Another Year, Another Election Massacre

The leadership isn't really there imo. Also, what I mean by Sasshi or Yukirin is members who genuinely enjoy being idols. Women who love idol-work and enjoy being present in a lot of activities related to idol work. Yukirin and Sasshi are the exception not the rule tho. They've been here forever and still have fun imo.

Akarin did all that work herself when it came to voting and it was impressive. They do seem much more humble tbh. I rarely saw Miru being like "Vote for me I need senbatsu" lol. It was implied, but never direct.

IDK what Sayaka was planning or thinking being on the sidelines. IDK if she even has much of a choice either. But whatever it is - whether her or management or both - it's not working.

 

Yes, but she'd have to go 2 years on hiatus. One thing is for Miruki to go on hiatus and then return with some gravure and idol activities and another for Saynee to do the same. Her followers as idols might not be as pleased with her as a member of a band...

Doesn't matter, Sayanee got it because Miruki had to spend 2 years in the void and they both had the same contract as first gens. In fact, wouldn't surprise me if Jo returned because, well, it was the only reasonable thing to do...

 

What idol work does Yukirin and Sashihara do that Sayaka doesn't? Name me one thing. Sayaka has more theater appearances than Yukirin and Sashihara for sure so it can't be that. Handshakes? Sayaka has the most slots with the most sold out slots of all of them so its not that too. SNS? Sayaka posts alot. Mobame? Sayaka is pretty good about sending 3-5 a week. How about that showroom right before Senkyo that Sayaka came up with herself where she introduced all NMB members? Not idol enough? I think its a weird narrative that she's not NMB leader nor is she idol enough.

Sayaka is not quitting Showtitle so that argument is moot. Nana, Riripon, Momoka, Ripopo, Kanakichi, Ainyan, Yuipon, Megumin all didn't need to take breaks because they didn't change agencies.

 

I can't believe this thread changed its discussion from NMB's poor result to the leaked 'slave contract' one

About Sayaka, sure she cares about her kouhais but not as excessively like Sasshi with NakoMiku + you-know-whoHana, Naachan with STU, or Yuiri with 16th gen. Look when she appeared in stage or in concert, every members took selfies with her. Or when she suddenly posted photos of Yokubomono MV's BTS on her Twitter. Or when she votes to every members. But the question is did all of her fans do the same thing like her? Nah

And thats yeeeeaaaars ago. I wonder if NMB will get their own national-wide TV show again since they are under Yoshimoto. HKT already got one (after a long time), but then I remember HKT have management's favorites

Do you know Ogiyuka's story? Before last year's SSK, she was not-so popular member and wasn't under management's radar (at the time, they pushed Okappa, Rika, and Katomina). One day, she surprised everyone by beating Sasshi and Mayuyu, and later she ranked #5, thanks to her fans who have collected 50k fanclub account. Now? She got pushed by management, was center in NGT's 2nd single, entered AKB's senbatsu, even has signed with OgiPro.

Speaking about Yuuri, she blogged and said that she probably will not participate in SSK next year: https://gamp.ameblo.jp/nmb48/entry-12385128357.html
(omg ssk isn't even a week ago and two 48G members already said they will not participate in ssk anymore )

 

Makes sense if you have a Cinderella story along with finishing top 5.

On the other hand, will finishing mid 40s really raise your profile? Probably not.

And for every Ogiyuka there's a Sato Amina out there.

 

Enjoying being an idol and doing work that is part of ur contract is vastly different. Sasshi plans concerts for HKT to name one random thing she does. Remember HKT's documentary she was involved in a lot for HKT (and that's not including being involved with the members closely enough that it has some impact for management - nakomiku have been fantastic examples). Sayaka has not appointed anyone to take over NMB (Miru was not her choice and neither was Akarin; I'm sure if u asked Sayaka 2 years ago who would be in senbatsu now it would not have been Akarin that's for sure). She does whatever management tells her to do work wise (and she has a lot of work cause she's quite popular).

