[DISCUSSION] This is wrong! Fix it!!

As much as AKB48 is wildly popular nowadays, not everyone can be happy.

Personally I've been seeing a lot of issues with how AKB has been managed since they hit their popularity boom. I know that I'm pretty much the only person who has some of my own opinions, but I know that there are plenty of people who feel the same as I do about other things.

So basically, everyone, post what you would fix about the 48 Project.


Note: This is NOT a 'rant thread.' If I see THERE'S TOO MUCH ACCHAN AND YUKO AND MAYU EVERYWHERE then obviously you're not getting the point. Post what irks you about AKB and how you would fix it, and then see where the conversation turns from there.

Also, if this is too similar to the rant thread or mods don't think it should exist, then go ahead and fix it.

 

DUMP THE BOTTOM 23 ON MY RANKING AND PROMOTE ALL THE KENKYUUSEI jk

I've found myself growing more and more displeased with AKB as time passes. It really sucks, since AKB is pretty much my entire life. Their management style recently has just been really frustrating for me I guess, but I understand why. They're appealing to the masses, which outweigh the percentage of hardcore wota in the fandom. Furthermore, wota buy everything. if you're going to try to maintain fans, I guess you'd go for the people you DON'T know will support no matter what.

First of all, I don't like this cookie cutter song bullshit. I hope it stops selling soon so they'll decide to do something different (or at least, I hope they'd be that quick). Everyday, Kachuusha is a laugh but I... don't like it aside from how lulzy it is. I know people DO like it, but... idk.
(Actually, I'm kind of just not fond of what they've become after their label switch at all. Having been a fan since 2007, I liked their older sound better. Oh well. )
I don't expect them to change right now since it's working, but once they go into a decline, I hope they try different things.

Second of all, senbatsu.
Shuffle it up again. I'm sick of seeing the same girls. You can say Kachuusha is moving away from it, but they're just adding a lot more, and I'm sure it'll go back to 16 for the 23rd single. It might not be fair for the lower senbatsu girls, but I mean... I DON'T KNOW. I FEEL SUFFOCATED BY HOW LITTLE VARIATION THERE IS, EVEN THOUGH THERE'S A DECENT AMOUNT.
Also, SKE. I don't think W Matsui will ever get out, they're pretty much permanent (or at least Jurina is). I can stand them, but I'm REALLY SICK of the fact that they keep bringing in more and more girls. And then they make them the centres of UG and the other ~20 girls in the song stop existing. I know SKE complaints are boring by now, but I can't stand THIS aspect at all and I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Not to mention now they're bringing in NMB too. Poor AKB girls :/ Obviously you can't just PULL ALL THE NON-AKB GIRLS OUT, that would shake the fandom too much and sales would drop rapidly. I get that. But like, limit it. I'd be okay if 1 or 2 Matsuis were in senbatsu, along with Yamamoto in either senbatsu or UG. I think that'd be good, personally. And I actually really really like NMB... I just don't like the mixing of groups.

Thirdly, those ~other girls~.
Poor undergirls. Like I just mentioned, they kind of stop existing in favor of SKE or girls like Yui or Aamin who management are like HEY GUYS HAVE YOU MET THIS GIRL BECAUSE NOW SHE IS ALL YOU WILL EVER SEE about. Then there's DIVA, which I guess doesn't exist anymore. Hito no Chikara hints at the fact that now there will be ONE GROUP for the entire rest of the group. What? I guess management decided that since mainstream fans only see senbatsu, the rest of the girls actually don't matter. I'd like to see a more shuffled group of two girls. Kind of like DIVA vs Undergirls, but actually more even and... not have 90% of one group not get to sing. >_> I don't think it'd be that hard for them to do. It's not like I'm asking them to pull a Chance no Junban for EVERY SINGLE RELEASE, I just think that it wouldn't hurt them to make the b-sides less obvious that they're shoving most of the group to the back.

