AKB48’s latest “general election” sees sex scandal idol Rino Sashihara leading the pack even as the group’s creepy otaku fans have succeeded in driving their sales to record levels.
HKT48’s 20-year-old Rino Sashihara, best known for being caught having sex with one of her fans in a scandal which if anything seems to have only increased her popularity, seizing the top spot in the 5th AKB48 “general election”
According to Oricon sales figures, their new “Sayonara Crawl” single has just shipped a record 2.3 million copies, beating out their previous high of 2 million.
Not surprisingly their outstanding musical excellence has provoked much admiration online:
“2 million new CDs for the trash.”
“2.3 million frisbees.”
“They are not selling CDs, they are selling hand-shaking event tickets!”
“AKB shinrikyo.”
“This lot frankly seem to be going out of fashion.”
“Doesn’t stop them selling though.”
“For all the CDs they sell as many people lose all interest in music.”
“They really ought to switch to charting the number of buyers rather than the number of CDs sold.”
“A lot of garbage to be getting rid of.”
“How much energy will it take to dispose of this lot?”
“It’s a mystery who buys this stuff…”
“Japanese music charts are now almost completely dominated by idol groups rather than actual music, it’s pretty amazing really.”
“This single is awful. Who’d buy this? How many real buyers do they have?”
“I reckon it’s a ratio of 5 discs to 1 buyer.”
“I think even without the tickets they have plenty of good songs and would sell nicely. Although the haters are going to get me for saying that.”
“Rino is doing rather well thanks to the scandal it seems.”
“If you guys hate AKB48 that much, just vote for her and you’ll soon finish them off.”
“Remember, it’s only the otaku voting on the first day with all their mass-purchased tickets. The light-weights will vote later and that may change the result.”
“As if there are any light-weight fans who would actually vote in something like this.”
“Wait, didn’t Rino quit AKB48 and join some other group, so how can you vote for her?”
“You can vote for any of their sister groups.”
“I can’t believe she is in first…”
“All the people who pre-ordered just put in their votes so it’s possible.”
“She has 28k votes to the number 2’s 15k after the first day. There is no way that lead is going to be reversed guys.”
“There are over 2 million in total, it may still change!”
“There has been huge inflation in the number of votes in these elections, the winner in the first had 4k votes, the fourth had 110k.”
A glimpse into just how these sales figures are being sustained (as it likely not through the quality of their music, or through 2% of Japan’s population buying a copy each) – one fan has been bragging about spending 1.9 million yen on discs for the event, paying cash on delivery just to rub it in on the poor courier:
With this AKB48 fans are cementing their reputation as the creepiest around:
“What are you doing, Japan?”
“The poor courier must have been trembling on his way out after accepting that…”
“I once spent 300,000 on them at a convenience store but he has me beat.”
“You are just a trainee fan!”
“What are these guys doing? What you do with the money you earn is your business, but this is completely wasteful.”
“Why cash on delivery?”
“You could buy a car for that. Still, it is his choice.”
“So these boxes all contain the same CD? I’m speechless…”
“This must have emptied out the delivery truck.”
“I suppose it is better than spending it on Puzzle & Dragons…”
“At least that produces no mountain of garbage.”
“Dumping all those CDs looks like a hassle.”
“The last election:
“Abnormal.”
“This is basically a religion.”
“It is not possible to understand these people.”
“I wonder how badly they will regret doing this in 5 or 10 years.”
“He could open a music store. It would only stock one CD, though…”
| 
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Puzzle & Dragons X Gets “More RPG Elements!”
Goddess of 2ch: “Pink & Soft All The Way!”
Kuroneko Cosplay by Mikehouse Full of Life
Busty Hotaru Cosplay Delightfully Delectable
Adorable Ati Cosplay by Kaieda Kai Kemonomimi Chaos
Momo Velia Deviluke Cosplay Bursting With Bridal Beauty
Skimpy Sonico Cosplay Barely Contained
Kumiko & Reina Cosplay Hardly Blows At All
Skimpy Elf Bikini Cosplay by Saku Supremely Sexy
Gothic Lolita Hatsune Miku Cosplay Busts Out
Delectable Dizzy Cosplay by Lechat
Laughed so hard at the last sentence.
