A YouTube channel called “Kunio Channel,” known for independently estimating attendance numbers at Hello! Project concerts, sparked a firestorm on 5ch after claiming that Tsubaki Factory’s Nippon Budokan show actually drew only 6,000 people — but black curtains were used to block off empty seats, making it look like 7,000 to 7,500 attended. The thread turned into a running battle over attendance figures, with posters citing curtain placement and penlight brightness as evidence, before the debate spilled over into comparisons with rival group Angerme, sparking a flame war between fans of both groups.
What people said
4AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:10
Kunio already went on record saying Tsubaki's PR team is terrible at their jobs, so there's no backing down now.
6AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:14
Kunio's basically on Team Angerme-otaku anyway.
7AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:15
Kunio predicted 5,000, so this is just him making excuses.
8AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:16
Kunio actually attends every single Budokan show and checks every corner himself, so he's not usually way off.
9AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:16
Kunio's basically Angerme staff at this point.
http://jump5.ch/?https://imgur.com/Ley6R8A.png
11AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:18
Tsubaki's 7,500 >>> Angerme's measly 4,000 ("Ankasu" — a dismissive fan nickname combining Angerme's name with "kasu," meaning trash)
12AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:20
People were complaining about making the members beg fans to "come, come" to the show, but when it was all said and done, it drew 7,500. Up-Front and SkyPerfecTV's PR wasn't that off after all. Guess all you can do now is make excuses.
15AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:30
Apparently Juice=Juice's past Budokan shows actually drew over 8,000, but the real numbers weren't announced two shows in a row out of consideration for other groups… A Juice=Juice otaku was bragging about this yesterday — is Kunio the source for that too?
28AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:48
Re: #15
He actually goes to the venues constantly, so his attendance estimates are pretty reliable.
32AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:54
Re: #15
Same, I think so too.
16AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:40
Kunio's actually right for once.
https://imgur.com/xJC7oOg.gif
31AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:53
Re: #16
A photo with nothing but dim penlights is straight-up deceptive.
46AnonymousOct 27, 2026 09:19
Re: #16
Yeah, they're thinning out the seats.
17AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:41
Would it actually fill up on a weekend, I wonder?
19AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:43
Re: #17
Angerme's Sunday Budokan show was practically empty, but any other group would've pulled 10,000 on a weekend Budokan date.
18AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:41
Photos don't lie — compare them side by side and it's obvious. Angerme's Budokan show last spring had the lowest turnout of all.
20AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:44
Checked Kunio Channel for the first time in a while and I'm stunned — subscribers are up to 8,150… It was only around 6,500 at the start of this year. What happened?
21AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:44
Wait, wasn't the whole point that the real number was 5,000, and they were pulling tricks to make it look like 6,000–6,500?
22AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:45
Prediction missed, now making excuses. Pretty pathetic.
23AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:45
No way it's 7,500 with that many black curtains up lol
24AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:45
Kunio Channel's subscriber count vs. the Budokan crowd count — place your bets
29AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:49
Kunio's prediction totally bombed and he's salty about it. Who knew it'd end up matching the record-setting Yagi concert turnout?
30AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:49
Since 'Sanico' is gone now, over to the next one, I guess.
33AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:54
Kunio believers and Tsubaki otaku, just fight it out fair and square. If you drag Angerme or Juice=Juice into this, the Kunio copypasta trolls will show up and wreck the thread.
34AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:55
So it wasn't Angerme with the lowest turnout after all — it was Tsubaki.
35AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:56
Watched the stream and someone pronounced "金言" (kingen, "words of wisdom") as "kingon" lol
36AnonymousOct 27, 2026 08:57
Re: #31
You still think this is more than Niinuma's show?
https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20240610/21/morningmusume-9ki/9a/e1/j/o1080055615449957736.jpg
38AnonymousOct 27, 2026 09:03
Re: #36
Can't you tell you're being shown a doctored photo?
Guess not,
since you didn't actually go.
I went to both —
Yagi's show too.
For Kisora's show, the top 4 rows on both the east and west sides were empty.
39AnonymousOct 27, 2026 09:04
That's actually a photo from Ikuta's blog, though.
40AnonymousOct 27, 2026 09:09
No, it's from this one. The arena seats next to the walkway are actually full of people — they've just been blacked out in the photo.
42AnonymousOct 27, 2026 09:12
Angerme's Budokan show this past spring was rated by Kunio at 6,000-something, so it actually drew more than yesterday's Tsubaki show.
Kunio: "Today's Angerme Nippon Budokan show had an actual attendance under 7,000, but the official party line will probably say 7,000–7,500."
https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1782215017/
43AnonymousOct 27, 2026 09:12
Tsubaki: 6,000. Angerme: 4,000.
So Angerme is only two-thirds as popular as Tsubaki, huh?
48AnonymousOct 27, 2026 09:24
Re: #31
Akiyama's show actually had more seats blacked out by thinning curtains lol
58AnonymousOct 27, 2026 09:33
Re: #48
If you're going to compare, at least compare photos with the lights on.
No matter how empty the seats are, hiding it behind a sea of penlights is the usual trick.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Kunio Channel is a personal YouTube channel that has been independently estimating attendance figures at Hello! Project concerts based on audience photos and penlight brightness — the numbers debated in this thread are the channel’s own estimates, not official figures. Using black curtains to hide empty seats at Budokan shows is nothing new, and this time the debate centered on exactly which seats had been blocked off. Similar attendance controversies have come up before around Angerme and Juice=Juice concerts, suggesting this isn’t a problem unique to Tsubaki Factory, but rather a recurring tension between management, who want attendance to look as high as possible, and fans trying to estimate the real numbers from photos. Readers should keep in mind that these figures are fan estimates, not confirmed facts.
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