If you’re filming a music video for Japanese idol supergroup AKB48, it doesn’t seem like it should be such a big problem if one of them is out sick. AKB48 is made up of four dozen idols, so if one of them needs to take the day off, just pick
If you’re filming a music video for Japanese idol supergroup AKB48, it doesn’t seem like it should be such a big problem if one of them is out sick. AKB48 is made up of four dozen idols, so if one of them needs to take the day off, just pick one of the remaining 47 to fill in, right?
Except it’s not quite that easy. One of the reasons Japan’s idol industry is so robust, despite being marketed to a much narrower niche than mainstream J-pop, is because fans are encouraged to buy multiple copies of the same CD in order to get more ballots to vote for their favorite vocalist with. The winner of these popularity contests often gets the honor of being the group’s “center,” or most prominently featured performer, for its next music video, which is what happened for 21-year-old Jurina Matsui following the most recent AKB48 “election,” which was held in June.
At least, that’s what was supposed to happen. Unfortunately, when the time came to film the video for “Sentimental Train,” AKB48’s 53rd single, Matsui was too sick to take part. But since fans had given Matsui the most votes in June, the producers couldn’t replace her with another singer in the video, so instead they replaced her with a CG model and manga illustrations.
