Just going to show this what I came across today: http://sunog-baga.tumblr.com/post/72887 ... -first-two
Most "normal" Japanese people I know (university-aged, so the 18-24yrs old range mostly) barely know a thing about the other groups. They SOMETIMES know of their existence (eg at my university in Australia we got many, many girls from Nagoya coming on exchange and almost none of them knew what SKE48 was, but they all knew of AKB48). The feeling I get is that "normal" people haven't really embraced the regional groups, for example I have a couple of female friends in Fukuoka who don't care about HKT48, but like AKB48 on a casual level, same with Osakan friends and NMB. The limit of general public knowledge of the 48 group is typically the girls who are on mainstream variety shows. So EVERYBODY knows about Yuko's graduation (most think kouhaku WAS her graduation though), they all know Acchan graduated, they all know Mariko and Kojiharu the other Kami 7. People who are positive towards AKB music but not "fans" have recognised Shimazaki as being heavily pushed, you can't escape her face here thanks to Wonda Coffee ads. Opinions I've heard are divided on her though (one male friend said she's cute while some female friends said she's not etc), I've heard the same about Sashihara, some think she's funny but some not. Most people don't know about the teams but occasionally some people know about the theatre. Pretty much everyone has heard all the singles of the last few years, though might not be able to name them (aside from Heavy Rotation, which will usually prompt people to do the dance ). So basically everyone knows about AKB48, and the HUGE news that gets shown on mainstream TV is known, but all the intricate details are pretty unknown outside of the fandom. Their singles are an established part of pop music, just like say One Direction is in the West. But any deeper and most people have no idea. In people's head AKB48 = Kami 7 now and forever, just like if you say Morning Musume people think of the "golden era" of Love Machine with Abe Natsumi, Goto Maki, Yaguchi Mari etc. Nobody outside of the fandom knows about Morning Musume 14 or whatever they are now Ok, I got a bit off topic there
Waffle is still in Japan I think... Definitely haven't seen any Wonda ads over here that's for sure! (in between the cricket )
Yes, I live in Japan currently I saw new ads up at the train station recently but it was too crowded to take a picture. The poster and billboard advertisements are heavily focused on Yuko, Mayuyu and Shimazaki, so once Yuko goes I guess it'll be down to two, Highlander style
So people make out what is going on in AKB by watching coffee ads? Just looked it up, the only girls left from Kami7 are Yukirin and Mayuyu, the rest either graduated or ranked below #7. This is a WONDA coffee ad inside a train in Japan:
Reminds me of the Docomo ads with senbatsu dressed in mushroom hats around the time So Long dropped. Everywhere, I mean everywhere! Had no idea what the ads actually said but 0 yen did get my interest.
This is the translation of a post on 2ch, which names as its source a radio program on which Aki-P apparently regularly appears. Akimoto Yasushi: "We're planning things on an unprecedended scale for the National Stadium" "For example we might make the TOP 2 of Osaka the center of AKB" "Or we could beat Paruru's dancing skills into shape by transferring her to SKE" "Watching the chemical reaction of putting Mayu into NMB might be interesting too" "Please forget about the pennant race" Sauce: Nipponhousou Akimoto Yasushi no Kyou mo Yotei Chouwa http://akb48sokuhou.doorblog.jp/archives/54705237.html go ahead and correct my translation errors if you see some.
Aki-P sometimes sounds like Tsunku. So no pennant race in the end? Will that translate in no more draft thingy? Paru/Mayu would look soooooooo bad in SKE/NMB that I can't even. There are girls who would benefit MUCH more from that if the members sent to X group actually fited there, cause I still cringe whenever I see Lemon with NMB. Scatter AnRiRe in the three groups and be done with it!
Come on, those are some very interesting ideas. Though Aki-P will have to prepare for shit storm coming from a big number of fans If it truly happens, I expect Paruru to announce graduation on spot since she said that she would quit if she were transferred to SKE
I think it's not impossible if they gave Watanabe Mayu a concurrent position in NMB & Shimazaki a concurrent position in SKE. 1. To give more exposure to both. 2 To create a rivalry between both girls. 3. To create a rivalry between NMB & SKE. YES YES YES YES YES It's time for Aki-P to fully utilize the Namba girls! NMB is the group with the least participation in AKB activties...
...Please, no. I'm not the biggest Mayuyu fan (although I don't actively dislike her) and I think she wouldn't mesh with NMB's image whatsoever. In my opinion it's one thing to want to shake things up, but there's only so much you can do without encountering the classic "square peg, round hole" problem.
Oh dear [shock] I wonder if he's joking. Or hope, rather... SayaMilky centers would be strange to say the least. Same for Paruru and Mayuyu in NMB/SKE. As for the pennant race, I was kind of expecting that. Idk if I can say we all were, but I just had a feeling it wasn't going to go through. The fact they weren't publicizing much information about it even after announcing it made me think that. I wonder if this means we can expect a shuffle there, though? I get the feeling he's joking about a lot of this, but the fact he's talking about such things makes me wonder.
I'm sure he was joking about Paruru to SKE and Mayu to NMB. Sometimes I think Aki-p likes trolling the fan base as well lol. Now if he puts that news out 2 days after the Spring Concert (April 1st) then I will know it's true.
...Eh. What's the point of transferring them there when it wouldn't be a good thing for neither the group nor the girl in question? They should've made Yui a 'permanent' AKB/NMB member instead just like Jurina and Milky with their concurrencies holding out since forever. I hate how they keep going back to Yui's concurrency even after they revoked it- Yui appearing in Dazai in the dome tour concerts, Yui getting a unit with Sayaka in the new album, Yui appearing when it was revealed that NMB was invited to the NHK Kouhaku, wtf man they should've just kept her there in the first place. And Kitarie's too since she just got Choco no Dorei and she dropped in the rankings this year.
Pennant Race? I don't even know what's going on with it. Tranfers - I don't know much about it. No clue on who's going to and back so I'll leave it at that. Aki-P is probably trolling as always.
I believe all of his suggestions should be realized. The more I think about them the more awesome they are. All of the mentioned members will learn something from the group they will be transferred to and vice versa. It's just perfect.
