building relationships

Doe-eyed Rina Koike for Weekly Play Boy, January 2013.

Looks like Ayaka’s not the only one with a sick back. Rina Koike for Weekly Play Boy, January 2013.

Rina Koike tastes the rainbow for Wanibooks 101, 2012.

In which Rina Koike surprisingly uses a swimsuit for its intended purpose: swimming. Wanibooks 101, 2012.

Rina Koike, a parasol, and a puppy for Wanibooks 101, 2012.

Twirly Rina Koike for Wanibooks 101, 2012.

Recent pics from Miyuu Sawai’s blog, including an end of the year office party, the launch event for her new photobook, and hanging with her kitty!

Video of Miyuu Sawai at the launch event for Moment, 2013. They show the inside of the photobook a couple of times, which unsurprisingly, makes me want it more.

Miyuu Sawai looking super adorable at the launch event for her new photobook, Moment. Thanks to an anon for giving me the link! PS: it’s currently one of the most popular articles on the website. Go Miyuu!

Miyuu Sawai in Weekly Play Boy, March 2008.

Miyuu Sawai, indoors and out, for Weekly Play Boy, March 2008.

Sexy Miyuu Sawai for Weekly Play Boy, March 2008.

Miyuu Sawai in a black string bikini for Weekly Play Boy, March 2008.

Gorgeous shot of Miyuu Sawai for Weekly Play Boy, March 2008.

Miyuu, Mew, and Jouji appearing on a gameshow in PGSM garb, 2004. It’s a really quick supercut, but what little there is remains super adorbable.

juban-district:

PGSM be on that illuminati shit

Thank you! That’s so sweet. :) As to your question….

Surprisingly difficult question is surprisingly difficult.

The obvious answer is Aya Sugimoto. She’s been in the industry the longest, so it makes sense she’d be the most commercially successful. In addition to having been a popular idol, successful singer, and a very recognizable actress, she’s an author, dancer, spokesperson, jewelry designer, and she owns a make-up company and her own talent agency. That means that Aya Sugimoto is such a big deal that she is able to represent herself and do whatever the hell she wants whenever the hell she wants. That’s a pretty huge freakin’ deal, particularly in the Japanese entertainment industry, where as I understand it (disclaimer: I’m looking at an Eastern culture from a Western perspective, which is inherently problematic) talent agencies can take micromanaging their stars to crazy levels. It’s possible (probable?) that the US does the same thing and I’m just totally ignorant about it though.

But if we’re to compare the younger PGSM girls without considering their matriarch (I’ve decided Aya’s the PGSM Girls Matriarch - deal with it), it gets a little trickier, mainly because I have no idea how much the various jobs they do pay.

My gut instinct is to say Keiko Kitagawa. She’s easily the most recognizable among mainstream audiences, and she doesn’t really take time off. Even when she was on vacation in London and Paris, she had work lined up for when she got back and started it right away. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was looking at scripts and doing other “light” prep while she was away.

But while Keiko is heavily focused in mainstream media, there’s a lot to be said for merchandising. Yes, Keiko is the face character for a lot of big name brands, which is huge, but there’s not a whole lot of merch for Keiko herself.

Which is where Ayaka Komatsu in particular might have an edge.

Both Ayaka and to a lesser extent Rina Koike (by virtue of her age and being in college) put out a lot of products that are all about them - or rather their public persona. I would think that since these products have a much lower production budget than mainstream films/TV, they’ll have higher profit margins. I would think this might also impact how their royalties work, though it’s entirely possible I’m talking out of my ass.

This is probably a really effed up way to check on this, but an Idol DVD costs exactly the same as a DVD of a movie (¥ 3,990) on Amazon Japan. Granted, movies also are able to reach a much wider audience, but I’m not sure how the math on that works out when you consider the projects as a whole.

In the US, an actor is paid based on the amount of projects they’ve been in - though it’s my understanding that there’s a little wiggle room for that if a newcomer is in the lead role. Still, the newcomer would receive less money than if an established big name was playing the same role. If I think of the ladies’ careers in similar terms, I’m not sure how the math would play out. Keiko undoubtedly makes more money per project, but Ayaka does a lot more projects than Keiko. For one thing, since she’s not a huge mainstream personality, she doesn’t need to be choosy about her projects. If she’s offered a bit part in a TV show and it pays, she’ll probably take it even if she doesn’t find it particularly interesting. Look up her full list of credits if you don’t believe me. There’s a lot of them, and very few rank high in terms of prestige factor.

Weirdly, I think that frees her up to take more interesting roles in the long run (Bokura ga Ita, Idol Insiders, and Miss Zombie for example). She doesn’t have to worry about what’s in her bank account because she doesn’t sit around waiting for the “right” project. So when something really awesome comes along, she can drop everything in favor of doing it.

Also consider that in a week of worth, Ayaka can churn out enough material to make a DVD, photobook, cards, web exclusive content, magazine appearances, calendars, and more. By contrast, in the same amount of time, Keiko might have “only” produced one episode in a drama series.

I also have no idea what fashion models are paid in Japan. They’re a much bigger deal than they are in the US, though I don’t know how it compares to, say, the Super Model boom in the 90s. For all I know, Rika and Mew might be household names - particularly since at least Mew (not sure about Rika) appear regularly on news programs. Both of them are also the main faces of fashion lines and products, appear in widely attended fashion shows, and are among the top echelon of models for their respective magazines.

Interesting note: according to Wikipedia, CanCam has a monthly circulation rate of 500,000. Unfortunately, Ray doesn’t have a wiki page, though a friend told me that she saw the latest issues of Ray and CanCam for sale over here, and CanCam cost more. I would venture a guess based on that and Rika’s hiatus that Mew is probably worth more than Rika, although I have no idea how that measures up against the rest of them.

Finally, I have a dark horse in Chieko Ochi. She’s not in the entertainment industry proper anymore, but she’s a spokesperson for a lot of home products. Her blog is probably visited more than any of the other former PGSM cast members. Her books were hugely successful, and she’s launched a few products of her own (including earl grey flavored pancakes, which I desire like burning). And though feminists here will yell at me and I kind of yell at myself about it too - there’s something to be said for marrying a rich husband. She certainly has a lot more access to movers and shakers than the other girls since she regularly hangs out with major politicians.

Unfortunately, I can definitively say it’s not Miyuu, although I sincerely hope she receives crazy royalties from PGSM since she was freakin’ Sailor Moon.

Btw the only (possible) numbers I can find on any PGSM girl, matriarch included, is Keiko Kitagawa’s supposed net worth of $12 million. I have no idea how accurate that is.

Keep in mind that I slept through economics in high school, and I don’t understand why the lottery can’t fix the US deficit (ok not really but kind of in a way yes), sooooo take this all with a grain of salt.

Rika Izumi being stupid pretty in her blog pics, 2013.

Rika Izumi’s new blog header, 2013. Not my favorite one of her, but whatever, she’s fabulous.

Speaking of web images, Rika Izumi is once again the featured model on Lodispotto’s website, 2013. Weirdly, she doesn’t model any of the clothes in the online catalog, but she probably wears them a lot in Ray and possibly Steady, as she’s apparently still appearing there occasionally.

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