please if they earned it, but they are still totally creepy.”
“Do they just toss the CDs after getting the tickets or what?”
“If this isn’t some kind of put up by the organisers then some of these people have mental problems.”
“They need to just provide some machine at conbinis which lets them pay to vote.”
“At least just sell the tickets on their own. It’s just a waste making these retards buy up CDs.”
“If you have that much cash to throw away you could buy one of the fallen AKB members who turned to porn.”
“Somebody start a company to open the CDs for these idiots.”
“I bet they just trash the discs. When I think of them praising their music, I just laugh.”
“Exploitation is too weak a word for this.”
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got catch them all
new idols come out every week, it is a long quest young otaku
They buy a lot so when those idols get married or start going out with someone they can break things.
Will he fap on his hand in the bathroom prior to the shaking hand event?
I can understand buying a backup in case one gets broken or lost, but... Holy shit!
Obviously, he owns a rabid elephant and just wanted the extra insurance for his music.
LOL
OK! OK! - sorry to spoil the Fun, But I asked my 'AKB48 Sensi' about most of Sancom's stories and oddly many were debunked.
This story is similar to one posted where a guy posts that he bought 1,000? (or so) to ensure that Yuko Oshima won?... It was a Chinese wholesaler who merely had someone "pose next to" the open boxes of UNOPENED wrapped CD's. I have a link to Debunk story.
This is likely the same deal. You've been TROLLED. I admit I'd do the same thing for giggles (Not Buy a million CD's).
The AKB48 'community' is actually a lot tamer even I thought. People (the one's that speak English anyway) have been very helpful and eager to share links, soft-subs, boards, movies, TV Dramas, and such. I actually went looking for the "NutBall fans" (cause they'd have the best stuff) but the fans really do enjoy the music as there's like 5-8 splinter 'groups' connected to AKB48, there's always something "happening".
And for the record my AKB contact is actually a Japanese girl- I assumed she was a guy for 2 weeks- lol.
Noticed you used the word 'many' but not 'all'.
It's more likely these are greatly exaggerated stories, not outright fabrications. Common sense would have place fans buying 2-5 cds. But there are ardent fans who would buy more than 10. They may even buy them just to inflate the charts then return it after a reasonable period. Just look into Bieber or Twilight. Won't give numbers to back up as I want nothing to do with the mentioned groups.
It was on TV it must be true
I thought the same as you, til a day I
went to the akiba store and saw the guy in front of me buying 400.000 yens in dvds, just to collect the cards that come along with them
Oh, extra ticket-less cds always go to book off or some other used goods shop.
His back ups got back ups and his back ups back ups got back ups... and his back ups back ups back ups got back ups........
I predict Ebay & YahooJapan for all that crap.
As soon as AKB runs it's course (and it WILL) all this shit'll be on the market for a loss, in the long run.
If he's smart he'll sell it in about 3 months.
...Just confirming here, but do you know how AKB works? It's not like they keep the same people, they're a huge group and have girls graduating and being introduced constantly. It's more accurate to think of them as a production company.
I'd concede that the entire "large pop idol group" thing can go out of fashion, but I doubt it'd be soon.
Do you know how many Chinese children blew themselves up making those little discs?!
...and we are supposed to give a shit, why? Literally everything that you own and use is manufactured in China by poor little Chinese children. It's their own fault for being born in such a shit hole of a country. Feeling guilty? Want to be a moral faggot? Then throw away everything you own that has a little 'Made in China' symbol stamped on it.
Well, at least they are paid for it.
Dude... seriously. It's a joke, alright?
Let's practice heavy breathing, you seem to be getting a bit aggravated there.
This is way more than the 3 rules of Otaku. Also, how did they get so much money is beyond magic.
The handshaking thing... maybe they fap with the same hand after the event...?
and before too
and don't wash said after beating off before hand.
where is the Purell & UV light when you need it, amirite?
just to shake a hand? let's use us money here (and I know japanese media actually costs more).
$5 a cd (I'm sure it was more then that but simplicity's sake)
5*1500=$7500
Let that sink in. $7500 to shake someone's hand.
I think you only need 10 coupons to get a "Handshake Ticket" (Maybe it's 12?).
Hey, I've paid a girl in my film class $100 to grind me and let grope every inch of her body for 15 minutes (She's a Stripper).
I've paid about $100 (which the girl only saw 1/2 of) to make girls on MFC do sexual stuff
I'd gladly pay Mayu Watanabe (AKB48) $100 for a handshake & take a cute picture with her. Plus, You get to see ALL the girls up close and probably wave & make eye-contact. It's a bargain compared to most of America's pop stars.
wtf is MFC Microsoft Foundation Class?
I think you only need 2.