These guys must be fucked in the head, but where do they even get this money from??
The image of the delivery guy unloading the boxes all 'what the fuck, what the fuck' is hilarious to me though. He'll be telling that story to his grandkids.
Where do they get the money from? They're single. Single guys always have money cause they don't have a girl who steals it from you.
buy 10, 11th is for free
So no matter what he does, the money will be wasted regardless?
No, even as single, it takes huge amount of money, seriously.
He works at Mc.D. the money come from those fake food!
How can they have a job? Or are their parents giving them the money?
And that mentality is basically the reason why you will never get laid/have sex (unless you speed some money on a hooker).
Why would he spend it on hookers, there are games and shit to be had, ya fool.
CD to be had you mean.
Well that was a dumb comment. I'm pretty sure buying boxes and boxes of the same damn CD on multiple occassions (not to mention all the merchandise) robs you of a lot more money than any woman (or man, they pull this money-leeching shit too, you know) could if she tried.
True.
VIRGIN DETECTED
I aggre with shuubi. Most women ARE money leeching cunts.
These creepy guys and otaku, many dont ven have jobs pal, how in the fuck do they get it.
same here i laughted soo hard and i was driking a coca cola and it hurst ass heeeell when it pases trought my nose, damn men this guys are worst than seiyuus fans
I wonder if the courier was worried about getting robbed after accepting that cash.
I know Japan has a low crime rate well at least a low reported crime rate but there still is crime.
The equivalent of $19,000 even a cop may think about having you make a coerced donation.
In cases like this, and in fact after much smaller deliveries, it's protocol for the courier to return immediately to the distribution center which is rarely more than 1000 meters in any direction.
It's common for identical convenience store chains, etc. to operate up to 5 stores per square 1000 meters, and product deliverers are the same, and far less prominently advertised. You won't know in many cases that a truck is delivering for a certain company, or where the distro center is. And we only know the contents of the boxes in the above picture because the article says so. Why would a robber/mugger know? He would need to act very, very fast to capitalize on the very small window to steal the $19,000 equivalent from the courier, but also would only know the contents of the delivery and the time it took place by knowing everything about the BUYER. And in fact if a delivery truck were robbed, the implication(s) would be that the thief was or worked in collusion with the buyer, and police would not find anything odd about the fact a courier was carrying huge sums of money. The Japanese mafia and street thugs do frequently do deals in "broad daylight" where at any given time, true police might randomly discover massive piles of cash being transferred between locations, but there would not be any specific crime involved, it's just organized crime doing the same sort of thing that couriers and convenience stores do. It's all one big well oiled machine, or an ant farm. Likely as not, if a courier were robbed it'd be a breakdown of that machine on a scale that would have organized crime figuring out which jackoff did it and dealing with things that that way. The cops here... yeeks.
Not that you wanted such a lengthy and earnest reply, but for interest: Japan is of course a cash culture. My wife once changed $24,000 USD from yen and was surprised that the "forrin view" is that this is risky. The sadder reality is that the "forrin view" is that crime happens randomly and viciously, that EVERYONE is at risk all the time, you're just as much at risk of being stabbed to death for $5 and $500,000 if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and nobody knows where that place or time is, so NEVER CARRY CASH. Japan simply doesn't think this way, especially not when doing business within Japan with fellow Japanese.
Pic 2, wallpaper says 指 (finger) all over, and I can't help but think where I'd like to stick my finger...
I keep reading Rino as Rhino. Made the headline even more disturbing.
Sankaku headlines are always deliberate. Gotta love that.
I don't get it, if these guys had tons of money for CDs, why can't they just invest in the company who manages these girls and produce their music... They got a hell of a lot more chance of sleeping with these girls while making money from their investment.
And a mysterious wind blows there clothes off!!!
Rino looks damn cute in Pic 2.
