Single Sakurazaka46 7th Single [Shounin Yokkuu] (2023/10/18)

Good MV, the senbatsu is awesome.. As for the music, still kinda hard to enjoy. The english translation is helping, but the message doesn't really resonate well, maybe because too much 'word ornament' here and there?

The intro is great though, feels a bit creepy in a good way. It feels like the start of zombie apocalypse, kinda remind me of Resident Evil.

 

Each time I rewatch the MV I keep pausing on the first appearance of Karin... I don't know what she did or if its the result of a combination of her pose and lighting but her face is eerie, so imposing and frightfully pretty... She looks exalted like a figure out of a painting by El Greco...

We definitely need a high quality screen shot of her face around the first minute of the MV.

For me, this is the breathtaking highlight of the whole video...

 

Just noticed this part of your reply. Someone's figured out the exact paintings in the MV but not the location, which I'm also curious about

 

I'd appreciate it if you had a link to the identifications of the paintings. I might have recognized a couple of them, too -- or at least their style/painter. Unfortunately, if we can ID them, that probably means they are prints and the hallway could be almost anywhere.

@JoltFiend posted about this in Karin's thread and I replied. I'm not sure I see exalted, exactly. Perhaps an apotheosis of disgust and depression. I've attached two crops from a screencap of a 2160p .webm version. (Click to enlarge) Not good enough, but something. I think the head alone may be less effective than the crop showing the way she's sitting. And of course, there are many slight variations on her lips, as she sings.



I'd like to add that I've seen a Japanese comment saying that the director seemed to like Karin and Ten. True. And also Airi. I can imagine an 8th single with Airi at centre between two bold and glamorous towers. Some screencaps attached:

 

@ukifune I use the word "exalted" not to express that she looks happy but to convey the image of a prolonged, somber face that looks like the flame of a candle, typical in the paintings by el greco...

Well, Karin looks depressed in most of her poses, but disgusted not in this instance at least. She looks disgusted though in the last sokosaku as the camera got a shot of her right after the end of the daikon game... She looks like wtf am I doing here?

 

Sakurazaka46 7th Single "Shonin Yokkyu" 2nd Round Meguri Results

SOLD OUT: Karin, Ten, Shizuki

 

https://x.com/1029_sakura_/status/1706429638019608742?s=20

These are two of the paintings OP mentions in their tweet: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/399139 - This one is from British painter George Barret Sr

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11235 and this one from American painter George Inness

 

Total now six members sold out: Habu, Hono, Hikaru; Rin, Ten, Shii.
Close: Rena, Zono. (That makes top eight.)
Then a drop from the 20s to half that: Yui, Airi, Inori, Kira and Miu. (Miu sudden jump.)
Another drop below ten to Marina, Yuzu, Mio and Murai.
Then down to 1-3 sold out: Mii-chan (!), Reina, Fuu-chan, Oonuma, Chuke, Rika, Riko.
No sessions yet sold out: Uemuu, Marino, Nagisa (!), Itoha.

• A Japanese comment points out Miu's quick rise and says "within expectations."
• Also says Reina has fought hard.
• Nagisa being so low is a shock to me; she had 11 sell-outs at this stage for Start Over!. Itoha not selling out any yet is a continuing disappointment.
• Riko and Rika not catching on also surprises me.
• I wonder why Mii-chan is so slow to sell. Yui not being higher also surprises me, but that should soon change.

Thanks to @watash.Iwa for posting the list in English. Japanese versions here. Probably some big jumps next week. This week's total of 368 sell-outs is 14 behind Start Over! at the same stage, for some reason.

It always bothers me that many Japanese commenters seem to want the senbatsu to be based just about entirely on handshake (now Meet & Greet) popularity, but it makes some sense: fans buy a lot of disks to get chances to meet the girls.

 

Tbh this does feel like what management did with Shoninyokkyu though, considering we now know what Shii's M&G selling power is

 

@ukifune

About Miu. I saw some folks in 5ch who wanted to see her in senbatsu. I supose Miu oshis are focusing on meguri to make that dream come true. She has some dedicated fans.

Yuipon: She has been a consistent 3rd round sold out. She even sold more than i expected for 1st round.