Another thing is that Ota Pro pisses me off.
When I was newer to the fandom (I LIKE TO THINK OF MYSELF AS AN OLD FAN NOW UFUFU~), I loved Sasshi. She was in my top 10. And you guys might know that Yui was almost one of my oshis. But now I get really pissy every time I see them. Ota Pro need to lay the fuck off. Seriously. I'm so fucking sick of these two girls, nothing against either of them personally. I wouldn't say I dislike or even don't like both of them, I just see too much of them. You could argue that you can see a lot of the top senbatsu too, but they've been around for forever. Sasshi was a failed senbatsu, but then they were like LOL SHE GOT 2.5 SECONDS and suddenly everybody cared and I could never escape her. Yui just kind of appeared after cutting off her beautiful gorgeous hair WHY IS HER TIMING SO BAD. Suddenly I'm like, oh hi I GUESS YOU'RE HERE NOW. OKAY? I guess it's working for THEM, but I'd rather they just kind of... stop pushing those two so hard. I guess that's too much to ask, but really. If I were in charge I'd be like "Hey... Ota? Maybe uh. Maybe could you just calm down on the pushing a bit? It's getting kind of intense in here." or something.

For SKE, I'd absolutely make it more even. I'm not the biggest W Matsui fan, personally, and the fact that SKE is only those 2 pisses me the shit off. I'm getting over my initial grudge towards Jurina, so I mean I don't hate her. I also quite like Rena. The thing I hate is... W Matsui. The combination of the two doesn't appeal to me, and turns me off like Yui and Sasshi do because JESUS CHRIST I CAN'T EVER ESCAPE. They absolutely DOMINATE SKE, and I hate it. I was a KII fan at one point, but I can't bring myself to care anymore because apparently they don't exist. I don't have anything against SKE as a group, really, but their management style (AKA our group is actually called W Matsui and Co.) irks me and I'd love to see it be more fair. There's also that (from what I've seen) besides W Matsui, S is the only team that matters. Kind of like how A was the only team that mattered, and as a B fan I wanted to kill myself all the time. So yeah. Even it out.

Something that can't be helped right now would be graduations. AKB's supposed to be help for girls to reach their dreams, and I think Togasaki said fairly recently that some girls have been staying for too long. As soon as their popularity starts declining, I think they'll move towards graduating some of the bigger names like Tomochin and Mariko since they have successful showbiz careers outside of AKB. Until then, I can see lower senbatsu girls like Kasai or UG/TGs leaving because of how unbalanced the group is right now.
And when graduations happen, I REALLY hope that they'll promote 9th gen or Nakamatta. I think I'll kill myself if Lemon or any other kenkyuusei (though I can't see any other girl getting promoted at this rate) get promoted first. Those 9 are in line. Like, it was the STUPIDEST IDEA EVER to promote them without teams because now it's just a muddled mess and I'm mad since they're my priority and so I think about it a lot and then am confused a lot. It sucks. I guess they were just being nice to 9th gen, but it was a bad move and I'm mad at them for not thinking it through >_____> That can't be fixed at this point, but I hope they don't promote a girl to limbo again. What a stupid idea. Basically I'm saying... not that I WANT girls to graduate, but just that those 9 are absolutely going to be first in line and that this mess won't happen again.

Finally, the last thing I could think of is AKI-P FOR GOD'S SAKE DEAL WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.
I'm aware that right now is the best time to make more groups, but as long as he's so insistent to write all of their lyrics, this is a terrible idea. KII3 is apparently never going to happen, but LOL DON'T WORRY WE'VE GOT HKT ON THE WAY. Not to mention B5 has like 5 million performances, S3's ancient, E will need an original stage eventually, N is moving onto their second stage, and NMB will eventually have 2 more teams... Either he should start getting other people to help or just calm the fuck down for a bit. It's painful. Then there's the fact that he's like WE NEED ONE MILLION KENKYUUSEI. WAIT NO. MAKE IT TWO MILLION. For God's sake, there's already 23 and they're generally pretty amazing. Believe it or not, we don't need more girls, especially when nobody's graduating and NINE girls are lined up for promotion.

So basically, that whole thing can be summed up as (this is the tl;dr): Wendy's really pissed and decided to bitch about everything she wishes she could change (but unfortunately never will) despite the fact that she's one of the aforementioned "hardcore wota" who "buy everything", considering she ordered 12 copies of Kachuusha even while thinking it sucks.

This is probably better than any of the essays I've ever written for school. Legitimately. And it's not even good. I AM A TERRIBLE STUDENT LOL

 

I hate how AKB48 is no longer cool since everybody likes it now. The only reason why I liked AKB48 was because it was different. Now I will have to find something less popular to dedicate all my time to. I'm thinking Passpo, but they look pretty mainstream too so I'm afraid that if I jump ship to Passpo, I'll have to spend time finding something else to like again in the long run.

 

http://menomaenokakumei.wordpress.com/2 ... t-4-akb48/ I wrote this on my blog so read it ;D it matches this, I just didn't want to rewrite something that I wrote.

