Boku ga Mitakatta Aozora/僕が見たかった青空

I only heard of this group some weeks ago thanks to a YouTube recommendation video on ali-p produced groups. And I only learned today that they're meant to be nogi's official rival.

Hmmm..

If they are the rival of nogi, and nogi is supposed to be akb's rival, as an akb fan, I feel inclined to support Bokuao ^_^"

 

I'm not sure either unfortunately We had begun working together on video content subs, but I think perhaps they may have gotten busy? I see their blog hasn't been updated since August 2nd either. I don't want to assume or speak on their behalf though.

In the meantime, I will share the text translation I prepared for the Warm Fall Tones and Cool Winter Tones member documentary:


if the video does not show watch the video here

Yanagihori Karen
0:40: Ponytail (laughs)
0:43 Ponytail
0:44 Bob
0:45 Long
0:47: What? What?
0:49: I’m Yanagihori Karen
0:50 My strong point is that I’m fairly optimistic
0:54 My weak point
0:55 Is that I’m not always disciplined with myself
0:58 Your short sleeved shirt, that pure-whiteness
1:03 I think that’s the stubbornness of youth
1:10 Well, what did you want
1:12 When you decided to participate in these activities?
1:14 ~“A voice that can inspire and move people”~
1:16 Is something I want all of you to search for within yourselves
1:19 The only one who can break down your own personal walls is you
1:21 As your teacher all I can give you are chances to do that
1:23 And I’m saying this is a professional filming right now
1:28 I want you to use your own power to come out of your shells
1:30 When Teacher said to come out of our shells
1:34 Everyone agreed
1:35 To use loud voices and try our best
1:39 That moment was really fun
1:41 In the sunlight you waved exaggeratedly at me
1:47 Your short sleeved shirt, that pure-whiteness
1:53 I think that’s the stubbornness of youth
2:00 I don’t know if I have the self-awareness of a professional
2:03 But I feel like I’ve slowly started to understand
2:06 A lot of the things the teachers have been saying
2:09 Sort of…
2:11 Maybe just a little bit
2:13 I’m understanding
2:18 My solo part…
2:19 Honestly
2:20 Sometimes I feel really worried that
2:24 I’m holding back the other members
2:26 Next to me is our center Toa-chan
2:28 And on my mirrored side is Suzuki
2:30 They both memorize really quickly
2:34 And they’re really good at dancing
2:36 So there were times when I felt frustrated
2:39 And there still are
2:42 But
2:43 All the practice I’ve done up until now
2:47 And
2:49 The way all the members teach each other
2:50 Have become my source of encouragement
2:52 From now on
2:53 Until our debut
2:55 I want to continue polishing myself


Yaegashi Miisa
3:23 I’m Yaegashi Miisa
3:25 My strong point is that
3:27 I can become friends with people once I become familiar with them
3:30 My weak point is that
3:32 I kind of go at my own pace too much
3:34 I don’t hear the potential in your voices right now
3:36 They’re still a bit unemotional
3:38 I want to hear more of an
3:40 “AAH!” from all of you
3:42 If rather than “pretty”
3:44 You could sing in a voice that inspires and moves others
3:47 Many people will listen to that
3:50 I’d become a boring person
3:53 What did you feel when you looked at me?
3:59 I heard your power pretty well just now
4:01 That was pretty good wasn’t it?
4:02 Now that I’m doing the things
4:05 That until now I’ve only ever watched idols do
4:08 I keep thinking it feels really strange
4:12 Have you danced for a long time?
4:14 This is my first time
4:16 There are so many things that are a first time for me
4:18 And there are so many things I don’t know
4:20 But every day I do these activities and think ‘This is so fun’
4:24 Let’s try it again
4:35 I’m going to get hurled away
4:40 And she laughs so easily [Note: I’m really unsure of this part! Her gesture towards Yua makes me think she’s talking about Yua. But instead she actually might be saying that she wants to throw herself away because she keeps laughing in nervousness during the choreo?]
4:43 I’m so embarrassed that I keep grinning
4:46 Don’t I?
4:47 And you always look serious
4:49: I do not!


