Event / Concert AKB Pennant Race [From 22 April to 31 October]

I thinks it's unfair because M and H don't have new Kennin members unlike all the other Teams ;(
only Fuu, Haruppi and Nana to give points to A, K and KII.... ok H has Sasshi BUT M????????????
(ok if it's vor the draft event only i don't really care ehehe)

 

I wouldn't call it free points, but it definitely seems unfair and mostly in AKB48 and more specifically Team K's favor.
What you have to keep in mind is that this is very much in an experimental stage (as with anything AKB has tried up until now) and they will probably either update the rules to be more fair or abolish it altogether if it gets too complicated.

I do remember them saying this when they first announced the pennant race. However, in this official announcement, they did not mention this and only stated that "the purpose of this competition is to determine which team is able to garner the most support from fans".
I left this out of my translation as i wanted to focus on the technical side of it, so sorry about that.

 

@lonehunter88 thanks for the translation !!! they mentioned they there will be some reward for members for the outstanding achievement right?

 

Thanks for your answers, I knew I remembered right and it was somehow related to the draft. Now let's see if it still is and if they'll give further explanations as to what the pennant race leads to.

 

I would like to see a prize for member with the highest number of point, something like being chosen as the center of the first single of next year. It will also send a clear message to fans: If you want your oshi to succeed, you'd better have your bank card prepared to appply for more theater stages of her team, to buy more handshake tickets for her and to vote more to get her ranked high. Sounds like a great plan to me

 

Its fun to use these stats to figure out which team is the best......I bet someone already created a Sousenkyo simulator using the D'Hondt method as we speak....

 

I really don't understand this thing. They want to make the teams compete. They want to make fans spend more money. I get that.
But as a fan, why am I supposed to care? What does my team get if they win? What happens if they come in last place?

 

My first thought is that the losing team is going to feel awful. I guess the idea is that they'll try to do better in the future (and maybe even get promotion from that in a "Cinderalla story" way?), but it's not going to be a fun way to start as a new team. Also the kennin system really messes up the scoring, Team K would be so behind without it but now they have a huge advantage. And the theater is going to be impossible to get into if everyone starts applying just to give their team points. So... I'm not a huge fan of this idea right now. I'll have to wait and see on this.

 

The purpose of the pennant race is (supposedly) to create an order in the next draft, right? And seeing how this ends right before November (when the draft took place), I'd say it's pretty connected to that.

Still, if it's just to decide who picks the girls first it's kind of... stupid? If two teams choose the same girl, it doesn't matter if one chose first and the second chose last, it will come to luck in the end lol

Oh, well. Let's see what they do with this.

 

If the only purpose is for the order in picking the draft, then that is pretty lame.
I can't imagine many wota fighting with their wallets just so their teams can have even more members. I personally don't really care about having any more draft members.

 

based on the example that they gives on the blog:



According to their point system, it gives 1 points to both Jurina and Akarin while Jurina got alot more votes than Akarin......
i am not a fan of this D'Hondt method....the number of votes each members received doesnt really translate well into their point system....

 

We don't know if there's even going to be a draft next year. They haven't mentioned it, and this draft was pretty much a flop. Members didn't start performing for a looong time, even now many have yet to make their stage debut, and of those who have, it's clear that some of them are still nowhere near being ready for full team membership (Watch Matsumoto Chikako's debut. Frankly, it is awful). Draft members are getting benched for shonichi performances and are are the bottom of the list popularity-wise.

They either need to massively retool the system or drop it entirely, IMHO

 

It's just an example using the votes of only top 16 when in fact, the actual number of points will be calculated based on the number of votes of top 80. If we use the top 64 of last year, Sasshi would get about 13 points, Jurina would get 6 points and Akarin would get 3 points.

 

I think that this method will be too hard for fans to grasp and they'll have to make it easier to understand.
I do think that this could have an affect on the results of the upcoming elections. Fans might not be too keen to group power vote one sole member if it means their favorite team might lose out in the pennant race. E.g, an SKE fan might think twice about mass voting for a girl (Like they did with Shibata Aya) in Team KII when their oshi is Jurina who is in Team S because they're technically helping another team get points. Fans might most likely think more about who they'll be voting for and which team show they go to because of this, which makes not only the teams but the fans competitive too.

 

I hope this isn't related to new draft members =__= They should first make the first draft members successful before doing it again. and honestly if I'm a fan in Japan, I wouldn't make efforts and spend money for my fav team to win, all just for choosing new members? lol... it doesn't worth it. I like the idea of giving points to teams, but they should make a better prize for the winner. I don't know... maybe every month they choose a winner based on theater attendance, and give that team a new song/Pv? even more than this. though, isn't team K too much in advantage for HS results or elections? They have SKE+NMB+HKT aces in their team, lol... as well as Yui, Mako... well XD

The good thing I see from this project (and hopefully it works) is to create a "bond" between members in every team, the last teams after 2012 shuffle didn't really have a special "bond" which is something I would have loved... Sure, many girls got close, but I want to see a stronger bond than that. I think Yokoyama Team A was starting to get very united and close, but shuffle happened. I hope the new teams can be really close and last for more than 2 years. This project could also help to have more fans who will be "team oshis". Most fans like one member or some members in different teams, but if they like a team as a whole it means more support even for less known girls in the team. It's a good thing too.

 

lol I really don't think the pennant race will have any impact whatsoever on the election results.

 

Is it just me or is AKB getting way too complicated lately? The draft, Toyota and team 8, now this. Seems like it'll never end.

 

@rka please keep in mind that this is a variation of the D'hondt method in that it is trying to give an individual (not a party) a random maximum number of points (not a set maximum number of seats). The basic math is pretty much the same.

@LightFury see below

That is correct. I have counted this myself, and you can see it here

Spoiler

Again, to be clear, the official blog only says that "this competition is to see which team garners the most support from fans" and has not mentioned connection to the next draft meeting nor any rewards for good performance. It is also not possible to calculate individual member points for theater performance appearances, eliminating the possibility of rewarding members with the most points.
The way I see this is, it is not just a statistic to make fans compete for their favorite teams, but also to gauge how well management is at managing teams and their individual members.
I have to admit it is NOT a robust or fair system of points allocation, but as of now, it will only serve as a standard "report card" for the teams and will not bring any immediate or direct implications on anyone.

 

Well I think it might

Agreed. All the gimmicks are starting to get a bit too much for me. But I guess they have to keep doing things like this to catch the public's attention when things get quiet xD

 

Am i the only one thinking the title of "akb strongest team" is worth competing for? Remember when team B song "shonichi" ranked first in request hour. Also, members does have a strong sense of "team pride". Maybe it will allow them to go beyond their own self and care more about the team bond.