[GENERAL] The AKB48 Thread

OK! Do not try too hard to think about ephemeral things. Just easy: CD sales, YouTube views, how many CMs group have, how many covers girls have. Period: 2020.
Let's count guys!

 

There are definetly more than that behind the curtain though, or else, Kouhaku would have get rid off Matsuda Seiko some years ago.
I recon she's way more popular and well known than the current idols. This explains that.

 

Kouhaku not only for young gens like K-Pop concerts. Kouhaku mostly for elderly people

 

all the data are on billboard, they have a comparative chart (CHART insight) where you can see the position in cd, streaming, dl, radio,etc... of a single and you can compare it to other songs and sakamichi are doing better than akb all across the board

news coverage do their job but that doesn't mean people will care about it or read it, sm engagements are more important but akb doesn't pull the same numbers as nogi

 

Lol. Some people are bitter. Except for akb, other 48 already sink deep down the water as underground level idols and the mothership itself is just floating using the old boat. 46brand probably still sailing at normal speed leaving those cheap gravure idols behind. Anyway, 46 probably is declining too unless miracle happen where someone from there(or a song) suddenly become viral.
Any reaction from japanese when they didnt see any 48g invited??

 

You can look under the various tweets posted by AKB48 members, when they voiced their frustration at not having been invited. Also, just now, #AKBに愛を叫べ (Love Shoutout to AKB) was trending on twitter with messages trying to cheer up the members about this.

Oricon wrote an article about Yukirin's feelings for not being included: here
Modelpress wrote an article about both Yukirin and Mion's feelings: here

I've also looked up "AKB48 紅白" and see a lot of people saying "why hasn't AKB been included this year"? I find it a bit more difficult with Japanese accounts to make out immediately if they're fans or not, but I've seen a Japanese tweet by a fan saying "It makes me happy that even non-wota are asking 'Why is AKB not included in Kouhaku?' I'm happy everyone loves Ne mo Ha mo Rumor"

I've also seen someone say that last year's exclusion made sense, objectively but that they had a good year this year, so they expected AKB to be included.

I even found someone with a Kosaka Nao profile picture say that AKB should have been included It seems like even Japanese Sakamichi fans acknowledge AKB's talent.

 

Maybe in compare with AKB48, Sakurazaka is newer group while AKB48 is idol group from ages ago. Besides, how many Koi Suru Fortune Cookies and seeing gazillion girls in stage people can stand.

I think that maybe if AKB48 is far more active and release Ne mo Ha mo Rumor level of single throughout the year, maybe they will be invited again.

 

It’s too bad they didn’t make it to Kouhaku this year. I thought they had a pretty good year all things considered. I am glad that other people seem frustrated about it too, it at least shows that akb still has a good, solid fan base.

 

Some people think Sakurazaka don't deserve it. Just a fact that even Saku not chosen in Kohaku, doesn't mean AKB got replace with that spot. Don't need to drag another group down to your low place because irl, they got chosen.

 

This. One of the reasons members want to get on kouhaku is that their grandparents don't watch regular music show but they do watch kouhaku

Sakurazaka isn't new though, it's Keyakizaka with all the interesting members stripped out.

 

Do you really know what you are talking about ?

 

Sakurazaka isn't new...? It's just a rebranded group that's been around for years already as well.

And Sakura and Hinata also only released 2 singles this year. That's just one more than AKB.

 

When I say new I am not mean NiziU or Naniwa Danshi new. I mean in compare with AKB48, Sakurazaka is newer. They still debut around this era while AKB48 debut like ages ago. During the time that people still know what myspace is.

 

To be fair... they havn't done much this year. Or should I say they couldn't? Management wasn't in his best form releasing (any) new Content...
I think it's just fair.

 

I would actually have been more surprised if they managed to get invited to Kohaku again the immediate year following being not invited to Kohaku. All they did this year worth mentioning was hold the delayed graduation of Minegishi Minami and their rescheduled 15th anniversary concerts plus release a single single that hasn't even sold 400k yet. There may have been a lot of news coverage surrounding them, but none of it was for anything overly interesting or objectively impressive (I say objectively because Yukirin's stint in rehab after her surgery was amazingly short which is rather impressive).

Also I will repeat it as much as is necessary, all the social media related buzz they can generate means nothing if the people involved in that buzz don't open their wallets and actually buy their releases. There needs to be a translation from interest to sales otherwise they're going to remain at a standstill. I'm concerned for next year. If management does go about releasing more than one single next year and they're all AKB-only would the sales line up with Nemohamo Rumor's or is AKB looking at a gradual drop from here? I wouldn't be surprised with more and more girls leaving.

 

Eh. They didn't get invited to Kouhaku, okay so what. It's not like AKB48 did great this year. They might have improved from last year, but I don't think it was to a point where a spot at Kouhaku is expected.

All sakamichi are invited, okay good for them. Nogi and Hinata I get why they are invited. Sakura's spot is slightly questionable in comparison to AKB48, but surely there was a time when all 48Group was invited, each group got a spot, and I'm sure people were questioning why, especially the least famous group (let'ssay HKT). Everyone was riding on the coattails of the most famous group of them. Nothing surprising there.

The past few times AKB48 was invited, it was for some sort of gimmick anyway. Not just because they are AKB48 nor their own performance during the year in its own right being deserving of the Kouhaku spot... it was more because of some sort 48G hype, and then 48G Japan & International whatever.

Instead of dwelling here and getting bitter, why not just think of it as a stepping stone for them. What can they do better next year to rightfully deserve being awarded the coveted Kouhaku spot. AKB48 should really stop riding on the coattails of their past fame and invest more in the girls they have now and develop them, as well as keep putting in better effort in their releases.

 

Kohaku isn't about freshness though (and its not like Sakurazaka is a fresh group), if anything, assuming AKB and New-Keyaki had more or less achieved the same success this year, by Kohaku's standards, AKB should have gotten the invite based on being a more established group and the older demographics know them more.

And yes, if ShinKeyaki wasn't invited, we know it doesn't necessarily mean AKB would have, but at least, AKB fans can understand that there's a clear, qualifying metrics on the invites beyond being under Sony.

 

there's a clear and qualifying metrics, this one https://www.nhk.or.jp/kouhaku/artist/description.html i will put the translation so everyone can see it:

In selecting the battle of the red and white song,

Success this year
Public support
Program planning and production
We made a global decision after considering the following data as reference materials, focusing on these three points.

1. Success this year
A) Sale of CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays
B) Survey of Internet downloads, streaming, music video views, SNS, etc.
C) Investigation of wired / karaoke requests, etc.
D) Realizations of live performances and concerts

2. Public support
E) Results of an opinion poll conducted by NHK of 3553 people aged 7 and over nationwide using the "random digit dialing" method.
* The question is "3 couples of singers and singers who want to participate in the red and white"
F) Results of a web questionnaire survey conducted by NHK aimed at 8,000 people aged 7 years or older nationwide.
* The question is: "I want you to participate in the red and white.

clearly they haven't met any of these criteria BUT we/48G should look at this to understand what now is considerate a successful artist by japanese entertainment standard and make the necessary adjustments in order to have a successful 2022 and beyond.