[GENERAL] The AKB48 Thread

When DH and Universal select the members of the senbatsu they say that sales aren't everything, there's also followers, likes, engagement, public opinion. You can't use those very same sales to win a spot in the Kouhaku. We're going to have to admit that nobody cares about AKB anymore with the exception of their fans. 400k sales? Yeah, fans buying dozens, hundreds of CDs for tickets. AKB isn't getting more popular, the demand for AKB in the general public doesn't exist. No, they're not becoming popular again, they can't even sell out concerts held in half a venue.

This is the harsh reality: even Yukirin is struggling! People still know who she is but do they care? She lost the right timing.

There's no room for more than two Sakamichi groups, you don't see any Sashihara group, nor FRUITS ZIPPER, Takane no Nadeshiko, nothing, not even when Johnny's were banned from the show. Groups that even though smaller than AKB don't have the same negative image that AKB has. Ado sells less than AKB doesn't she? But nobody sane would question that she's dearest to the Japanese unlike any 48 Group... group.

 

Way before Yukirin grad announcement i remember seeing comments of fans saying she should have left in 2015-2016 when she was at her peak and her solo career was doing great enough to not need AKB back. I remember people worried about her in 2020 and some calling her dumb because she lost the right timing many times.

People forget that Kouhaku also takes in consideration General Public opinion on the groups. AKB may sell well but nobody knows the members individually, their most well known songs are from 10-12 years ago, let's be real, only wotas still care about them nowadays.

Nogizaka46? Their recent songs might not be memorable but they are still really popular among GP even after losing pilar members like Asuka, members like Zukki and Kuboshi have a solid acting career.

Sakurazaka46? Start Over was a legit hit and managed to call GP attention, plus, they promoted the whole year, even overseas. That's a deserved spot if you ask me.

Not even Hinatazaka, who has better single sales than AKB and much more public recognition and fandom managed to get a ticket to Kouhaku. Simply because S&F(admin) failed to manage them this year and gave them rushed singles, an album that even the fans are boycotting, cancelled HinaKuri, barely promoted them and had very few concerts. They didn't catch the GP attention this year, even with some popular members who always appear on TV.

If anything those latest Kouhaku announcements have teached us, 48/46G fans, is to not take things for granted. Each year it seems to get harder to get that ticket, especially with k-pop groups joining since Kouhaku wants to attract a younger audience.

 

AKB48 has not been invited for many years and you guys still discuss about Kouhaku? Please move on and forget it.

 

Honestly I don't care for Kouhaku. I'm not just saying this because 48G isn't on it, of course if AKB got invited, I would be happy for them, it would be nice, it would be something to look forward to etc. But them not being there doesn't feel like a loss anymore imo. Because I see the event and who's invited and it really doesn't seem like that much of a big deal anymore...

I don't think Yukirin is struggling. She has close to 600k subscribers on her YouTube and between 100k to 500k views on average in her videos (sometimes in the millions), it shows that people do care for her, she's relevant, she's just not at her peak because she has a 17-years long career, I don't know another idol who after 17 years is doing as good as Yukirin and who has people caring for her as much... and I guess, the "right timing" for her to leave would have been years ago like at least 7 years ago. But she loves being an idol, so there wasn't any reason for her to leave back then when she wanted to continue being in the group, and it the end, I think it was a good decision for her. She had bad luck because she never got called a "Kami" member, it was always Kami 7 and she wasn't in it, even though she was top 3 of elections by 2011 at the 3rd election (and went as high as #2, and lowest #5 in 2016, it was her last election). But because she stayed this long, she had a career this long and she's leaving at 32 years old, she got something else that is as worthy as being called a Kami 7. She's now pretty much a legend in AKB's history. There's no way someone else can have the same career that she had in the group, 17 years, experienced everything, successful until the end, and leaving at 32. She will forever be remembered for this. and I think considering all of this, she's doing more than great tbh lol. Now about why AKB doesn't get invited in big events...

