A short announcement puts an end to my flirtation with the 3D(-PD) scene, at least for now.

It was an interesting short career. A dramatic early success and meteoritic rise, induction to the A-team, the anime role. Then the earthuake and tsunami happened, and a string of failures to rank followed. Compare it with the oldest member of the 12th Generation, Tomu: first rank in the 4t Senbatsu at 49, then 45, 24, 16 (!). Karen made 56 preliminary once, but never cracked the final 80. I don't feel too sorry for Karen here. She is only 17 years old, or about the age for normal people to enter college and think about starting a career, not ending it. In fact I suspect that Tomu's advanced age was an asset for her. Karen wants to become an actress, and more power to her, but I don't think I'll follow her there, unless she comes back to voicing cartoons.

The 2D idols have a huge advantage here. As Matt Groening said, Bart does not have to graduate from the 4th grade, ever.