Why CDs? Don't they sell them digitally?
What in the sam hell is wrong with these twerps? They spend a fortune on multiple copies of the same crap CD, throw them away, and then act like they've done something clever. And they do it just to shake the hand of a skanky "idol". They're not just the creepiest fans. They're the stupidest.
*sigh* What an idiot. Guys like this, is what gives otakus a bad image to begin with. Another idiot who will never have a girlfriend, due solely to his own ineptitude. Honestly, Japan's idol industry needs to die. So girls with aspiration for being a musician/singer, can get popular/stay popular based solely on their talent for music, and not on how much of a sex symbol they can be. The very fact that the industry makes it a requirement that they not have sex, proves the industry itself, sees idols as nothing but wank off material for a creepy otaku's imaginary girlfriend fantasy. So saddening...
"Honestly, Japan's idol industry needs to die. ...sees idols as nothing but wank off material for a creepy otaku's imaginary girlfriend fantasy"
How is this any different to America and their Disney idol group/singers flaunting their innocence/virginity?
And this is what makes me hate AKB the most. It actually deludes the ignorant in thinking the entire industry revolves around these things while there are groups out there that are genuine and fun to follow and don't rely on being a sex symbol, nor would they have to as they're a lot cuter and more interesting than the 48 girls.
THIS gives otaku a bad image?
Another idiot who will never get a girlfriend?!
Bet you ANYTHING you are big into 2D. How the fuck can you say that about idol otaku and be an anime girl otaku.
And no, people can't just become famous with talent and hard work. Life isn't fair like that. They have to be noticed first and if they're choosy, they can't ever get noticed.
And AKB are not sex symbols, for fuck sake. You'll find Amuro Namie or Hamasaki Ayumi much higher on the list of sex symbols. And the latter has worn much worse in gravure shoots than anything I've seen any idol in.
Is it weird i dont find any of these girls attractive
For someone that would visit this site? Not really.
3D PIGDIGUSTING!
So, yeah...
with that money, I can buy a mini rig, and become millionaire...create my own wall mart..and enjoy doing business..
I can't imagine, DOES JAPAN even have prostitues. A man can lose his virginity 500 times with that kind of cash.
If this was me, I would kill myself out of principle.
They have rots of them.
No wonder the fool hides his damn eyes yeesh!
Nor japan likes those ugly skanks (they look cute thanks to photoshop and scary make-up skills) ...why do 'western' basement dwelers and retarded teenagers like them?
Again, how in the hell these creppy guys and in general anime otaku have the money to buy all their shit?
'
'?
Look! Those girls are having a party! Let's go join them!
Whoooo
Beach party with tiny inflatable balls!
....
WHOOOOOO
Fuck, Japan. What's wrong with you?
probably the same thing whats wrong with pLaid.
I find it annoying people are pissed off because one of the members had sex. If any music fans tried that with a band from the US or Europe, whining because a bandmember dared to have a real life, they'd be collectively told to drop dead with the band on stage, giving them the finger for being whiny bitches about nothing.
It's a terrible manufactured J-pop band, who cares what their members do?
Two words to describe all this - "mental illness"
How do these people get the money to blow away on CD's like that? It boggles my mind.
i dont know japanese, but this music sounds generic.
its not bad, but its also not memorable.
and when i say that, there is a song called tatoo girl, i heard it last time about 3 years ago, and i still remember it, this im on the 10 minute mark sense i heard it and cant remember a god damn bit of it.
pay a hooker instead
At least if you gonna be a ninja you won't be short on projectiles
and that is..the power of merchandising.Hook,line and sinker for the creepiest school of fishes and quite deadly too.
Wait, 48 is relevant again? ???????????
this is their best selling single ever. they never stopped being relevant. they never dropped below 1 million sales for each single.
This is a business model that should be unsustainable under normal circumstances. And yet it succeeds, because a fool and his money are soon parted.
Seriously, doesn't he have better things to do with his money? Makes me wonder what kind of soul-crushing yet lucrative job he must have to shut him out of life.