Owada Nana (Naanya) / 15th Generation

did you people already vote for naanya already? can you help me though? how can i vote? (i only have 1 device so i will vote for naanya since she's the reason why i joined this fandom and yeah that announcement...)

 

I was pretty surprised when Naanya announced graduation back then, because little did I know about the whole thing (like "body issues", the bullying stuff, etc). So after coming here I felt better, because after all I've read, graduation seemed the happiest for her. A few days ago, however, some people started saying that AKS made her graduate along with Mikichan because of the scandal... Don't know how true this is

 

The graduation was completely her decision. She was probably fed up with everything happened to her.

 

We're never really ever going to find out. Not unless either of them does a tell-all. And that kind of burning bridges is generally frowned upon. AKS no longer arbitrarily fires people who broke the rules as they've been content with reducing a girl's promotion relative to what she did (and to who she is). Far less noise and with arguably the same results.

 

This is a really fantastic post and it's all true. Nowadays fans tend to be fans only of their oshimen(s) rather than the entire group, and in the foreign fandom particularly, people tend to hide themselves away in their oshimen(s)' threads and attack anyone coming in who offers criticism like a bulldog protecting its yard. We should remember that all the girls are probably quite nice at heart, including Naanya, despite the poor decisions they might make, and try not to bring other fans down too much. But it's also important to be objective once in a while and realize that the fandom has changed along with the group, and @M4YUYU's post really does quite well at explaining exactly how it's changed and why. I think the overseas fan spirit of banding together to support the entire group probably died along with the team spirit in AKB. Now nearly every member is only out for herself and her post-grad career, and many fans' behavior reflects that as well. We should make an effort to remember that AKB is a business and the members are employees, not holy martyrs who can do no wrong and always need to be treated with kid gloves lest their fragile egos be bruised.

As for Naanya (and Miki) being pressured or even made to leave by management... I can't deny it's a possibility, but I personally think it's unlikely.
We haven't seen an overt "punishment" for a scandal since Murashige Anna was booted out of senbatsu, and that wasn't even AKB management making the decision. All scandals since what, Sasshi? have been essentially swept under the rug by management, and due to lack of obvious repercussions from the Naanya/Miki scandal, it's fairly clear that was swept under the rug as well. Both of them most likely could have kept on going in AKB for several years and all this would have blown over in time, even if their reputations never fully recovered.

I think it's most likely that they both decided to graduate because of two factors: reputation after their scandal and weight gain. As for a reputation, it is notoriously difficult to build back up in the Japanese entertainment market. Unless you truly want your life's career to be entertainment, like Miichan does, the pain and hardship to build it back up is just not worth it. I know their scandal wasn't even very serious, but for reasons stated above in @M4YUYU's post (AKB members are being looked at more as individuals than as one part of a whole nowadays), even a small scandal can be very damaging, because there are 250 more girls who haven't scandaled at all. As for weight gain, both the girls are clearly gaining a lot of weight. We've been over this already earlier in the thread but suffice to say it is more difficult to be an idol when you have to strictly diet to keep fitting into your costumes. These two factors together would make a compelling reason for any member to choose to graduate. I don't think management would even have to pressure them to make that decision.

 

@M4YUYU Paruru answered well to her push but she has asthma and had to take a long break. There are so many reasons for graduations,who knows the reasons behind them. We can only guess.

 

@rka I said that there are many reasons for a girl, for example, Naanya, to decide their own graduation:

Spoiler

I didn´t try to push any narrative. I said that there are many reasons for a girl to graduate, including Paruru. I never called Paruru a mega success push, I said she didn´t fail, because is not like she never became popular or never reached Kami7. So yes, she became one of the most popular members. Even if she didn´t reach the level that people expected and she changed rankings. She had her flaws as well as other members had their own flaws. So maybe that also had to do with not reaching the first places. But I would say that her lack of AKB activities during half a year because of her chronic asthma also had to do with it. That can happen to any member who become sick and is on hiatus so many months.

 

She would have made a great center. She had a very pretty voice too.