I don't disagree with this, but I think one problem with 48G is also simply their image. They've been there for sooo long that they're kinda considered 'a thing of the past'... For example, Music Station didn't invite AKB this year. They stopped being invited at the single where Hiichan centered... Hiichan is known among the youth. She's not irrelevant, but they still stopped inviting them somehow. The group also still has Yukirin but it's not enough for them to be on a regular music show like Music Station which is not that big of a deal...

About Nogi, you said that some members have a solid acting career, well, Yuiyui also has a solid acting career, she's getting lots and lots of roles in the past 2 years... and she centered a single this time, again this was still not enough for Music Station to invite them.

Lastly, for Sakurazaka, they had a successful song. well, last year, STU had a successful song and it was even in the theme of Kouhaku or something, but again, they didn't get invited. Even when AKB did good with Ne mo Ha mo Rumor, it also wasn't enough to get them invited.

It's not like those other idol girl groups who get invited have better sales or "more real" sales than AKB, or anything different than AKB, they're just more new and trendy, and that's enough to get them invited everywhere. I feel like AKB or 48G could do anything, have relevant members, a viral song, whatever else, and still wouldn't get invited.

And it's also not just about success because when I see who's getting invited to Music Station or Kouhaku, a lot of it seems to be from connections, agencies, or the channel trying to aim at certain audiences, whatever else... Some of those artists are definitely not more deserving than AKB. Just saying...

But yeah anyway...

I guess we'll see AKB at the usual CDTV New Year show? There's that CDTV treats AKB really well.

 

This I was actually kind of bitter about. STU deserved it last year

Hiichan and Yuiyui have a stable acting careers too, plus Yukirin is a long term legend that the GP would recognise probably.

Outside of the golden era from like 2010-15, AKB has always struggled to be respected as a proper artist.

 

NHK rather picks Attarashi Gakko over AKB48

I feel like that edgy idols like Attarashi Gakko are the idols of Reiwa era. More edgy idols will come, Ado's idol group is one of them, there will be more

No AKB48 on Kouhaku means there also won't be any other 48 group on Kouhaku, no matter how hyping they are

 

Being invited to Kohaku is not only about year's popular songs. It's also about personalities. If the results of AKB48 were much worse than now, but there would be such stars as Yuko, Sasshi or Acchan in the group, then they would be invited.

Attarashi Gakko are this year's super breakthrough, STU wasn't.

 

Also, Kouhaku needs to have senior artists too, I pick Masayuki Suzuki as the best example

Maybe most milenials & gen Z know him for singing Kaguya Sama theme songs but he's been active as a musical artist for decades. He still looks fresh though he's 67

 

Agree
I actually enjoy to watch Ishikawa Sayuri every year again and again

 

Erii has posted a 'behind' video of the Budokan concerts:

[video has been privated for a second time]

 

To be fair, ATARASHII GAKKO! is the one act I'm actually happy for that they got invited. If you check, almost their entire discography is released digitally only because they don't have a proper label (you can also check Spotify - usually where it says "(C) Record Label", it just says "(C) ATARASHII GAKKO!"). They're managed by three different agencies as well.

OTONABLUE was released in 2020 but the MV only came out this year. The video has 46M views currently, the FIRST TAKE version even more (49M). For a pretty much digital, unaffiliated artist that is rather... insane, in all the best way. The song also has 37M streams on Spotify and the group has over 1.3M monthly listeners, which is twice that of AKB48 who has quite a lot of foreign listeners too (but I think ATARASHII GAKKO! is mainly known in Japan). I know AKB48 wota don't care so much about streaming so AKB and ATARASHII GAKKO! are pretty much the opposite and therefore hard to compare. But I think they deserve it.

(Also it's kinda funny that you mention they are the idols of Reiwa era because the song that propelled them into stardom this year was known for being Showa era-esque lmao. P.S.: They aren't an idol group)

 

U

Unfortunately i have to disagree with many points raised in these posts.

