Event / Concert AKB Pennant Race [From 22 April to 31 October]

All the maths is making me so confuse.... But only the member with most points will get prizes or the whole team?

 

And how exactly am I supposed to make a contribution for my fave team (B!!!!!), outside of election votes. Come on management, throw me a flipping bone here. This is rhetorical. not looking for answers here.

I have been looking forward to this silly thing since it was announced. I am diehard B-Oshi, and wanted to support my team. I am so very very disappointed.

 

They clearly said they wanted the draft to be their next major event like the election or the janken tournament. That pretty much guarantees it for me lol
Also, the fact that this pennant race was announced right the day before of the draft + it's ending on October 31st, makes me even more "sure" that they are planning on doing it again.

So what a fan can do to support his (oshi's) team is:
- Vote for his oshi
- Apply to all her handshakes (+ team members who have less sold out slots?)
- Apply to all the theatre shows of her team

Nothing that the fans aren't doing right now.
It's another popularity contest, but instead of voting for 2 weeks, it will go on for 6 months.

About the draft members needing more exposure, that's for sure. I always said that the event is nothing exciting if there is nothing "tangible" for the fans to see after it. Say... the draft members get to center the next team song or whatever. That would give them something.
I'm still waiting to see how my northern queen (Nishiyama Rena) fares within the group. :____(

 

Can the management give the girls a break?
Instead of wasting money and time on these"pressure cooking" events, they should have given more proper training to the girls

 

If this can tame the crazy SKE wotas for sousenkyo, than this is the best idea ever. They will think twice before power voting some random member if she's not in their oshi's team.

I love how everything becomes complicated and gives fans even more guidelines. Gosh I would hate to be a newbie.

 

They're giving us something new to make AKB even more dynamic and interesting and yet all you see is complaints before we even know how and what exactly.

 

Actually I think I'd like it if they turned the Team 8 thing into another draft. It would be a good way to keep some of the members without having huge team full of people no one knows. Plus, unlike in the last draft, the joining members would already have some training and maybe some popularity.

That said, giving the team that wins the pennant race first pick in a draft doesn't quite make sense to me. If they're trying to balance the teams (which the continual shuffling points to as being a goal of management) they should give the team in last place first pick. Really though one potential draftee would have to be way ahead of the others in terms of what she would bring to the group to have it really make a difference.

 

I always thought the pennant race announced at the draft event was a sports festival kind of thing lol.
But I guess they're still going ahead with this to test the new teams and re-ignite fan support for each as well.
we'll see which team will reign supreme!!

 

Wow, they're actually going through with this... And it sounds absolutely horrible.

Will someone that earns high individual points, but is never there in the theater, be penalized as they don't really contribute to the team?

 

@YumeNoRui they have not announced any possible rewards for individuals or teams yet. But I think it is reasonable to expect some kind of reward for the winning team at the end of this.

@hjr1891 @Trinu
Refer to my calculations using the 2013 SSK as example, and you will see that the highest total practically possible for one single team is around 30+ points. As for handshake sales, most members will get points between 0 to 1, and popular members may be able to get around 10 points at the last few handshake dates if they sell out tickets 26 times in a row.
What this means is that it is far more easier to garner points by achieving a high theater performance application, since just having 5 theater performance which exceed the basic application rate will add 35 (5X2+5X5) points to the team. So the easiest way to support your favourite team is to apply for theater performances (with a paid membership account)

@souchan48
I actually agree that they should properly train the girls.
However, I also think that 48 group is more like a school which lets them try different things and they tend to put emphasis on training them to get used to the "Japanese" entertainment business environment rather than specific skills. I specifically say "Japanese" entertainment business because they have a different work culture compared to other countries. They are taught to be polite, professional and time-abiding.

@Mimi
I think this pennant race wont make 48group more dynamic. It will only make it easier for them to quantify, if only rather subjectively, the performance of each team.

