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Single NGT48 3rd [Haru wa doko kara kuru no ka?] (2018/04/11)

Discussion in 'NGT48 News & Releases' started by lionel90, Feb 8, 2018.

  1. UrFavAsianGuy

    UrFavAsianGuy Upcoming Girls

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    I agree

    A single center or "face of the group" makes the group boring and WHEN that said "face" leaves, the group will be in deep trouble. Look at SKE post Rena. and there's a reason why Maiyan or Sayanne is still staying in their groups despite being super successful with their solo career
     
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  2. Arinko

    Arinko Member Stage48 Donor

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    Do you think NGT48 would have received the level of success if a 'face' had be set from the get go?

    I am not into other groups just because I don't like their 'face'.

    The NGT48 girls sorta agree that there is a huge responsibility when you are the center and can be stifling. Rika even contemplated leaving after being the center for their 1st single.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2018
  3. enc0re

    enc0re Kenkyuusei Stage48 Donor

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    That's due to lack of popularity and exposure in general imo (we need a nationwide airing variety show pls), a permanent center would give NGT a face but not necessarily more success as other members would unavoidably get less attention. Who in NGT would be able to bear this burden at this point? Imo there is no one yet, maybe later someone will develop into an absolute center and give this group a face. In that aspect I agree that one superstar can be very important to the success of a group.

    Keyaki's Silent Majority became viral in Japan due the great song quality as well as unique dance choreography with much more center focus backed up by Sony's strong marketing, which resulted in way more people recognizing Keyaki and Techi from the start. From the get-go they had already insane brand recognition carried by Techi.

    NGT's first single on the other hand had very good sales but wasn't close to becoming viral such as Keyaki. People who became fans of NGT after the first single are mostly fans of the whole group and less focused on the individual I feel. Of course favorites exist but in general they support the whole group wholeheartedly no matter who the center is. Notice that almost nobody is complaining about changing the centers in the NGT singles?

    What I am trying to say is that while one concept worked greatly for another group, doesn't mean that it will work for every group. NGT would be way less dynamic and interesting with one fixed center which is why I think that the negatives outweigh the positives in this case.

    With so many idol groups competing for popularity I think this might even be the aspect which gives NGT the edge over the others.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2018
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  4. Konno A.

    Konno A. Future Girls

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    For once i kind of agree. Having a face is important and for the most part Yuka and Rika are the "faces of NGT" atm, but when I think of NGT I just think of a majority of the members. I don't pinpoint one member and be like, "yea she's gonna be the center or star of everything". I suppose Rika's management might be trying to make her the face, but considering Hinata and Yuka both outranked her it's a slow work in progress.

    I'm a little curious to know if NGT fans would like the face of NGT to be a girl like born and raised in Niigata? Or I guess it doesn't matter, but just a little curious cause of how intact they are with their perfecture.
     
  5. Shirase Miyuki

    Shirase Miyuki Member

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    I really like this concept of having different centers.
    NGT is way past of this 'attracting people's attentions' phase, as they probably are known by name by Japanese people, with Yuka-Hinatan's SSK success and the RH extravaganza.
    Also, if they put an absolute center, then there is nothing that differs them from other groups (except from rich wotas I guess) in the public's opinion. By having different centers, they have different songs with different feels, they promote different members, and I'm sure it'll help find their long term 'ace' by trying out different centers.
    Imo, Katomina was a great choice for a center, but there were more popular members, like Rika, who is not the 'center' type, she's more kind of a girl who shines next to the center. Okappa as well, I don't think she's such a good choice to push as the face of the group. Yuka, I'd say she's a pretty nice center, but I have more expectations from Hinatan, cause she always shines so bright at performances.
    So this different-centers strategy isn't so bad after all.
     
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  6. antares

    antares Kenkyuusei

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    If you have popular songs, you get recognition no matter what having a fixed face/style or not. I liked the old AKB not because of Acchan, and I believe the public remembered AKB by their Kami-7, not only Acchan. Their most popular song is KFC, in which the “face” already left. And the 365 song helped Sayanee to be recognized widely by public, although she rarely centers an AKB song. Also, what was AKB’s color when they could switch from Heavy Rotation, Beginner, to Sakura no ki ni narou?

