[GENERAL] The AKB48 Thread

I'm kinda having a hard time accepting the fact that Hamachan is now 20 years old.

 

Another video, just posted by 'The Television':


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

May you have known, it was announced that 12th single of BNK48 would be produced and choreographed by AKB48's members and, it would the reward single for the winner of the upcoming election.

Thai response to the announcement has been frigid. No BNK48 nor CGM48's members has expressed interest. Instead, many have said it had not been any incentive for them to apply. Those who expressed their willingness to apply had not mentioned about the involvement of AKB48's members, rather said they would apply because it was fun, it was a tradition, they would get more job opportunity.

Neither fans are optimistic about it. Since BNK48 had fallen off public interest, fans had demanded original song which was palatable to local mainstream market, mid tempo song with hiphop vibe, and they distrusted that AKB48's members would have a clear idea about local demand.

Some fans have wished for Honda as she had put her hands on song writing before and she might draw attention from K-pop fans. Izuta Rina thought Kashiwagi would be the best choice but Kashiwagi might be too busy to produce a song for the Thai franchise.

You may have noticed that no one has regarded the choreography.

A rumor from few weeks ago was the members to take the task had not been decided.

 

Of course. Who cares about that award? Even we fans don't care at all.

 

You left out the part about the MV shooting being in Japan, and thus probably reflecting Japanese culture rather than Thai (which is what the only complaints I could find on the YT announcement ultimately boil down to). Most likely that's not all you left out or massively distorted, as usual.

 

You missed out the obvious fact that COVID had made it unlikely to shoot the MV oversea thus, it had been totally disregarded.

You also missed out that Thai fans of the group could not care less over the reflection of Thai culture or, they must have not tuned into a Japanese franchise group in the first place.

Thai audiences in general care much less about the MV to the music itself. You can find tons of Thai songs with utterly crappy MV but over 100m views on Youtube.

Most likely, you were just oblivious as per usual.

 

How will AKB48 sell new singles when CD/DVD finally become obsolete and no longer playable on newer generations of PC hardware? Not yet today, but eventually will.
There is a sign of it.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...nt-play-blu-ray-disks-due-to-sgx-deprecation/
Even today, online storage and USB are largely replacing it. Newer PC cases usually don't include a slot for DVD driver. I had to buy one, but now it's just for playing AKB48 singles. CD/DVD are already rather obsolete today.

 

Almost no one buys those CDs to listen to them/watch them. I'm sure it's almost entirely for the gimmicks (handshakes etc.)

I wish they would switch to paper-covers for the theater editions. People only need the ticket anyway and this way it's easier to recycle. They could even use recycled paper and advertise it as environment friendly

 

Almost no one. I rip my CDs and listen almost exclusively to 48grp for years now. I love the music, the message, and the themes aki-p explores in his writing. especially the stage albums. i keep regular edition DVD for the extras. duplicates tho, get recycled. 48 has been kind enough to package the photos separate so that saves time from opening each jewelcase.

there are still cd manufacturing plants in the world, probably with the significant carbon footprint made by the plastics industry. I don't pretend 48GROUP is big enough to be responsible for this industry but they are contributing and their absence would probably be missed.

I'm personally tired of collecting checki and idol stuffs. I do keep supporting 48 with multiple monthly subscriptions. maybe this is the key?

akip and yuasa consider themselves musicians/ artists. (I consider them both to be talented) how are they to justify multiple downloads of the same song written for an isolated market? thing is, for me, akip and yuasa are influenced by my generation of music; 80s new wave, ska, british invasion, and big hair rock, also beloved by overworked middle-aged salarymen (these ojisans have jobs with money for idols. re-live the glory days, Bruce Springsteen and S2 stage) best thing about 48, for me, is the rocknroll with helium voices. I hope that never changes.

I get that the main attraction is the members but 48 is packaged as a music group (tho that recognition is lost among year end music shows) do we want to be fans of a group that only sells FaceTime with cute Japanese girls by the minute? even if the normies already judge us that way.

1 idea, if anyone reads all this, is to make the theater sustainable by double the ticket price (again) and focus on the live performance. and write a song for the next ghibli of video game movie release.