Good thing too, CDs are about 17 in Japan.
actually, they are singles. so more like $2. still that's $3,000
Your oblivious to the cost of the single so don't make stupid comments!
1600 Yen/CD ~ $20 USD and that's excluding shipping charge!
$20 USD x 1500 CDs = $30,000 USD!
Did anyone think the person who posted this cr@p might be a reseller?! The person could be buying the CDs for others, not just himself!
It happened before in the previous election!
Darn people post stuff they have NO clue about!
20usd per cd
For the money he spent on those, he could have paid for a personal trainer, a dating coach, a haircut, and some nice clothes... and been well on his way to having an actual girlfriend.
I dunno. If this site's coverage of how to get a girlfriend in Japan is anything to go by, all he needs is the money itself.
Which he would have still had if he didn't waste it all on 1500 of the same CD.
Better still he could have spent it on some middle school enjo kosai.
Waste of money as these guys were total lost causes a long, long time ago.
A big loser!
This is another wonderful example of an overblown story on Sancom. People do this with every single not for the handshake tickets but for the pictures in the CD. They are collectible and sell for well over the cost of the single.
Note the pictures shown in front of the CDs in picture 2.
This guy stands to make well over what he paid for the singles.
If this really were someone wanting to get handshake tickets then they wouldnt need that many CDs. Usually you only need like 3 singles to get a complete ticket. (3 CDs = All the versions of the single)
i wish so much if my band can have fan like this :\
Book a gig at an insane asylum. You'll have plenty.
Some people clearly have way too much money.
I bet this is just a fake story to get attention/advertising. Those are just stock from someone in retail business, maybe the people behind AKB themselves.
Still scary i think whatever this is advertisment or not. I mean...1500.
Nope, i`m sorry, I just can`t picture it. That`s just way beyond sick.
You may well be right. They might just use fake otaku news for attention.
Most of the "high" sales of lates AKBs singles are made in fact for retail guys. Plus creepy wotas that buy average(some buy more some buy less)like 5 to 10 copies every single, but with election tickest the sales go up even more.
I made a fast calculation to made a funny fact based in this phenomenon: First day sales of this single: 1 170 000 (yes... its true) But... how many of this CDs will be played? In an optimistic number I could say that just the 50% of this CDs will be... used, maybe even less than that. All will be opened because de tickets of course, but not all will be played... never.
You forgot - there are 4 Different Versions of this 1 single. Some have a PV (longer DVD version of the Video), some an extra track & B-Side, ect_ I think some are more expensive , ect
And that actually constitutes as fraud when their company boasts about AKB being at the top of sales charts; it doesn't mean AKB is really that popular to a lot of people, it just has relatively few fans willing to buy dozens of copies at once. The general public are mostly unaware of this though so they thought AKB are more popular than they really are.
But hey, consumerism is embraced in Japanese culture. Normally you won't find rock bands in the West endorsing products and appearing in huge ads for them(we call that 'selling themselves out').
Umm even if the actual sales are 300 000 that's still number 1 on the weekly charts???
Even if the number was 300 000 that's still within the top 10 in the yearly charts, the highest selling idol group AND only less the Arashi's sales??? I don't see how 300 000 would constitute a group with "relatively few fans", unless you're implying the whole of the Japanese music industry has "relatively few" people following it
How is it fraud? Charts worldwide are based on sales and sales alone. What do you think they derive popularity from? Telepathy?
Annon 13:31
I think Annon 9:17 talk about "fraud" because the other artists that compete in the same arena (japanese music scene) are in a ....little disadvantage with this Idols groups and their sale tricks.
Meanwhile some artists build their succes because music talent (delivering a real good piece of music), this Idols sales good not exactly because the music but because a... serial number or a ticket for handshake or a photo, something that dont have to do so much with the single or the music "per se"
The goal is sale, and sale big, thats for sure. What really sales or the quality is another story.
Also that's just physical CDs. Tossing out not just pirated music but also legally bought downloads.
I'd say most people by far only buy one CD, but wota would buy all three/four versions. It would be really unusual for a non-senbatsu ticket container to sell as much as people are assuming. And even then, it's rare.
The way to tell if something is really popular is to see for how long it sells. If it sells only on the first day, it's all crazies. If it sells continuously, it captured the general public. Most AKB48 says stick for a good few weeks.
Half of the people that buy AKBs dont care so much of them (casual buyers), the other half (wotas) gives like 170 dollars average per single.
If the total sales of this single reach the 1 500 000 sales... how many "real" single persons buyed the singles? 750 000? 500 000? 300 000?
Popularity in Japan is indeed an issue. Ha!
As you said... this is very tricky, fabricate the idea of a 1 000 000 seller group when they barely reach half of the that number in people. Sad? maybe, but its Japan!