    I think it is up to personal preference. I prefer the groups who are dynamic and are capable to do any music style. When listening their tracklist, I want to experience all types of emotions, vibes... I do not like monocolor groups, with which whenever a new song comes out you can know beforehand “Ehh, another depressing song with XX as the center”.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2018
  7. enc0re

    enc0re Kenkyuusei Stage48 Donor

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    Yeah at the end it really is a matter of preference/ different business strategy. The single center concept has been tried and proven so I can see where the people come from who think that is better.

    I, though, believe both concepts can work exceptionally well as long it is done right and I think NGT is doing it right atm.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2018
  8. Arinko

    Arinko Member Stage48 Donor

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    Anju got a lot of attention centering sekai at the handshake event. People are like, wow next center material. If fans know that there is a possibility of their girl centering, if they put their wallets into it, they will spend. So with NGT, the possibility can turn into reality.
     
  9. Matsui Hikari

    Matsui Hikari Future Girls Stage48 Donor

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    I think the center doesn't matter as long as the song or group as a whole is impactful. In Keyaki's case, a lot of their members are capable of carrying the center so I don't understand why management keeps going back to Techi. However, in NGT's case, I don't think they have left much impression on the public, member and group wise. In my opinion, they should've stuck with Katomina as a center with Ogiyuka as the challenger. Katomina was the first one to gain interest so I don't see why management decided to abandon Katomina and go with Rika and Okappa. The current strategy works for internal fans but for other people, it really doesn't do much. It's like "ah what group is this again?" because it's impossible to have the public know the group if the attention is constantly being shifted.

    Edit: error
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2018
  10. Yoo A

    Yoo A Kenkyuusei

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    This is just my opinion but I think the w center between okappa and katomina is the best and that the management should do another song where both of them are center again.
     
  11. Cisalpine88

    Cisalpine88 Next Girls

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    Point number one.
    Honestly speaking, the concept of having an absolute center that would serve as an unique spokesperson/delegate/representative for the whole group had long run its course when the focus of idol self-promotion shifted away from television and other old media avenues. It's safe to say that it has become an archaic and backwards concept by now, like television itself.

    To understand why early AKB needed it so much and why it stuck around for so long, one must understand that:
    a) More so by necessity than by free choice, most of the PR activities had to take place through guest appearances on major TV shows, with the members sitting on the hinadan along with the other cast of the week. There was a need for the show hosts, even more so than for the viewers, to have a familiar face to be in close contact with, so that they would know for sure how to deal with them and build chemistry with.
    Also, the choice was of course dictated by the number of available TV spots being physically limited, in contrast to the large pool of members. This meant that the agencies just couldn't afford to send on TV members who they weren't 100% sure would have been a "safe bet", even in terms of ratings -- and due to this, the choice of course fell on the same old bunch, if only by inertia. It was all an ugly match of the chair game. This actually caused a vicious circle because, you see...

    b) Up until around 2010 Japan was also firmly stuck in the Web 1.0 and garake phase. Twitter as the multimedia platform that we know now didn't exist yet (AmebaNau was the closest some members at the time came to use), video streaming sites were a rarity (H!P was a pioneer for once in that regard with Ustream, which makes me surprised that AKB waited up until mid-2016 to try something similar through Showroom), agency-run blogs were insufficient to make up for this deficiency.
    Therefore, the avenues of self-production, outside of TV, that would have potentally enabled non-Senbatsu members to get themselves known and appreciated by the public as well as vindicate themselves in the eyes of the management were little or basically none -- especially the net-based, cost-free, limitless ones like we have now -- with the only result of negating any chance for them to spontaneously climb up the hierarchy, and only causing its further crystallization.
    There's no way a preset center position would've ever been subject to competition or come under challenge in a situation like this, also because it was one that didn't allow shake-ups without management's permission. And if you were born a non-media non-Senbatsu, you were also doomed to live and die a non-media non-Senbatsu simply because in this situation you were denied any possibility. Indian-style caste system at its finest.

