IZONE News and Discussion Thread

Why'd you have to bring that up, I'm still not over it : (

 

I doubt we're talking about the same thing.

 

Again, we're talking about different people.

But since you asked, they did. But only Hii qualified for the final tournament.

 

I think Aka is talking about the three Team 8 girls (Nonuya Riru, Inoue Miyuu and Shiobara Karin) that left the group last year.

 

Nunoya Riru, Inoue Miyuu and Shiobara Karin. They were part of twelve for eight, the new "generation" of eitos. They were never kenkyuusei and Karirin took part in many (well, not that many, but some) episodes of Bacchikoui. One day you wake up and you see a blog post by DH saying that they were leaving the group. And that's it. No reasons (not even academic ones), no message from the girls, no graduations, nothing. And their SNS were immediately shut down. I can't think of a worse farewell. Oh! And for the following Bacchikoui episodes Karirin was there but they cut ALL of her parts, just like that.

I know you're going to say that they're not on the same level as Sakura, Nako and Hii, but for those girls' fans it hurt the same way.

Even though the most common way is for them to graduate with a stage and a proper send off, there have been a few cases in the 48 Group of girls without a graduation and just an official statement from the agency, but in those cases they always explain why they're leaving (which is always bullshit) and the girls leave a message.

 

I'm agree with this. Maybe it would be better and cause less chaos if the management held the concert on 28th-29th April (just before their d-word). But apparently CJ/Mnet/OTR need $$$$

 

Spoiler: Off topic

That was actually who I was talking about. I am not as into Team 8 and I didn't know the girls well, but I still thought the situation was really off and felt bad for them.

 

Having a concert in March makes sense if you are expecting an extension and want to fit in two concerts before disbandment.

IZ*ONE released Panorama in early Dec. Late Dec/Early Jan is awards season. Feb is the Lunar New Year. Then after the holidays you can prep and plan. Concerts take a lot of work, so mid March is a reasonable date for a concert if you aren't rushing. Then after the concert you can concentrate on the next album you're producing, which apparently wasn't supposed to be ready by April.

While it's true kpop groups in general tend to have messy/indefinite endings, CJ Ent itself had a history of ending things properly for its produce groups. If CJ had known for a fact there'd be no extension I'm sure they would have released the final album in March and had a farewell concert in April.

 

See some posts above.
This theory of CJ wanting to extend the contract then lobbying / working hard as if it was done makes a lot of sense.

 

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Kfans are setting up a company with the goal to negociate with all the agencies on extending IZ*ONE
https://twitter.com/DC_IZONECHU_INT/status/1372103049745895428

Otakus behaviors are seen as questionable in western medias, but wow!
Kpop fandoms are another level.

 

global sentiment toward CJ ENM (undeserved imo)


CJ did what was required and fulfilled the contract through scandal and pandemic.

I'm happy to have collected 2 vers of color*iz and heart*iz, secret diary, and suki to iwasetai, and all the singles. and it makes for a nice library. I find that the K variety shows a little tame compared what I am used to with AKB and don't ever seem to rewatch izone shows (I do like the concept of the latest magic IZ it reminds me of the HKT magical girls academy) Probably ends my 2-year detour into kpop. I would like to see Hyewon in a 48-group. I think she would be right at home and living her weeb dream.

 

Produce48 was pretty much the only good decision from AKS in the last 3 years. Get ready for more bad decisions or complete lack of decisions from them in the near future.

 

WIZ*ONE (myself included) have gone all out recently for old merch.

I originally had 1 copy of COLORIZ, 1 copy of HEARTIZ, 2 copies of BLOOMIZ, 2 copies of Oneiric Diary and 1 copy of One-Reeler. (also one version of each Japanese single). Today, I own both versions of COLORIZ, both versions of HEARTIZ, all 3 versions of BLOOMIZ, all three versions of Oneiric Diary and all three versions of One-Reeler.

The merch for "One, The Story" opened up again earlier today again as well and the zip-up hoodies went out of stock almost immediately. If any of you are thinking about selling some of your albums, singles, photocards or any other merch, now would be a good time.

 

You are completely right.
K-pop felt too American to me so I never got interested in it. While 48g gave me something else, they're unique in that sense. I could care less about talent, charisma is what defines what 48G is.
When produce happened it caught my attention just because, I felt even more in love with 48 and wished it never ended, it felt like a prolonged SSK.
Produce converted Nako into my main favorite. She truly is very talented [Maybe that's why Miku left]

HOWEVER, thanks to produce I started loving but like being a hardcore fan of TWICE, discovered new groups like Gfriend, BlackPink, Red Velvet. And with the lack of activities of 48G, you can imagine muy interest also fell.

