AKB48 17th Generation AKB48's 17th generation auditions were announced at their 16th anniversary, on 8th December 2021! Official website of their auditions: https://www.akb48.co.jp/lp/audition17th The 11 members of the 17th generation were introduced to fans during a livestream on 4th May 2022. Follow their official Twitter account here: https://twitter.com/akb_trainee48 Members Ota Yuki / Birthday: March 27, 2004 / Birthplace: Kanagawa / Twitter Kohama Kokone / Birthday: February 12, 2007 / Birthplace: Hokkaido / Twitter Sato Airi / Birthday: June 24, 2004 / Birthplace: Chiba / Twitter :: Instagram Hashimoto Eriko / Birthday: April 16, 2006 / Birthplace: Osaka / Twitter Hatakeyama Nozomi / Birthday: January 25, 2008 / Birthplace: Saitama / Twitter Hirata Yuki / Birthday: September 3, 2002 / Birthplace: Saitama / Twitter :: Instagram Hotei Moka / Birthday: December 1, 2004 / Birthplace: Hyogo / Twitter :: TikTok Masai Mayuu / Birthday: March 1, 2005 / Birthplace: Hyogo / Twitter Mizushima Miyuu / Birthday: November 12, 2003 / Birthplace: Hokkaido / Twitter :: Instagram Yamazaki Sora / Birthday: May 13, 2004 / Birthplace: Tokyo / Twitter Former member: Hasegawa Niina / Birthday: August 8, 2001 / Birthplace: Kanagawa / Resigned on 2022/08/28 if the video does not show watch the video here Please use this thread to share your opinions and discuss anything about the 17th generation!
Just why? Why not at least 14? (tho I would prefer 16) :/ Hope they choose girls who actually possess a spark of talent in terms of singing/dancing. An interesting personality fans may have different opinions about. Raw talent or hard worker -what I wish for is that they want to make it as an idol and not just want to be a member of (the once glourious) AKB48. At best they have the ambition to create a new, bigger than ever, AKB. If additionally they're good looking and even have a slight scent of star power -all the better. Please mgmnt, DON'T elect some copy&paste cute but boring character+will probably sell well gravure body.
Personally I'm hoping for a smaller generation, maybe 5-8 girls? I would rather see more frequent auditions that take on a small group of girls, than bringing in 15-20 girls every 2-3 years. Especially since management only seem able to promote 1 or 2 new 'aces' of a generation at once.
I'm hoping for around 12 girls aged 14-18. The oldest senbatsu member is 30 and the youngest 18. Some younger faces that can be pushed into senbatsu would be ideal. It would be in the groups best interest to focus on the girls they already have, but I feel any less than 8 additions would be too much of a risk if so many older girls plan on graduating. I would prefer for AKB to keep their numbers lower but not too low. Ideally I would like for this to be a star generation like Nogi's 3rd gen. They could have them all do 'vigorous' training as KKS and then after a year or so, tie 3 girls to each team.
A small group, up to six people, of diamonds in the rough is the best for AKB right now. They had a shuffle recently with many eito kennin. The teams have already twenty and a lot members. What AKB needs is just enough to make up for graduations and quality over quantity. The last thing we want now is ten more theatre girls. Why diamonds in the rough? Think about it: the majority of the popular members we have today were girls who joined AKB very young (even in the past). Every time they tried to buy the finished product they ended up with Minagawas. How good is that? Younger girls don't have anything to hide from their past and still see being an idol as something glamorous. Spoiler Not to mention is funnier to see them doing gravure eight years later.
