A film director who questioned the policy of the “Johnny’s Fan” office was pressured on SNS….

The movie “Analog,” starring Kazuya Ninomiya of Arashi fame and featuring actress Haru as the heroine, opened in theaters on October 6. The film is an adaptation of Beat Takeshi’s romantic novel, and is directed by Takahata Hideta, who also directed the drama “Aka Medaka” (TBS, broadcast in 2003) in which Ninomiya and Takeshi co-starred.

Before the film’s premiere, Takahata sent out a message on SNS that caused a stir and infuriated Johnny’s fans.

The trigger was a press conference held by Johnny’s s on October 2. The company explained that, in response to the sexual assault issues involving the company’s founder, Mr. Kitagawa, the current Johnny’s office would change its name to “SMILE-UP.” as of October 17, and become a company that only compensates victims. He also announced that an agent company would be established to contract with individual talents, but that the name of the company would be solicited from the public through fan clubs.

On the 3rd, Takahata announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account

‘President, can it be the same person? The new company name…isn’t that the same person in the company? Wasn’t there anyone in the company to stop them? I really thought that. I felt that the talent at the company was being pushed around by this approach. Sexual assault is a serious crime. It should be condemned. It is incomprehensible that the president is a person who admitted that he pretended to ignore it.

And the post. He was referring to the fact that the current president of Johnny’s, Noriyuki Higashiyama, will become the president of the new company. He continued,

If I posted something like this, a little while ago, I would no longer be able to work with people who belong to Johnny’s. I think I would have been dried up. I think they would have dried up. But I want to continue to work with them. So let’s change that, all of you in the media, all of you in the entertainment industry. It’s now or never.

It seems that Takahata’s comments came at a time when Johnny’s is undergoing a rebirth.

Mr. Takahata also uploaded a similar text on Instagram. On the occasion of the release of the movie “Analog,” which features the Japanese talents Ninomiya and the Naniwa boys Joichiro Fujiwara, he prefaced his post by saying, “I feel uncomfortable with my post reposting just to promote the movie without giving my opinion on it, so I will give my personal opinion,” and then went on to express his doubt about the new president and the public solicitation for the company name. He was expressing his doubts about the new president and the name of the company. The post was accompanied by a group photo of the cast, perhaps taken at an “Analog” event,” an entertainment writer said.

But what about Johnny’s fans?

“It’s too much to use a picture of a movie to express your feelings right before the movie’s release.
It lacks consideration for Nino and is also disrespectful to the cast members who have nothing to do with the movie.
I was really looking forward to the movie “Analog,” but now I’ve had enough. I’ll never watch it.

X’s text remained, but he later deleted the problematic Instagram photo.

The social networking site of a “family member” was the cause of the mishap that brought down a movie he was starring in just before its release. Recently, he announced the name change of his YouTube channel “Janino-channeru” and the suspension of the channel.

In a video released on October 4, he says, “[Report! In the video “The Day We All Discussed Because We Don’t Understand the Current Situation,” Ninomiya reported, “I’m changing the name” and “I’m taking a break (from the channel) for a certain period of time. The date of the shooting was the night of the 3rd, the day after Johnny’s’s press conference, and since the policy is that there will no longer be anything with “Johnny’s” attached, it seems that “Jani-nochanneru” has also made a difficult decision. The channel’s members are Ninomiya, Yuichi Nakamaru of KAT-TUN, Ryosuke Yamada of Hey! Since this team is unique to YouTube in that it is made up of talents who normally work in different groups, they will restart after their respective contractual issues have been settled. The name of the new channel will be announced in the comments section of the videos,” said an entertainment writer.

Incidentally, according to the movie attendance ranking for October 6-8 (according to Kogyo Tsushinsha), the No. 1 movie was “Mystery and Not to Mention” starring Masaki Suda, which was released on September 15 and ranked No. 1 for four weeks in a row. His new film “Analog” failed to top the list, coming in at No. 2. This result may have something to do with Takahata’s flame war. ……