Stage Kojima Haruna Special Stage [Koukando Bakuage] (16/11/21 ~ )

i agree 100%

 

It's the same reason we have the same 4 people as center every time and certain members are never ever taken out of senbatsu. It's management's reason for doing everything they do that pisses off fans of "the new gens" (who are actually almost all incredibly old now). Leaving the cash cow at home is just asking for less cash, I know that. But on the other hand if they never make new cash cows what happens when the old ones leave (although in this case it's more like "refuse to leave")? We've been seeing it: the new cash cows that management has been grooming have to wait so long to move up and take the place of the old ones that they jump the fence and run away into the sunset, never to be seen again. It's just too long a wait. Meanwhile whatever public recognition they have made for themselves/been given through opportunities in that time goes out the window. It serves themselves as individuals only now and not AKB as a group.

I had no problem with the Takamina stages, because even though she was in all of them they were incredibly creative and pushed the limits of the theater, as well as showcasing both new and old members in ways we hadn't ever seen before. She obviously put a lot of thought and effort into the setlists and member choices. The Kojiharu stage however is just easy and lazy, as we knew it would be, and doesn't really contribute anything other than getting Kojiharu's fans' butts into theater seats one last time. It's just another stick of disappointment to throw onto an ever-growing pile of disappointment sticks. One day it's all gonna go up in a mighty bonfire blaze.

 

So much salt... You're not forced to watch a stage if you don't like it. There are tons of stages in AKB, from team stages to special stages to one-time stages etc. I mean, there are more than enough stages for different fans to enjoy. Just now they started the Minerva stage with only new gens (popular ones), you could just watch that one since it seems like it's what you're looking for...? Meanwhile you can let other people enjoy this special stage. and the fact that Kojiharu won't be present often (& she's leaving) isn't different than any other member tbh. I read that Miion's birthday stage was the first time she performed this year (it's been 3 months since the year started) so what if management gave a stage to Miion for example, how would that be any different? She would be absent too. and different people enjoy different things. Minerva stage is boring to me, I didn't enjoy it. Meanwhile I like this Kojiharu special stage. You think that it's boring and full of old songs, but so what... you can go enjoy team stages, Minerva stages or whatever else, and let people enjoy this stage if they like it. Not everything should be made to suit your preferences. There are still fans who love old gen and love old songs, and enjoy seeing new gens (or theater girls) doing this type of setlist.

The obsession on this forum with "everything should go to new gens, and old gens & sister groups should get nothing!!!" is seriously getting tiring. New gens are getting enough opportunities as it is, it's time to stop the pity-party and the constant blaming of old gens & sister groups all the time for every single thing.

 

From my observations, AKS rarely does anything for the girls. From how I see it, some girls get pushed (our favourite sacred cow trio) but it's not like they get pushed over the already famous members. They only really started giving things to Sakura when she made huge leaps at the SSK. On top, they barely invest any amount of training in the girls. As such, I think AKS is a lot more reactive than creative and they're waiting for girls to prove themselves before giving them anything.

This is very true and also very sad tho :\ I agree with the rest of your post too. It's sad but it's the way the company works I guess.

I also agree with Mana though that if you don't like it you don't have to pay attention to it lol.

 

"She's reaching, Your Honour" - Naomi Campbell

If the new gens were getting enough opportunities as it is, there wouldn't be such an exodus going on.

Since Acchan left (almost 5 years ago), we've been hearing about this new chapter of AKB that doesn't seem to arrive. It's always the same people at the front and the new gens are always relegated as "the future AKB that never will".

I'm not complaining about this stage per se, bht this and Minerva and any other is just a lame excuse from management to shuffle songs we've heard a thousand times and keep neglecting the theatre and the girls who actually get to it.
It's just not nice.

 

But in a way AKB has pushed new gens though.. as salty some people are... I would consider Annin, Renacchi (?), Kojimako, Okada nana, mion, juri, tomu new gens... They are now senbatsu locks... with few new gen members alternating Komiharu, kamamoto saya, oguri yui, etc... + new gen members from the sister groups (HKT's hana, NMB's ayaka, SKE's rara, NGT's Rika)

I mean, management still needs to keep veteran members in the line up.. Expecting these girls to be removed is just unrealistic.

people are just salty management are not pushing THEIR favorite new gen member.

