Single NGT48 2nd [Sekai wa Doko Made Aozora na no ka?] (2017/12/06)

Whether she's getting too much or too little attention I dunno, what I'm saying is that every time I see her I want to cringe, especially when she talks I can't stand her nails-on-chalkboard voice. It's especially embarrasing when she dissolves into a screechy crying mess like at request hour or pretty much any other big/special occasion. Plus...she's just not pretty...and the first requirement of a centre is to be cute/pretty.

Jesus wept I wish people would let the Sato Amina thing go already, it's been 9 years, she's not even in the damn group anymore.

 

^ You may say she's not pretty buuuuuuut that voice is still number 5 !
#GetOverIt
#IVotedForHer

 

Glad to see the group's second single announced, and I'm also happy to see Ogiyuka as center! I wonder what kind of song the A-side will be?

 

Is there a reason they didn't make it a W-center? In my opinion, Ogiyuka-Hinatan W-center would have been better. Both ranked in the senbatsu.

 

Hinata and Yuka are already double centers for Ponytail to Shushu.

Just let the girl have her just reward for working hard to get to where she is.

On her Showroom, fans were saying that she was photogenic and she had no idea what that meant. She got it in the end.

 

Song that sounds like Ima Para is good too but I hope more for a more cutting edge song.

 

I don't know, lower Senbatsu is a completely different league from Kami 7... I think Ogiyuka deserves her solo center.

 

Spoiler: Some thoughts. Feel free to agree/disagree.

I'd be very cautious in using the justification of the SSK results to say that someone "deserves" to be center. At the same time you overestimate high ranked members, the shot can backfire and make it sound that members that ranked low, didn't reach their goals or didn't even ranked at all shouldn't have an opportunity. If the SSK result were an excuse to choose the center, I can say with property that Sasshi should have centered each AKB48 release (even she being HKT) in the last years (this is just to illustrate how this justification fails). Things don't work that way.

Apparently it was a requirement of Ariola Japan that the senbatsu for the 2nd single were strongly based on SSK results this time, for all the buzz caused by Ogiyuka in the prelims and many members having ranked in the final results (it would be stupid if they didn't take advantage of that). But each occasion is decided in a way and involves several factors (watch the HKT documentary if you haven't yet). Back in last year's SSK, it seems that NGT couldn't show very good results as a whole group, only three members have ranked with Katomina in the UCG and Yukirin being a kennin. That's why they preferred to use the "Showroom event 1st place" thing and go with Rikachan in the previous single. Nevertheless, it can be something different in the 3rd single.

Regardless of who is the center or who should be, there's a much bigger problem in NGT Senbatsu which is the NIII-lock. It's very naive to believe that there're no differences between members, to believe in a flat hierarchy in NGT and that everyone does the same things. This may work for local jobs and PRs but when it comes to music industry, when they present as a music artist (the real deal, after all people barely know what the girls are doing daily but everyone complains when is the next single even in this very forum) is that the differences whether being Senbatsu or not becomes bigger.

After their debut as a group in middle 2015, the members were divided between NIII and KKS with only six months of evaluation and the KKS have never again had another opportunity to change this situation (it doesn't matter if there're KKS in other sister groups waiting longer, bad management decisions shouldn't be followed). To make things worse, the senbatsu for the first single was just a copy and paste of NIII without any deeper analysis member by member (at least this is how it seemed). Management may have thought it was okay if they put the KKSs into the b-sides and giving them their own song but still, not being in the Senbatsu leaves you out of various events as music artist (have you seen @jam?) And now, for the 2nd single, it's the same copy and paste of NIII again plus the KKS ranked in SSK this time.

One of the problems with the HKT Senbatsu is that usually there're many senbatsu-locks and very few slots left for other members. Here we are talking about a senbatsu-lock which is an entire team. Obviously there're one or more members of NIII that benefit from it of avoiding to lose their places to a KKS (personally I think at least Mihachan should be senbatsu at this point, and Ayutaro in an extent). Seeing that this situation isn't going to change (or change in a very low pace), we're starting to see NGT's own version of members escape (first Miizun and now Otaki).

In short, SSK is not everything (at least not always), NIII should not be Senbatsu for granted and yeah, there exist competitiveness among members when it comes to opportunities, even more when the new members arrive.

Sorry for the long post, I usually don't do this.

