[GENERAL] The AKB48 Thread

Times are changing and it is for the same reason you mentioned that kouhaku has only dropped ratings over the years and I am afraid AKB is just tagging along with the same philosophy thus with similar results.

So you mean to say you need to sell a million to make Kouhaku, Didn't the 57th sell over a million ? and not all arists on the list sold over a million with their latest single. Also not all names on the list sing live. Some lip sync , Some scream.

 

Jesus Christ, is it really that hard?

 

Yes I am literally crying .

 

I think that post is sarcasm LOL

"But at least they didn't sell less than a million copies! And they sing live! And... And..."
= Fans and management are delusional/wrong for thinking that having 1 million sales or live singing are what can save the group

"I feel sad for all those Indian or Thai idols that won't have a chance to shine."
= Management was wrong for pushing the foreign sister groups at last year's Kouhaku because it doesn't help AKB at all in Japan

That's how I understood it...

 

honestly i'm glad they're not in kouhaku this year, maybe the management will start taking things more seriously

 

yeah, this is a wake up call for everyone involved in akb, from management to king rec to the members and even fans, and the 48G as a whole.
Next is the Japan Record Award, will they make it?

 

Like others have stated its not that super shocking, but it's still unfortunate. AKB has honestly gotta get it together. The sister groups' time has moved on (no offence to HKT, NMB, and SKE), but AKB has shown they can continue their legacy and popularity with the right songs and members, but management fucks a lot up.

It's been the Nogi show for awhile now. We can see that's what the public likes. Keya/Sakura is similar too. I sometimes wonder if a song like Beginner was released in 2018 or something it would have been much more popular and do good for AKB. KFC was great, but that was 2013. The game has changed. We like grungy women who don't take no shit in idol groups now lol.

 

While that may be true, when you look at the last 5 years of 48 hits to 46 hits, the sakamichi groups have more than 48 groups. In the last 5 years 48groups only hit has been 365 nichi (and KFC if you go further than 5 years). 46g have had KFC level hits like Influencer, Silent Majority, and 365 level hits like Synchronicity and Fukyouwaon.

That being said, I don't think the repeated KFC performances were the problem, as many have said above, many of the artists who appear perform the same iconic songs they've performed for years, and still get slots. I think the main reason for that is because they have a solidified legacy in Japan. AKB have a legacy too, but it's not nearly as big as idol groups like Arashi for example. I think they look at 3 different things; legacy (respected artists), popularity (viral songs), and relevancy (frequently in the media be it good or bad). This year they didn't make the cut for any of those categories.

I think what AKB needs to do is simply go back to their roots. Enhance the theater and stages, give people a reason to want to see them again. Bring back iconic events that made them unique in the first place. I'm happy to see that they're finally pushing the 'fresh faces' but that's only because there's no popular og's left lol. If management try to bring these things back and build their reputation again, it will go well, but if they become complacent in where they are now, like ufp does with Morning Musume, then i don't see them ever being as big as they were before...

 

I have a lot of random thoughts about AKB's current situation...

it's kinda sad because it feels like AKB has been trying any kind of special performances when invited in music events, and some of them were good ideas, I loved the performance with every member wearing a different costume from different songs, they also had great energy in that performance. But it's true that they can't forever rely on KFC or 365 (especially when both original centers are gone), although for events like Kouhaku they would perform the biggest hits anyway but yes... like I said AKB also wasted opportunities to have new hits, like Saikyou Twintail could have been a hit, it reached an audience outside of the AKB fandom but they did nothing with that. Meanwhile when other groups get this chance (like NiziU) they completely took the opportunity and did strong promotion after their song got viral in TikTok. Why can't AKB management do this?

