[GENERAL] The AKB48 Thread

'Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby' failed to reach one million in its first week of sales (905,490 according to the Wiki). I recall that an extra HS date was added which accounted for the additional 70K sales in the third week to take it over the million mark and keep the streak going. I suppose with the 58th single they could if necessary similarly add extra HS events until the million sales figure was reached even if that took some weeks?

 

^Point, but I fear that right now there's no way they could ever realistically do enough events within the year for any single(s) of AKB they release to cross the million mark overall. Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby was a crisis averted with just one extra handshake event, and the main reason attributed to it not managing a million in the first week was that they had launched a best album just weeks prior which most agreed to being a major contributing factor to the single not crossing the million in the first week. It also still looked great in the long run in that it's the single that originally featured 365 Nichi no Kamihikouki and sold enough to rank in at #4 (2015) and #34 (2016) on Oricon Yearly.

^x3 - Even if the album sales aren't good (say 400k overall if they're lucky) that'd still be better than giving up their streak of their singles selling a million overall (I say this because as already pointed out by @David61 Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby already created a break in their streak of million in a week) which I can see happening because realistically they won't be able to do enough events for any AKB single(s) they launch to cross the million overall within 2021 if there's really a 40% or so drop to come since their last single.

Regarding the events they can do to boost sales of the albums... well they're going to have to find new and innovative gimmicks regardless given the pandemic has clearly shown itself to be here to stay. Even if we had a grand vaccine available to everyone free of charge tomorrow they still couldn't go back to doing events as they used to. How albums sell in comparison to before with their new gimmicks can help them gauge how well singles might sell. Albums can be their experimental territory (once again they've never been particularly strong album sellers so the risk that exists with singles isn't there, but album sales could provide them with invaluable data for preserving their million overall single for single streak).

 

So?

F**k those people. A bunch of people who don't buy your stuff anyway, they're going to whine no matter what you do, so f**k them.

You think Akimoto still has any influence? He's the lyricist now and that's it. Maybe if Akimoto and a sober Togasaki were still in charge they might do something innovative but with this management, forget it.

Why not?

This "Great Reset" and "New Normal" s**t needs to be fought, I want my old life back and so do most people. (and sorry if I sound aggressive but it's been a long day/month/year )

 

^What even is normal anymore? On a serious note, is it going to take one of the girls dying from covid for fans to understand that mass scale events just aren't a good idea moving into the next few years? When we finally get vaccines for covid going whether they're allowed to remain an optional thing or laws are passed that mandate getting them the girls will become a big part of the guinea pig group for said vaccines in Japan which is something I wouldn't ever want to see.

I can easily see it become a worldwide thing for governments to pass laws mandating getting covid vaccines just to speed up the process of identifying and creating the best possible one and fields that'll be no doubt hit as part of those laws would include but not be limited to School Staff/Children and Entertainers.

Right now I'm not comfortable with the idea of having to get a covid vaccine nevermind wanting anyone else to have to. I'm at a point where I'd want to see my favorite entertainers go on a temporary hiatus before having to take huge risks of contracting covid by participating in or holding events that require mass gatherings.

 

- Losing the million streak


- Losing fans
- Out of the Kouhaku
- Becoming more and more irrelevant for the media
- Ignoring most of its roster

 

You know what would guarantee a million selling single?


11th SSK!



if the video does not show watch the video here

 

i miss ssk

 

I miss the ssk too I hope they can do a virtual one in the near future if the pandemic doesn't die's down

 

There's one major, obvious reason for why AKB has a ton of members, and I'm not sure it's actually under their control.

Yes? Are you new? They don't decide the exact senbatsu but absolutely have input.

You mean this?

Kubo Satone, Nishikawa Rei, Chiba Erii, Oguri Yui, Yamauchi Mizuki, Kuranoo Narumi, Sakaguchi Nagisa, Shitao Miu, Nagatomo Ayami, Omori Maho, Umeyama Cocona, Sadano Haruka, Yamamoto Ayaka, Yamamoto Mikana, Hara Karen, Minami Haasa, Yasuda Momone, Yokono Sumire, Kojima Karin, Shinzawa Nao, Ogoe Haruka, Furutate Aoi, Fujisaki Miyu, Homma Hinata, Rissen Momoka, Kai Kokoa, Iwata Hina, Ishida Chiho, Yabushita Fu, Imamura Mitsuki, Takao Sayaka and Takino Yumiko​

How is that supposed to be worse than what they'd be able to field right now? Besides the obvious problems inherent in comparing a weekly music show to something that only takes place once a year, two of the star members of that "young member senbatsu" are in quarantine (as is Erii), and this is not a good time for travelling between prefectures so we can count out the sister group members as well (not to mention some of those are quarantined too).