But yeah, these sales have been low for 2nd round. Many say it's because fans are with less resources for this one. Start Over!, Shinsekai, Japan Expo, 3rd anila coming soon...some japanese fans went to all of these, especially the most dedicated ones. Plus, i once read sakurazaka fanbase is composed by a good chunk of young people, which means a public with limited resources that can't afford spending so much.

I would say that now, competition really started for 3ki. Nagisa case is reminding me of Sugawara Satsuki from Nogizaka46 5th Gen. She started as one of the most popular along with Nagi and Sakutan, in fact, in the very early days, she was the most popular. But now she is facing strong competition with Ikeda Teresa and Ioki Mao, plus fellow gen mates like Aruno, Aya and Naonao are on a rise. Just like Nagisa now has Shii-chan(fan favorite), Airi(management favorite + fans like her kyara) Miu, Mio and Yu who are rising.

About japanese fans wanting M&G to be more relevant to senbatsu. Well, this has always caused some fights in sakamichi fandom. I've seen japanese buddies pissed about Koike being Saku8 despite having a lower demand than Habu and Rei. People went wild on senbatsu threads and accused her of stealing the spot of "more deserving" members. Same thing happened with Ikoma Rina, who had terrible meguri sales despite her huge push by management. See old Nogi single threads and you will see how much she was hated by a big part of nogi fandom and also accused of stealing the spot of more deserving girls.

I guess some people fail to accept a thing that is clear: Meguri/Handshake sales isn't that relevant to sakamichi like it is to 48 Groups. In 48G, great meguri sales are the basic of a perma senbatsu member. In Sakamichi, is more about who management wants with maybe 2-3 spots for fan favorites that are impossible to ignore.

"But it isn't fair!" Yeah, but nothing in this industry really is.

 

@watash.Iwa -- Great discussion of Meguri and senbatsu. Lots of information and interesting angles. Thanks for that, and also for the painting IDs. I think the furthest left painting is by Monet, though I don't know the particular painting. Maybe they really only had a short section of hallway -- or even just a mocked-up length of wall with paintings -- and used post-production effects to make the hallway seem longer.

 

Oh by the way, the MV's surpassed 1 million views

 

If you want to hear what I think of Shoninyokkyu I didn't expect them to go back to old Sakurazaka. I thought Start over was a better song. Nothing wrong about Shoninyokkyu but there is something that is missing. With this single proves Karin-chan belongs in the new era of Sakurazaka along with 3rd gen. She is not a dumb character anymore she proves to be intelligent from the SokoSaku test.

Karin-chan and 3rd gen brought us neutral stereotypes. What do I mean with that? Something that doesn't conform to feminine stereotypes. We are leaning more towards masculinity because it's now more about energy than express with beauty. But with Shoninyokkyu I'm afraid we have gone back to old Sakurazaka and I think management will see that clear. Perhaps why they chose Run as the center to figure out who fits new Sakurazaka among 2nd gen.

With this choice of A-side I'm not confident anymore if we will get a solo number in this single. I thought 6th single was the beginning of change and they fall back to old Sakurazaka with both choreography and white costume for 7th single.

As I have pointed out before in previous thread it doesn't come as a surprise they are pushing dark blue world in the Shinsekai exhibition and SokoSaku is now magenta, cyan, red and purple when they have selection system for a new single.

Magenta is Sakurazaka's psyllium color. Keyakizaka's was green. In the CMYK color space for dark blue contains 100 percent cyan, 100 percent magenta and 45 percent black. No yellow.

In the RGB color space contains 54.5 percent blue and no red or green.

If you combine red and purple you get magenta color.

We can repeat the meanings of dark blue more clear this time. Unlike the vividness of bright blue and royal blue or the happy lightness of blue pastel colors, dark blue conveys power, depth and elegance.

Intelligence: Many people associate blue shades with knowledge, intelligence and concentration.

Loyalty: Having a "true blue" friend implies commitment and dedication to the relationship.

Masculinity: Speaks for itself. Energy form.

Night sky: Whereas you associate sky blue with a daytime sky, dark blue signifies the sky at night.

Predictability: Needs no introduction. Speaks for itself. Different form of events.

Sea: You can use dark blue to symbolize a stormy sea or a deep body of water. Though many shades of blue signify water, including blue-green or aqua for tropical waters, dark blue suggests a more mysterious depth or ominous quality. From a psychotherapy standpoint sea has two sides of the coin. You can feel a calm presence where you can hope and dream about the future. You can feel sad, despondent and bleak or being full of rage and fury.