Actually I wonder why they don't hire better people to take care of the official social medias of AKB? it can do a lot to have someone who's good at posting things on Twitter etc. They can also hire someone to translate in english and reach a bigger audience too. in fact, I liked it when they started uploading content on Youtube and subbed it, those videos with games where Shiichan was there were hilarious! I don't know why they stopped this. They could have made it a weekly show, I'm sure the girls wouldn't mind. with someone like Shiichan who's funny, she can be a fixed member along with Yukirin, and play games with new gen members. Put english subtitles to attract more people, and I'm sure this would help a LOT of people to learn new names. I mean we don't have AKBINGO! anymore... why not do something like this :/ Promotions online is a big deal for idols now.

Not just that but I've been thinking about the individual social media accounts of the members. I feel like management could hire some good photographers and help some girls to make better photos for their social medias, getting popular online with just pictures can do a LOT for a career, look at Hashimoto Kanna or Saito Nagisa. For example with AKB, I find Nishikawa Rei pretty and cute, but when I looked at her social medias, she isn't good at taking photos. Her photos don't make someone want to follow her... But she's actually pretty and she has a lighter eyecolor which is quite rare (same as Hashimoto Kanna), with a better photographer, she could have really beautiful pictures that could turn a lot of people to fans. it doesn't take much. it's the same for literally every other girl, some of these girls are losing chances to get popular because they're not good at taking photos, which isn't their fault :/ Little things like having photographer to help them could do a lot for them (and it's not something weird, a lot of idols have photographers for their social medias who take good photos and edit them).

I also wonder when will AKB debut a new generation? The last one was D3 I think. with Moeka... who graduated... it's been 3 years since that generation debuted! They've had new girls with Team 8 since then but the Team 8 girls aren't introduced the same as a generation. The impact is not so big (well, Yukarin is getting quite popular now so that's one good thing!). Not long ago NMB had a new gen and after seeing them I really wonder why AKB can't have a new gen like this :/ There are a lot of cute members... some can sing too. I watched this video, many of them stand out. The girl at 1:40 gives the feeling of Techi at debut, girl at 2:50 has a similar cute style as Saito Nagisa, girl at 4:56 looks like the type who would be pushed as center and she's cute, girl at 5:35 has weak singing but looks like the "mature" type that male fans will like, girl at 7:55 also looks like the center type, girl at 8:27 has an amazing voice that could be in Disney or something...

I mean I'm not here to promote the new NMB generation (or am I ) but while watching things I could only think "why can't AKB have a generation like this too, NOW". it would do a lot for them. if they find girls with quality like this and push them right away, online and in real, with all efforts, I have no doubt AKB can find success again. I know they did it with Moeka and she ended up graduating but that was a sad situation... They need to find a new generation now with a lot of interesting girls. if NMB can, then AKB surely can... Among the current members there isn't enough of them who attract new fans so I think having a new gen is the best thing they can do.

I could say a lot more but my point is that AKB need to start doing little things that can make a big change, starting with online because a lot of things start online (even more with the pandemic now), reach a bigger audience, add new members, do stronger promo online, and then the good results will help them to have better opportunities on TV.

 

I absolutely agree with everything you said, Mana, what a beautiful post, seriously!

 

The day AKB releases a single with a cover as a bad as

Spoiler

I'll worry.

I think AKB is between the sword and the wall when it comes to trying new things because everything has worked so well for them for a decade now: release a single, organise HS events, make a couple of concerts, rinse, repeat.

They could have released another single or album this year, but they chose not to because they know the situation is far from ideal (way too many cancelled HS events, the shadow of NGT still lurking, etc.). The SG took advantage of it and some released stuff, to the point where HKT seems to be the only one to announce a new single. But AKB seems to be waiting for the perfect conditions to come back. The right amount of HS tickets left from previous events to release more? The right song? The right center? God knows.

I'm not against the group laying low for a while because... let's be honest, the brand is overexposed and its way past the time it saturated the market. But I wish they were taking advantage of this time and came back with newer and more exciting stuff. The theatres are all but a joke at this point. The events that made it a different group are all gone. Their TV shows, their radio programes. Everything.