It's not the amount an idol does it's how they present their work. Yukirin - while has grown from AKB - still shows up to every event and she's in two groups as well as doing solo work. Sometimes it's just the small stuff that adds up. Why can't Sayaka - with her popularity - have a segment where she does shows off all the newbies in NMB? She can do it on her instagram. Large platform right. I am putting the onus on Sayaka cause she is the most well known NMB member.

 

I always thought sayanee is really care about NMB but her fans were casual fans (I don't even know if this is the right word or not, sorry). I mean, kind of fanbase who loves sayanee as celebrity. The most important thing for them is how to make her concert fully booked, solo CD get sold out. Not only sayanee herself but some of her fans is so ready for her solo career because she's really good at it. It will be different from jurina for example who clearly striving for no.1 this year, or maybe sasshi who despite have her own established solo career she's really into idol world itself. It's no sayanee false either because fans really respect her for her talent and wanting all the best for her and centering one single that you have to split singing part with 16 girls is not appealing at all IMO, will be hard to counting on sayanee's vote poll seeing this condition. Same things goes to akarin, her youtube channel, featured in instagram beauty feed like cchannel, it will be benefit herself not entire NMB. The underline of these implication is: there is nothing wrong about it in my opinion, you can be one idol to another an there is nothing wrong with that. I still think it is management responsibility on how they manage to unify the girls and present them as a group to create more hako oshis.

 

Sayaka was actively part of the auditioning committee and directly interviewing the candidates for NMB 5th gen. You can’t say she doesn’t do anything for the group.

 

Lol, its come down to this. Sayaka doesn't love NMB. Hahahahaha.

 

That wasn't implied or mentioned at all in my posts. I'm saying Sayaka doesn't enjoy being an idol and that's ok. She didn't join because she's an Otaku, she joined cause she loves music, but she got hella popular and it's been a lot of pressure so far. She's the #1 member of NMB. We had a concert that was all about Sayaka not being there cause she's just too popular in NMB. There needs to be a reform in the group. Whatever management has been doing is not working and Sayaka has been a part of this. If Milky was still here and still as popular I would be saying the same thing most likely.

While it is management's responsibility the girls themselves have to be invested too. Akarin knew she had a platform and used it to teach people how to vote. Yes, she wanted votes, but she showed everyone how to vote on her huge youtube platform...u could use that info to vote for any member. It was smart of her in the end. Plus, she's not a captain or anything (not sure if that has any meaning left in the 48-groups).

Whatever it is ya'll NMB isn't doing so hot and it's pretty clear everyone has noticed it. SSK is the biggest event and it's just sad we had 1 Team N member rank. 1 ya'll. 1. And it was Kokoro not even an NMB senbatsu staple lolol.

 

From Fuuchan groups, right? Got a tip it's what happened to Airi as well last year. Friendship vote as Fuuko doesn't participate.

Hence her venture to Produce48. Searching for another pocket of fanbase.

 

Saepii's was a combination of Fuuchan votes (and more importantly Fuuchan fans selling their votes to her committee) and the big Saepii fans moving on to other oshis. I've been in this fandom long enough to realize that idol otaku are super fickle.

More power to Uuka and I hope she finds a fanbase in Korea but Korean fans aren't going to be driven en masse to spend tons of money on Japanese idols.

 

Yeah it was already mentioned by someone else, but the 2-year bond is only applicable for the members who leave Yoshimoto altogether. And if Sayaka decides to graduate now, chances are high that Yoshimoto will do everything to keep her, and she'll just transition from idol to artist with them, hence the clause isn't even applicable to her. And that's why it wouldn't serve as a reason. Milky's case is completely different cause she decided to end her contract with Yoshimoto permanently and do her work with another company/agency.

Look first of all, what made you even decide that there's a FIXED FORMULA to what an idol is? Why must they fit a certain mold based on your fancy and liking? If they all did, Akarin wouldn't be allowed to have her Youtube channel, and she wouldn't have been able to garner all that popularity to even rank in SSK in the first place. I don't understand even what you mean by being 100% idol. Why are you deciding what constitutes an idol? What makes you think Sayaka is only doing all her work out of obligation? And seriously, has it ever occurred to you that one of the reason she stepped back from SSK was so that she could let the other NMB members shine? Mind you, before she stepped back, she was the only NMB member in AKB senbatsu too. How was that doing NMB any good really even? So what if she ranked high? Apart from salvaging some of NMB's pride, it's not like Sayaka's rank in SSK ever gave NMB or their other members more work.