    Even if a non-Senbatsu member had the potential to be popular and supported by the masses, doors were shut for her because first she would have had to necessarily get on TV to be known, as there were no other promotional platforms in between to act as gradual steps. Even if she struck it lucky and got the agency's blessing to be featured on television, in light of point a), it still would have taken a long period of negotiations and she would've remained only a minor theater personality in the end, what with the fact that TV producers preferred to keep working again and again with "sure bet" members than having to "rewire" themselves and learn to work with new ones every time.

    With that said, Acchan's overexposure caused her and AKB to have more haters than supporters. Even though Acchan was the center, it also doesn't change the fact that member like Takamina, Mariko, Kojiharu, Yuko, Tomochin, MaiMai, Yukirin, etc.. all had equal if not superior presence, which if anything makes this an argument against the over-reliance on only one center figure. And truth be told, AKB's success and meteoric rise in media was more thanks to them making a deal with the devil that was Dentsu. After all these years, it's about time to call a spade a spade.

    Point number two.
    NGT has always been promoted as a group with a varied and rich array of personalities (here's a fun drinking game: take a shot whenever you read a NGT article and find the words 個性豊かな), so I don't know where you are getting the notion that people at large would see them as "lacking individuality" because of this move. If anything, it says the exact opposite about them. It also takes a short looking at their Showroom to realize this, but if some people don't care enough to get educated then I don't see the need to forcibly convince anyone of it. Proselytizing isn't my favorite job.

    And for that matter, all aspects of NGT already employ a rotation system when you think about it.
    Niigatta Friend rotates their featured members without exclusions (and the member with the most appearances is surpringly Ayutaro), the three (used to be four) full-length weekly radio shows they have already did the same since long before (by the way, a while back they checked who had the most appearances on Minna Kami-Taiou and it turns out it was Ayutaro again).
    And then, because it bears repeating: both for the promotion of Seishun Dokei and Sekai wa~ they had these Nationwide Simultaneous promotional campaigns, in which ALL members, NIII and Kenkyuusei alike, formed small groups of two or three and were dispatched across Japan from Sapporo to Hiroshima, where they would appear on local radio/TV and advertise the single by themselves, without needing anyone's help. There's little that makes me believe that they'll ever discontinue this practice, even with the next singles. I'd die to see any other group having enough confidence in their member's individual capabilities to do so. For all the raving about the "massive" campaign for STU's debut single, even they couldn't bring themselves to do the same.
    All things considered, making the center fixed when everything else is fluid would only feel unnatural and contraddictory.
    As Kitarie said in the beginning, NGT is to be a group where every member is given spotlight, no one excluded.
    As the theater manager repeated today at the Q&A booth of the handshake event: "(In NGT) there's no difference as in between Senbatsu and non-Senbatsu, regular member and Kenkyuusei. It's purely and simply 1st generation. Therefore, the same will apply to the 2nd generation too. There won't be any disparity in the allocation of jobs."

    One would be insane to oppose what is essentially egalitarism in favor of caste hierarchy, but all I can say is take it or leave it.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2018
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  12. antares

    antares Kenkyuusei

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    Investment and promotion matter. Keya got good songs, good choreography and huge promotion from the beginning. It is a favored project of Aki-P. It is the first sister group of the trending Sakamichi series, who lives in Tokyo & gets much more support from Sony and general media. They did have a huge promotion for the debut single & it was performed on Music Station before releasing. Keya was created to be a national group. On other hand, NGT is just a geographical expansion of the 48 brand. I can see a half-ass effort of promoting the group from AKS. When were the debut singles of NGT and Keya46 and how were they promoted? Which TV Shows are they having and in which scale?
     
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  13. enc0re

    enc0re Kenkyuusei Stage48 Donor

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    Exactly!! it's kinda unfair to use Keyaki as benchmark when they operate on a different budget level. Exceptional marketing made bland, passive girls (most Keyaki members) to national idols.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2018
  14. tomumion

    tomumion Kenkyuusei

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    Since we're having Hinatan as center, which is great candidate, my only hope is single as great as all NGT's songs :D
     
  15. Shirase Miyuki

    Shirase Miyuki Member

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    I hate to say this, but this is so true [hehe] (Except I like depressing songs, don't mind me...)

