I’m not big on Japanese Idols, Japanese music or even the local entertainment scene but my usual surfing of Japan related news unearthed something that caught my eye. The latest AKB48 member named Aimi Eguchi is computer generated and was unveiled in a commercial earlier this month that had split the AKB48 loving crowd in two – one half defending her “humanity” while the other half suspecting something was amiss. Japan is no stranger to computer generated idols/performers and Hatsune Miku springs to mind as the most well known. We all know that computers are the future and a lot of jobs will become redundant or easier as machines take over, um I mean computers. Looks like even performers maybe become redundant in the future too if Japan starts a craze. Think about just a few of the benifits? She doesn’t get paid, her upkeep is considerably less and she can perform at more than one location at a time!
The video below shows how This step-by-step video revealed that Eguchi is really a computer-generated composite of the best features of AKB 48 members Atsuko Maeda (eyes), Tomomi Itano(nose), Mariko Shinoda (mouth), Yuko Oshima (hair/ body), Minami Takahashi (outline) and Mayu Watanabe (eyebrows).
About AKB48
AKB48 is an all-female Japanese theater/idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. AKB48 is theater-based and has its own theater in Akihabara (a district in Tokyo) where the group performs once every weekday, and more than once on both Saturday and Sunday. The theater is set up on the 8th floor of Don Quijote.[1] Some of the title songs released as a single have been made a tie-in song for a television show or a television advertisement. The name derives from a shortened form of ‘Akihabara’. AKB48 currently holds the Guinness World Record for being the “Pop group with the greatest number of members”
Random Terminator tangent…
Skynet is strengthening it’s ranks and now has a cute face in it’s army to lure unsuspecting humans. They have miniature robot pets, amazing robots for different uses, even “smart” vending machines. All the evidence is being compiled and soon the events detailed in the popular Terminator, iRobot and Matrix films will become reality!!!
via – Huffington Post | CNN Go | Channel News Asia
[evil]
And of course – what a great promotional achievement to have all of Japan wondering about this mystery member. Great idea – excellently executed. I can also see a huge digital business opportunity (for all those millions of AKB48 fans to have Aimi Eguchi on their very own computers… to do with… well… I’ll just leave it there, shall I).