Also, stop bringing up the no-Sayaka concerts so many times. They only ever did that twice anyway. Once in 2016, and another time in 2017. Yes, it's true the first time they didn't sell out but that was more because of bad timing for scheduling a big-scale concert on a weekday rather than a weekend. In 2017 however, they went for it again and scheduled it on a better date, and managed to sell out in the end. Oh btw during that period of time, NMB had many, many concerts ranging from concert tours across Japan, the Asia tour last year, and also the graduation concerts last year. It's not like Sayaka is absent from EVERY OTHER CONCERT like what you make her sound to be. Oh in fact, she was pretty much PRESENT in all of those. She is more or less ALWAYS THERE.

Why exactly do you still want her to run? If you want her to like "lead by example", she's been ranking in SSK ever since the 1st time she joined from 2011 to 2016. The first two times she was in UG, but the next four times she has always been in senbatsu. She more or less has done her time. Also, there's also question on how much SSK actually does for the NMB members. Let's use Milky as an example. She dropped out of AKB senbatsu in 2014 yes, but when she finally made it back in 2015, she was in senbatsu for that one single, but for the single after that, they completely dropped her out again. For the other NMB girls and even fans, for them to see one of their top members treated like that, would you even blame them for their lack of motivation in SSK?

Again, it pisses me off you're just going around saying stuff about Sayaka not enjoying being an idol, not caring for NMB and all that kind of nonsense. You know what, here's what you should do. I don't care how, but the next time NMB go on tour, please get yourself a concert ticket to see them. That or if you're lucky enough to win a theatre show Sayaka's in (though you said she's barely around, she actually appears quite a lot for theatre even more so than Sasshi and Yukirin wow surprise). After you've gone and actually WATCHED HER PERFORM, let me know again what you think. In fact, if you can't do that, just watch the next concert stream or theatre stream. Sayaka's appearing in one very soon in fact.

She may not have been an idol fan upon joining and had other goals/dreams in mind. But so what?! That's pretty much half of the 48girls who join not with intentions to be an idol, but to pursue other goals such as with Oshima Yuko and Matsui Rena with acting. None of that invalidates them or Sayaka as an idol now?? 48 is meant to be a platform for them anyway, not an end goal. Yes, sure maybe management has not been making the best choices, but putting this down on Sayaka's lack of enthusiasm or passion as an idol is just dumb.

Also, I said it before too, and you should really read her book Subete no Riyuu to find out more, but she thinks there is meaning for her to be both an idol and an artist at the same time. It shows the members what could be possible for them that they don't have to stick to just one framework of "idol" and pursue their passions while in the group. Akarin has done so with Youtube; another member Konomin has been actively helping NMB choreograph their dances; Yukitsun has been helping the group take official photos during concerts; even Momoka while she was still with NMB was helping to produce concerts.

Yes, SSK may be "the biggest event of the year" in the 48calendar, but as I mentioned before, it shouldn't be the only thing that defines the group. Just because they're not doing things the way you want them to, it doesn't mean they're doing horribly for themselves. Everyone is talking about how NMB is dwindling but let's be real. At the moment, it's not just NMB, but the entire 48G that's dwindling especially compared to 46G. You keep going on about Sakura and HKT, and Jurina and SKE, but their own group single sales both this year and last year have been pretty horrible too. You see, sales have been dropping for a loooong time now. Honestly speaking, how well NMB does in SSK isn't gonna do them any favours for their overall survival as a group. Sure, if they did well, they may be acknowledged by other 48fans, but all of that is pointless if they don't have anymore mainstream appeal individually as a group. They might as well go into isolation and become some indie idol group instead.

Also, when you talk about reforms and what not, how is sending Sayaka back onto stage for SSK a reform?? Rather it sounds like a step back? If she had to come back and idk "settle things", wouldn't that just make the whole dependence issue they have on her as you keep pointing out even worse? I really don't get how you keep contradicting yourself tbh.