 

I agree with you. Actualy SSK now is nothing. Rich fans with big money and his(her) kami-oshi in kami-7. easy! Ogiyuka #5? What a joke... but after this SSK I think she become more popular, but this is not a guarantee that she will really popular idol, just look at Suda or Kaotan with their High ranks. as for #1 popular member is Mahohon (Harenchi scandal ).

Also: http://ngt48.新潟.jp/archives/1067660771.html
If this is true Sony play a dirty game! Luring prospective girls that pass another auditions... hm...

 

So according to you guys SSK doesn't matter?
Whatever, if I were mngmnt I'd still put ogiyuka as the center
Cmon guys it doesn't matter how many fans voted (you also have no idea how many people voted for her, so stop assuming) she made some people get her in 1st place at prelims and 5 at the end. That's a huge accomplishment. Was it 75k votes? Well, that's money to mngmnt's wallet. Something none of the other girls have reached, so yeah even if only one person voted for her, that rich guy gave (if a single is 10 yen) like 750,000 yens to the agency. So SSK does matter.
She's center, and I'm so glad because she's a hard worker. And apparently a money maker


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yes of course. may be rwo years ago... TOP-10 was matter... now... may be TOP-3 only

 

Read the argument again.

If she ranks the highest every time does it mean she "deserves" to be center every time?

But since it's her first time anyways I'm not complaining.

And @Humbucker knows what's up, the real issue here should be the senbatsu formation. The situation between NIII and KKS is showing quite lazy decisions from management by neglecting the girls from KKS from ever having any good stuff.

I know there is no perfect system to fix this but they should at least try some rotation instead of adding 2 more spots in the same senbatsu from last single.

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Many of the non-selected Kenkyuusei and some of those regular members gifted with sensitivity have already started complaining about it on their Showroom since the day of the announcement, mind you.
To me, the matter of NIII members having their position locked within the Senbatsu can already be solved by allowing all members into it, while the total number is still low. This is not HKT where they have 50 people to handle, this is NGT where they have 24 people at most (and decreasing, if Imamura doesn't change his ways, more about it later). Having 24 people (rather than 18) in Senbatsu is not only easily manageable, but it would barely make any difference.
In terms of giving screentime to everyone on TV performances, it's just a matter of ordinary camerawork. In terms of how the PVs will be handled, it's a non-issue. Seishun Dokei was supposed to have a formation with Rika as its center, right? Right? But you can't even tell since most of the scenes have the members arranged in a circle and the camera keeps rotating between everyone equally.
Let's abstain from any divides until the 2nd gen comes around (if ever), then you'll finally have a clean separation between senpai and kouhai that would at last warrant selecting certain members instead of others.
Either that, or do something like the Kenkyuusei slot of theater shows (another peculiarity which exists only in NGT) and allow Kenkyuusei to rotate inside the Senbatsu for the time being.

And there's little that would make me believe that this decision to go with a formation based on Sousenkyo results didn't come directly from Imamura, who's being divisive on purpose ("to keep spirits up", you know) This is a man that comes from SKE where such stuff already happened and had been the cause of mass graduations in the past.
After all, what can you say about a "man" that openly mocked members in front of their faces by saying that, whatever efforts they may have made during the year, it won't matter unless they rank in at Sousenkyo? It surely happened when he had a talk with Maho (something which apparently rarely happens in the first place) about her being at the top of the Rakuten Sousenkyo. It makes me glad that on the day of the preliminary results she let it all out on her Showroom stream for everyone to know.
"The Rakuten Sousenkyo is going great, right? ... But if don't rank into the (actual) Sousenkyo, it won't matter. ... Well, you have fallen low, so this is just one of my tactics" "You say it a lot. I got neglected for two years, of course you can say such a thing now" "Well, we'll see after the preliminary results"
"Even when I told him that I was 24th at the preliminaries, he was like « But if you don't rank in at the finals, it still won't matter~»"
Nice advices he's got there. This is how this man thinks and behaves.
As a matter of fact, I'm surprised that so far she's been the only one who had her eyes open about the issue and spoke out multiple times against his misbehaviors (another serious one being his open interference in the creation of Janken units) while all other members, some of whom are surely treated much more unfairly, either stay silent or just go "it can't be helped" (Nanako even seems to be almost smitten with him sometimes...).
The problem here is that members are sadly made to believe (or just tell themselves) that Sousenyo results isn't all that matters, when it turns out that for the management this is the only thing that actually does and they, the members, haven't been warned yet. Not everyone and not on time, at least.
In conclusion, start by removing Imamura and you won't have problems concerning gori-pushes (Rika is right in this category too, just so you know) and neglected members up to this degree.

