Momoiro Clover Z is one of the quintessential groups in Japan when it comes to modern idols. They are the perfect story of an idol group which built their fame from nothing to becoming among the top all-female acts in the country. On top of that, unlike groups like AKB48, scandals with members of the group are non-existent, and have been for the decade they’ve been around. The only scandals one can find, to this day, are inventions by tabloids that verge on the outlandish. They are, and continue to be, among one of the cleanest, most wholesome and genuine idol groups with their level of popularity in Japan. But the same can’t necessarily be said for one of their former members.
Momoiro Clover Z first started out as Momoiro Clover and, after a couple of years of changing lineups, the first final lineup consisted of six members, each identified with their own color: Momota Kanako (red) Hayami Akari (blue) Tamai Shiori (yellow) Sasaki Ayaka (pink) Takagi Reni (purple) and Ariyasu Momoka (green). This lineup was officially finalized in 2009 when Ariyasu Momoka joined shortly after the group she was previously in, Power Age, had disbanded. No new members would be added afterwards. However, the group would lose a member. In 2011, Hayami Akari announced that she would be departing from the group citing the fact that she wanted to become an actress and stating how she felt that her personality was not a good fit for an “idol.” She would leave the group in April 2011 and after a couple of years of relative dormancy in her career, and rumors of her attending college at one time, her career since 2015 has shown to be greatly promising and her marriage which was announced in 2018 was celebrated by most- if not all- of her supporters.
Meanwhile, Momoiro Clover changed their name to Momoiro Clover Z and 2012 would see the rapid rise to transnational popularity for the group with their first platinum certified single, performances at Yokohama Arena, Seibu Dome, and Saitama Super Arena, as well as being invited to perform on the Japanese new years music program, Kouhaku Utagassen. It quickly became the assumption by fans that the final lineup for Momoiro Clover Z would be the remaining 5 members of the group. In early January 2018, however, fans were greeted, very suddenly, to an unwelcome sight. Ariyasu Momoka had announced that she would be leaving the group in a week.
That is where the controversy began as far as the public was concerned and Ariyasu Momoka, since then, has come under a lot of scrutiny for a number of strange, behind-the-scenes decisions that have been made ever since then.
I should note here that this is based on information about the situation that I’ve been privy to and that this is a recounting of a timeline of events that took place and offering my opinions about why fan backlash, the way it exists now, exists. I am not defending nor condoning any of the questionable actions that have been made by certain fans in response to these happenings, but I do think it’s important to point them out as I do believe that there are aspects to which fans react to this controversy that there are points that they do make which are important to this overall story. Ultimately, this is a critique of the way Ariyasu Momoka and/or her new management have sabotaged their future success in having done the kind of business that they have been over the past year or so. That said- I feel like I have to mention this because this is a very divisive topic- just because I’m offering critiques of how Momoka’s solo career was launched and has been managed since then, and the strange things surrounding its launch in the first place, I don’t hate Momoka. I’m a firm believer that you can offer genuine criticism to someone or something you like without hating it or them. Now with the disclaimers out of the way, let’s explore what went wrong with Momoka’s solo career and some of the reasons why a good number of fans refuse to continue supporting her.
Where the story begins can be debated, but some might start it as early as 2016. 2016 was a very busy year for Momoiro Clover Z as they had released a double album and done an arena tour supporting it which required special rehearsals for each of the members of the group individually because they all had their own small solo showcase during the concert. On top of that there was the monthly show Momoiro Folk Mura which was something similar to MTV unplugged, where songs were performed acoustically on live television, and which featured guests outside of the normal cast. This was coupled with solo concerts, a short tour in America, television dramas, and the regular summer and winter concerts. In the March 2015 episode of Momoiro Folk Mura, Ariyasu Momoka had a breakdown on the show which left her absent through most of its run time. This was the first glimpse fans had of what kind of mental state Momoka was in, and a lot of people began to wonder if she had problems. Most people had come to expect her relative distance from the other members and her quiet,somewhat shy demeanor as part of her personality. But after her episode on live television, fans began to speculate if all of those things were symptomatic of underlying mental and/or emotional issues.
