It’s sort of like a band.. It’s true that a bigger than life, big hair wearing frontman is a necessity for show. He becomes an icon, and helps the whole band. But obviously he doesn’t exist by himself, and when the frontman looses perception of that, you get the usual “goes solo and plummets” scenario. (I’m thinking.. well, too many to name) It’s easy to confuse popularity with capability. Both are usually not the implemented by the same person, and the group cannot succeed without both parts.

btw, from what I know, rockstar types get regularly retaliated against in Japan. It’s a dangerous position to be in, where attention has a stronger tendency to turn into hostility than positive support. I personally think it’s because the moment the frontman takes false credit, people get extremely angry. Can’t blame ‘em, since credit is never returned to the proper place most of the time anyway.

so, that’s my take.. I guess I’m not much of a PC writer. heh.