one of them will end up like Hasemomo, some others will realize at 15/18/20 that it's not really glamorous... meanwhile more and more of the theatre girls will have graduated... hm we better do 18th gen audition soon but at least such process would take a few years and these members wouldn't take away Nagi's jobs... ooooooh I see
I hope for a large generation. So it is really a new start. 20 girls for an own team with new stage. All the past years the teams(despite Team 8) lacked connections and bonds of all members. Sure there were strong units, ships and small groups. I don't believe this comes true bc of the last shuffle
@ColorfulMonsters48 If you want a REAL new start, you should cancel all currently active contracts. You want 20 new girls in an already overfilled group, how do you want to implement them as a new team in the group and making a "new start" without possibly creating a gap between them and the "old" members? (Btw: what would u call that team? A-K-B-4 and 8 are already used. Really curious) I feel like this could be destined to end like Keyaki and Hinatazaka.. IMO the lack of cohesion and bonds you mentioned has different reasons (tho I think there are a lot of bonds, but I can imagine what u mean): Little to no chance to create own legacies- meaning no variety, rarely a single (4 in 3 years is a joke for a group this size and standard), like 0 new stages and barely any achievements. No real challenges for the girls which would help them getting closer. Barely anything they created as OG members and makes them say ,,Yes, WE made it work and a success!" And where are their dreams? Only one I remember right now is Zukky who said she wants to go to Tokyo Dome and perform with the others.. but what about -the others? What are their goals and dreams? (I remember -I think it was Tomu?- who said [after AKB whon their first GP] that it was her generations goal to help the first gens proving they're not just "panty showing girls" by winning the big thing. But what then? I feel like way too many are too afraid to proclaim their dreams and then being laughed at, measured by- and maybe even failing them. Sadly.. (well, and then there's this stupid unnecessary thing called Covid19)
Personally I think the age limit is good, if their training is until June, there are 5 months between the audition and their debut, then probably at least 1-2 years as KKS. So even if they're taking a 12 years old (doubt they'll take more than 1-2 girls who are 12-13) they'll probably turn 14-15 by the time they're full members, which is also the age of the current youngest in AKB (15). if this was a newly debuted group then I would agree for a 14-15 minimum age but since these are girls who will have to be KKS and only get promoted later, it's not really the same. I mean even if one of them is pushed before turning 15, I think it's ok. SKE's latest center is like 12 and she did fine (and their new audition accept anyone over the age of 10) not saying that's what I want for every group but I think the minimum age limit for AKB is actually good and it's not too low, the maximum age is good too. For the amount of members in this generation, I think ideally it would be between 8 and 12. Less than 8 feels a bit too little, while more than 12 is too much, and it's not so encouraging, even for fans, to learn more than 12 names and faces at once when the group already has 80+ girls (and most fans probably don't know each member anyway). I feel like 16th gen and Draft 3rd just had too many girls (both had 19). 15th gen was good, they initially introduced 8 girls, then later 4 more, total of 12. it was easy to get to know them, and imo they were a good gen, so I wish that 17th gen can be something like 15th gen. it's also better if they add only 8-12 girls so that the group doesn't get too big... right now AKB is at 81 members (not counting the pending graduations), by June they'll be less, if they can be at around 85 members (maximum 90) with 17th gen, I think that would be good. That would make them at the same number of members as they were around mid-2021, so not a huge increase. and if they take minimum 2 years for 18th gen then the group will probably go down to under 70. and that's good for them since they wouldn't have too many members and at the same time have some fresh faces (17th gen), this makes it easier for the group to rebuild their popularity. I'm glad that the audition period is long (almost 2 months), because I want management to take their time and find the best that they can! it's really important for the group. Although I wonder how many girls are going to choose to go to AKB when there are 4 other 48G groups doing audition and also one from 46. Hopefully some good girls with potential will pick AKB... maybe the girls who were fans of AKB before or now and look up to past or current AKB members are going to choose AKB even if there are other choices that might seem better. I think AKB should try to do a lot of good activities in this month and next month (actually even after that!), so they can be more attractive for girls who would want to be idols, because the 1,5 year pre-Rumor single were bad for their image. I really hope they can find nice girls who have the looks (it's important) and some skill/personality or at least the potential to develop it. and personally, I really hope I can find an oshi in this gen because I don't have a real oshi in AKB for 2 years now ;w; I found an oshi right away in 15th gen and Draft 3 (in this case it's because I knew her before so it doesn't really count because I never really learned about D3...) but I didn't find an oshi in 16th gen back then. So I don't know... I want a new oshi +_+
I just recently learned that pretty much all 48G are recruiting right now, with similar time period. Since they are all separate companies now, is it competition? What do you guys think, is this a good thing to revitalize 48G, or will it only dilute the applicants with good potential?