First of all, the rating of both shows indeed is on the decline. BUT if you look at the AVERAGE rating of tv shows. They are ALL in decline. Sure u see one or two hit tv shows, but they are only 1 or 2 each year (e.g. kaseifu no mita, hanzawa naoki, doctor x series) but even then they are not that high compared to tv shows of the past. For janken, the rating was never high to begin with. For ssk, sure they are getting less viewership but they are still higher than many shows in that year. yet many of those shows and tv series get "renewal" but not ssk. (Not to mention boradcasting of ssk needs very low budget from the tv channel part so....) anyway, The last ssk still manage to attract many viewers and many tv channels broadcast the snippets of the major ranks, and some even do it real time.

The thing is... if you take a closer look at the way akb group operates starting on 2013, they are getting more reliant on the sponsors. In fact, many of their decision (ngt48, stu48, etc) are a result of the influence from local government as their sponsors and "partnership" (team 8 with toyota). Heck look at the ssk locations. U can't say they are free from the influence of sponsors.

After the ngt scandals, we can literally see many news articles on sponsors withdrawing and distancing themselves from akb. And i bet behind the closed doors many are giving akb the cold war treatment. Ala japanese company style. They dont say it outright (e.g. they are displaying their tatemae) but the honne is that they are making sure they are less associated with akb. Also many directors, tv channels, big names are also withdrawing themselves from akb at this moments.

Ps: putting janken and ssk at the same sentence is also a misnomer. Janken was done to gain headlines, they were about branding but never about money. Their purpose are different.

How about post covid? Now they are very different factors why akb stops doing ssk, compared to the reason why they stopped in post NGT scandal. Why? Simply because akb is no longer the official "mother" company or motherhood. Each of the sister groups no longer have "formal" connections, with the exception of some companies which belong to the same subsidiaries

 

Compare Yuiyui with a Taigai and an Asadora actress? I don't think it's the same.
Yuiyui is great, she's been working so hard lately but her impact is certainly not as big as Kuboshita.
And maybe it's Universal who doesn't want to fight for AKB slot, they don't care at all. Without MSta or Kohaku AKB's sales still increase and reach 500k copies easily after 11 rounds of HS. Less invest and more profit, why not?

 

AKB48 will be appearing on the second night of the 2023 FNS Music Festival which will be broadcast on Fuji TV on 12/13:

https://twitter.com/AKB48_staff/status/1727069391471481003
https://twitter.com/fns_kayousai/status/1727069377931997547
https://www.fujitv.co.jp/FNS/

 

Time for the occasional ranking stuff:
"Ranking of Female Idols that Generation Z is paying attention to" 2023 ver


Methodology, definition of Gen Z, etc (google translated):


AKB ranks at #8 with Yukirin at #10 and Hiichan at #12 !


Apparently the first time AKB got into top 10 in the last 3 years!

source and more rankings : https://tpranking.com/2023-idol-generationz?page=2

 

SBS TV news report of Harupyon and Zunchan at an event yesterday to promote the area near the south exit of JR Higashi-Shizuoka Station:


if the video does not show watch the video here

EDIT: Comment video for 'ARTISTS LEAGUE Presents... MUSIC TRIBE' held on 11/22:


if the video does not show watch the video here

WWS Channel's site has a number of photos of the members on stage at the event:
https://www.wws-channel.com/music2/469438.html?view=more

 

'AKB48 Chousatai!' 11/19 with Ayamin, Haachan, Harupyon and Zunchan:


if the video does not show watch the video here

EDIT : Yukirin has just posted a 'behind' video of the 2nd and 3rd Budokan concerts:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Tomorrow, 29th at 22:00 JST will be a special stream to announce the categories and nominated members for the "AKB48 Member of the Year" awards.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OJE77CzIO0


if the video does not show watch the video here

The results will be announced at the special anniversary event in the 8th of December.

MC: Mion, Naru, Yuiyui, Ai-chan and Mizumin

 

Can't wait to see who won the agency of the year award.