 

You know, there is a reason why all Kami 7 are also old gen of their respectives groups.

This is of course my own opinion and i can't prove it, but i firmly believe that Sasshi only won in 2013 thanks to Acchan leaving in 2012, and Mayuyu only won because Yuko leaving as well. Old gens and new gens don't have the same opportunities.

I do agree that removing old gens from the game would probably be harmful for the group, but mngmt doesn't seems to be doing anything to improve their chances once those girls decide that they don't want to be in the group anymore. Sadly AKB media is not as strong as it was a few years ago, but they still can do things like new original stages or stop doing graduation singles. And please don't use the "You just want to have your oshi at the top" argument since the same thing could be said about you, even if its not true.

 

@Trinu

Lots of new gens are graduating, but it's not all because of push/senbatsu. AKB always had the pushed girls (senbatsu) and the non-pushed ones (theater girls) since the creation of the group, it's normal. Some new gens leave because they're just theater girls and don't get songs in singles, and the reason is that teams have too little members to have real senbatsu & songs. this is all management's responsibility to fix this problem.

There have been more than enough opportunities for new gens, and I see lots of new gens becoming regular in senbatsu now. Juri and Tomu for 12th gen, Mako and Naachan for 14th gen, Miion and Komiharu for 15th gen, Sayaya for D1, soon Hiwatan/Satone might end up regular in senbatsu too. 13th gen is a different case since management seems like they wanted to make Ryoka regular, but she graduates now, and management would probably make Yuiri regular senbatsu if she didn't decide to focus on theater. So yeah, I see every gen has at least some girls who become regular senbatsu and get a good push.

I see people complain about this stage, but there's the Minerva stage, so what's the problem exactly? Both stages are a mix of songs. One has more older gens & focused on older songs, the other ones has more recent songs & only new gens. Everyone should be satisfied like this.

I see people complain about AKB new gens not being pushed enough but didn't the last singles all have a b-side with "AKB new gens only" songs? isn't that good enough? unless you guys just expect new gens to center everything and to be lead in everything, it's not realistic. You can't really expect that management will suddenly ignore the old gens (though they've been kinda doing this to MaYuki lately, and you don't see me complaining even though I'm sad about it), you can't expect management to stop using sister groups at all. it's not happening and it's very understandable why it's not happening.

Be it old gens, new gens or sister groups, all of them are getting opportunities. so all fans should be happy. But it's always the new gen fans who complain about everything and always put the blame on old gens & sister groups everytime they get something. Like is it too hard to just enjoy what the new gens does and leave the rest of 48G alone. I don't see how having this Kojiharu special stage can hurt anyone tbh. Just ignore it if it's that bad for you.

 

Maybe because it's the new gen fans the ones who aren't able to see their oshis in new original content because they have to make way for the SG aces?
Many of them don't step in the recording studio more than once a year for a lousy bside.

Fighting to be in the very last spots of senbatsu where you'll get no screentime whatsoever shouldn't be considered a feat.

 

GRaduation singles, at this point, are gimmick. This is their last ditch at relevancy with general public. They will keep doing this for the popular veteran members (Mayuki..Yuihan.) I would be surprised if they did this for someone like Yuria or Miichan

People keep saying they want new gens but we have NEW GENS.. that's my point. People are salty because their new new gen oshi not in the line up.

I don't have any particular oshi in AKB. I have few that I have my eyes on (kojimako, nana, tomu)... I have few that mmm... I'm not a fan of(Yuria, Komiharu). But in general, I like most of them equally at least from the current regular senbatsu locks.

My oshi is Sasshi. As far as we know, she's a guarantee already in AKB/HKT and STU just like Sayanee, Sakura, Mayuki and Yuihan

I see both sides. I understand the frustration but as we've discussed so many times AKB is the mother ship of all 48 groups. AKB promoting SG's new aces is nothing new. But I do get the frustration

 

@Trinu

LOL what are you talking about. Like I said, the past singles all have a "AKB new gen only" song as b-side, it's an original song and it even has a Pv. Explain how "new gen fans don't get to see their favs on new original content"? and I already explained, the reason some girls don't get to the studio even once in a year is because of the lack of team songs, and the reason is the lack of members in teams. It has nothing to do with sister groups. You're exactly the type of fans I was talking about LOL always putting the blame on sister groups (or old gens) when clearly the issue is somewhere else.

