[GENERAL] The Sakurazaka46 / Keyakizaka46 Thread

@tmfce @plus1plus1 tbf, most of the girls in 48/46 who are getting public recognition (mainly in 48 anyway, idk about 46) are the girls outside AKS and subsidiaries and there are barely any. So I wouldn't expect any Keyaki members to be doing that anytime soon...

 

i've made a second quizz. I tried to balance questions between kanji and hiragana, as well as focusing on recent period (2017-2018)

Keyakizaka second quizz

 

Well, I think it depends on how many they are going to add. If we end up with around 30 Kanjis I think we are in big trouble if they don't either use this system or do their weird 1st gen/2nd gen shenaningans again which only postpones the issue.
I think 21 should be the maximum of members performing at once. Add more on the stage and nobody gets anything from it in terms of attention. The overall screen time for everyone except for the top members goes down, leaving the less popular ones with nearly nothing. Just look at the huge senbatsus AKB hasfrom time to time and you know how pointless it is.
Of course they will have to add Kanjis sooner or later to replace graduates because - as sad as it is - they ain't all gonna stay until they're 30. In fact, I think we could see some of them leave very soon. I can't really imagine how they are going to pull it off though.
I don't really see why they are adding Kanjis right now anyway... the only possible reason I can think of is that they either think (or know) that they will lose members relatively soon and want to have replacements ready when the time comes.

 

Yay Paruru!!! I miss her. She should go with Nogi age-wise. Personally, I would like her in Keyaki simply for Berika interaction. lol

Obviously she's not gonna really audition in case anyone is worried.

 

just a quick sharing

so guys,,

https://yuioshi.wordpress.com/2018/03/10/keyabingo-making-part-1/

it keyabingo 1 Making of

[Engsub]

 

@plus1plus1
Zuumin is a bad example. She was out for months yet she is the only one who got solo except for Techi, (and Neru,but she is a different matter). Why isn't she more recognized outside Keyaki is a question that should be made to her manager, because I frankly doubt centering some Keyaki song is the answer.

What surprise me - but not so much because fans are fans - is that everyone target Techi when this kind of talk arise, like she is taking away spotlight from other members, and not Neru, whom came later, managed to be the ghost center of keyaki, has her PB, got to go on outside shows, is highly, and rightly so, publicized in events that nothing have to do with Keya, and now get Techi's radio show if I'm not wrong.

So, my question is: why are people still discussing Techi center position and not, like, pretend other members get the same chances Neru has?

It's a legitim question I think, especially after months of reading the same talk each time a single is released.
I honestly doubt being in the center of one or more VM would really change a member reality, if behind there isn't a plan, and if the chosen girls doesn't have that "something"

Personally I want more for Uemura, I want more for Habu, for Aoi, Monta, Mona, I couldn't care less about Oda, but Yone, Naako, Miichan, Akane, Satoshi, Zuumin... I want more for all of them and I don't think Techi, or Techi's role in Keyaki, is what takes away their chances.

 

There's been tons and tons of Neru backlash in the past. She's done a marvelous job turning it around and winning people over. Probably because Neru has responded more positively to her push where as Techi, for whatever reasons she has, has responded more negatively. I get a strong feeling from Neru that she wants to use her position to help move everyone, including herself, forward. Where the vibe from Techi is just wanting to hide from it all. Positivity breeds positivity and negativity breeds negativity type thing. There's still plenty of Neru antis though.

 

That's the thing though there can be only one center so if Techi is center does take away the strongest chance another member has. A center may or may not lead to lasting changes in popularity but it is the greatest promotion a 48/46 group can offer.

They will likely give Zumiko solos until a 2nd gen Kanji since the singing ability of Kanji is relatively poor. However, solos that never see release outside of a B-side have little value. Neru/Techi get solos all the time despite being quite awful singers because idol solos/units are more about fan service and providing quality lives. Neru has a lot of fans so she gets a solo. Zumiko sells out handshakes so she gets a solo.

Neru got a lot of chances and gained traction. But I don't really see how it's relevant. Neru gets jobs because she's cute and people like her a lot. Management can't just give Neru's jobs to other members. But they can give center to whoever they like.

 

i like your thought
btw.. how to like a post??

 

@plus1plus1 I quite disagree with every point you have but it feels like we are speaking 2 different languages at this point. lol Let me just point out Keyaki have another great singer since a while a some other not so bad singer eh, and that the radio show, and even the PB if we want, could have been given to other people, but okay.

@glsone You know, I think I never spoke to a Neru anti. Which makes me quite happy lol I can't stand her singing voice, but I'm the first to believe she deserves all she got.
But I want it for others too and I don't think Techi si the problem in them not having it.