Power and authority: Dark blue signifies power and responsibility.

Sadness: To "be blue" or "feeling blue" means you feel sorrow or despair. In other countries like Korea dark blue is the color of mourning.

Social prominence: A blue blood defines a socially prominent person or someone born into nobility. Management keeps bringing socially prominent person to the group with each gen. Sugai of 1st gen, Seki of 2nd gen and Odakura of 3rd gen.


Unfortunately I don't feel anything dark blue about Shoninyokkyu. It's just back to the vague Sakurazaka. Seijaku no bouryoku was a good start we will never see again until Shii-chan becomes the center in the senbatsu. Or the energy of Karin-chan.

Even Natsu no Chikamichi which Airi centered didn't fall into old Sakurazaka. I think Karin-chan was being held back because management wanted to move away from their mistakes with Keyakizaka and try to do things that other groups do. Now we see the end result that the audience was more excited with Start over and 3rd gen's songs. If Karin-chan would had been the first center I think the direction would have been different for Sakurazaka from the start.

No offense to the other 2nd gen members who got their chance to be the center but Karin-chan hits different. I'm glad 3rd gen showed up now so management doesn't have to let Karin-chan carry the heavy burden that they did with Hirate.

 

I promised to come back again about how I see the 7th after my very first reaction and after many, many listenings...

Well, @Rev4 if you remove all the theory about chromatology and keep ONLY your 2 first paragraphs and the last three, you've said it all... All the rest is highly technical (as part of the quite arbitrary and highly dubious color psychology and symbolism) and do not add to the subject, but that's my personal opinion.

All you said about the 7th in - I repeat - the first two and last three paragraphs, I agree 100%...

 

So i guess i'm the unpopular opinion here.

After listening the song for so many times, it's now in my head and i love it. That's what Sakurazaka is, a group that is not afraid of taking risks and delivering something new. They could have easily stayed with the same sonority and direction they showed in Start Over! + make it another Karin center, but instead, they chose a more eletronic path and another center. And i'm glad they did that, because it was the insistance on Eternal Center, 21-1=0, "only she can center this" and many other things that made Kanji Keyaki collapse and many members with huge potential and unused talent graduate early because they were tired of that toxic environment.

In my opinion, Old Sakurazaka who tried to be Nogizaka died in 3rd single. Nagaredama was completely different of anything they released before as sakurazaka. They went from white(pure, innocent) to a strong color like red and a funky sonority. From that they on, they distanced themselves from that white sakurazaka management tried to force them to be because they founded their colors.

In fact, i think Shonin Yokkyu has more Keyaki vibes than some previous titles. The lyrics are critical of a society obsessed with likes, another heavy dance choreo, and the MV sometimes gave me Student Dance and AM 1:27 vibes. I could see Keyakizaka releasing a song like this if they still existed.

 

@watash.Iwa No you're not the unpopular opinion.

What I said in my very 1st reaction is that this 7th is a Fukyouwaon projected into the future of J-pop and given to the same angry children that have become pretty ladies. And of course we do not want an eternal center. It is just that the 6th was SO imposing and such a landmark that inevitably the level is raised accordingly. And the 7th is also so intricate and multilayered, but despite that, it represents (to my mind at least) a flat-line after the steep increase of the 6th.

But the fact is that I still do not remember parts of the song even after so many times of listening to it... To that direction, the 6th was much simpler and much more memorable (it was just strong and impactful, like a punch in the face)... The 7th has electronic sounds, rap, begins as hard-rock, has more mellow interludes, in other words it's a patchwork of styles and musical genres. And it doesn't punch you in the face... It tickles you, caresses you, pinches you, pulls your hair and bites your ear... soothingly, playfully, girly...

 

I completely agree with this. This is probably their most Keyaki like single, along with Ban.

 

Tbh, I think that concept died after Nobody's Fault. I don't follow Nogi as much as Sakura or Hinata so Idk if they have any songs similar to Ban, but other than that I agree entirely

 

Thinking about it again, i think Ban is underrated. Even i back then ignored that single but now i think it deserved more love. I'm glad that now Saku is getting more attention.

 

I loved Ban, and I was in the minority back then. But I'm also glad that Saku is gaining that attention.