Thay had to cancel it due to the Japan's state of emergency that will last until 8th march, I wonder what will they do after that...
57th single. AKB members: 416/1669 Sister groups: 335/2944 Let's just pretend for one second that in those sister group slots that weren't sold out there's enough to equal the sales of AKB members and that AKB slots that weren't sold out are completely empty. They would still have to sell enough to make up for 81 slots. Even if something absurd as this happened, that single would sell 583 thousand copies without sister groups. 300 thousand is the number of sales of SKE pre-covid. With less members and a smaller market. Things in Akihabara are bad, but not that bad. Not to mention that without sister group members, many tickets used for those members would be used to shake hands with an AKB. Now, about releasing a single with votes. The Sousenkyo determines the senbatsu (and coupling songs) of the subsequent single... that wouldn't have tickets for real handshakes. See the problem?
AKB was losing money in the early days, iirc they were massively in debt to Sony when they were booted from defstar. Which is one of the reasons Aki-p helped devise Nogizaka46, basically he owed Sony a huge favour. I've also been thinking along the lines that Akb is low on money recently. They've sold off some of the family silver (HKT, SKE and ngt) to other agencies and they have hardly any activities. Even the merchandise recently has gotten shoddy, the Netshop photo sets are complete garbage lately. Anyway its just a theory.
This is the first time I have heard of this. AFAIK the self-produced sets are very, very popular. A lot of my friends and me must have bought more sets in the past year than what we did previously.
AKB48 just announced more schedule for online talk event: Mar 13, and also they are planning more events at the end of April. They are also selling more CD for the new date and also for oshimashi on Mar 14. http://akb.kingrecords.co.jp/info/003575.html http://akb.kingrecords.co.jp/info/003576.html TL;DR: AKB48 aren't going to release new CD very soon.
ISTR that the limited editions of the summer singles used to come with both SSK voting and HS tickets. Thanks for the heads-up - but yes it seems to confirm that there'll be no new single soon (although presumably sales from these extra dates will briefly propel this single back into the charts).
If you couldn't watch the valentine cooking contest, this channel has it https://www.youtube.com/user/nontitle2012
Each to their own, I've had a different experience. Last set I bought was Jan 2020 vol 1 (tartan costume), I'm taking a pass on the sets going on pre-order tonight. Speaking in general terms, the lighting in the self-taken sets is awful, the clothing/costumes are dull and the angles/poses are very often derivative with too many similar shots, in a lot of cases they have a bunch of close-ups with no full-length shots.
Today it's been 8 years since the release of So Long! I wanted to talk about this song because I remember when it was first released and some fans found the song too slow or boring, but actually after listening to it again in the next years, I found this song so beautiful. I just wish it had a better music video (maybe pink theme with sakuras like in this performance) and I wish the studio version was maybe slightly less long XD it's called So Long! but still, haha. Also, I really really liked the So Long! dramas that they did along with the single! it would be awesome if they do something like that again. I really like this performance and I think the music video should have been more like this: if the video does not show watch the video here (Seems like sister groups weren't here for this live, Ricchan is replacing Jurina's position)
I miss the ballads tbh (It's actually been a long time since we've had a ballad single). I know you mentioning the 8th anniversary of that track, this will still always be my favorite (which just turned 10 this week). if the video does not show watch the video here
Me too, I really miss ballads... I even start liking Tsubasa wa Iranai when listening to it again after years, the song is nice and has a nostalgic feeling. when it was released I didn't like it, but now I like it, I guess I really miss ballads. and yes it was the 10th anniversary of Sakura no Ki ni Narou! I didn't post about it on time and it was too late, but this is also my favorite ballad of AKB, I love it so much, the MV too, their clothes, Acchan's solo line, it's a beautiful song and video. Another one I love is Sakura no Shiori, which also turned 11 years old in this week. it's a beautiful and relaxing song, I love the choir-style singing, it's so nice and easy to listen and the music video is beautiful as well. Another ballad I really love, which was just a b-side but also graduation-theme, is Saigo no Seifuku, this song is very very nice, I love it so much ;_; The lyrics are touching too (it's not eng subs on this video but the english translation is on studio48) if the video does not show watch the video here
It suppose does depend a lot more on the member, but I agree with @innosu that the self-shot photos have been much better on average than the usually pretty generic, uninspired, and overly processed studio shot ones. I hope they continue releasing on occasion them after the pandemic. I'm pretty sure the staff responsible for approving them is the reason for the lack of full-length shots, Seichan has had quite a few in her photo rolls that didn't make it to the final selection.
