I'm in shock. It was one of my fave events, despite not pouring money into it. I wonder what they'll do now? I mean, JKT, MNL and BNK had their own internal SSKs, would that be cool for the JPN Sister Groups to have their own SSKs? But, then what's the point in the huge SSK? Ack. I don't even know what I am saying. Sorry. I'm just shocked is all.
I'm a bit surprised by this, also a little disappointed because I was excited to watch this year after not watching since around 2013/2014. That being said, I hope this takes some of the pressure away from the girls. The ridiculous amount of competition must be so stresseful every year for them. I'm curious what exactly led to this decision, though I wouldn't be surprised if the NGT scandal was a main reason the choice was made. If anything, this is an opportunity for management to restructure things possibly, or at least take care of the issues that are going on internally.
Funnily enough it was pretty similar Lots of bitter rivalries between the early gens, lots of scandals. Now that I think about it, I almost wonder if the yearly SSK madness served as a sort of controlled burn to keep the rest of the year peaceful, burning all that rivalry out in a month or two of fierce competition.
I'd like to see the sports festival come back. Won't be as big of a money maker, but it was always fun.
Honestly the SSK has been dead to me ever since Sashihara started winning making her the face of the group. The real Queen has been and will always be Mayu imo. Sad to see what AKB48 has become. I've always thought the dumbest thing the group has done that led to all this I feel is pressuring the girls to graduate. Many of the original members could've stayed and still worked doing other things if they chose to. It never made sense to leave a group at the height of it's popularity. Anyways sorry for the rant.
That's the story Akimoto liked to tell anyway It has to be an element though we don't know how significant. Perhaps it was just the final nail in the coffin. In the next couple of weeks it would normally be the time when members apply for the SSK but with the NGT third party committee report yet to drop how could they deal with that and the SSK applications at the same time. The media (and fans) would be focusing on which NGT members are joining and which aren't and the significance of that, it would be a complete shitshow.
46G doesn’t have ssk yet they’re still doing fine With the NGT assault and fraud accusations, Jurina’s collapse and the fact that she would likely forfeit this year because of it, Sakura in IZ*ONE, and Dasu most likely going to win due to lack of competition, this is the best time for AKS to dump SSK. The show had a good 10 years running, and last year’s massive world senbatsu is a good conclusion. The least they can do is test it for a few years before deciding to bring it back. As much as it is sad for AKS to lose the ssk contributions of some big spenders, it’s because of these people that NGT is in its current state. The majority of fans aren’t rich and many are turning their backs on 48G because they can’t handle the expenses and pressures of ssk. And anyways I’m sure those rich fans will still find a way to spend their money on their oshis. Besides, if AKS really cared about CD sale numbers and sale $$$ then they wouldn’t have opened mobile mail voting which allows up to 12 votes. Money is by far not the biggest loss with dropping ssk, but rather the public interest that it gathers. A decent alternative I believe is holding more performance-based competitions like the NWM center selection dance audition and the recent singing competition. I was able to know and appreciate many STU and AKB members because of them. Maybe even hold a mobile mail voting like 2016’s Kouhaku Uta Gassen, where girls like Yoshida Akari and Ichikawa Miori were able to prove their relevance and popularity dispite low ssk result and hs sale.
Maybe they are solely blaming last year's SSK for Jurina's implosion and think another election right now may emotionally damage other girls as well. I really want to think they are doing this with the best interests of the girls at heart. I, for one, would love to hear what the graduates think about no SSK.
I think they are foreseeing major monetary losses in the upcoming months. After the outright terrible way they have handled the Mahohon case, one of the biggest money makers graduating and the other on loan in Korea, after their SSK Queen had to go on hiatus because of the insane amount of pressure... Organizing such a large scale event as Sousenkyo where fans are made to spend more than what they can get in exchange might be risky enough for management to want to wait it out or get rid of it. It makes sense. SSK might have already run its course. Well, that's at least one year that we won't have to stress for our oshis over a ranking.
Seeing how the new HKT single went from 770 slots to 1,200... I wonder if we're gonna see one single less from AKB this year? Without the SSK forcing their schedule, we might not get another single until mid-June/July or something and maybe nothing else until November. Which frees up a lot of space in the calendar for SG single releases and events.
this is surprising and saddening because SSK has been one of the few reason for me to follow AKB the past 2 years so... idk where i am going with this but hey if that means there will be less SG member in AKB's single (none would be better tbh) and SGs releasing more single a year then im good
IMO, I think that Japan's emperor change this year is one of the reason why AKB48 not holding SSK this year. as we know, new Emperor mean new era and "evertyhing is new" ( Just like transition from Showa to Heisei era long time ago ) . I think AKB48 has "something new" to prepared , and for that preparation they not hold SSK this year. Or maybe someone has another opinion ?