My Reaction Towards Maya Imamori's Underage Drinking Incident

I heard about the shocking incident a few days ago. However, I had NO ENERGY to write about it. It totally caught me OFF GUARD at that really happened! Yes, it's official that Maya Imamori was actually FIRED after her underage drinking incident. That means NO new No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger episode to be aired UNTIL. FURTHER. NOTICE.

Imamori’s talent agency also released a statement on its official site:

“It has been confirmed that our talent, Maya Imamori, engaged in underage drinking despite being under 20 years old.

As this constitutes a serious breach of contract, we have decided to terminate her management contract as of today after careful deliberation.”

The agency offered its apologies to fans and those concerned and pledged to strengthen compliance education and management systems to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Born in Miyazaki Prefecture, Imamori won the Grand Prix at Miss Magazine 2023 and gained popularity as a gravure model. Her role as Sumino Ichikawa / Gozyu Unicorn in Number One Sentai Gozyuger drew attention as the first-ever female Black Ranger in the franchise.

At the series’ press conference in January, she expressed enthusiasm:

“I want to give my all every day so that viewers can enjoy the show each week. I hope to create a work that makes people think, ‘This is wonderful!’ at every moment.”

Following the controversy, Imamori posted an apology on Instagram:

“I sincerely apologize for the trouble and concern I have caused many people due to my careless actions. Drinking alcohol while underage is a shameful act as both a member of society and as an individual. I deeply regret my actions and am reflecting on them seriously.”

She continued:

“I would like to apologize once again to my fans, everyone involved, and my co-stars for causing great trouble and disappointment. Through this incident, I will reflect on my immaturity, face the consequences of betraying the trust placed in me, and live my life with sincerity so that this will never happen again. I am truly sorry.”

Perhaps a bigger problem than what happened with some midseason cast changes

There's the problem of hte Real Life Writes Plot. Midseason cast changes happened in Super Sentai such as the following:

• The late Baku Hakateyama had a short leave from Goranger. The temporary replacement is the still-living Jiro Daruma. This was a case of a yellow ranger getting a substitute.
• Battle Fever J had two important cast changes. The first was when Yukio Ito left the script, I think because he got married, and was replaced in the EXACT SAME EPISODE with Naoya Ban, becoming the new Battle Cossack. Diane Martin left presumably because of real life tight schedules and was replaced by Naomi Hagi as the new Miss America. Diane never spoke Japanese fluently!
• Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan had Ryusuke Kawasaki replaced by Takayuki Godai. This was the first red ranger replacement. Takayuki Owashi was replaced by the new red ranger Tayakuki Hiba, who's a swordsman. 
• Dai Sentai Goggle V had Eisuke Kikuchi and Kumiko Nishiguchi written off after 15 episodes, when Kumiko Nishiguchi was introduced in the same episoode, as Grand Marshall Deathmark.
• Chodenshi Bioman has the rather controversial departure of Yuki Yajima. This required Sumiko Tanakai to play as Jun Yabuki -- Mika Koizumi's replacement as the new Yellow 4. Bioman was also the first series with a female yellow ranger. 
• Kosuki Sentai Turboranger replaced the Three Bouma Generals with the Nagare Bouma. It was said the late Masashi Ishibashi didn't like his costume as Rehda, and wanted to leave the show.
• For some reason, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger only had Prince Junior from episodes 14-31 only. Kenichi Endo somehow never clarified why. 

The root cause (trying to humanize the situation) and why I feel immense pressure MAY have been the root cause

It would be important to know WHY Maya did it, and not just that she had underage drinking. I looked into two important considerations. In the Filipino context, no one can go drinking until they are at least 18 YEARS OF AGE. It turns out that Japanese laws prohibit drinking until people are at least 20 YEARS OF AGE. This is where Maya Imamori may have been caught in-between two realities. The Filipino side says 18 years and Maya is 19. If Maya went drinking in the Philippines, THEN it wouldn't be an issue. Maya was in JAPAN when it happened -- which makes the whole incident MUCH HARDER than if it were in the Philippines!

However, I was also looking at other matters for consideration. If you think about WHEN an anniversary is celebrated -- it's USUALLY BY ENTRY NUMBER AND NOT BY YEAR. This reminds me of the trend that happened:

• Choriki Sentai Ohranger was the year when Himitsu Sentai Goranger and Dengekitai JAKQ became more openly declared in the Super Sentai list.
• Mirai Sentai Timeranger has never been an anniversary season. It was more like a "finale" and made way for Hyajakuu Sentai Gaoranger as the true anniversary, based on the post-series clip show. Ever anniversary from the 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, and 45th were STRICTLY BASED ON ENTRY NUMBER. 
• However, Gozyuger decided to PREMATURELY CELEBRATE THINGS IMHO.

Everything about Gozyuger feels like it would've saved for 2026. I considered the following events that may have worn out the production team:

• Avatar Sentai Donbrothers may have given Toei enough money from show.
• Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger is one huge celebratory show.
• Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger was most likely that mandatory "yearlong diet", a time when Toei could still earn money from last year's surplus. 

The shadow of King-Ohger may still be LONG CAST. Did Toei and Bandai decide to prematurely celebrate the anniversary when IT SHOULD BE FREAKING NEXT YEAR? That's what I've considered since the incident. Boonboomger was the PERFECT TIME to slow things down for production. This year could've been used for something super standard or perhaps make a Super Sentai series based on a random unexplored theme, like another RPG-inspired one, time travel, etc. Instead, Gozyuger came in as a good idea that was PREMATURELY LAUNCHED!

Chances are that Maya herself was stressed out, given the pressure of the project. My own interpretations are:

• Maya was just stressed from all the pressure and didn't know what she was doing. For example, she may have forgotten that while 18 is the legal age for drinking among Filipinos, she FORGOT that Japan has the 20-year-old age of consent! Think about making a wrong turn during a weekday!
  
• Maya deliberately engaged in underage drinking because SHE. WANTED. OUT.
  

The possible replacement

Either way, I feel like what happened to her was a result of stress. Right now, I believe Oto Ichikawa could be the replacement -- based on this LEAKED PHOTO. Can anybody confirm the legitimacy of this photo? It would make perfect sense if Oto was the one who took over -- to put closure to Sumino's departure. 

It's still sad really that the incident happened. Toei needs to be more vigilant and learn from this incident!