AKB48's new music video will be censored
 

Yasushi Akimoto, the mastermind behind idol group AKB48, is known for being innovative as he is the president of the art faculty of an important university in Japan.

But it seems that this time they went too far for Japan. As a result the game-themed music video for the upcoming 18th single of the group will be censored.

Recently in a concert it was announced that the PV for "Beginner" will be re-edited because it's seen as a bad influence for kids since it's too violent. The full PV was shown for the last time at this concert.

It has been said that in the PV you can see pixelated gore, blue blood as well as a member of the group (Oshima Yuko) cutting off another member's hand (Maeda Atsuko).

Ironically in the last group election Oshima Yuko was the one that broke Maeda Atsuko's #1 popularity strike.

It's unknown yet if the full PV will be available on DVD.

"Beginner" 30s TV-CM:

As if its kids who are their fans.....this is dumb. They'd better release the uncensored version on the single.

Kids also like them, yes. I'm not a fan, but I wish this whole "ONLY WOTAS LOVE THEM" idea would just stop.

Anyway, did they try and give it a Battle Royale theme? Whatever it is, it's very daring of them.

yah. it's cute but still violence

Yeah, I agree. I myself don't like them, but kids here LOVE them right now. I mean you don't go from struggling to sell 30,000 copies of a singles to selling hundreds of thousands of copies without gaining a ton of fans.

Man, I was REALLY hoping this was a rumor but it seems pretty official now. Ugh.... I'm still so pissed about this. It's not even realistic, one of the girls gets 'killed' by a giant freaking Chupa Chup. Are kids supposed to believe that THAT is real and imitable? -.- I just don't get how a sexualized PV with them in lingerie kissing each other is ok for kids but not an action PV with video game violence. Maybe it's just because I'm a westerner and I'm used to things being the other way around? :laugh I want my violent PV. :weep

I ain't gonna lie, normally I don't like Japanese idol groups, but the controversy that AKB48 generates has made them more interesting.

They're definitely setting themselves apart from regular groups like Morning Musume but I don't know if their methods could be considered progressive.

If they wanted to censor something they should have censored "Heavy Rotation".

LOL I was just gonna say, I'd rather them be shown two girls pecking each other on the lips than violence (although I think this is silly too), unlike how it is here in America.

Regardless, I hope their controversies never die down. :yes

Pretty much agree. They've had songs and PV's with controversial topics before but that was before their 'boom' so no one cared lol. It's kinda funny how the thing that makes them "idols you can talk to" (which I'm just now realizing the meaning of the statement) could possibly become a hindrance to their popularity. Now they have a wider audience and an image to keep up so they have to be mindful of the topics they tread. This thing with Beginner is possibly just the "beginning" and I gotta feeling the fans are eventually going to start wishing they had just stayed under the radar. :laugh

OMG some leaked scenes

Okay, we don't see very much censorship in Japan. But as far as what I am seeing, the PV is quite controversial?

EDIT: Okay, so the above video is the dispute in question?

what in the world is going on in those videos? @_@ :thud

And who's in charge of censoring the (what I call this "failed by censorship disputes") music video? The music industry or AKB48 management?

Honestly, I'm not buying it if the PV on the DVD is censored. Absolute BS.

The censoring has probably been done by their own record company, but that's most likely under pressure from a government institution. No record company would needlessly censor their own videos.

Now that I've seen some of that footage, it is kind of shocking. I'm usually not for censorship, but when a big part of your audience is very young children.....that video is extreme; its something you would expect to see in Saw or something. :) It wouldn't surprise me though if this controversial video was made on purpose though to create more buzz about the group.

My jaw actually dropped when I saw Mayu die.

Ouch!! It's horrible, but i wanna see the full pv :innocent

It's been announced that the dispute is between AKS (AKB48 management) and King Records (AKB48 label), so it's King Records who don't want the PV to be aired on TV nor released on DVD.