Kudo Yua
4:55 I’m Kudo Yua from Hokkaido
4:58 I go at my own pace
5:02 Desperate
5:03 I’m desperate for some chocolate
5:04 I’d like some tomatoes too
5:05 I also like tomatoes
5:06 I also like strawberries
5:08 Yeah, strawberries are good too
5:10 My skill is
5:12 Whistling?
5:17 My weak point is that
5:19 I move slowly when it’s time to get ready
5:21 Like, the way I go at my own pace
5:24 My strong point is that
5:27 I’m good at being aware what’s going on around me
5:31 I'm in second!
5:35 When you sing this
5:37 Are your feelings coming across?
5:39 To be able to sing with a feeling of “Understand my message!”
5:42 First and foremost means being expressive
6:04 “I had become a boring person, how did you feel when you looked at me?” [Note: the teacher shortened these two lines, literally she said “How did you feel looking at a boring person?”]
6:09 I’ll tell you honestly, this is a really important line
6:13 We practiced singing a lot
6:16 So that we could put strength into the right lyrics
6:19 Cute! Cute!
6:21 So cute so cute!!
6:23 Why are you getting embarrassed?
6:24 Because, being between two second year middle schoolers is kind of…
6:30 I don’t know
6:34 We’ve got time
6:35 Everyone’s probably waiting for me!
6:39 We’re sisters


Imai Yuki
6:40 They’re really so cute
6:43 I’ve made them my little sisters now
6:45 I’m Imai Yuki
6:46 I’m from Aichi Prefecture
6:48 I practiced classical ballet for 9 years
6:54 That day, wearing a suit I hated
6:59 And with a mediocre haircut
7:02 I feel like
7:03 It needs to have more confidence in it
7:06 Your pitch and notes are all perfect and cute but
7:08 Your voice
7:25 Try and sing like that
7:26 It’s fine
7:27 No one else is listening
7:31 More, more
7:36 I thought I was singing too depressingly
7:39 Especially because these lyrics are so bright
7:41 To make everyone smile
7:44 While being mindful of my expressions
7:45 That’s how I practiced singing
8:04 Ok
8:06 What do you think?
8:08 It’s better
8:10 Until recently I couldn’t really
8:12 I couldn’t really believe it
8:13 To be honest
8:14 But
8:16 Then I started to really feel like I was an idol
8:18 And so I’ll do my best
8:20 In order to level up my dancing and singing



Miyakoshi Yuria
8:23 I’m Miyakoshi Yuria from Fukui Prefecture
8:25 I’m an easygoing person
8:27 I’m passionate about–
8:28 Well, I say this every time, but–
8:29 I’m passionate about exceeding who I was yesterday
8:32 I even said it during my audition
8:35 I’ll keep on saying it
8:45 Well
8:47 This is bad
8:48 I…
8:50 I need to catch up
8:52 It’s hard
8:54 I’ll do my best
8:56 I’m often told I don’t have enough confidence in myself
9:00 Like, “Be confident! You can do it!”
9:03 But it’s like, I really don’t have confidence
9:17 I was so nervous!
9:19 You have a cute voice
9:21 I’m so jealous you can sound like that
9:23 And you have a cute face too
9:26 You really have a cute face
9:28 What about a singing evaluation?
9:30 Of course your face is cute
9:32 Your voice is cute
9:33 You’re cute, so have more confidence
9:35 And you’re not that far off in pitch
9:37 I think it’d be really good if you let out your cute voice even more
9:40 I’ll do my best
9:50 I believe it was at that training camp
9:54 That I was able to gain more confidence in myself
9:57 Rather than the person I was yesterday,
9:59 I’ll keep aiming for the me of tomorrow


Kinoshita Ai
10:05 I’m Kinoshita Ai
10:07 I don’t really have any special skills
10:09 But I can eat a lot of strawberries at once
10:13 My personality is
10:14 Someone who can be friends with everyone
10:16 I’m really bad at dancing but
10:18 The girls all taught me a lot of things
10:21 And I got better
10:23 I understood how important it is to do things with the members
10:27 What do you think a “Boring person” is?
10:30 A person who has a dream but doesn’t chase it
10:33 Very nice
10:34 I want you to sing this song in such a way
10:38 That it sticks in people’s minds as, “Whoa! This group’s song is really good!”
10:57 I was surprised at how hard it was
11:00 But the members all taught me things
11:02 And now I feel like I can kind of do it
11:04 Well, until the end of today’s lesson
11:07 I want to do everything perfectly


