Japan’s Newest Pop Idol Is a Fake – Today's Celebrity Gossip from Evil Beet Gossip

Feature

Jun 23, 2011 at 12:30 pm by Jenn

(Image from Shueisha’s Weekly Playboy via Kotaku)

And by “fake,” I mean that she is computer-animated, a digital Frankenstein assembled piecemeal from 6 other members of the (61-member) girl group, AKB48.

Aimi Eguchi debuted in this Japanese candy commercial for Glico—she’s the one front-and-center at the end, a digital composite made from each of the other girls who appear in the ad:

Glico would have gotten away with it for a little longer, too, if it weren’t for those pesky J-pop fans, who quickly uncovered the conspiracy on Internet message boards. (Here’s how Glico did it.)

The most famous Japanese “virtual idol” is probably Hatsune Miku, but the first virtual idol was Kyoko Date. Of course, Kyoko isn’t as convincingly human as Aimi—not by a long shot!—but back in 1996 she looked totally amazing.

Advantages of virtual pop-stardom:

- No concerts canceled due to “exhaustion”

- Can’t die of heroin overdose

- Won’t get fat

- Can’t release “live” or “unplugged” albums

- Can’t date Justin Bieber

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 at 12:30 pm and is filed under crazy, Hoax. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.