 

NMB as a group is doing fine. I already said this isn't doom and gloom for the group, just for the SSK. If you want proof, go to a handshake in Osaka. Or try to get tickets to a concert when they're on tour, which is way more often than the other groups.

Also I don't know why shots fired at Kokochan? The other two senbatsu regulars in Team N are Airi and Aayan. Fine, Airi is weak, but Aayan is still developing and except for her looks she has yet to find something to grasp to accelerate her rise.

We all know showbiz is fickle and stars can rise and fall in a moment. I'm sure Takeuchi Miyu is enjoying a huge rise in popularity because she came out with guns blazing in the first episode, let's hope Uuka can find some star power as well. Japanese fans might find something to like about their girl on a foreign show anyhow...

 

Actually it's more like "for every Sato Amina there's Ogiyuka out there". There're a lot of Amina 2.0 *cough*Tomu*cough*Hinatan*cough*Sally*cough*Nao*cough* but for Ogiyuka's case she entered management-selected senbatsu because she even beaten the defending champion and runner up. I mean.. if she didn't beat everyone in preliminary but managed to enter senbatsu in SSK, she would be another Amina 2.0 tho.

There're 4 Uuka's korean fanbase so far, but all of them are not bigger like popular member one. Also, I doubt Korean fans will pay shipping cost for thousands of CDs (Korean fanboys are not crazier as fangirls th.)
Since NMB's first evaluation is supposed to be aired tomorrow, I hope they get attention from viewers and their rank will be increased like Miyu or Noepii. Maybe Uuka will do freestyle dance with Warota People costume



edited: nmb, despite of the departure of few of aces, is better than other groups. but the problem is the fans, although there's cheaper voting method, have the least interest with SSK

 

All the STU48 girls participated last year and this one.

Yoshimoto isn't the first agency that comes to your mind when you think about music artists. It's a tight situation, she can go on hiatus for a couple of years and then try to sign up with Sony or similar, or stay in an Osaka-, comedian-based agency. Of course, 2 years is a pretty long time and other agencies might no longer be interested in her after then. However if a big company or agency was really interested in her they could pay to free her... but it's hard to measure her popularity when the only public statistics available are the Elections and she doesn't participate...

 

They’re referring to Yagura Fuuko (Fuuchan).

Um, she released two albums that got 3rd and 2nd on the Oricon Rankings. Take that as you will as a measure of her popularity.

 

Even if it isn't, that doesn't mean it's a bad option for her to stay on. Her albums as pointed out sold well. Both got a total reported sales of about 40-50k and mind you this was with very limited incentives such as not including handshake events like the 48singles do. Also consider that she released this albums back to back 2 years in a row, and still managed to sell consistently. Yoshimoto generally has been pretty good to her imo. She's been getting a lot of opportunities even in her solo work such as appearing in rock festivals, music shows, magazines etc.

Anyway, whatever it is, we can only speculate how things really are for Sayaka - whether she wants to stay on with the company or not, but if she can continue her career smoothly and still get the type of opportunities other artists get from their agencies/companies apart from Yoshimoto, I don't see why not. That's why I don't think that's something that would prevent her from graduating now even. It's just very more likely the sense of responsibility she has towards NMB, and finding the best timing for her to let go of the group.

Also, are you forgetting how in Kouhaku Uta Gassen, when it was open to the public to vote through their devices like their TVs, computers and phones for the center of the performance, Sayaka ranked #1 in 2016 Kouhaku even above Sasshi and Mayu? Or in 2017, when people could vote for their favourite AKB song, and Sayaka's 365Nichi was voted #2 in front of Jurina's Oogoe Diamond? #1 was 11Gatsu no Anklet, but Mayu was graduating, so it was being power voted.

Do none of this count as public statistics? Like seriously people need to stop using the elections as the ONLY means of gauging popularity in 48.

Also on a separate rant:

Spoiler

I don't know why some of you are making it sound so easy like "Oh, since she's doing so well solo, why doesn't she just leave? What is she even still doing in NMB?" Just like how it was so difficult for Takamina to leave AKB as a 1st gen member and also their captain/leader since the beginning, Sayaka shares the same sentiments too. On top of that, she has also played the role as both their center and ace. She's been entrusted with so many responsibilities; it's not like she can leave on a whim anyway.

