Wotas are still the big money spenders though. They're the ones making those single sales sky rocket up to where they have no right being. How many teenage girl fans do they have to get to equal the income of one hardcore wota? They need to be careful about biting the hand that feeds them still.
We are talking about one member out of 32, not the whole group. It would depend more so on Neru's ability to let the criticisms roll off like her like water off a duck's back.
Interesting discussion between @Meiji Ishin and @glsone. I hope expanding the non-wota audience can make up for what looks like loss of some disillusioned wotas. But it would have to expand a lot. The non-traditional audience does seem to be what Sony is aiming at, though, so maybe they know from market research that it's working.
There does seem to be an expansion of Idols into non-traditional audiences, on the alt/anti-idol side of things I know that Shiina Pikarin has a dedicated female fan base and based on the pics they show at concerts and record shop promo appearances a group like Zenbu Kimi No Sei Da has a younger and more female audience, not that females make up a majority of their audience but it's closer to a 70-30 split rather than the 90-10 or greater split one sees with the 48 groups. I imagine a large organization like Sony is aware of this trend. I can see Neru, having to overcome her parents disapproval to realize her dream, being very relatable to girls near her own age.
Another thing to consider is if the girls can keep attracting those teenage girls or other new demographics as they get older themselves. Will 22 year old Neru still be drawing new 16-18 year olds to her? Or will her relatability have lessened by that point? 22 year old Neru will definitely attract new wota though. Interesting stuff to think about.
no more showrooms, probably because people were complaining too much about Neru's behavior Sony probably has to add more rules now upon the already stacked rules that they have to follow
Dude really? Mostly is because they have not enough time or are busy with other stuff. Or maybe they are preparing some surprise stuff.
Ultimately japanese culture dictates that Neru's actions are rude. Sure I'd want her to be herself during SR and i know she has a bit of slyness within her (that i approve of) but she is an idol and in essence she's still a public figure and anything she does that don't meet the norms would be criticized. If anything she just needs to restrain herself a bit, this is a learning curve for all keyakis they are eccentric after all. I'm reminded of the Japanese proverb 'The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.'
Excellent post. My worry is that K46 as a whole becomes seen as a nail that's sticking out. I feel as if some anti-Keyaki wotas think that way: "How dare these un-idolish newcomers think they can rise to the level of my favorites!" I just hope that in adjusting to the real world, they don't lose their free spirit.
I think that's the point, Keya is never going to out AKB AKB, Nogi took whatever small space was leftover to be a more demure version of the 48's, Keya is to some extent trying to have their cake and eat it too, by pulling in traditional wotas, but playing a little outside the traditional rules and play in this different space that has been opened up by groups like BABYMETAL and BiS in an attempt to pull fans from outside the traditional fanbase and gain some artistic credibility. As an example look at how Nogi handled the idea that Wakatsuki and Reika were sisters of Sappho, it was joked about some, but eventually Wakatsuki and Reika became more distant at least in the public eye. Rumors about similar relationships within Keya leads to the girls acting like a Seven Sisters sorority house on an ecstasy binge. On the artistic credibility side it's no accident that Sony has handed the reigns to a highly respected choreographer and given him carte blanche to do what he wants, think Miko of Perfume and BABYMETAL fame. Even Aki-P is in on the game giving them lyrics which are far more confrontational than what one typically sees from the 48's or Nogi. Sony is a big company and if Keya were to crash and burn they can afford it in a way that Aki-P and Hello-P can't if one of there flagship idol projects did. This also means Sony has much greater freedom to experiment and try to have popularity with wotas and popularity with the general population and maybe even move outside of the Japanese market. So far so good.
@ukifune I'm not even sure myself since i don't have a solid source for this but i think that was the goal why Keyaki was formed, "new idol order" (?) Apart from marketing, sticking out generates interest, good and bad alike. Wotas who have invested their social life into idol world will especially feel entitled to have their opinions heard (and addressed). Keyakids should try to avoid reading news about themselves, i know some of them do. They should leave all that research to the staff, they get enough (mixed) feedback at HS events. As for their free spirit, they can only remain free amongst themselves, mgmt is strict to discipline them for the purpose of perception management. I said this before but during Fuu's SR i think Mona was called out for doing something and her mood went sour after that.
@soul8er not yet looks like manaka's showroom cancelled/delayed? EDIT: its back again now at 21:00 JST i guess together with Oda
Mona got almost 70,000 views in the end within 30 mins. I think she doesn't know what to talk in the showroom alone so she called Techi. Edited: more news, Naako will live right after Oda Nana at 22.30 Edited2: Naako showroom is so fast (30 min like Mona) They all played Eccentric MV in the showroom. I think we gonna see more of MV promotion from other members too in this weekend.