Oh please Aka. We both know there's more going on right now than Showroom.

Correction: the ones currently in quarantine do that.

*glances at the 80% Sony cast list*

Not really.

 

aaannd it's gone.
Nyon TeamA 2020.11.23-2020.11.23.

 

and you didn't yet know she's hardly Team 8 anymore as well

 

Some important news!

1) AKB48 announces kenkyuusei promotion. New AKB48 official members.

Promoted to Team A
Furukawa Nazuna
Honda Sora

Promoted to Team K
Nagano Megumi

Promoted to Team 4
Ishiwata Sena
Kuramoto Miyuu
Homma Mai
Yoshihashi Yuzuka

2) AKB48 announces Tandoku Concert at Tokyo Dome City Hall on January 2021.

Schedule for 2021 Tandoku Concert

January 22nd - Team A (Songs of 2005-2007)
January 23rd - Team K (Songs of 2008-2009)
January 23rd - Team B (Songs of 2010-2011)
January 23rd - Team 4 (Songs of 2012-2013)
January 24th - Team 8 (Songs of 2014-2015)
January 24th - First Generation (Songs of 2016-2017)
January 24th - Second Generation (Songs of 2018-2020)

First Generation (16 performing members)

Fukuoka Seina
Iriyama Anna
Iwatate Saho
Kashiwagi Yuki
Kato Rena
Komiyama Haruka
Minegishi Minami
Miyazaki Miho
Mogi Shinobu
Mukaichi Mion
Murayama Yuiri
Okada Nana
Oya Shizuka
Sasaki Yukari
Taniguchi Megu
Yokoyama Yui (Yuihan)

Second Generation (16 performing members)

Asai Nanami
Chiba Erii
Inagaki Kaori
Kubo Satone
Muto Orin
Nagatomo Ayami
Nishikawa Rei
Oguri Yui
Omori Maho
Sakaguchi Nagisa
Shimoguchi Hinana
Shitao Miu
Suzuki Kurumi
Taguchi Manaka
Yamane Suzuha
Yamauchi Mizuki

Source: https://twitter.com/48gTalk

 

I wonder what the requirements where to be included in either first or second generation lineups... this is interesting

 

1st generation: AKB 1st - 15th gen girls
2nd generation: 3rd gen draftees, Eito, 16th gen girls

 

So after this announcement, there are no more kenkyuusei in the group. Congrats to all the girls!

I like the idea of having concerts with themes of songs from years, this will make interesting setlists

and Happy 15th anniversary to AKB48!!!



if you go to AKB's official site today, they show pictures from AKB's history: https://www.akb48.co.jp/

 

They have 2nd gen draftee's there too... but they've been around so long I didn't even realize they could still be considered 'new' or 'next gen' lol

 

You can see the full lineups on the event's thread.

 

Special commemorative performance of the 15th anniversary of the AKB48 Theater

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

This is a bit sad, I just went to the AKB kenkyuusei section after seeing the announcement, these girls have been kenkyuusei for 2 years yet their threads have mostly like 4 to 10 replies. That's sad ._. then again I think they only did theater performances and maybe not many people watch them (I don't have time anymore for it too) I think I saw these girls maybe 1 or 2 times when I watched a theater stage long ago. I kinda miss the times when I knew all the members but it was also because they gave them much better promotions back then.

Speaking of this, I saw here that Miichan said "Takahashi Minami & Kojima Haruna know all AKB48 current members." and I wonder how true this is LOL if it's true then wow, even I don't know all AKB members (I don't know all 16th gen or 3rd draft, and I don't know every Team 8 member) maybe I'll take time to learn the names/faces of other members in 2021 haha...

 

It's a shame Suenaga Yuzuki announced graduation. She was this close to getting promoted