Idc as long as they keep performing in the theater. even if AKB48 goes away the songs will still be performed, they defined "idol" for a decade there are so many tribute groups of wannabe idols that will still perform ogoe diamond.

 

They may start selling "music card". A foreign sister group (SGO48?) did it. It was mere a hard photocard with QR code to download music.
I also have seen singer sold music stored in thumb drive instead of disc.
A Korean boy group started selling digital single. Via online shop, fans could opt to buy the single in digital form and lower price, buyers got a physical random photo card and digital files for the rest, song, album jacket etc.
Idol album waste has become an issue in Korea.

 

One of the reasons I like Korean physical releases is the high quality photobooks that pretty much are the focal part of the package and are a collectable premium item as part of the value proposition.

 

Yes, SGO48 did that, I bought their singles.
However, this group was disbanded and now how long the website to download single contents sgo48.vn will remain online is a big question as the trustability of the management company is very questionable.
I had to store the videos in OneDrive to backup in case the website goes down forever.

Anyway, moving away from CD is definitely better for environment, in case of new SSK (NMB48 is going to have one).
https://japantoday.com/category/ent...-bags-full-of-them-end-up-in-trash-days-later
https://aramajapan.com/news/akb48-fan-charged-illegally-dumping-585-cds/81566/

 

Yet, fancier package means bigger waste.
An incentive for fans to buy K-pop single/album is its quality. Still, there is a limit of how many copies of the same photobook a fan want.
Cheap package at a higher price is a key to the profitability of J-pop market. But, where the profit goes to? I remember it was revealed during the lawsuit of KARA vs. DSP that the 5 members of KARA combined got 3% cut from total physical sale, the distributor got first 80%, UMJ kept 12% of the remaining 20% and gave 8% to DSP, which subsequently kept 5% to itself. Over a decade has passed but I doubt much have changed since this is Japan we are talking about.

 

Me too, one of the reasons why I like AKB48 DVDs is because they usually look beautiful.
I feel that many AKB48 CD, DVDs are now practically little more than collectibles. I have a Ponytail to Shushu, but I rarely listen to the song itself from that CD as it is on YouTube. The single came to me with an intact handshake ticket inside, but I could never use it in its true purpose, because I got this single an entire decade late.
However, contents from many 48G concert DVDs aren't available online, so I had to buy them.

 

I've had some interesting clash on Twitter about 48G terminology and I want to ask You for Your opinion. I don't know were here discussions like this, but want to know Your opinion about this matter.

Whole Twitter discusion is under spoiler:

Spoiler

It has started from Twitter user kisaa(@sakuneck) tweet:

I've replied my opinion based on my own knowledge gained from TV Shows, newses about 48G etc:

Then have been asked by kisaa (he/she used meme video) from where I do own knowledge and I replied:

kisaa:

Me:

kisaa:

Me:

What I do want ask You about? In opinion of Stage48 society what's real definition of Ace and Future Ace? Can we name "Ace" everyone who we want to name or it's better to keep it for members, who as I told, are leading group in performances, activities and already centered single's A-side?

 

@Erbeon , short answer: the ace discussion is stupid, pointless and nothing more than a volatile gimmick.

P.S.: Why on Earth is Shitao an ace?

 

To be honest I just want to know point of view of Stage48 society in this case. Personally I feel that "Ace" has been used too many times by fans, media, TV MCs etc. when they've talked about AKB.

Since Produce48 time some people try to make her "Ace". Under each YT video where she has attended there's bunch of comments in English about her.

 

Firstly, there can be only One Ace. Secondly, Ace and Center are not the same term, but posibly it could be the same person. Acchan and Sayanee for example. Shiraishi was being Ace but not the center., also Sakura. Basically, it's a clash of opinions who is who. Everything else is purely subjective opinion. The concept of the future Ace is just fortune-telling. Today AKB doesn't have nor Ace nor Center in my opinion. Because the only thing that keeps the band going (up?) is the Brand.

 

Yeah... That doesn't make her an ace, just well known in Southeast Asia and California — How come every American on Stage48 is from California? — because of a K-Pop show. Koreans write in Korean. She has never been the center of any song and she's (still) far from being one of the top sellers despite all of her SNS followers and being an online meeting that can be done from home.