“Aka,” a panelist on the YouTube debate show “wakatte.tv,” has come under fire after old footage resurfaced of him saying, “I graduated from Kyoto University, lol” — when in fact he never graduated and had dropped out. The show is known for its style of panelists openly roasting each other’s academic backgrounds and work performance, so the irony of the very person who dishes out that mockery having padded his own credentials struck a nerve. On 5channel, opinions split between defenders and critics, and the discussion spread to cover the response of a politician said to have defended the show, as well as a debate over a co-star’s educational background.
What's there to be embarrassed about?
Just getting accepted is impressive enough on its own.
I bet that wasn't an easy call to make.
This story's an oil well that just won't run dry.
Pretty much guaranteed to get brought up in the Diet (Japan's parliament) at this point.
I want someone to absolutely rip into him.
Ida Channel
Even as a "nuisance streamer," he's nowhere near as bad as Hezuma (an infamous Japanese troublemaker YouTuber).
Even if he gets kicked off YouTube, he'll probably just hop over to Kick or something.
Other "call-out" type creators have gotten banned or had their ad rates slashed before over stuff like this, so this is probably just getting started.
Is it really a channel worth switching platforms just to watch?
I don't watch it, so I wouldn't really know.
First I've heard of it.
Re: #46
The people who are already into it will probably follow him there.
Re: #47
Since he brands himself as an education guy, maybe he wants to keep his image clean.
Signing up over there would basically be admitting he's a nuisance streamer.
That place is full of criminals.
Seeing his face in that moment, you could tell this guy is just a walking bundle of insecurities.
Maybe he's just bad at talking to begin with?
Didn't he take shots at Tarako over going to Chuo University that time?
Or did he just sit there grinning and nodding along?
Maybe Yoshimura felt he owed wakatte.tv a favor, but still — defending him publicly as an elected official is a bad look.
"Just getting into Kyoto University is impressive," right on schedule.
Yeah, for him it basically ended the moment he got in…
Everyone else kept grinding, but he burned out right after enrolling, and maybe his resentment toward people who kept pushing themselves afterward just boiled over into this.
probably harder than getting into Kyoto University.
That's like an 80,000-yen-a-month-tier channel.
Is it really, though?
If you stick with it for 12 years, it's not impossible.
Honestly it's funnier that he still hasn't hit a million.
Sugi: "What's the value in being second-best in Japan?!"
↑ This exchange is comedy gold
Even within the same university, difficulty varies a ton by department.
You can't really just say "university X ranks such-and-such."
It's just that Kyoto University is on a whole different, monstrous level.
He's from Asahikawa but didn't even go to Asahikawa Higashi High School, and his Tsukuba degree was in phys ed.
I'll grant that Taizo excels in some areas, but academics isn't one of them.
Tsukuba honestly isn't that big a deal (speaking as a graduate).
Though lately it's been getting attention thanks to Hisa.
No wonder he just laughs off academic-background talk now.
Taizo's actually pretty good at playing the character who hypes up the show, I'll give him that.
I honestly think it's thanks to Taizo that Hiroyuki was able to work on network TV at all.
Like, Taizo sets things up so Hiroyuki has an easy time talking.
Background and Key Points of This Story
wakatte.tv is known for its debate format in which panelists openly roast each other’s academic backgrounds and work performance, and “Aka” was often the one dishing out jokes about other panelists’ schools. This time, the controversy centers on the fact that Aka himself — despite usually being the one doing the roasting — had once said, “I graduated from Kyoto University, lol,” even though he never actually graduated and had dropped out instead. On the thread, opinions split between defenders (“just getting in is impressive enough”) and critics (“it’s rich for someone who’s used his academic background to mock others to have exaggerated his own”). The discussion also spread to cover exchanges about co-star Taizo Sugimura’s educational background and the response of a politician said to have defended the show — though claims lacking solid grounding, along with anything amounting to excessive personal attacks on real politicians, have been left out of this piece.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Video] wakatte.tv’s Aka (high school grad): “I graduated from Kyoto University, lol”.”