Hagiwara Kokoka
11:15 I’m Hagiwara Kokoka from Shizuoka Prefecture
11:19 I like chicken meat
11:23 People often tell me “I have no idea what you’re thinking”
11:30 Too close
11:36 Let’s do it until that point one more time
11:45 Nice and easy, Look There, This
11:48 Let’s try to do it perfectly up until here
11:50 This is seriously bad
11:52 I remember the choreography
11:54 But I can’t move my body
11:58 I had a lot of anxieties at the beginning
12:00 But it was fun
12:02 Like when we taught each other the dance
12:05 And when I was able to do parts I couldn’t do before
12:08 That was fun
12:11 I want us to be a group that everyone will love
12:15 We’ve all talked to each other about it
12:19 But we’re all friends
12:23 And we said to each other
12:26 “Let’s always get along”
12:28 I think with that goodness
12:30 I want us to be a group that everyone will love
12:33 I’ll work even harder
12:35 Tomorrow

 

If u want I can make a subtitle file for you

 

Oh wow, if you'd like to do that, that would be great! I think a hard sub could be a great resource for everybody!

 

TV show is incoming
"BokuAo kikaku" (僕青企画) - tentative title
"Tobanakatta kami hikouki" (飛ばなかった紙飛行機)

Every thursday 24h25 ~ 24h55 on Fuji TV, starting on 10/17
the MC are "Chocolate Planet"
https://twitter.com/BOKUAOofficial/status/1694748233464271220
https://twitter.com/ANN_Xross/status/1694748273570189766
https://natalie.mu/music/news/538393
https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2292286/full/

 

They apointed Shiogama Nana as group leader

https://twitter.com/BOKUAOofficial/status/1694738870079017410
https://bokuao.com/news/detail/240

 

A snippet of one of the coupling songs got released
title is: Tobanakatta Kamihikouki

 

Congratulations Gamachan!!! I think she will be a great leader. Her sunny presence will leave a good impression on people, and we know she is very responsible since she had a job working at a gasoline station and went to college in the past!

Tobanakatta Kamihikouki sounds GREAT! Looking forward to all coupling songs!

Someone on Twitter spotted Eren, Rian, and another member visiting a shrine today with a camera crew. I wonder if they're filming some sort of hit campaign!

 

Yagi Toa photoshoot making video for 'B.L.T. Summer Candy 2023':


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Wow, this short video demonstrated so succesfully that Toa-chan is still a kid! Such a wonderful kid, though!

 

There's something on this day of CD debut.
Part 1, 16h00 JST on toutube

if the video does not show watch the video here

Part 2, 18h30 JST on TikTok
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSLacrbqn/

https://avexnet.jp/news/detail.php?id=1014201

 

Any predictings for their debut sales?
Just looked at Blueberry Soda and they had only one single so far with 2k sales.

 

Toa-chan again, this time an interview with 'The Television':


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Aozora ni tsuite kangaeru is now officially out on streaming services
https://bokuao.lnk.to/ATK_CD <-- click here and select a streaming service of your choice.

-
I have been quite buisy these days so making a sub file for the 3rd doc might take some more time.

 

Aozora ni tsuite kangaeru started charting with 17,098 sales
https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/d/2023-08-29/

 

With my very best wishes: God speed "Aozora ni tsuite kangaeru" and Bokuao... Reach the sky!

 

I love Tobanakatta Kamihikouki the most out of all songs, could have been the A-side, even though I love the title track too.

The sales are... lower than I expected, but it's their debut single as a new group as a new franchise, so I hope the sales will go up in next singles.

 

You forgot that this was the single with the "Nogizaka's rival" hype. The effect of that gimmick will wear off next single. Next single, they will be just another Aki-P group.

 

Oof, these sales are rough. I've see Japanese fans on Twitter speculate that some handshake CDs might not have shipped out yet, while others are saying that avex simply hasn't promoted the group's music well enough. I do agree about poor music promotion, specifically. Getting spots at Odaiba Summer Splash and TIF were big steps for a pre-debut group, but they didn't do any public fan events. None of the songs besides Aozora ni Tsuite Kangaeru were performed live. SKE did a "live public practice" leading up to their new stages this year, and I think Bokuao could have easily done a public showcase somewhere too.