I really don't see how there's a lack of new gen promo, when they're on AKB shows every week (the focus is on them on AKBINGO!), the new gens get original songs and Pv's in the latest single (as b-side), many of them are regular senbatsu and appear on Tv show performances (if they're not regular, some of them are being used as replacement in some performances), management has been giving special stages or concerts to the different AKB new gens, more photoshoots...

Like exactly what is missing? the fact that this forum has tons of complaining posts every single day asking for "justice" for new gens... so what you want is for sister groups and old gens to all leave? ..... you do know that if this happens then AKB will get so irrelevant that they'll lose most of their Tv apparitions. LOL.

It's time to be realistic and accept that old gens will still get things. There's nothing wrong with this Kojiharu special stage. and she performed really well tbh (I enjoyed it more than seeing most of the new gens performing in Minerva. LOL) and be realistic that management won't put sister groups at the back when they bring the most money & attention to the group right now. That's how it is. You guys should learn to enjoy the 8676895 new content from AKB new gen, rather than complaining about why they don't get everything and why sister groups / old gens get things (that they actually deserve).

 

I Highly doubt Yui or anyone else other than Mayuki and maybe Sasshi, cuz she is technically not an akb member, will get anything when they graduate. But my point is graduation singles do nothing for the future of the group, i doubt it even helps the sales of the grad single itself since they still need to use a lot of other gimmicks just to keep the oh so needed 1 million streak.

Theres no point in having new gens when they are completely overshadow by the old gen, i would need to actually count them but i think that this new gen its actually like the 3rd "new gen".

This is not a company we are talking about, where the new guy can just watch how his senior do things and then take the baton when he leaves. Girls are expected to become superstars and take over the group with less the exposure they seniors had and competing with them at the same time. They don't have the narrative of the old AKB, the growing public interest or even the time to grow properly as performers. They can't even be "the new thing" since akb is already going to its 12 year. On top of that, you have the old gen, and the new, leaving one by one with the new gen unable to catch up in popularity, by unknown reasons .

And i don't care how strong Sasshi looks sometimes, because everyone has their limit and when she "leaves" we will all say otsukaresamadeshita and then blame the "new gen" for being unable to keep akb's glory. So, we can recognize the problem and attack it, not necessarily by kicking out Mayuki, or just ignore it and hope for a miracle.

tl;dr: There is nothing crazy with asking for new original stages, or more showcase of the new gens, i think is pretty much needed to create a healty fanbase for the years to come. And there is no point in investing huge amount of resources in popular members that are already leaving.

PD: This is not with you, but it would be really nice if we stop being disrespectful with other users, if you are mad get away from the keyboard and cool off.

PD2: I'm a fan not a staff, i can't do ****. Last post on this particular subject .

 

There's a place for celebration and there's a place for complaint. When fans complain about AKB they are really saying "I care about this and I want to see it be better than it is, for its own sake as well as ours". Complaining about complaining is completely pointless, because complaints and compliments are both expressions of love (at least in the case of being a fan of something).

I complain about this stage because I care about the future of the group, which isn't looking too good currently when we consider how many new members are bailing for lack of opportunity. Of course the group has always worked on the principle of "the popular girls get most of the promotions", but when the top popular girls are on the cusp of leaving and no one has built up the public recognition, industry connections and fanbase to take their place thanks to lack of promotion from management, it's alarming as a fan. When Kojiharu, Mayu and Yukirin are gone, AKB itself doesn't have a single "top member" anymore. And while there are many candidates for climbing the ladder to the top (including my own oshimen), very few members who will be sticking around long enough to get to the top are currently getting the kind of promotion they need to reach the popularity levels of the ones who are soon leaving. That equals a net loss of recognition and popularity to AKB as a whole.

"Just ignoring this stage" doesn't really work - the resources and theater time are already spent on this stage whether I like it or not, and anyway at the core it's not a complaint about the stage being bad. The complaints about new gens not getting enough promotion are so prevalent on this forum and elsewhere because it's true and most people can see it. (Sister groups is a whole other argument that I'm not touching, and they're having their own problems with member retention). But of course management can't just ignore the old gens, so it's a Catch 22 situation with no good answer for them. I guess we'll just have to see how the future plays out, but blindly white-knighting management's decisions is never helpful, especially when they could be doing much better.