News of a HADO AR sports competition involving a Yuunamogion vs Nakanishi Team battle on 3/6: https://encount.press/archives/142463/ The Nakanishi Team consists of Chori, Shiichan, Hiina and Nanase, almost the same four who have been competing against Yuunamogion in recent episodes of Nemousu TV (where Missaa took part instead of Nanase). The event will be broadcast live on the video distribution service Hikari TV. Official website with team videos: https://hado-official.com/akb48wars/ Yuunamogion Team if the video does not show watch the video here Nakanishi Team if the video does not show watch the video here
Koisuru Fortune Cookie has now been played 200 million times on Youtube! if the video does not show watch the video here Congrats AKB!
That's so. . . depressing. Music like any art form is subjective, but god damn I would rather gouge out my own eyes than listen to that obnoxious played-to-death six years ago nonsense ever again. It'd certainly be less fucking excruciating. As would a simultaneous unlubricated prostate exam and root canal surgery. Thanks so much, Aki-P, for dropping that sloppy maggot infested dog turd of a song unto the world. Good job.
I have to say I'm not a big fan of Koisuru Fortune Cookie too, but it's their biggest song obviously and usually when they perform it, the other celebrities or audiences seem really happy, dancing along etc. I appreciate the song for this, but at the same time it's not my type of song at all LOL Either way it's a great achievement for the group! Heavy Rotation will probably achieve the 200 million plays too although it might take time, it's at 163 million now. The other music videos are under 100 million. if 365 had the full MV on Youtube, it would have high views but they never uploaded the full song. The short version of the MV has 20 million and there's an unofficial upload of the full audio with 60 million.
I admit, I didn't like KFC when it was first performed in music shows. After some time though, since the choreo was fun and easy to dance along to, its pretty much a gateway for non fans to enjoy AKB. I still love Hebirote (and other AKB and SKE songs) more but KFC really did boost AKB. Speaking of 365, its really stupid of AKB management not to capitalize on its popularity more. At the very least, they should have uploaded the full PV when its clear it was such a hit.
Sometimes I really don't understand AKB's management, like why didn't they upload the full version of 365 considering it was an OST for an asadora, it was obviously going to have some popularity so they should have prepared for it and make a great MV that they would upload in full. But no they just uploaded the short version and moved on... Even until now they're still uploading short versions of music videos and I don't understand why, I checked and groups like Nogi upload all their b-sides MV in full on their official channel and it's available worldwide. I said it before but there's also the case of Saikyou Twintail which became very popular on TikTok (the source of many big hit songs nowadays) and instead of reacting right away and 1) upload the full MV on Youtube and 2) make the group perform the song anywhere they can (back then the center Moeka was still in the group, same with all the other new gen pushes in senbatsu of this song), they did absolutely nothing and let it go. There's still only an upload of the short version on Youtube and that's all... They really love to waste opportunities :/ The short version of the MV has 1,9 million views and 24,000 likes in Youtube which is a LOT for a b-side of recent years. if the video does not show watch the video here Most japanese comments there are about TikTok. Actually a lot of people from TikTok still don't even know that this song is from AKB because AKB never tried to promote it even when it became popular :S with the attention it received, they could have made them perform it on TV or something. it's really frustrating to waste opportunities when AKB needs it so much.
It feels that AKB and all other JP48G gave up on trying to appeal to non-fans. Like they are contented with the money they are getting from fans and just squeezing any relevance earned from the past. Its frustrating.