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[GENERAL] The AKB48 Thread

Discussion in 'General AKB48 Discussion' started by Kyobu, Jun 16, 2007.

  1. Jurinavenclaw

    Jurinavenclaw Future Girls

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2010
    Location:
    Laguna, Philippines
    Oshimen:
    Matsui Jurina
    Since i have the time, although its not like my thoughts are in any way significant, lol.

    Popular members like Shinoda, Kojima, Itano, if I'm not mistaken, were never referred to as aces. So I don't think the likes of Muto Tomu, Yuihan, etc are anywhere near 'acehood'.

    WMatsui were considered the aces of SKE at some point, right, even though Rena never got a solo center before her grad single?

    I agree though at almost everyone who were considered aces got to center a single and at one point, became the face of the group.
     
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  2. minaeshi

    minaeshi Next Girls

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2014
    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Oshimen:
    Morita Hikaru
    Twitter:
    minaeshit
    I think KPOP album's are a great collectors item, and have been for ages. They're something fans rarely throw out, but it started to become a problem when Kpop groups, after visiting Japan for single promotions, found that including handshake/event tickets in their albums will increase sales. I remember first seeing SM albums including fan tickets and around that same time album sales for their biggest groups were increasing 50-100k. Soon after, the others started doing it, and now we're at this point. They try to do both (pretty collectors packaging and fan events), whereas JPOP groups do either or; like you said, a cheaply made CD with fan events included or a pretty DVD with no idol meeting incentives but a great collectors item. I believe that's also why JPOP albums or DVD packages do more poorly in sales.

    @Erbeon , As for the Ace topic, It's as simple as Ace =/= Center and Popular Members =/= Ace. An idol can be popular for years and may be rewarded with a center position, but they might not be the popular member that everyone is talking about. @STS 's example of Nogi's Maiyan is a perfect example of an Ace, whereas girls like Asuka, Nanase, and more recently Sakura and Mizuki would be considered as popular center girls.

    The chances of an Ace being a center is almost guaranteed. Acchan, Jurina, Sayanee, Sakura. We know who they are lol but they are the girls who you would consider a center, so if the idol is someone not on their level then no, they're not an Ace. That's not to say they're not popular, they definitely can be. Mariko, Takamina and Tomochin are popular kami 7 level girls who aren't considered aces, so the likes of Mion, Tomu, and Yuiri aren't aces.

    A term that I remember being used a lot way back then but isn't so much now is 'Face'. Fans here would refer to members who were certainly popular like Mariko, Takamina, Tomichin, Kojiharu and Yukirin, as 'faces' of the group, because they were easily recognisable as AKB members to the general public, and while they all eventually centered a single they weren't considered an Ace like Acchan, Yuko or Mayu were.

    As for those four girls (Yuiyui, Hiichan, Miu, and Zukky) I would say none of them are Aces right now, but they all have potential to be. If anything this should be the year that one of them breaks out into the general publics eye. If you absolutely had to pick an Ace right now, it would be Naachan as she's the first person people people would most likely think of when hearing AKB48 who stands in the center and is respected in the industry and by idol fans, but even then it's a stretch as she doesn't have the same reach as say Acchan or Maiyan.

    TLDR watch AKB0048 lol
     
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  3. JPN48

    JPN48 Member

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    May 7, 2019
    Location:
    Kyoto, Japan
    Oshimen:
    小栗有以
    I don't know how to really define what an Ace is, but I basically agreed with your point. For me, it's just like the face of the group and the one being pushed my management, but can also be somewhat subjective.

    Below is my opinion (which is subjective):
    - Some members that have been an ace at one point: Acchan, Mayuyu, Jurina, Sayanee, Sakura, Mirurun, Yumirin (perhaps Paruru arguably, and right now Yuiyui too)
    - Some popular members that have never been considered an ace: Takamina, Mariko, Kojiharu, Yukirin, Matsui Rena, Mirukii (and I don't see Yuko and Sasshi as aces)
     
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  4. wlerin

    wlerin Next Girls

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2012
    Oshimen:
    Taniguchi Megu

    if the video does not show watch the video here
    Sooo, has Cherprang entered yet?
     
  5. welp

    welp Next Girls

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2017
    I believe the concept of "ace" is taken from sport world and I kinda follow sport, women's volleyball to be exact. For volleyball, the ace is that one person who produces 30%+ of the team's total score by herself and 10+ points more than second best scorer. She is not just the best scorer of the team and overwhelms everyone. I have seen no one of that level in AKB48, that one sole predominant member. But, Jurina and Sayaka can be counted as the ace for SKE48 and NMB48 respectively.

    I only know that K-pop sale nowadays has been inflated with "fansign". The fansign works in a different system and there is no fansign ticket enclosed with the CD.
    I've never seen the info about K-pop idol enclosing "fan ticket" unless it's Japanese promotion and, K-pop groups did not have serious promotion in Japan until Tohoshinki hit big in Japan. Fansign already existed by then.
    Mind sharing your info on this?

    Contrary, Cherprang said she would not participate despite Naachan.
    And, it doesn't matter who writes the "Japanese" lyric as it will then be translated by the same old Aeh.
    Lol at Choreographer Yuiri. She is not even that good as a dancer.