Momoka’s solo concert in 2016 was scheduled to take place the day after she would get back from the tour in America. Seeing how the last show in America was in New York, it would be a difficult transition for anyone, and having an awareness of Momoka’s issues, this probably only compounded the issue. Many reports from fans at the shows during the American tour criticized Momoka’s behavior towards fans, acting as if she would rather be somewhere else than interacting with them. This is in stark contrast to when Momoiro Clover Z performed at Anime Expo just a year earlier during the Day 0 event. It is speculated that it was around this time in 2016 where a therapist who is (or was) popular among Japanese celebrities was hired to help out with members of the group, and it’s speculated that it was mainly for Momoka.
After her first solo concert concluded, things seemed to have improved, at least from an outside perspective. 2017 seemed to come and go without a hitch and seemed to be a generally successful year for the group. But what wasn’t known at the time was 2017 was the last year for the members’ contracts for the group and the contracts needed renewing. All of them had renewed their contracts except for Momoka. The understanding was that she would think about it and sign when she felt it was okay. In January 2018, her contract was set to expire and she was approached by management asking to renew her contract, to which she declined and announced her intention to leave the group upon her contract’s expiration. The news was as sudden and out of the blue to Momoiro Clover’s staff and members as it was for fans. With very little notice, her final concert was held. Her official statement on the matter was that she had been in the entertainment business for as long as she could remember and never got to truly experience what it was like to live a normal life. Because of that, she had decided to leave, not only Momoiro Clover, but the entertainment business wholesale to live a private life. Many fans were outraged with the last-minute announcement but they were mostly in the minority as many fans came out and supported her decision and gave her words of encouragement as she closed this chapter in her life and began a new one. Momoiro Clover’s final concert with her was held very shortly after she announced her departure and her and the group went their separate ways.
If Momoka’s statement was the whole truth, this would have been the end of the story. But it was only the beginning.
As the remaining four members of Momoiro Clover moved forward with their plans for their 10th anniversary concert in May, Momoka disappeared for the rest of January, and all of February. But in March of 2018, coinciding with the day her official blog associated with Momoiro Clover was shut down, Momoka launched a public Instagram and Twitter account. Many fans rejoiced that she was making an appearance on social media again, but this sudden and, frankly, quick rebound in activity by her seemed a bit off. It wasn’t necessarily just the fact that she had made Twitter and Instagram accounts since Chiyuri Ito did the same thing after leaving Team Syachihoko later that same year, but it was off because of how inconsistent it was with what Momoka had said about not wanting to live in the public eye. She did tease about some day creating a Twitter account, but the nature of the accounts that were created under her name seemed to be more of like a PR tool than actual personal accounts. This is especially so when it came to the nature of the photos posted to her Instagram which were professionally taken, almost on the level of promo photos which attempted to highlight all the things she was doing. But questions were raised about the photos because they were in the 3rd person, which meant someone was taking these photos of her. Many began to speculate that, because of the creation of these accounts, that she was likely to return to performing music again.
In January of 2019, almost a year to the day after she announced she was going to be leaving entertainment wholesale, she announced that she would be returning to entertainment via the conspicuous launch of her personal website under a new management company called Apricot. Not long after Momoka announced her return to the entertainment business, it was discovered by tabloid journalists that Momoka was in a relationship with someone. The news was released by Momoka ahead of the tabloids. Then it was discovered that the person she was involved with happened to be the therapist that was hired to help her while she was in Momoiro Clover Z, and that he was practicing at a company also called Apricot. It came out very soon after that, not only was her 48 year old former therapist also her current boyfriend, but on top of that he was her manager.
This led to outcry among many fans who took many issues with the news. Fans were concerned that her therapist-turned boyfriend was problematic because in any other country where mental health treatment is more highly regulated, starting a relationship with your patient as a therapist is illegal and can lead to a revocation of their license to practice. Many fans were calling for such a thing as they felt that there was something shifty going on.