Produce did harm AKB, it hurts so much. I miss SSK so much too.

 

I've always thought K idols produced better music but J idols had more personality. I'd listen to Kpop while watching AKBingo or Nemousu. IZONE for me was best of both worlds and I welcomed it. For me, although I listened to Kpop, I couldn't 'really' get into K idols because I had a hard time figuring out who is whom based on their characters but IZONE had such unique 12 persons. Everyone of them had their own thing so 12 of them working together was always a mess but a happy one. Binge-watching their variety and music shows ever since I found about them was my happy place in otherwise forgettable 2020.

With that said, I think 48G definitely left its mark in Kpop with IZONE. Not only is it important to be great singers and have perfect choreo, it's important to appeal to fans with their character and charm. Also with IZONE private mail being a success, other groups such as JYP started their own thing called Bubble and NC soft launched a more intricate version of it, albeit with lots of bugs, called the Universe app. With IZONE gone, K-pop lost its one of the biggest shining stars. They had such unique music too and I loved every track they put out. Now I can't listen to them without my eyes getting red. F CJ.

Regarding 48G and Kpop, Aki-p always had his eyes on Kpop industry and he always wanted to create something similar or have some part in it.(Remember SDN?) I think Produce 48 was more his own ambition to produce for a Kpop group than anything else tbh. It was never gonna truly 'benefit' 48G. Also PD48 wasn't a reason why 48G declined, they were already rock-bottom when PD48 started. Sakura was on the verge of graduating anyways, Hii was a nobody and I doubt Nako would've done anything to revive 48G before graduating either. 48G wasn't relevant since 2016-ish and thereafter, with Kami7 gone, with 46G introduced. The fact they still exist with the number of members they have is a miracle.

 

If IZ*ONE, who is teasing each other, plays games⁉️ Ardung Cookbang EP.1 (Eunbi, Hyewon, Chaeyeon, Yuri, Yujin):

if the video does not show watch the video here

Minju's Olive Young favorite item - unboxing (Eng subs):

if the video does not show watch the video here

(ENOZI Cam +) Behind the scenes of "Single's Photography":

if the video does not show watch the video here

Sakura's cover of "That's OK" by D.O.:

if the video does not show watch the video here

IZ*ONE Eat-ting Trip3 Teaser:

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

I agree with both of you.

I think Produce did harm AKB48 / 48G because a lot of people found a way into the Kpop zone through Produce 48. Kpop is more accessible to non-Korean speakers than 48G is for non-Japanese speakers, so it makes sense that more 48G fans found Kpop than Kpop fans found 48G.

That being said, AKB48 could have gained fans if they had taken advantage of the increase of attention that followed the involvement with Produce 48. Instead of providing more, though, they provided even less than before. The last Sousenkyo was in 2018. The last Janken Taikai was in 2018. Sasshi graduated in 2019. AKBINGO (the only show that got frequent english subs) stopped in 2019. AKB48's last concert was in 2020. Their last single was released in 2020. It was a two-year-process, but it started at the same time as Produce 48.

I have no idea what they were thinking and why they didn't try to get international fans into AKB48. The only thing they did was make AKB48's music available on Spotify.

 

Say what now? You're completely glossing over the NGT scandal and AKS's treatment of Maho and friends, that absolutely devastated AKB in early/mid 2019 . Within a matter of weeks they lost AKBshow and ANN and not long after they lost their flagship TV show, AKS got so badly tainted by that scandal they had to change their name and sell off SKE, HKT and NGT to outside companies and AKB got badly hurt by being associated with Yoshinori and co. Sasshi graduated in early 2019 and was clearly done with anything non HKT for months before that. Jurina was a physical and mental wreck by the 2018 SSK and hasn't been the same since and Sakura explicitly said in early 2018 that the 2018 SSK was going to be her last, clearly signaling less involvement with 48G.

AKB was already shattered by the time 2020 and covid came around

 

Good decision : Produce48 happen giving the room for AKB48 to revitalize themselves.
Bad decision : Not using the Produce48 hype for their own benefit post-show like Produce48 never happen.
Result : Produce48 doesn't bring any substantial effect for AKB48.

Well, maybe there is good effect. When Big Hit propose something which is related with revolutionary concept in KPop and NCT fans claiming that it is their print. Other KPop fans will counter that claim saying that NCT is just male AKB. That something good right?????