On May 29, a Twitter account believed to belong to one of her fans, 24-year-old Tomokazu Furuichi, posted this tweet: “I’ve already killed Aya Hirano.” Other tweets read that Hirano died or committed suicide. This wasn’t the first for Furuichi, but it could be the last.
The name on the account is “古市友一” or “Tomokazu Furuichi”. The tweets show an obsession with Japanese comedy, namely Takashi Okamura‘s Mecha Ike and Picaru no Ashi, both of which are Fuji TV programs. The tweets went in spurts, taking breaks from obsessively talking about Picaru only during Japanese soccer matches and March 11′s earthquake.
In late March, the tweets zeroed in on Hirano more and more, with tweets asking Picaru‘s producer to boot Hirano from the show. Tweets to Hirano became more confrontational. “Kill yourself,” read one tweet. “Die die die die die die die,” read another. On Japanese bulletin board 2 Channel, Furuichi also apparently wrote that harm would come to Hirano and Fuji TV was going to blow up.
According to FNN, Tomokazu Furuichi, was arrested yesterday in Sapporo, and said, “There’s no mistake in what I wrote.”
Due to anime and video games, voice actresses like Hirano become otaku favourites. There are magazines dedicated solely to voice actresses. Popular voice actresses release photo books—one voice actress, Rie Tanaka, even has her own hug pillow and trading cards. But voice actresses are not mainstream celebrities, thus making them seem more approachable, attainable even, than idols on television.
Hirano attempted to buck that trend, appearing on talk shows, discussing her romantic relationships (a no-no for “perfect” idols). She even became the spokesperson for Denny’s in Japan. She became mainstream, much to the ire of her hardcore fans. “Fan” is short for “fanatic”, and some fans are just that, fanatics.
Culture Smash is a daily dose of things topical, interesting and sometimes even awesome—game related and beyond.
(Top photo: 平野綾 | Space Craft Group)
Luke
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 4:39 PMWhy does every Japanese chick look crossed eyed???
Mr Waffle
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 5:31 PMYour definition of cross-eyed must be different to most others…
Valor
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 6:23 PMHonestly dude, her head is slightly turned. It’s not hard to notice…
scree
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 4:53 PMI really like Aya Hirano. She’s a superb voice actress. Considering that she manages to sound different in everything she does.
Some people go too far. I personally don’t see a problem with what she did, but it’s quite different over there, isn’t it?
Adam
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 11:02 PMAny of this reminds you of Perfect Blue ?
DKnight1000
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 3:44 AMI felt like that movie just messed with my head too much. I must say kudos to the director and writer, as I had no idea the truth of what was going on in that whole movie.
I will probaly never watch that movie again. But it was actually very well done.
For those who have not seen the movie, it’s about a singer who becomes a tv star, of course sometimes you think she’s crazy and living in a fantasy world. Because it becomes harder and harder to determine the internal reality of the movie.
AkumajoBelmont
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 4:44 PM“And when you love her, love her, she will be you’re little angel, angel in your heart…”
Totally, was the first thing I thought of too!
Perfect Blue is an amazing film.