What if you were Nogizaka's management

I've often made comments about how I would've liked Nogizaka to be and what kind of decisions I would've made.
So a thread like that came to my mind: imagine being the one who runs and takes decisions about Nogizaka46. What would've have you made different, what kind of thing you would have changed?

Here's mine. First of all, I would have made 1st generation with a smaller amount of members. I think 36 were too much, they've done it like that cause they wanted to start from the beginning with a senbatsu and undergirls, but that caused an high amount of filler members that people don't even remember about, while I think until a 2nd gen happens, all girls should be on senbatsu, similar to what has been with Keyakizaka.

So here's my 22 members selection of Nogizaka's first gen which to me are the greatest representation of Nogizaka's quality.

1st gen debut: august 2011 (22 members)
Akimoto Manatsu , Ikuta Erika , Ikoma Rina , Ito Marika , Inoue Sayuri , Eto Misa , Saito Asuka , Saito Yuri , Sakurai Reika , Shiraishi Mai , Takayama Kazumi , Nakada Kana , Nishino Nanase , Hashimoto Nanami , Hatanaka Seira , Higuchi Hina , Hoshino Minami , Matsumura Sayuri , Miyazawa Seira , Wakatsuki Yumi , Waada Maya

Ikoma Rina as center is kinda ok for the beginnings, it's fine to not use already their more prominent ones especially when your group is still unknown and need to build-up, I just would've skipped "Hashire Bicycle" which to me is just a filler single, and stopped with "Seifuku no Mannequin" as a center for her, which would've been fine.
"Kimi no Na wa Kibou" should've been the single where the center should've given to Ikuchan, it fits her more, while Ikoma and Hoshino staying on her sides. And then finally Shiraishi with Girl's Rule.

So:
1st single - Guru Guru Curtain - Ikoma Rina center
2nd single - Oide, Shampoo - Ikoma Rina center
3rd single - Seifuku no Mannequin - Ikoma Rina center
4th single - Kimi no Na wa Kibou - Ikuta Erika center
5th single - Girls' Rule - Shiraishi Mai center

Then it's time for the 2nd gen introduction, where I would've added a few members from the original 2nd gen, and then adding some of the others who then have been Keyaki members. In fact, I would've never made sister groups happen. Nogizaka's purpose has always been that it can compete with AKB with fewer but more quality members, but splitting them into different groups is troublesome to have an only one full of qualities, so 2nd gen would be something like:

2nd gen debut: may 2014 (+ joints from 2nd gen 2.0) (12 members)
Ito Junna , Kobayashi Yui , Sagara Iori , Shinuchi Mai , Sugai Yuuka , Suzuki Ayane , Suzumoto Miyu , Terada Ranze , Hirate Yurina , Hori Miona , Watanabe Rika , Watanabe Risa

Here's when the undergirls system happens, Hirate would've been center of most undergirls songs which would'be been more about what Keyakizaka has been, so songs like "Silent Majority", "Ambivalent", "Eccentric", "Garasu wo Ware" etc. so both senbatsu and undergirls would've had big songs and public interest.

After that, another thing I would've changed is that KENNIN thing between Ikoma and Matsui Rena. I would've never let it happen. 46 group should've never been associated to the 48 like that with this kennin thing, I never liked that, It would've helped them to be more known but the could've have still done it by themselves with their efforts and good and quality members. Another thing I would've have changed is the Nanase-centrism that started after Kidzuitara Kataomoi, I think it was good and deserved for Nanase to have these centers, but I think the Nanase / Shiraishi pair deserved to treated equally and give them the same amount of centers.

So more about:
6th single - Barrette - Hori Miona center
7th single - Kidzuitara Kataomoi - Nishino Nanase center
8th single - Natsu no Free & Easy - Shiraishi Mai center
9th single - Nandome no Aozora ka? - Ikuta Erika center
10th single - Inochi wa Utsukushii - Nishino Nanase center
11th single - Kanashimi no Wasurekata - Shiraishi Mai / Nishino Nanase w/center (yeah, I would've made this as an official single, I think it fits perfecty as an Inochi follow-up).

Then, we are at around end of 2015, at this point Nogizaka would've need a song that definetely puts them on a status where they are well known by the general public. Since the kennin thing with AKB never happened, they needed even more. It's the same time of when AKB released its 42nd single, which is Takamina's grad song, with the big hit "365 nichi no kamihikouki" as a B-side. That song went huge especially cause it was featured on a famous drama, but I think that song should've given to Nogizaka. It fits so much Nogi's image (the lyrics, the video), and it would definetely promote and establish them with their sound. Ikuchan would've been the perfect center for it. Then 3rd gen happened which is around the time there were selections for Hiragana Keyakizaka (now Hinatazaka) 1st gen members happened, so, here again, instead of splitting them into different groups, we could've had a 3rd gen full of just top qualitiy girls.

3rd gen debut: september 2016 (12 members)
Ito Riria , Iwamoto Renka , Umezawa Minami , Ozono Momoko , Kato Shiho , Kubo Shiori , Sasaki Kumi , Sasaki Mirei , Sato Kaede , Takamoto Ayaka , Yamashita Mizuki , Yoda Yuki.