As to why they do it in similar time period, i think it probably have to do with the Covid pandemic are pretty much under control in Japan right now. If what you mean by dilute is that the 'good' girls will be scattered among the groups, then IMO yes. There will be less chance a single group will get more of the 'good' girls. Though i don't think anybody can predict the actual numbers affecting each group. But i don't think it will be so big that it could halven the chance, considering each group are mostly in a different prefecture with some considerable distances separating them.
It would be extreme but I don't see the "new" old agency doing the best for getting jobs. Still how about a Sunday or Saturday Team with fresh girls on performance each? Even in Corona AkB48 could make split screen videos shared via Youtube (or any other videoproviding service). Or to follow the trend do a Tiktok team, that posts short content every hour with changing members so we can easily get used to the new girls. I think AKB48 should really invest in modern Apps. Every member is on their own(or with a smalltalk group of friends). There is a clear strategy to adress new fans and to bring some girls to the public eye. Sure there are some girls who get a decent push, but not a whole generation(when Team 8 will be gone). I prefer to have none audition, getting smaller teams with bonds and identiy (and some generations not alot) than having mixed team without any concept anymore. I hope you get what I mean. Special teams with unique concept. (Also a Team could be an international speaking team to adress Mode foreign fans, this would also work with the "digital team". Just some ideas. AKB needs to get out of the box)
Oh! Every fucking agencies dream they can find some diamond the rough but, reality is what they pick up are simply rocks and the chance to find a diamond is like 1 in a 100. This is why they will always be someone going bypass way, buying already shone diamond. At very least, you can resell the diamond but, you even can't just throw out members turning out to be just rocks and they keeps filling your warehouse. Yes. Since 48 overall is not selling that well and their markets are much overlapped, they have become cannibal, destroying each other. Why will new members reset the management? If you want modernized management, you have to go for new executives, the one who manages, not ones who are managed. All what you have suggested can be done already on existing members. I doubt most fans know more than half of all 80+ members. So, they are the other half of members which are new to these fans. App to appeal new fans? No one gonna install the app unless they are already the fan of the group. Foreign language speaking members? How many Korean fans has Siyeon attracted? What is the most popular J girl groups in recent years? Babymetal? Can any member speak fluently a foreign language? Not even 10% of K-pop idols can speak English but, they have many English speaking fans. Rather than foreign language speaking member, what really matter are - the concept/music that appeals foreign fans - the standard of performance - foreign language subtitle.
I'm afraid there are several exemples this year that counter this. Excluding NGT48 who are really selling poorly in the short run, the sales aren't bad, considering the current times. And their economy look good enough to allow to handle auditions. About supposed adversity. It looks more like each are doing their own things and take care of not overlaping each other, sort of like zaka46 are doing. This year alone, nothing came to parasite another release nor disturb an important event, and it's not like their repective management couldn't think of such possibility. *** comparisson to K-pop promotion*** Is it even her goal ? 48 groups ==> no interest in promoting oversea, so ....
@welp I don't want already fans to install any app. My point is the new audience needs to be adressed/can be adressed. Take for example TikTok. TikTok was used by almost 58 percent of people aged 13 to 19 years old in Japan as of January 2021. In case you see some girls in same age span grow, you get easilier attached to her. And maybe he/she gets to be a fan of this girl, follows her or team. And for the older generations, they can become new costumers and fans. You see all the girls doing great at Youtube after NMB48 stars like Akarin and some AKB48 stars like Nyan Nyan did well. And a lot of new people get interested in the girls and their work. Later on in the group. Some fresh wind, let's go more with the trends.