What’s since added fuel to the fire is that when confronted on social media- particularly Twitter- about this issue, that person ends up being blocked. It quickly became a joke among many people and the so-called Ariyasu Block Challenge (ABC) was started. It soon became speculation that her allegedly “personal” twitter was actually a staff-run PR account and only within the last couple of days as of writing this, that speculation turned out to be true, as the Bio of the Twitter account had changed to “Official Staff Twitter.” It’s unclear if it was always a staff account or if it was changed to become one at some point but was still posing as a personal account until recently.
What makes this whole case off-putting to me, personally, is how opaque her talent agency has been operating. You have a situation where someone who is known for having mental issues is not only in a relationship with the person who was and might still be her therapist, but now she is also that person’s employee. It’s not a far stretch to think that there might be some kind of manipulation going on here.
The problem is that this saga began with, essentially, a lie and were it not for it having been found out about the highly concerning behind-the-scenes information about Momoka’s relationship with management and her history with it becoming known, we probably would never have found out at all. And what seems to solidify the negative feelings towards her management is the fact that they are incredibly secretive and respond to criticism by blocking critics rather than addressing any key issues. To some, that looks like an admission of guilt. After all, if none of the concerns people had were true, they would release some kind of statement, right? In the end, I think it hurts Momoka’s potential for growth as a solo artist because the way management pretends criticisms towards it doesn’t exist (not unlike the way AKS does), and they’ve effectively managed to alienate a large group of potential fans.
Some people don’t care about the behind-the-scenes details and only care about the concerts and music, which is fine. But in this era where idol fans are becoming more concerned with the ethics of how idols are treated by their management, I don’t think this stunt that’s being pulled right now is going to last. Having a relationship with your therapist who is also your manager is a recipe for disaster, and I’m not sure if it’s right to overlook or dismiss that. It’s not like people are criticizing Momoka and her management because they are angry Momoka is in a romantic relationship, or that it’s with someone twice her age- although that did raise a few eyebrows. There are a lot of Stardust Promotion fans (the agency Momoiro Clover Z is under) out there who are proud in the fact that Stardust Idols are among the best treated idol talents in the industry, yet some simultaneously look at the potential powder keg situation that is Momoka’s management with a blind eye. Personally, I can’t help but think that within five years or so, something is going to happen and we will learn the full story of this situation, and I fear it might be at Momoka’s expense. There could also be a scenario where something bad could happen and we’ll never learn about it judging on how opaque management is. I don’t want any of these scenarios to be the case, and maybe they won’t be, but nothing about this situation adds up if you just take it at face value.
I used to ask the question why some people showed such vitriol against Momoka, but I’ve come to realize after seeing discussions from people that they aren’t so much against her, but a perceived puppet master from behind the scenes influencing her every move.
There will probably be more to the story as time goes on, so this will quickly go out of date, but if this whole thing doesn’t say anything else, it’s this: If you’re going to leave a group with the intention to start a solo career don’t pretend that it’s not your intention to do so and then use a whole year to set up for it- all while pretending to be authentic about your stated intentions; It’s also bad business to not respond to your critics’ concerns and choosing to shut them down instead because that only looks like an admission of guilt in the eyes of your critics.
We’ll see what the future holds in this case, but I have a bad feeling about what’s going on here, and I don’t know if it’s the responsible thing to do to financially support an operation that, as of writing this, seems very shady since I think it’s only enabling who knows what is going on in the back end.
This is a prime example of how not to stage a comeback. There have been so many other former Stardust idols that have launched solo careers that aren’t shrouded in secrecy like Hayami Akari, Hiroka Aika (Aiai), and most recently Ando Yuzu. There really is no excuse for the way Momoka’s solo career to have run the course that it has when compared to her constituents from the same agency.
While I disagree with how militant some can be about this issue, I can relate to their overall concerns. Even people who have no investment in idol culture whatsoever see that there is something out of place in this situation, and I think it’s negatively impacted Momoka’s image severely in the eyes of many. If nothing else it was definitely one of the worst botched comebacks I’ve ever experienced. Hopefully everything will be cleared up, but for now, I guess the best thing to do is just sit back and wait.
