[DISCUSSION] Member's Popularity & Management "Pushing"

I think it's her boobs that are popular.
Still love her though....

I still can't believe it! Chikariina increased 4 WTF? Honestly, and here I was saying that with all what happened this month she would do better. This is just.....torturous. IT NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE TO HER, EVER!!
I KNEW IT! Even if it's by a couple of numbers Chikariina HAS TO BE the unpopular one....
Help me, God.

 

^

Now, now we all know there's more to Yukirin than her boobs... they just.... stand out more that other aspects of this girl

Man, I can't believe even Shiorin gets above Chikarina, sometimes life is just a bastard! [boom]

 

From 2ch.
It says Ameblo generally (all put together) so I'm assuming it's an average count of subscribers/comments/visitors.
Whatever.

Chikariina ain't last XD

 

^that's just today's ameba ranking

 

As of the 19th. 12th gen mixi ranking.

Erena

 

Looks like Sasaki is getting a push with the Eguchi voice acting. By the way, pretty strange name, first time I see a Japanese name with 6 kanjis (even though we could discuss that 々 is a punctuation mark but it is representing a kanji).

 

[2011/6/26 mixiコミュニティ人数] (6/24比増減数)

Yukirin finally surpassed Takamina. Heading for Mayuyu now XD
If she keeps this up she'll grasp #5 in no time.

 

I've been wondering, why is Yukirin getting so popular lately?? I mean, she's surpassed Mayuyu in the election! Now she's the new Team B Ace I like her a lot, but I don't see why her popularity is rising so quickly. It's not like Aki-P just suddenly decided to give her a HUGE push before the election. She has French Kiss, but Mayuyu has Warota, and Tomochin dropped despite so many solo activities. I don't have any opinions to express on this, since I don't know that much.

 

It was told that Yukirin is really nice to her fans at handshake meeting, Yamachan once said Yukirin is a legend of handshake. This may secretly build her a really strong and crazy fanbase among Japanese fans. Her merchandise sales also increase a lot lately, and always being the one who sold out her goods fastest.

While Tomochin push and media exposure are too focus on casual female fans, it may look like she's ignoring her wota fanbase and the number of her wota quietly decreasing becuz of that.

And another difference is Yukirin has not so much push from Aki-p while Tomochin is pushed alot lately from him. Some wota fans usually feel against these kind of pushing and it backfired to Tomochin's popularity (among wota fanbase)

 

^
^yea I think everybody was very surprised by yukirin's sudden popularity. everyone predicted sasshi's breakthrough, but nobody predicted yukirin's rise. Obviously she has not received any particular push from the management, unlike sasshi and yui. Even Yama-chan felt embarassed coz he actually predicted Yukirin to stay at 8 or drop to 9.

But I think Yukirin's rise really shows that AKB is a fan-based idol group. Of course, there might be crazy ppl who buy thousands of votes, but overall, it shows that it's not all about media exposure and management pushing.

As for the reasons, there are many that comes to mind, but to be honest, none of it is strong enough to predict her rapid rise in popularity. Just to give a few examples, handshake events (good memory and good reactions), a well-established character (reaction queen, rain girl, unfashionable clothes, black), hometown Kagoshima appeal (i suppose she's a symbol of hope for many fans in rural areas), and the internet (this is the most variable cause, and the hardest to calculate)

 

Ah, okay haha I see Thanks for enlightening me! But something still quite confuses me [shock] It's not like it's her first time going for handshake events or that it only recently became known that her hometown is Kagoshima or anything, why didn't these factors pull her up right from the beginning, but she only suddenly shot up so much recently? [wonder] I must admit, I felt extremely shocked and even a little bit trolled when Yukirin came 3rd in the election. I do feel happy for her though, even though she surpassed Mayuyu in the election. I guess I'm not that rank-conscious And not to mention she is also one of my favourite members! On variety shows and stuff, she does seem to be a very nice girl with good looks and a pretty voice, which made me love her. [clap]

 

^
yea. that's a good question. one of the reasons why i said the reasons that come to mind are not strong enough. Yukirin's loyal fans increases only gradually from handshake events, so this is definitely not the main reason. On the other hand, yukirin's character has only strengthened recently. in the beginning, she didnt have much character and did not stand out that much. now, every akb fan knows the reaction queen, black marimokkori and rain girl. this might seem very subtle, but it's a very big improvement. And about kagoshima, yukirin doesn't really talk about kagoshima, especially in the beginning i think she was embarrassed about being from a rural area. but recently she has been featured on kagoshima's tv, tegetege and she went back to kagoshima for the akb documentary dvd.
Another reason I forgot is becoming team B captain and French Kiss. But these mainly effected yukirin herself rather than fans.
well, i was very surprised myself as a yukirin fan, and i'm still surprised now. If there are any other opinions, i would love to hear it.