I don't know how they can get back on the horse.
We all know what's the root of this (and it's up North). But since they didn't solve that problem when they had to, now they have to carry it and act as if doesn't bring them shame.

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I am surprised that Sakurazaka was invited though. They are still to debut, and Keyaki's last single was in February... of 2019. Make it make sense.

 

Thanks and I'm glad you agree

I forgot to add that, although I feel that AKB could do a lot more efforts to push AKB online (as a group and individually) but I still want to do what I can to support them and sometimes I'm wondering if we international fans can make a difference for them. I've seen cases where some asian idol groups gain popularity outside of their country and then their image in their country gets better because being popular with foreigners is something to be proud of. I just randomly thought, what if AKB's latest MV had 50 million views? would they be on TV more, would more japanese people notice them and would it lead to them still being in Kouhaku or even just FNS? But then again it's hard to make this with just our efforts, when management didn't put extra efforts into their last MV. if the last MV and song was at the level of Kimi wa Melody or something, it's a lot easier for fans to stream it, share it, promote it, etc. So again this all depends on management and how much they invest to help AKB's popularity to get bigger... (and I really hope they will promote them better from now on)

But I still do what I can to help some members, in the past I would often just give "likes" to tweets but now I retweet them instead because it can expose a member to more people and have chances to turn more people to fans (well honestly I'm not that active in Twitter, but if some more popular accounts did this, their retweets could do a lot of help to the girls).

This is random, but another example of online popularity that end up bringing opportunities is Paruru, who opened her Youtube channel this year and had a challenge to upload videos everyday. After doing this for 3-4 months, she started to have a lot more jobs than she had in recent years. She even talked about it herself in a video (probably deleted it now since she deleted most of her videos LOL), about how doing Youtube helped her a lot including about getting jobs. She has new CM, she's in TV shows, she models etc... if you find success online, most of the time it will lead you to receiving offers in the real life, on TV.

So with this I want to say, with hopes that AKB's management will start putting bigger efforts into AKB and invest more in the group, we fans can also do little things to help the girls to become more popular (if we learned anything from Kpop fans, it's that streaming, following and actively talking online really can make a difference in the career of an idol group )

Right now I just hope that AKB can start 2021 with a new single and a new generation with the best girls that they could find.

Side-note, I quite like the idea for the anniversary stage to have solo performance by every member. That sounds interesting!

 

Currently there are 101 girls in AKB alone, so I'm not sure if dividing dwindling opportunities even more is a good idea.

 

it's not AKB related so spoiler

Spoiler: v

Again, it's a change in name only. It's still the same group with the same members, management, songs, concept, tv shows, fans. There is only one obvious difference and we all know what that is. Unlike AKB/48G during the NGT scandal, Keyaki actually bothered to change their reputation after an onslaught of scandals by making the very questionable decision to change their name, but that is all that changed. It's only a 'debut' because the name is different so their content is filed as a 'new' group. And it's worked out for them. Keyaki's news from the graduations to scandals, online live to re brand, will easily rank in the top talked about idol news for this year. To add to that, Keyaki's kouhaku performance was the 2nd most talked about in 2019. For NHK to ignore all of the potential viewership ratings they could get because of a slight change of name would be.... dumb.
That being said, I along with many sakura fans and even the members themselves are shocked that they made it in because this year was a roller coaster, but when you consider everything again, it makes more sense.

I can always rely on your detailed commentary! I didn't even know that the twintail song was AKB's until I saw it on tiktok constantly and was like "they sound familiar but i need to see who they are!".. obviously, the shock when I realized it was AKB was hilarious lol. both Kpop and Jpop idols have been utilizing TikTok videos to make their newest singles go viral, or simply by being cute or funny for a few seconds. AKB members have the obvious talent and capability to do tiktoks and push themselves more, but management need to get behind them to make it worthwhile. Especially with the pandemic limiting their already limited activities, utilizing any kind of social media content is something literally every idol group needs to get behind or they run the risk of losing relevancy. Adding their songs to spotify is a step in the right direction imo since it opens them up to a wider audience. I do hope to see management capitalize more on the online side of things.