12th single - 365nichi no Kamihikouki - Ikuta Erika center
13th single - Ima, Hanashitai Dareka ga, iru - Nishino Nanase / Shiraishi Mai w/center
14th single - Harujion ga Sakukoro - Fukagawa Mai center
15th single - Hadashi de Summer - Saito Asuka center
16th single - Futari Saison - Hori Miona center (yeah, that's the time where Miona deserved another center, and a song like Futari Saison would've been perfect for her and as a quality Nogi's A-side)
17th single - Sayonara no Imi - Hashimoto Nanami center
18th single - Influencer - Shiraishi Mai / Nishino Nanase w/center
19th single - Nigemizu - Yamashita Mizuki / Yoda Yuki w/center
20th single - Kaze ni Fukaretemo - Saito Asuka center
21th single - Synchronicity - Shiraishi Mai center
22nd single - Jikochuu de Ikou! - Saito Asuka center
23rd single - Kaerimichi wa Toomawari Shitakunaru - Nishino Nanase center

Then finally the 4th gen debut which of course, as the previous ones, would've get a more quality one with the girls split on the different groups of sakamichi auditions.
4th gen debut: december 2018 (12 members)
Endo Sakura , Ozono Rei , Kaki Haruka , Kamimura Hinako , Kitagawa Yuri , Seki Yumiko , Tamura Hono , Tamura Mayu , Tsutsui Ayame , Hayashi Runa , Hayakawa Seira , Matsuda Rina

 

Did those Keyaki members even audition for Nogi 2nd gen?

And you would've debuted Hirate Yurina when she was 11 years old?

 

2nd gen happened really early, I think management should have waited a bit and then start the 2nd gen in 2014, when Nogi's name is starting to get stronger.
However, Matsui Jurina was 11 too when she debuted.
Btw, Keyaki members didn't audition for Nogizaka I think, but cause in that time there was still not an audition for Nogi's new gen since it happened only in late 2016 with 3rd gen.
At first, nobody knew what Keyakizaka was going to be. They probably even though it was like an SKE48 situation and still having the opportunity to join the Nogizaka46 system as a whole. It's also well known that most of Keyaki girls were huge Nogi fans.
So if the keyakizaka thing never existed, and the auditions continued just for Nogizaka, we could have probably have seen these girls too.

 

Interesting thread @SteCola

If i was management, I would punch my face for a minute straight for not pushing Kashiwa Yukina.

 

Kashiwa Yukina's lack of success as an idol is as much her own fault as anyone else's.

I watched the 1st Anniversary live Blu ray not too long ago and I was paying close attention to both Kashiwa Yukina and Ando Mikumo since that was one of the few times we could see them in action. In one of the Behind the Scenes parts on the extra disc, Reika is being interviewed as she's walking in one of the corridors below the stage. Her and the camera catch up with Yukina and instead of walking along with Reika and joining the conversation, she literally runs away and hides. Like you can see her hide behind something. It could have been an opportunity for her to get some screen time and she ran away from it. There was also an episode of Doko where they got parent's comments and Yukina's mom says she needs to stop putting others before herself, indicating that shying away from opportunity is probably a common theme for her.

She was also a member of Momoiro Clover Z but left before they released their first single. Probably not the best decision in retrospect.

 

I wouldn't change much. After all, I am a fan because of what Nogizaka is, not of what I hope it would be.

If there's one thing, I would be stricter about which songs make the cut. Many songs ooze quality, but there are a few that slipped through that shouldn't have. Koumori yo should never been released in its current state production wise, but also a song such as Route 246 has a quite flat composition compared to the average Nogi song.

And I would improve on communication. The way they teased the MV for Route 246 only led to misunderstandings and confusion. Nothing was done to clarify.

 

If I were the mgmt then everything would be totally different, since I certainly use the group as to pursue my artistic endeavor on the avant-garde with no appeal to the submissive and sentimentality. Zero compromise.

In short, the project either fell short or thrown in obscurity. zehahaha.
Sony just gonna ousted me.

 

The only thing I would do different is do a better job of incorporating new gen members.
I would have given Hori at least one more center. Put every second gen in senbatsu at least once. Given Mizuki a solo center. Put more 3rd gens in senbatsu.
Also feature new gen members more in Nogichuu. Like a 5 episode long segment where Bananaman only interacts with members from a given generation so it doesn't take years for members to be comfortable on the show.

 

Totally agree with that, and if you think about it, in 25 singles:

- 22 are centered by 1st gen
- 1 by 2nd gen
- 1 by 3rd gen
- 1 by 4th gen

and are all center airdrops.

It's something they need to fix asap. Hope we don't see Asuka centers for a while and they start to use more other gens for that.

next centers I would like to see:
26th - Hori
27th - Yamashita
28th - Kaki
and an Ikuta center in the middle if she's going to graduate in between one of them.