I'm sorry to break it out to everyone, but I am certain Sayaka cares more about the future of NMB and their members more than anyone here in the forum. And as her longtime fan, even if I think it'll be great for her to graduate and seriously pursue her own goals full time, I trust that she will do what she thinks best for both NMB and herself. I don't have any doubt of her love, passion and commitment she possesses towards NMB. All you need to do to know that is follow her on all her social media, read her mobame and interviews, watch her on shows with NMB etc.

 

shots were not being done at Kokoro...it's just interesting that the only Team N member who ranked was Kokoro. That's something that should looked into since she doesn't get too much attention. Out of the senbatsu girls in NMB Kokoro ranked so I hope she gets more spotlight. my wording wasn't the best, but when she was called I was shocked lol.




Also, I have no desire to prove anything about Sayaka. This is just how I feel as an NMB fan. Naturally I expected people to disagree and that's ok. My opinion doesn't matter in the end. It doesn't matter that I don't have the privilege or money to attend idol stuff; believe me I wish I could, but I'm struggling enough to eat ya'll lol. As I've said of course Sayaka cares for NMB and I didn't ask her to join SSK again. It's not a requirement at all. She's doing great and wish her all the best as I am a fan of her too. This post is about SSK and how NMB doesn't do well. It's clear.

Edit: also, if that wasn't clear, Sayaka is still an NMB member lol.

 

^Ehhh.. Kokoro as pretty much guaranteed to rank this year.. how was it a shock? She's been on the rise for a while now and her fans a are dedicated.

I'm not a fan of the comments on Sayanee's leadership skills. My personal opinion on her leadership is that she prefers to stand back and let the NMB girls shine on their own, but she still has moments (many of them) where she promotes the members. You probably don't know that she does this because either you don't follow her enough, or you don't care. Sayanee promotes NMB just as much as Yukirin does AKB. You don't need to attend a concert to figure out that much.

You don't need to explain who those girls are to me, I already know who they are. My point still stands; NMB members who have been a senbatsu lock longer than those KKS members have been part of 48G, either ranked down or didn't rank, while KKS, girls who have barely been promoted and have a single to their name, were able to rank to rank in/higher. It doesn't mean NMB girls suck or STU/NGT girls are better, it just means NMB fans don't vote like the other groups do, and this thread, is us trying to figure out why.

As people have already mentioned. NMB are popular. Whenever there is an idol ranking, NMB girls regularly rank higher than their sister group members. Their songs are a lot more popular with the general public than the other sister groups. People know Miru, Yuuri, Nagisa, and Akarin just as much as they do Sakura, Nako, Miku, Jurina, Nao etc etc. There is nothing that the sister groups have or do, that NMB don't. The only thing that separates them is that for some reason, fans don't spend money on SSK. It's not because sayanee doesn't promote the group enough, or the girls just aren't that great, or management doesn't handle the group well. It's us. We don't vote, and if we do we don't vote enough. We don't try as hard as the other SG fans and it's obvious when you compare SKE or HKT's election campaigns to NMB's non-existent ones. The NMB community imo is the closest one out of all sister groups, both in JP and internationally, but we're super disorganized when it comes to SSK for a lot of reasons that get mentioned here every single year. And the girls feel it too. Some of them might not care about the election and that's fine, but others might really care, but because they don't want to burden their fans with an insane goal like "i want to reach senbatsu/undergirls etc" they keep quiet. Miru barely mentioned the elections this year, but we knew she wanted to rank in the top 10 or even kami 7, and we failed her. Her tears were enough to make me want give her more votes next year.

There is no right or wrong answer to "why don't NMB do well in SSK?". As much as we bounce back and fourth on this topic, it's not going to improve the situation if we just log off and forget about it the next day. Maybe some fans who live in Japan can give us a run down of how the situation looks there in terms of fans sentiments to voting? I can't see this being anything more than a fan problem. If we can get something going that both international and JP fans can take part in, we could be celebrating this time next year.