 

I agree, i think this is something everyone know but nobody really bring backs to the table. The context is important to explain someone's popularity. Paruru was popular because she was atypic, but never reached the level management wanted of her. That's why they switch to Sakura

"Cultivate a positive group spirit" deserved my like. It's pointing out something absolutely mandatory to bring back AKB to an acceptable level in the entertainment industry. We have lived way too long in ultra popular member back up comfort zone, and are overwhelmed by the fear to lose the million. We need to regain confidence even if it means losing a little in the deal. Bring back this feeling of team/unity.

I think Keyakizaka has the answer. I have observed fandom and group alike for one year, and they have developed a brand new fanbase on their own (very young, not old fan from 48group), with a different mentality. Why? Because the girls have all strong character that define/make them stand out individually, but it exclusively serve the purpose of unity. A lot of fans love the group as one, and it has been built for this sake ( 20 senbatsu line up, heavily group based choregraphy). Something quite unique and this is my opinion, Keyakizaka front row is so rich in interesting members that you end up liking almost everyone ( once you start with a member that caught your attention, then you realize the one next to her is also awesome, then after few TV show someone else is striking you down with amazing dance performance).

I think to re-focus on making good quality music would be a good start for the 48group. But how to manage that when Aki-p force management in his lyrics monopole? That's a problem to fix.

 

^Some very good point there. I agree. One point I like to add is that this fear is really on in the head of managment. The Non-Yukirin/Mayuyu girls are just fine. They are not inferior to Yukirin. Managment should take the leap of faith and just go with there new girls - Don't worry about falling popularity; the system will eventually correct itself.

 

can somebody translate this? i think this is about NHK and when i translate it via BING she said on last part is "My last kohaku UTA gassen. Just wait for the result. Pounding"

 

She says that the voting is over and she says thanks to everyone who voted for her spreading it through SNS.

 

I disagree here. Because in my opinion it is not the management and their pushes that is causing the problem, but the new fans. It seems like a large part of the AKB fandom has changed (in a negative way). It feels like so many people are only "my oshi first" and don't give a damn about the group. The number of fans who truly care about the group's wellbeing has really become less than before. People really aren't happy about 1m sales/week if their oshi didn't get a good position in senbatsu or in the b-sides.

I don't know... I'm opposite of this. Sure I'm happy if my favorite members get good positions, and I'll talk about members' positions. But honestly, they can take sakura and mayuyu and jurina completely out of the next single and if they still sell 1m/week, I will be f*cking ecstatic. I might complain a little, but I don't care that much because the group is still doing amazing. And I honestly, even worse than that, is "fans" who say they will stop following akb when their oshi quits. Seriously why even follow the group then... I seriously don't get them.

No matter what the management does with new pushes or new mentality, these new type of fans will not change. I guess that is the price to pay for AKB being the top idol group for years now.

 

Fair point.

But don't you think those two(Management pushes and new fans) are correlated as well?
Like, new fans comes during the time when the pushes are going. And with no surprise, their oshimen is the one that is pushed, thanks to exposure.
That's how they start their fanning days. "My oshi first". With luck, they would get a secondary oshi some times later. Or not.

You (and I) can't expect them to support the entire group from the get go. I know I didn't at my early days, worse with SSK running, and went through many graduation to actually come to these realization. It comes with time, I suppose.

However I agree with "fans" who quit or jumping ship because their oshi quits are worse. I wish them to give us one last laugh when they rage quit.

 

keyakizaka doesn't suffer from this "my oshi only" problem. And they are new fans.

 

Naanya got in for the Kouhaku performance, congrats.

 

You have data to back this up?

In some ways I do get them, I stopped following Iron Maiden for a couple of years after Bruce Dickinson left the group, it just wasn't the same with Blaze Bayley on vocals.

On the other hand though, AKB are not exactly a traditional group and fluctuations in membership are expected so the comparison isn't 100% applicable. Still I can understand people having difficulties adjusting to a new reality

 

This statement come from my own experience of the keyakizaka fandom, which includes : twitter, matome, LINE group, 2 channel, etc.

Keyakizaka management did a good job developing everyone personality. Even if what i see is entitled to my opinion, the excellent results of Keyakizaka in handshake is a fact

 

CONGRATS TO OUR NAANYA!! she made it and we made it for her before she grad...