About the draft meeting, I have mixed feelings about it. I love the new girls, but I also find the competition between existing research girls with the draft members unnecessary. However, it is good and healthy that they leave the decision in the hands of the teams' members themselves (and luck). Still, it is very stupid that some of the girls who handpicked the draftees themselves were moved out of those teams before they properly debuted. I would think that they would change the draft meeting to address these limitations or abolish it to favor ordinary auditions.

 

Lol isn't this what you actually do at the SSK? Then this Pennant Race wouldn't be any different from SSK and wouldn't make any sense to even do it.

I just felt like I studied in a university for nothing lol these maths just confused me even more! But I got the basics though... Well if this is only going to apply to the draft members, I don't even care then. Speaking of which, regarding all these comments about the draftees, I wonder if these girls aren't just supposed to appear in the theatre to perform that single unit and then they can go home....? That's what they've been doing until now right? And I'm pretty ok if that continues that way xD

 

Kinda pointless to apply for theater or handshakes when the worlds largest ocean separates me and Japan.

Lets say I win tickets to either event. Obviously I can't make it. Does the team/ member get docked points for no-shows?

@Open_SaysaMe Some Draftees are now doing full shows with their teams. Team B's Aeri has performed the full show for Minarun's B-Day stage and Saya is scheduled for the Shonichi of the new Team B, for example.

 

^Oh I didn't know about that, I only noticed those 2 girls in Team K that just sing Ookami to Pride, so I thought everyone was the same

EDIT: (and I don't remember seeing their pictures in the new team portraits but then again, I prolly just didn't pay attention to them)

 

this is what happen when stylist become manager.

maybe they just wanna justify that their shuffle decision are the right call

 

This is what I'm kind of worried about. Will this lead to people who knowingly can't go applying for handshake tickets and theater shows? I don't even really mean foreign fans, but lots of Japanese fans don't live near the events or theaters. That makes it harder for people who actually want to go to win. I mean it's great if it gets people interested in going and meeting the members, but I hate to think of people getting tickets just to boost their team and then not going and either blocking out other fans or leaving a member who was expecting to meet fans with an empty lane (like what happened to Puffin). For theater shows I'm pretty sure you get banned from future shows if you don't show up and don't cancel, but you're free to apply and then cancel if you do win.

I suppose that a good way around this would be to say that they'll only count the handshake tickets that are actually used (although it's not too difficult to accidentally miss a ticket due to other lanes backing up or someone switching times) and docking points for people who cancel after winning theater entry. That would discourage people applying just for the sake of applying while still rewarding people who want to see a specific team member or team performance.

Whatever happens there doesn't seem to be any good way for foreign fans (or Japanese fans who don't live near Tokyo/their favorite team's theater) to support their team other than the sousenkyo, so that kind of sucks. I would also think that it would bias the AKB4 teams, since there are a lot more people in and around Tokyo and therefore more people who would be more likely to apply to those shows. I wonder if we'll see any of these issues get addressed? I'm probably overthinking it all though.

 

As long as they don't "punish" the teams with the fewer points, I'm OK with it. I think it will be interesting.

They announced this a while ago, the only difference is that now we have more details. This has nothing to do with Shinobu.

 

Whatever AKB can do to stay relevant (Toyota x Team 8, Otona48, Draft, etc) I'm all for. It's hard to stay popular, especially for female idols.

The idea is interesting, but how bout something more of a direct competition between the teams? This whole pennant season comes out like an extended sousenkyo.

 

The first ranking has been posted!
http://www.akb48.co.jp/pennantrace/

01. Team A (9.3 points)
02. Team 4 (8.95 points)
03. Team K (8.95 points)
04. Team B (8.75 points)
05. Team KIV (6.95 points)
05. Team E (6.95 points)
07. Team H (6.2 points)
08. Team N (5.4 points)
09. Team KII (5.25 points)
09. Team BII (5.25 points)
11. Team S (5 points)
12. Team M (2.8 points)

They've only counted the HS events points so far.

 

er... look at the top 4 teams... lol. and by a clear margin too from the next batch which includes HkT. NMB languishing... so. none of this will change aftet sousenkyo, right?

there will need to be a lot of theatre version sales to make up for that

 

The way the rules are designed AKB will obviously come out on top. I think it's a big joke.