The benefits for a full showcase would have been significant. Unlike summer idol festivals where fans of all sorts of groups might check out the BokuAo performance on a whim, this would be a dedicated BokuAo event for fans to connect at. All 5 songs would be performed, meaning that people would take notice of members they hadn't paid attention to before because their oshimen would not appear in all 5 songs. They could do it like Nogizaka omitatekai style, or simply have MC talks.

BokuAo has gotten a lot of great publicity in magazines and the 7-Eleven promotion campaign. But that won't always correspond to CD sales if the public doesn't also see them perform their songs. Starting their variety show sooner would have helped as well.


I saw several Japanese fans say "Nogizaka handed out tissues to promote Guru Guru Curtain. BokuAo is their rival, but they didn't do anything like that." and man... That really sums it up. These low sales aren't the members' fault at all, they've all done a good job with their promotion. But if management really wanted to follow the Nogizaka rival idea, they could have had the members doing more to seem like underdogs, seem scrappy, have them perform and put their blood sweat and tears out there... If it's only magazines and ad campaigns, the members risk seeming too "polished" (even though they're obviously fresh and nervous).

I hope the sales numbers come in strong tomorrow and throughout the week. This is just the beginning! BokuAo fight!!


With all that out of the way, I've listened to the full album, and the songs are all nice! I liked them all.
Seifuku no Parachute: This song is lovely in concept. It has a mellow but uptempo beat and nice lyrics. A few of the members (Eren...) really need to work on their singing though.

Omoide Shirikiretonbo: I like this one! It's a bit slower, but nice to listen to. However... again a few of the girls in here are particularly weak singers... I think it was Riko who came in with the really deep voice, and I don't think placing that right after a soft high voice (Ami?) was a good idea for either of them.

Suki ni Narinasai: FUN! Finally a fast and idolish song. This is my favorite for sure. The members in this song are the "third tier" of popularity, except Aya (who I feel management didn't expect would be so popular). I think this is actually a good thing. Aya fans will want to see this one performed, and it will in turn become good promotion for the other members like Ai, Yuho, and Hitomi who don't get a lot of media focus!

Tobanakatta Kamihikouki: We heard the leak of this already, but I think this has a nice atmosphere. The instrumental is very nice, and there's a good build up to the chorus.

The members also did a livestream yesterday where they performed Aozora ni Tsuite Kangaeru in choir style! Suzuki played piano!!

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

If you should use the rival word for publicity both groups would interact in songs and activities. But since it's Avex this was a failure before they had debuted. SME and Avex don't get along.

SME's subsidiary signed AKB until the group switched to Kodansha's King Records in 2009. Two years later SME and Akimoto announce a rival group. Akimoto used Aitakatta for promotion to remake the song for the rival group. 46 for less members than 48 was a genius move. It made it easier to remember the group. But the activities had a key role for success. If BokuAo keeps getting locked out from Nogizaka it's going be just another Aki-P group like Last Idol.

If we also take into account what new J-pop idols face on the market is the momentum of female K-pop idols. They are better at singing and dancing. This appeals more to the female audience despite the feminine stereotypes whereas Keyakizaka was more masculine. Aespa, IVE and Le Sserafim are the latest additions to fret J-pop idol.

Soon Akimoto's latest metaverse group will debut so BokuAo will be almost forgotten. They debuted in the worst possible time. Many groups have been on downspiral when K-pop has been on the rise. Welcome to new age. Streaming era.

Avex has struggled with idols before. They didn't plan BiSH well either. SME has long history with idols way back to the 70's Showa era when idols were solo and singers. SME has foundation with management expertise they have built from the 70's and know how to work with idols and raise them. But AKB was only signed to their label when AKS was the management company.

Avex will have a big uphill with BokuAo and it's not as easy as it was for 10 years ago. New K-pop groups are also called icons and stars by largest fashion media before they even have debuted in Japan. When likes of Hirate didn't had momentum in that spot until 3 years after Keyakizaka's single debut. Front cover of Nylon and just a interview in Vogue Japan meanwhile IVE's Rei got a front cover of Vogue Japan before they even had debuted in Japan and was invited to NHK's kouhaku and took Sakurazaka's place that year. General public notice you more and easier access to streaming hits.

The fret from K-pop and the trend of Japanese talent join K-pop groups is more of a dilemma for BokuAo then try to surpass Nogizaka at this point. Biggest winners are now K-pop managements and BokuAo suffers as the new group on the market. They are unfortunately another victim of Aki-P's experiments.