 

Probably my biggest problem with this group is AKS' death-like grip on the distribution of their products.
Namely concert DVD's.

As a fan, I love watching concert clips over and over again, but doing this through Youtube or other pirated means makes me feel a little dirty...

A big part of this is availability. Why is it that Morning Musume concert DVDs from 2003 can be found on Amazon Japan in healthy stock, while AKB48 DVDs go for three to four times their original price point?
An example: I saw a complete set of Shuukan AKB DVDs (8 DVDs) go for 120000yen on Yahoo Japan Auctions. That's four zeros. Almost $1500USD.
This is because these DVDs are simply not released anywhere else but AKS's official stores. And apparently, they still believe AKB48 is still the obscure, unknown idol group from 2006; they don't produce nearly enough discs for consumers to be satisfied.

The worst part is, this is money that could be going straight to their pockets. Fans are perfectly willing to pay good money for these DVDs, but instead have to resort to fighting each other over the limited stock that circulates among the growing fanbase. I'm an economics major, but I don't need that to realize how much potential revenue this company is losing.

It is something that angers me to no end, and pretty much guarantees that I'll never complete the collection that I'm going for. It just seems like AKB48 blew up and this company doesn't know how to catch up.

SO, in short, my solution: longer production runs, better evaluation of current market saturation, less centralized control of distribution. Ok? Make it happen.

 

Honesty my biggest problem was solved resently. Helping the new girls rise up the ranks. I know some dislike the students get so much promo when we have so many girls who get nothing, but I think this is the way forward. We should never have a situation like mayuchi's was, where no one even knew who she was untill she won the jankenpon.

I think it is better to take a chance and push girls to high undergirls for 3 singles and give them a prominant spot in akbingo or NHS so that they can sell themselves and then seeing how they have faired. Thats why I liked the Yui push at first in ALIVE and her being top undergirl, I was like yaay lets meet the new person! (but then they just kept going lol xD) We shouldn't treat the new girls like psudo frontgirls...

Tbh i think some of the theater girls could leave the group and most people wouldn't notice...

Also I think the stage units should go back to letting non front girls lead them.

 

Not that I dislike Kenkyuusei (including the newly-promoted yet unassigned "regulars"), but they're being pushed up way too fast. They've already got a commercial single, yet some of the Theater Girls, who are actually full members with assigned team places, barely even get a whimper of a shot at glory - singles, CM or product promos, TV shows - AKBINGO! or otherwise, etc. It's as if the meaning of "Kenkyuusei" has been somewhat diluted or forgotten.

Better to consolidate your existing team members first, and maintain the existing hierarchy, then to accelerate the promotion of new unknown girls whom we've never even heard much about. Their time will come (and I generally don't mind them being exposed to general promotion e.g. AKBeginner episodes) - just not at the expense of regular full team members who've deserved their position.

It's the same with Aki-P's high-speed deployment of new sister groups when the existing ones still haven't been fully established yet (i.e. NMB48 and, to some extent, SKE48 Team E). But that's probably slightly off-topic.

 

My main complains are:

1. Stages are really becoming ancient, and at this point I can't even stand B5 because I've watched it performed a LOT. I'm an old fan, and I miss the times where stages were regularly rotated, and in fact, Stage songs are what made me like AKB, and I think it's a very important point of the group that makes it stand out among all of the other idols in Japan. I think they should just try to change up the stages semi-regularly again, although I do know that that is the least they care about right now, considering how casual fans only care about the singles.

2. Singles sound all the same nowadays, it's pretty bad to me. I love bubblegum pop, and happy songs, and that's the main reason why I like AKB, and I also understand that they've created a "style" for the group, but as an old fan I used to love how they changed it up a bit with every release so not everything sounded the same. I want more effort put into the singles, what is this "First sinlge is a sakura song, second single is a summery song about a hair accessory with election tickets, third single is a peppy love song, fourth single is the cool song" scheme repeated almost exactly for two years in a row? What the hell.

 

My biggest problem is how senbatsu centered the group is now.
Singles, Concerts, Stages, TV Shows... everything is designed for them to have maximum exposure.
I don't even enjoy watching a concert now. Setlist are boring, making of too.

I don't really care about singles, it's just a way to promote the group. But concerts and stages should be for true fans, those who can name all the girls...

 

I miss back when stage dvds were easy to buy. It's not that I'm unwilling to buy the product, I'm just a bit intimidated by the whole process. I respect the fans who are willing to use auctions and deputy services and all that, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind if they didn't have to spend all the extra money to get a product.

