Bullet Points: TOKYO GIRLS’ STYLE disbands, TSE is still messing with ex-artists, Tencent invests in SME, “H.S.K.T”, more

4 days ago 15

For as long as it’s been since I completed this feature, there hasn’t been as much important news as I thought. Granted, I did cover some of that stuff individually, but still.

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Sleepy has filed a defamation lawsuit against TS Entertainment
UP-FRONT PROMOTION announced Morning Musume’s Kitagawa Rio will go on hiatus and she issued a more formal apology
Rapper Sik-K has been sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence (10 months in prison) with 40 hours of drug treatment lecture

Nine months ago I said Sleepy’s nightmare was finally over after TS Entertainment exhausted their appeals for a case they lost over three years ago. Well, apparently I spoke too soon as they are still harassing him.

Kitagawa Rio’s venting was relatable to anybody who’s ever had a job, but a lot of us would also be in trouble if ours went public, much less if we were a public figure, so this was kinda expected. Meanwhile, Sik-K turned himself in over a year ago and now has his punishment.

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Between Fromis 9 and Wendy, ASND seem to be going with the strategy that veteran idols on their second/third contracts still have a lot of value.

On TOKYO GIRLS’ STYLE, take a look back at their journey throughout the years, especially if you’re unfamiliar with them.

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Good luck to 82MAJOR, but the Tencent thing is interesting if the rumors around the Chinese market opening back up turn out to be true.

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FIFTY FIFTY’s Keena has gone on hiatus due to PTSD induced by doing an interrogation with SIAHN

Seen discourse about the timing of this between SIAHN’s copyright win, Ablume’s comeback, and SIAHN’s subsequent clearing on charges of forgery that necessitated the interrogation, but it seems dismissive. At the end of the day, he was still party to a lot of the group’s suffering, which is why the trio had to justify working with him again to fans.

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MONSTA X’s Hyungwon was discharged from the military

Not gonna lie, he looks like he has the 1000-yard stare in the pictures.

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IU going crazy with it as usual.

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Notably with Boram in attendance at Hyomin’s wedding, and Soyeon had previously mentioned she couldn’t make it. Conspiracies about them hating each other can chill for a day, maybe. Nobody has ever had such about Rainbow, of course.

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The inaugural Music Awards Japan seems a bit promising at least, about as high praise as you’ll see from me with regards to these industry circlejerks.

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Ells was three years ahead of TikTok, btw.