 

You know what's funny? The new gen fans complaining the hardest are always the Naachan stans. As if Naachan didn't get one of the biggest push ever as a KKS. If you are a fan of Mako, Nana, Naanya or Mion you have no right to whine and moan about new gens being invisible because the 4 have literally been showered with content the moment they joined AKB (except for maybe Mion). They're just mad that their oshi is not FRONT AND CENTER cause I don't see them cheering when a new gen member (Sakura) gets to be the front and center of something.

Tomu fans however I can sympathize with since management basically acted like she didn't exist until this year. Imagine stanning for Ichikawa Manami (like myself). Moral of the story: learn to be content with what you have.

You think the original kami 7 had it easy? They were there when no one gave a flying f*q about AKB. What exposure were they getting? They pulled through and made themselves the stars. That's something that the new gen has to learn to do by themselves. With the way AKS works, the girls have to make themselves the superstars that they want to be.

Anyway, AKS has been pushing new gen for a damn long time (since Manatsu no Sounds Good). What's considered new gen has since changed (9-11 to 12-15) but 14th-15th gen especially made their debut in an era where new gen is the focus. It's just too bad that no one has made even a dent on the J-entertainment scene yet.

 

What?

I don't, and i said it right there.

 

You were happy for Jurina and she's hardly a new gen member so IDK how this supports my claim? You just like whoever you like and that's fine.

IDK but you sounded like you think the OGs had it easy especially here:

If they want the same chances as the old gen had then they should just join another idol group or at least a sister group and work their ass off to get their name on the papers the way the old gens did. Old gen didn't get the media appearances handled to them on a silver platter. Comparing Kojiharu in her 6th year (focusing on AKB only) to the new gens now is kind of silly because Kojiharu worked her ass off those 6 years to get her name out in a Japan that was more interested in some other group. You think she just sat around and waited for Fat Autmun to give her drama roles? From how I see it, the circumstances are actually pretty similar. Old gen clawed their way up when other bigger celebrities and more relevant groups took the spotlight. Now, the old gen are the bigger celebrities that the new gen have to fight against and from their work the past 5 years, it seems like they have yet to do just that.

Anyway I was working on a comparison between Ricchan, Mako and Nana since all three have been active for 5 years. I've also thrown in Renacchi for fun and these are my results.


Take what you want from what I've found but from how I see it, it looks like Mako has got a lot more stuff than Ricchan ever did without even ranking as high as Ricchan did. Even Nana who wasn't pushed as an ace got almost as much original content as Ricchan. Disregarding the senbatsu appearances from last year, Renacchi also doesn't get as much content with the same amount of prominence as Nana.

 

You know, I hope they give something like this to MaYuki, Sasshi (for both AKB48 and HKT48), Sayanee, Yuihan, Miichan before they graduate. Just to piss some of you people off here lol.

I will say though, girls like Mion, Sakura, Naachan, Annin, Renacchi, Yuria should have already been signed to agencies already. The focus has been pretty much on girls like Sakura, Mion, Kojimako, Naachan, Annin, Renacchi, Yuria. So the fact that some people here don't think they getting enough opportunities or the fact that they are getting overshadowed by the older gens is hilarious.

Pretty much with some people here, it's "We want a new gen member front and center...expect for Sakura".

Also one thing that does suck (that no one has made even a dent in the J-Entertainment scene yet).

 

Well apparently you were not talking to me since i never said that i hated the old gen, not everything is black or white.

EDIT: Sorry for the misunderstanding, in that quote i'm talking about Sakura and Jurina, not only Jurina So at least one of those haters happens to love Sakura.

About the other subject, i really don't want to keep doing this but basically all those negative things your mention were part of their narrative, the whole "We want a concert in tokyo dome".

If they make Yukirin, Sayanee and Yui perform regularly stages produced by them i won't need to think about other people being mad in order to be happy.
Sorry for the passive aggressive comment, but that doesn't seems like a cool thing to say.

 

LOL yea idt i was talking to you. Well whatever it is let's not argue anymore. This is a tired topic. Let's just focus on supporting our girls for what they have and not what they could have had. Wouldn't that make our lives so much easier and happier? Spoken as a former Bitter Salt Milk Oshi.