 

and more and more exposure to underrated 2ND GEN, 3rd gen and 4th gen in nogi koujichuu. we know that if mgmt still focus on the current 'leftover' of 1st gen and respectives ace from other gens, it will cause a lot of trouble to nogi in the future.my current idea for next koujichuu episode

2nd gen - more talk segments on their private life i.e hobbies/interest/goals
3rd/4th gen - variety episodes i.e summer projects/challenges that they want to overcome/sports/mechaburi (lol)

 

I've never seen the scene of Kashiwa hiding from the camera, but I think hiding from the camera can go both ways. It could be that it was a dedicated interview of the captain where other members weren't supposed to interrupt. I've seen many moments backstage or even on a TV show where the camera is on someone talking and other members clearly get out of the way and don't interact. When another member is on camera, it could be that member's own "moment" and if other members get involved in the scene, that may end up diluting that first member's "moment." I've noticed this when a member is crying on camera as well. Not always but many times, you see other members not go console the member when the camera is on the crying member because that's her "moment." Physically going into the camera frame and consoling her might dilute her moment on camera. After the camera goes away, the other members may go over and physically console them.

But, of the few times I've seen Kashiwa on Nogidoko and Nogibingo, her talk skill and talk activeness was very low. So it's not surprising to see her stay under utilized. One segment on Nogidoko where she talked about volvox though was quite good.

Gen 2 came in in 2013, Keyaki gen 1 in 2015, and Nogi gen 3 in 2016. Even as management with absolute powers, it seems too much to transform Keyaki into Nogi gen 2 lol. But keeping Keyaki gen 1 as kenkyuusei for a year and then transforming them into Nogi gen 3 I would say is "theoretically" possible hehe.

I also think gen 2 came in too early. A year later would've been better, and they needed a bigger push. I think gen 3 and gen 4 pushes have been good. Gen 3 had an entire season of Nogibingo 8 and gen 4 continue to have an entire show dedicated to them.

I would like Nogi LLC to steal Sugai Yuuka, Nagahama Neru, and Futari Saison

I feel like Nogi could use more modern-sounding EDM-sounding songs (not really talking about Route 246, though). The overture, this opening theme, this thing (of course that is featuring a grad, I know), the music from 0:00 to 0:15 here, the music from 0:00 to 0:05 here, and the music from 0:19 in the background here, all to me show that it's not like management doesn't like EDM. There's also the collab between Radio Fish (Oriental Radio) and Nakamoto Himeka, although this was produced (both the music and the lyrics) by Radio Fish. I wonder if management feels that a full on EDM sound might alienate some idol fans. Route 246, although composed by a big time EDM producer of 90s J-pop (I don't know if categorizing Komuro Tetsuya as EDM is correct, but in any case, he was the 90s J-Eurobeat king), somehow doesn't hit me the same way that the above modern-sounding examples do to me. (I wonder if Aki-p told Komuro to make the song a bit softer-sounding to fit Nogi's image.)

Get rid of Aki-p. Sony is surely capable enough to choose the music and lyrics on their own. But I wonder if it's actually Sony management that's afraid of losing Aki-p's brand. If there are idol fans out there who continue to follow and pay attention to what Aki-p personally does and says in public, then he and his brand undeniably has influence. Ever since the sale of North River's 50% ownership of Nogi LLC to Keyholder, it's legally possible for Nogi LLC to operate without much influence from Aki-p.

 

I'm surprised nobody talks about the AKB/Nogi kennin with Ikoma and Matsui Rena. Do you think they did it right with that?
And I hated those SakamichiAKB collaborations on AKB singles.

 

I honestly couldn't care less about those things, but I fail to see what is so wrong about it. Unfortunately, I don't think the collab songs are really good but that's a matter of taste of course.

 

I remember members were really disappointed when they knew Ikoma would've got that KENNIN position opportunity. And I kinda agree with them. AKB and Nogizaka were supposed to be different things. Treating Nogizaka too like an SKE / NMB thing with these kennin positions and collaborations ... I didn't like it at all.

 

A collab is just that, working together to create new art based on equal input. It doesn't change anything about what Nogizaka as a group is.

 

but nogi girls didn't want that. So even their feelings were wrong? Only Ikoma was happy about it of course, cause she had another big opportunity, and in 2014 AKB was still bigger than Nogizaka.

 

I don't know anything about how the girls felt, so I can't comment on that.

But whatever they felt, those feelings shouldn't be judged. Only the way one deals with them. Considering that, the girls handled it perfectly.

 

I don't like the kennin decision, because it only took the spot that a real Nogizaka member should get.
As for song collaboration, I don't mind, as long the song sounds good, which, unfortunately, there is only one song that I like from the collab, Keisha Suru.
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If I were Nogizaka management, I would make a serious drama. Something like Samu no Koto or Saru ni Au, which tells a story about a real social problem. Rather than the story about the softball team with superpower or zombie attack, I want to see Nogi girls play in the drama about sex, bully, drug, alcohol, or something similar. Plus, I will make it an open audition. So, the member that will get the role in the drama is members with real acting skills, not because they are popular.

 

One thing hat came to my mind is... shouldn't the "generations" thing be surpassed at this point?

Why not just making a constantly opened audition where girls can submit whenever they want and if they're seen good enough to become official new members, then it will happen.

 

I once had a similar thought.

Member graduates -> new member enters immediately (or soon thereafter).