I didn't post it before, but if you go on the site about the audition, there are pictures of Miion and Erii to explain what people need to do if they want to audition, which is to take a picture with their face and another picture with the full body. There's also a note saying that they shouldn't use filters or something lol. Here are the pictures of Miion and Erii for the example ^^ Also, I've been thinking about it again, before I said that I want this gen to have between 8 and 12 girls. Now I think ideally it should be closer to 8 than 12. Maybe 8-10 is ideal. Because majority of people (even fans) might not be motivated to learn even 12 new faces... it might not seem like it but 8 does feel a lot less than 10, and 10 a lot less than 12. I think with 8-10 girls, each girl can stand out better and more girls can build a fanbase. Especially if they manage to find really good girls for this gen, and hopefully they will! For information, AKB currently has 83 members and there are now 4 pending graduations, which means the group is officially at 79 members, and under 80. 17th gen will apparently get introduced by June, so until then the number might decrease more. Just saying this, even though I do think that AKB could do with a bit less members, but as long as 17th gen is not too big, they won't make a huge difference in the amount of AKB members, the group will just go back to the number they had a few months before so yes.
TBS even running a show dedicating to tiktok singers, Dreamer Z. I tuned into the show informed LDH would recruit members for its new girl group through the show but, LDH's audition took like 30% of the whole show, the rest went to tiktok singer competition. Some competitors were 30+ and, the setting of the show seemed to be for general public with an aged male host and a young female host. Tiktok actually is also popular among elder age group, 30-40 years old. Japanese contestants on K-pop audition shows amplifies the importance of the popularity among younger age group. I'm watching the show "Who Is Princes?" from FNC and NTV. Some contestants are seriously pretty and they have devoted so much to debut in even a mid-size agency, where their commercial success will not be guaranteed. They said they started taking dance/singing class when they were in primary school, inspired by the like of Boa, KARA, BTS etc. Being popular among kids means more girls will make effort to join the group. More intensive competition means better pool of applicants. I don't have to talk about the popularity of AKB48 among primary to middle school girls, do I? Isn't 79 still way too big for the current state of AKB? I think ~50 will be the proper size.
I think around 50 members would be good, but also they need fresh faces since it's been so long so I agree with the decision to add a 17th gen. if the 17th gen is not big (what I hope...) then by June, AKB will be even less than 79, then adding the 17th gen would probably put them back at like 85? and if they don't do auditions for another 2 years (or more?), they will go down under 70 by 2023 probably. I was just looking at the AKB old gens and counted them, I would consider old gens as 1st-15th + D1 and among all these gens, there are 19 members remaining (not counting the ones who announced grad). That's a lot, and when you think that there are also new gens announcing graduation just as often as old gens... That is probably why they decided to hold a new audition, because they know and expect the decrease of members in the next months and next 2 years. About the promotions on social medias, well, I think if the new gen doesn't have their personal social medias right away, management should make the effort to create a Twitter and even TikTok for 17th gen. Other sister groups have done it, it's good promo. They can use it every day until the day they all get their own personal accounts. Something else they could do is to give them shows. it can be just internet shows, they used to have Anta Dare? for new gens, they can have this kind of shows. But please, not by remote, it looks bad... Something good is like what Annin did for her graduation announcement, simply have a room and decorate it with colorful things and separate the girls with the glass walls and make them play games etc. I don't think this is difficult to do at all. Let's just hope management will have good ideas for these girls and not let them just do Showroom and theater and nothing else for years.
I also think that about 50 girls and back to 3 teams formation would be good. So management can actually care about each girl and give them something to do than just staying at home doing Showroom. 80 is too big but since there would be 47 girls just for Team8, 50 is an impossible number unless they disband Team8.