I also agree with the point everyone else made about Aki-P spreading himself too thin. I realize that this is the best time to branch out and start new business ventures, but it would be nice if he could focus a bit more on what he already has going. I want a new stage for SDN and KII3 already!

I wouldn't object to seeing more of the undergirls/theatregirls, either.

 

The idea of the XXX48 franchise is cool but Aki-P totally can't catch up with it. He is behind on everything and it sucks. He should just let other people write the songs

HIS SONGS HAVE GOTTEN BORING AND UNCREATIVE!

He's washed out, and this is what happened to Tsunku, all MM songs were sounding the same and Japan got tired of it. And when he did adopt the "new sound" he was like four years too late. He really needs more variety and time to write songs or he should let other people do it for him. I really want to see new groups/teams get new stages and at the rate he's going that will never happen

 

I kinda feel like their newer songs are meant to gain popularity and more public support...rather than to please the old and loyal fans.... I remember when i first heard Tomoyo and Sasae, those were some really encouraging words and now we don't see many songs like those anymore which makes me kinda sad. Please make a few songs that are targeted more at the fans who's been following AKB48 for a long time :[

 

No disrespect to anyone, but AKB48 is perfect and can do no wrong. We grow through challenges and AKB48 wants us all to grow. Look inside yourselves and you will find your discontent comes from you and not any fault of AKB48. Accept that challenges AKB48 set you with love and gusto. You will eventually understand their beauty and wisdom more fully.

 

^ Mhm, i mean about the thing i said earlier... i really don't mind if they fix it or not.. I will still follow them until the end and will be giving them my full support until then.

 

I just read your post and while I appreciate your sense of fairness and propriety, I think the post misses the point of management decisions.

Despite capitalist marketing and related propaganda claims, it is not the case that "The group was originally meant to be a stepping stone into the limelight[.]" The group was and remains about making profits, hand over first, for Akimoto and his investors.

Management will push and promote those members that stand to make them the best return on their investment. SKE members are included in AKB48 singles to promote sales of SKE48 related products and make even more money for Akimoto and friends.

Now, if we are fantasizing about an idol group that is meant for being a stepping stone to fame and prosperity for young women, we should ask the important and serious questions about how such an institution should be run and organized.

Such a group, in our current capitalist context, would have to be, at the very least, a nonprofit organization with a clear charter. I would think such an organization would also have to be in some way democratic with the members having voting rights and a say in management decisions. Ideally such an organization would exist in a noncapitalist economy so it could dedicate its efforts to supporting the members fully.

So, to "fix" AKB48 you would need to end the dictatorship of capital because as it stands the group exists to make money for investors, not to promote members fairly.

To fix AKB48 then, we must win the anarchist-feminist revolution and dethrone capitalist patriarchy!

Idols of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but long hours and low pay (and fame)!

 

Since you are complaining about how the songs SOUND, I think you should be made aware that Akimoto only writes the lyrics. The songs are written by a large number of different composers. I guess the production team chooses for single A-sides the most "commercially safe" songs, but they've all been written by different composers, with Akimoto adding lyrics.

Sakura no ki ni narou -> Yoko Kensuke
Chance no junban -> Konishi Yuko
Beginner -> Inoue Yoshimasa (this guy has written a TON of AKB songs, including stage songs)
Heavy Rotation -> Yamazaki Yo (or Teru? not sure)
Ponytail to shushu -> Ota Shin'ya

etcetera.

 

@JAKKfromAKB48

I think other than screamo..
AKB48 probably have done most of the music genres out there already xD
they DO have a good variety, can't really complain much about that...unless you have a genre in particular that you want them to cover... which i hope isn't screamo

 

This thread is about what AKB should do differently so we like it more. Not what they should do to gain larger profits.

 

Never ever self-censor yourselves. I mean. Beginner's PV. Fine, so, it wasn't the case of explicit sexual content, political wrongness, or anything like that (which I guess would be troublesome for what they are). It was supposed to be since the original PV was like violent, aggressive, or something like that (honestly, can't remember).

But then you watch it and you just wonder why the heck they decided to censor it. Not only is undoubtly way cooler, it even has few moments when you could actually go "eek!". Maybe Maeda's scream (even if I found it impressive, in a good sense), but that couldn't have been a sufficiently good reason.

 

I could be wrong, but if I recall correctly, the decision to censor Beginner's PV was one made by King Records, not by AKB management.