    For the song, I hope Aki-P decides to be generous and gives NGT an actually memorable song. I'm really sorry to say this, but STU's Kurayami can't be even compared with Seishun Dokei etc. in my opinion. I want a song that surpasses Max Toki.
    With Hinatan as center, I want a song like Iiwake Maybe (maybe cause in my head Hinatan's a presence like Acchan).
    Looking forward to it! :blush:
     
  16. Arinko

    Arinko Member Stage48 Donor

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    And end up like how HKT is now? Sasshi has to resign her kennin position to go back to HKT because they need her. Did the HKT members not try to take stock of their weakness when they saw how a younger group like NGT48 is able grow so much, while HKT haven't been able to. They were looking to rely less on sasshi.

    NGT48 on the other hand has home grown all their members to 'monster' level, that fans are like 'when are Kitarie and Yukirin going to leave and not hog the lime light?'

    Edit: I am all for Yukirin staying on however long she wants to. She is technically NGT48 member number two. The 1st Generation has a huge respect for her although this doesn't stop them from trying to take a dig at her whenever the rare occasion she does show up.
     
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  17. Cisalpine88

    Cisalpine88 Next Girls

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    [There was a post by kyoto48☀︎☂ I was quoting here, it's gone now]

    And then, to avoid weakening our point, let's conveniently forget about the existence of Hana, who needs to be stuck into everything until the end of times because she originally was endorsed by Sashihara, and dropping her before she has produced any notable results would be tantamount to admitting that it was an ill-advised choice to goripush her in the first place, which more than anything else would hurt the reputation of "Sashihara as a Keen-Eyed Producer" that she's currently trying to sew on herself. (´ ~`ヾ)

    HKT sounds more like an example of what to avoid, the more you look at it. Blatant conflicts of interest and favouritism included.
    No thanks.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2018
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  18. Matsui Hikari

    Matsui Hikari Future Girls Stage48 Donor

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    In my opinion, I think NMB was/is great. They started off with Milky, Nana, and Sayanee. The three was able to gain a lot or at least decent public recognition. After Nana’s graduation, there was still Milky and Sayanee, the powerful duo. Now that Milky has graduated, there’s still Sayanee featuring Mirurun and to a less extend, Akarin, Aayan, and Yuuri. It’s quite hard to say whether or not NGT is going that direction but NMB had smart moves. NMB was able to have different centers throughout while keeping it very lowkey so it isn’t overwhelming to non-fans.
     
  19. antares

    antares Kenkyuusei

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    Not really. I think NMB management has good intentions. However, things often do not go as they expect: bad luck on pushed members + unexpected luck comes from nowhere.

    NMB planned to have 2 aces (Sayanee, Milky); they even pushed Milky more at the beginning. However, the 2 scandals destroyed her momentum and made her lagged behind Sayanee. Nana was great but not at the same level as Sayanee or Milky. After Nana and Milky graduated, Sayanee is too strong compared to the rest. Management made a bold move by making the no-Sayanee concert and they failed badly. It created a year of anxiety before everything got back in shape last autumn.

    W/ the 2nd gen, they put money on Jo but it failed badly w/ her graduation. Then, they pushed Fuuchan but her potential was limited. Fortunately, Mirurun came out of nowhere and became really hot. She surpassed Fuuchan and became the official next ace. Though, she was still under Sayanee shadow until last autumn. Yoshida Akari is another lucky case for NMB management: when staffs started dropping her, she made a great comeback w/ the Youtube miracle.

    Next to Miru, Ota Yuuri is the next potential ace. Unfortunately, she gets health issue recently. Nagisa reached her limit few years ago. Aayna has a great potential but she needs results to prove it.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2018
  20. sorasan

    sorasan Future Girls

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    Yea, the wasted chance I see was Jo's case. If she had stayed, she would had been top few but currently, I don't see her manage to go back to that spotlight like her former self.
     

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