As for the new generation, i'm not too sure yet.. NMB was having a huge graduation festival since sayanee graduated, and we know there will be more to come from the remaining 2-4th gen. They desperately needed a wave of girls or the group would literally not have enough members to survive. What they got right was that the started to push the new members the moment not Sayanee Graduated, but Milky! From as early as 2016 they were pushing the likes of Cocona and Ayaan, and they've continued to push each new gen after the 5th in preparation for and during the grad fest, while having Mirurun and Akarin lead to keep things steady. They successfully did what we had asked AKB to do for years. However as exciting as new generations are, AKB have double the amount of members NMB currently have, and they should utilize them as much as they can and get their faces out there. The general public still need to know who these 'new' girls in senbatsu are. Once they've redeveloped their core, I'd love to see a new group of girls join, but right now idk if it's necessary.

 

Let be honest, AKB management's biggest fault is they didn't send big cake to NHK

Back to serious topic

Prolly since most of public's favorite artist *cough*arashi*cough*yonezu kenshi*cough*official hige dandism*cough*king gnu*cough*yorushika*cough* would not make it due to the favoritism (still salty over Pretender and Hakujitsu weren't made into 2019's JRA nomination list) . But, with this current situation, Nogi could snatch the JRA Grand Prize again

 

I just hope for big news in the anniversary performance.

 

they didn't release a cd bc they can't have handshakes events, it's sad but true. they released a song on digital but it flopped, confirming the fact that without tickets they don't sell. they need a hit or maybe more than one, if archived without tickets involved it would be better.

 

I don't remember saying 48g has more hits in recent years than 46g. I said ' more relevant J-idol songs since 2005 ‘. While this may sound similar it’s not the same. By relevant I mean good songs. A hit song doesn't necessarily have to be a good song. It can be worse than a B-side filler track for all I know. If an artist is having a surge of popularity be it for whatever factor ( Beauty, Fashion, Good promotion etc ) Her music will still peak people's interests as long as its not unbearable. Even K drama actors releasing filler ballads chart higher than better music produced by seasoned musicians. Take Hinatazaka for example . Their music is by no means any better than any 48g Single released during the past two years at least from a purely musical standpoint. But owing to good promotion from Sony and people's interest in a new group and most importantly them being of 46g , their MVs have higher view counts on YouTube consistently, So while we can’t say for sure that performing different songs other than KFC and Hebirote would have helped make their performances more impactful ( for me no doubt ), Performing the same songs over and over again definitely didn’t do them any good for sure. ( What kind of a sane person wants to hear the same set list over a period of many years, would a Nogi fan want to see them perform Guru Guru Curtaiun 3 years in a row ? ). People get bored and no wonder I have seen a ton of people complaining about Kouhaku online about how it makes no sense to watch the same thing every year and how they now only watch it to see how much that Enka grandma has aged over the years.

I never said Performing different songs would guarantee them a place on the list , but hey at least it’s a start in the right direction to stay relevant among the new generation . And I don’t just mean Kouhaku, be it overseas events, amusement park, café events it’s such a drag to see them perform the same decade old songs like a chore at the supermarket. And don’t get me started about their MCing. I ate this today , I saw a cat today, I will use the power I got from eating to dance and spread smiles. I don’t blame the members for this. Not everyone is Sasshi or Shige.The management should hire professionals to come up with jokes and ideas that feel at least fresh every time to make the audience feel it was a unique show they spent their time watching. I know many Idol groups do the same routine and are still doing okay owing to peaks in different factors. Well 48g is definitely not and so they don’t have the luxury to get a pass by doing the usual. Honestly if I see the same stuff in upcoming events I doubt there is any hope left for AKB to remain relevant. The people who have genuine interest in their music or are diehard fans of their oshis will remain but that number is quite small actually as I saw in Haru Fest last year and even that will dwindle when their oshis eventually graduate.