 

Well, I personally think Techis stardom has partially stunted the greater growth of the group, but in ways that are just totally not her fault. It seems that the rest of the girls early on just completely relied on her star power, so either didn't try as hard as they could have or felt that trying hard was pointless since they wouldn't be able to over take her anyway. It seems like only now after it's shown to them that they really can not just rely on Techi to carry them that the others are stepping up and taking over. Usually in groups like this the girls break out of their comfort zones earlier. But having Techi around let a lot of girls just sit back in their comfort zones and kind of watch for far too long. It hasn't been Techis fault, but at the same time it needs to be rectified and one of the easiest ways is to move the spotlight off Techi for a while and force the other girls to step into it. Which ironically enough Techi herself is doing lately.

 

@Dill There will plenty more photobooks. It appears Techi is quitting jobs so setting up Neru as the face of Keyakizaka seems a natural choice. Comparing Kanji to Hiragana live and it seems clear to me Kanji is mostly bad at singing. But yeah I agree that we seem to nearly completely opposed.

@glsone Many girls have been working hard at improving performance (Zuumin, Suzumoto, Yuipon, Ishimori...). Many have not (Berika, Uemura...). Just like all 48/46 groups. Many members are not very talented and unlikely to surpass Techi and do not care. However, one could argue quite a few members could outperform Techi at this point (Zumiko, Yuipon, Suzumoto, Risa...). But it's hard to make an argument when no one else is given a chance.

I certainly do not blame Techi. As she said herself she doesn't decide who gets center. I just think people too strongly believe that management is choosing center based on ability or even primarily based on ability. If you believe that you can form a narrative where Techi is being selected because the others aren't good enough which is simply not true.

Just look at Hiragana. Why was Neru center? She was objectively worse than nearly every other member at almost everything. Keyakizaka management, like all other 48/46, does not decide based strictly on merit.

 

You need to install tapatalk if i remember correctly

 

small rant

the whole argument that other girls were not given a chance is ridiculous. The girls are evaluated off stage in lessons and practice. Unlike other 48\46 groups kanji keya has been performance focused to this point. If anyone follows sports, you know they don't take the star off the field during a game to see how others will do.

I am sorry, but if you want to know where kanji would be at without Techi at least being center most of the time look at the 48 sister groups.
People throw around Techi and friends, but compare the "friends" with most other 48\46 members with equal experience. I bet almost all those other girls would love to have the exposure and opportunities the "friends" get.

 

I used to play football and ruby and what the managers and coaches did and still do is exactly that. If the game is secured (playing against a low tier teams or if the team is in front with 5mins to go) they would swap out their "star players" for others, because they know that they cannot always rely on them, see injuries, transfers, next big game, national team aso..
I would not compared idol groups to any kind of sports, it is a different world.

 

Funny. As with AKB I only know Keya from their variety shows plus the murder mystery "drama" and without the drama (and the senbatsu parts) I would have never guessed that Techi is the undisputable center of the group. In the variety shows she shows barely any presence. I mean, it's not exactly Koike "was she even in the studio?" Minami level, but when I compare her to Atsuko Maeda's presence in the early AKBingo days it's really different. I know that it won't be the variety queens who get the center position but somehow I assumed that Neru was the center just based on how the MCs treated her and her general presence in the shows.

I guess Techi has to be the best performer during concerts and greatly interacts with their fans via other ways.

 

yes, but unfortunately a performance is never "secured"

 

I would argue that they do know that others could (almost?) perform as good as her, at least if they get proper training and opportunities. Otherwise they wouldn't have announced the Kanji concerts, knowing that Techi wouldn't partcipate. A few of the Kanjis probably got motivated by the whole Budokan situation and tried to give their best in order to become better and prevent a classic "Techi and friends" situation from happening again.
I think you are overestimating how much they really care about whose performance ability is the best. At this point the center choice probably isn't about who has a (slightly) better or worse performance ability anymore, but more about "never touch a running system" and who the majority people want to see (so they make more money).

You need to at least train the others to become centers. You need to let them center in real situations too. Techi being every A-side's center wouldn't even be bad and I wouldn't even have that much of a problem with that, if we could at least see other Kanjis centering B-sides and also do the A-sides every now and then. But what inevitably happens if you don't is what's at least to some agree happening right now, both here and in Japan, at least from what I've heard: People are used to seeing Techi, people are used to her being everywhere all the time and being the center of attention and can't deal with it now that she's not there. If we would have seen a greater variety of centers this wouldn't be half as bad.
I think Zuumin and Yuipon (and also the others) are doing a great job. Would Techi be doing things a little bit better? I don't know, but it's possible. I don't have the slightest problem with her personally and I do think she's a great performer. But I think hating on wYui for being center is not fair and not something someone who is a fan of the whole group should do right now.
I think what the group right now needs is support from their fans for all members, be it the absent ones or the ones giving their best to do great performances despite the difficulties.

 

despite me believing Techi is special. i agree with a lot of what you said. I do believe a lesson was learned from budokan, and it did motivate the other members. There seems to be a twisted argument that people that find something special in Techi think the other members are inferior, but that's really not the case.