No hard feelings about Ogiyuka being center, by the way. On the contrary she is a more respectable role model than many other possible candidates for center, story-wise, character-wise, personality-wise. That she managed to rank in so high and get the center while under such conditions is a huge relief: what Imamura wanted from Sousenkyo was probably a confirmation from fans to keep his current gori-pushes going, but the results proved him to be in the wrong instead. Serves him right.

 

Is imamura a one man management team? I don't think so. He would like be every other manager, passing on higher management decisions. It works the same in every industry.

 

I think the problem is not NIII-lock. The problem is the long-waiting KKS promotion. There is a reason to differentiate offical member and KKS member in the first place. When a KKS is good enough, she should be promoted. It is weird if a KKS gets in senbatsu while some official ones are dropped in several singles. It is fine if a KKS gets in once, but it should mean she will be promoted soon.

Better promoting girls (either into NIII or G) & shuffle the senbatsu.

 

That's the nail on the head. Well there will need to be a slight shuffle when Kitarie goes. They ought to be having auditions soon.

Mahohon is having to prove herself I think after the near scandal from last year. Every industry is the same, the final result is what management can use in their decision-making. If they drop someone for another who had a good interim results, the management will be pulled up for questioning. It is the result at the end of the whole process/race that counts. NGT48 is part of the 48 Group, so they can't run too far away from the management style when it comes to dealing with external partners like Sony.

The girls are venting their frustrations via Showroom. It is the fans that will have to feed that back to management. If enough fan feedback is received, because fans vote with their money, change will come. Especially in Japan, customer satisfaction is king when the are many other idol groups to go support.

BTW, the girls are not oblivious to the fact that this is how things work in the 48 Group. Many of them were 48 Group fans before becoming part of the 48 Group themselves. They have their oshimen, just that now the oshimen if still active in the 48 Group is their dai senpai and rival.

I, for one, would want to see what person comes out at the end of all this venting. If she throws in the towel now just because it is not how she expects it to be (a small bump in the whole scheme of things), she is going to have a hard time in real life. As a fan, I support someone who is doing her best and utmost in every situation. We already have too many people that give up or tries to change jobs because their manager is not 'helpful'.

OgiYuka has many fans because of her tenacity inspire them.

 

so this is where everyone was at lol

I read all your comments and I srsly agree with everyone!

Honestly, you shouldn't have to be a team member to be in senbatsu. As for the center, I was hoping for Hinatan but I'm fine with Ogiyuka centering this one.
The best part about NGT48 is it's multiple aces/centers, so I hope we see Hinatan, Okappa, Rikachan and Katomina each centering the b-sides. That was my favorite part about Seishun Dokie.

 

As a matter of fact, Imamura Etsuro were announced to become SKE Theater Manager during 2014 Shuffle (Around February 2014). He could be blamed for all graduation happened during latter half of 2014 until early half of 2015(March 31) when he is transferred to NGT48. But for the worse mass graduation in 2013 and early 2014, He wasn't in-charge.

I understand your hostility toward him. Yet please, don't dilute your fact. Pal.

As for the @Humbucker insight, this is normal. Even in other groups.
As much as we want everyone to be treated equally, non-senbatsu girls always have it hardest.
But what was the point of all-24 senbatsu? That is not an appreciation to girl(and her fans) hard work. More like a pity.

Rotation is the way. But could people handle the drama of the "Out" now?

 

I don't think that she has any chance to promote as a TOP NGT member. Like Harunyan for example. I think she graduate soon... She is not young... 22 years old. Mnmgmnt don't promoting her. They have favorite members: Okappa, Katomina, Nakai, Honma, Ogiyuka, also Kitarie who will graduate not soon and Yukirin. also very loved by management Tsugumin and Noe. She has "scandal", just absurd scandal... which ruined her reputation! And she hasn't work, she is in Niigata, not Tokyo. Rhere is no work in Niigata for idol, model...
Actualy I hope she would graduate as soon as posible. While she has youth and time, rather than wasting her time in the group. maybe she can achieve something by herself in Tokyo or can live a normal life

 

Sorry if my text was confuse. I don't expect senbatsu and non-senbatsu members do the same things, on the contrary, I wanted to say that it's important to be in senbatsu and that KKS should have the opportunity to participate in it too when there's a release before their promotions to teams. It was not me who talked about the all-24 senbatsu. If anything, I think they should have dropped 2 NIII members to include the 2 KKS to total 16 (the magic number of 48 group).