[zeroryouko]

I'll buy that she was haunted by the Honnou image; it's kind of sad, really, because it really seems like people interpreted that exactly opposite to the way it was intended. But it's always seemed to me that the real turning point in Ringo's career came much later, with Ringo no Uta and the removal of her mole.

400K in sales is nothing to sneeze at, but it did mark an abrupt turn in her popularity. I've also heard it said that a lot of those 400K records were bought sight-unseen by fans of the previous two albums, and that a lot of *those* people did not like it a bit. But even if she saw it coming, it's still gotta hurt.

ETA: My initial feeling on Kyouiku was, basically, that it was a step backward, not forward. Specifically, it was something along the lines of "what the hell happened after KSK?"