Haruna Anno is a retro gaming idol—the young girl who loves old games. She also speaks her mind, and that's always good for an idol.
When Dragon Quest X was revealed yesterday, some gamers were excited. Many, when they learned about the required online and subscription fees, groaned. Like many people, Anno took to Twitter to voice her opinion.
Anno started her series of tweets by stating that this was her personal opinion, writing, "Somehow, I feel like Horii wasn't that interested in Dragon Quest X." Like he couldn't make the game he wanted to make.
"Horii" is Yuji Horii, the creator of Dragon Quest.
This observation, Anno noted, was simply based on her reading his facial expressions during the DQX press conference. Here is a photo of Horii yesterday.
Anno's other tweets and blog posts were also honest and she used them to express things like her feeling that DQX was being used to get rid of excess Wii inventory. What's more, she wrote in her blog that since Dragon Quest is for kids and adults, it should not require online.
I agree with all her points. However, as soon as she posted these comments, Japanese netizens started spelling her doom. "This kid is finished," wrote one. It's a day later, and Anno is still walking around, talking, and writing her opinions.
The reason why it's "not good" that idols have opinions is that in Japan they make their bread and butter off standing, smiling, and shilling products. Maybe Haruna Anno doesn't care about that. If she doesn't, good for her.
レトロゲーマーアイドル杏野はるなが芸能生活を諦めたのか？ 「堀井さんが乗り気じゃない感じがする」「Wii在庫処分」 [ガジェット通信]
(Top photo: 杏野はるなさんの写真ページ)
You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at bashcraft@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.