"Oh, cool, the PV's gonna be gorey... never mind."

Just a short entry, but recently it was announced that the PV to AKB48's latest single, Beginner, was being pulled, not airing on TV and not appearing on DVD anywhere; I've heard that it was specifically banned (i.e., someone else did it for them).

Now, I don't quite know what I think of this. I actually think it could have been a really really cool PV; I've seen the preview clips like everyone else, and the blue blood they used (since the setting was video game related) actually did help in making it seem less violent. It looked violent from what I saw, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Then, on the other hand, I've heard reports of Acchan's hand being stabbed, hands and heads getting cut off and worse things happening. I'm not a gore fan, so I really wasn't looking forward to this aspect of the PV.

Now, I REALLY dislike censorship stopping something from coming about; I'm a big proponent of free speech. However, this doesn't sound like something that any TV network in the US or Japan would air, other than subscription cable networks or something. I could be wrong; I haven't seen the full PV.

I've actually heard some theories that this is all promotional and that they had this happen SPECIFICALLY so the buzz surrounding Beginner would go up. That's pretty plausible, but I have to wonder how expensive the original with all it's effects was, and would that be feasible to spend on "free" publicity in the news and among fans.

I'm kind of torn, because while I do think that it would alienate SOME people (I know if the PV was as gorey as I've heard in fan reports, I'd watch it once and be done with it), a lot of other people were really excited about it, so it's definitely a bummer.