 

I quite like my American Football description of how Yukirin did so well. When you think about it in terms fo pushes the first type is the 'hail mary' the big throw down the field which either gains you alot of yards or fails, think of girls like Sasshi and Yui for this they end up in everything sub-units, tv shows senbatsu outside elections etc basically almost 'forecd' into the public's eye, of course sometimes it's not such a succes (i.e. Fujie Reina who had her push but it never got going like Sasshi's and Yui's did)

Yuki is the second type (with girls like Rie and Akicha etc) thier your running back gaining the yards slowly but surley, they are in the public eye to be sure but never so much as those who are given the big pushes, they appear on the shows, get given good but not major roles in drama's get in the sub units, lead songs in their stage all the things which keep them in the public eye and slowly let them gain popularity without ever being fully up there and of course you get the big breaks every now and again, Akicha being the fastest to be promoted from kks for example and Yukirin, well from getting from 8th to 3rd

Well my rather odd way of seing it anyway.....

 

I agree with everything you said here, from my view, not jut Yuki but most of Team B don't really get that big of a push and have to rely heavily on their akb fanbase. It might just be me, but I don't think Mayu even as the "ace" of Team B was pushed as much as the girls of K or A, you really don't see Team B that often and when you do it's with their sub units or the isolated magazine cover and occasionally Mayu does AKB endorsements, I feel like Team B overall gets pushed to the side because teams A&K are known to have more members that can be considered popular. I think the most popular members of team B have a very solid "wota" fanbase that continues to surprise people every year when they rank consistently or in Yuki's case, up 5 spots from the previous year, I think people forget that behind all the magazine covers and solo endorsements there is still a core-fanbase the girls have that has to be tended too. Lots of people predicted that Mayu would fall and Yuki would stay in her same place because they don't see past the glossiness of being a pushed girl they say things like "I haven't really seen her much this year" and the like in terms of TV and Magazine appearance but obviously the theater time and occasional public appearances are good enough to keep their fans happy and voting for them. Yuki is great and I heard her handshake manners are what has gained her a healthy fan-backing, I personally think Mayu is great and her fanbase is obviously not only steady but growing, Yuko imo is also an example of a not pushed girl that has proven that it's not all about the biggest push but how you relate to your fans.

 

^Well nowadays team K is the least popular. In the early days, Mayu was in everyone's face for a while then pushed to the back of senbatsu then to the front again around Baby Baby Baby. And don't forget Yukirin's brief stint at the beginning of the year where she was getting 1000+ mixi fans a day

 

Today's mixi change (after 1st new single performance on TV)

Spoiler

[2011/7/17 mixiコミュニティ人数] (7/15比増減数)
篠田麻里子.71,692（+130）
大島優子. 63,060（+130）
前田敦子. 53,891（-44）
板野友美. 39,944（+59）
小嶋陽菜. 37,309（+76）
渡辺麻友. 35,458（+62）
柏木由紀. 34,061（+814）
高橋みなみ 32,468（-1）
指原莉乃. 23,934（+72）
松井玲奈. 20,804（+74）
峯岸みなみ 17,628（+46）
河西智美. 17,484（+37）
高城亜樹. 16,685（+66）
宮澤佐江. 14,692（+17）
北原里英. 13,643（+38）
佐藤亜美菜.12,024（+51）
松井珠理奈.10,653（+51）
横山由依. 10,227（+107）
倉持明日香 9,783（+22）
増田有華 8,645（+20）
秋元才加 7,623（+16）
高柳明音 6,839（+47）
市川美織 6,126（+36）
梅田彩佳 5,423（+23）
小森美果 5,000（+10）
山本彩 4,879（+80）
佐藤すみれ . 4,734（+17）
大場美奈 4,603（+52）
多田愛佳 4,521（+6）
秦佐和子 4,155（+15）
宮崎美穂 3,663（+14）
松井咲子 3,552（+19）
仲川遥香 3,430（+5）
渡辺美優紀 3,359（+75）
平嶋夏海 3,077（+32）
仁藤萌乃 3,064（+11）
大家志津香 2,908（+10）
平松可奈子 2,855（+18）
矢神久美 2,798（+24）
source: 2ch

So what's up with Acchan I wonder?
And Yukirin is going strong. Birthday effect I suppose...

 

About Acchan, maybe people are sick of seeing her everywhere I dunno

 

Maybe Hana kimi 2 is having a negative effect on her popularity.

 

^

Yeah I hear the ratings were awful. Also another factor may be over exsposure, not only is acchan overworked but her presents in the media - I heard - is overwelming. You can't avoid her and that always backlashes on talents no matter how popular they are.

But I hope her numbers go back to plus soon, it is always sad to see girls lose fans.

 

i didnt know the mixi friends number can go negative.. interesting.
Hanakimi's first episode rating was 10.1%, which is considered quite low for prime time tv programs.source
some fans say it's because of the other programs aired at the same time, like harry potter part 1, but i doubt it.
there's also the sentiment that it'll only be a lesser remake of Horikita Maki's version, so probably hardcore horikita fans decided to boycott acchan or something. it's true she have been on many programs advertising hanakimi and her solo single, but i dont think that would have a negative effect.