    A rumor was that iAm gave members much smaller portion of the income from GE2 giving the excuse of underwhelming business turnover due to COVID thus, members were disappointed and unmotivated.
     
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  6. donjonnie

    donjonnie Next Girls

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2011
    Oshimen:
    Time's up

    if the video does not show watch the video here
    Dobon 1st Anniversary Live Concert, recording time. Chance no Junban and Hotei Sokudo to Yuuetsukan.
    Pyon <3
    Edit : sorry for double posting with the Dobon thread, just found it after posting this. feel free to delete if needed:^^;:

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2022
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  7. lionel90

    lionel90 Under Girls

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2009
    Twitter:
    Lionel_90
    And ?
    As long as the author's lyrics are conveyed, as long as the translation is accurate, is it a problem ?

    The most experienced performer among all current and former 48 groups members.
    Yuiri has dozen of concerts / TV shows and countless of theater appearences under her belt, more than 4 years of team captaincy (= coaching). So a more than long enough CV to try her hands on choregraphy.
    And she has a precious advising ressource around herself with 48 groups dance instructor staff.
    Everyone started something from scratch at some time.
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2022
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  8. innosu

    innosu Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2017
    Location:
    大阪
    Oshimen:
    小嶋真子
    Yes. I don't really follow BNK48 at all, but even I heard the complaints of recent BNK48 song translations. The main problems are:
    1. It's very hard to accurately convey meaning behind each verse while also fit into the syllable counts. Aeh tend to cram too much words into each verse.
    2. Thai language is tonal. That mean it will sounds very, very weird if the tone of each word does not align with the melody. This further complicated the translation.
    (source in Thai)
     
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  9. Izzy Trinh

    Izzy Trinh Future Girls Studio48 Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2019
    Oshimen:
    AKB48 Yukirin, AKB48 Naamin
    If you once read a pantip thread (Thailand's forum) you can get the reason. Thai (and also Vietnamese) are tonal, not like Japanese and Chinese. As you can see AKB48 lyrics in Mandarin sounds harmonizer and easier to sing than in Thai. More than one BNK48 members said about how fast and hard the lyrics were to sing along, and hard to sing along is certainly not good for a song to become popular. And @innosu is right, the song sounds weird, funny and ridiculous.
    Secondly is the culture, we all know that the lyrics when translated has to keep the original meaning but from my knowledge, lots of 48grp lyrics not very suitable for China, Vietnam and Thailand's culture. So something the lyrics seem really meaning less and recondite.
    For example, in Vietnam where I live, which I believe things also happen like in Thailand, SGO48 was always seen as the group with childish song (harmonize) and ridiculous lyrics. I remember I couldn't even hear all the lyrics of Namida Surprise at first so how can I understand it?
    I understand why BNK48 wota want a Thai lyricist more than an AKB48 member who don't know both their language and culture.
     
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  10. minaeshi

    minaeshi Next Girls

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2014
    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Oshimen:
    Morita Hikaru
    Twitter:
    minaeshit
    Kpop fansigns work with albums as a lottery system, in which fans would buy the albums. Most fansigns are really small like 50 - 500 depending on group popularity, so it's pretty hard to get into. My sources are pretty much from friends who participated in them, because I couldn't justify buying 10+ albums to not even get into the event lol. But they would buy around 50-70 and never get a ticket. You can just look up "kpop fansigns albums" and a lot of people's experiences are there.
    And yes I was a Cassie for years, I'm well aware of the groups impact on kpop, hence my initial statement.
     
  11. wlerin

    wlerin Next Girls

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2012
    Oshimen:
    Taniguchi Megu
    Chinese languages are tonal as well, but modern songs in Mandarin typically ignore tones when set to music. (Cantonese typically respects them.)

    One consequence is that songs in Mandarin are often incomprehensible without the lyrics.
     
  12. KPKgirl

    KPKgirl Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Location:
    Iowa, USA
    Oshimen:
    Sumire Sato
    Ok - I throw my two cents on the Ace discussion.

    Ace = Face + Center of the group as chosen by management, the fans, AND general public. Not just as singles but also in tv show performances not related to a single promo, guests on shows, magazine features etc. I'll argue that there is NOT an ace of AKB48 currently. This title is important and shouldnt just be thrown around to any girl with some theater & handshake popularity. AKB needs an Ace to try to continue to climb back up in the publics eyes. Sure, Ne mo Ha mo Rumor has gotten a lot of tv appearances recently, but its going to take more than just a cool song and dance to get the public interested again.
    I would say the last true AKB Ace was Mayuyu. Potentially you could throw Sakura and Jurina in the category as well. They were sister group members HOWEVER they were an integral part of AKB. They both were regular centers for the group and were recognized almost more as AKB than their sister groups. Sakura to the point where she, controversially, centered their 10th anniversary single as sister group member. I would make the argument that she was not an HKT ace, she was a AKB one. She only centered one single as HKT and that was a W center. Jurina however was definitely SKE Ace, though she shared that title with Matsui Rena in that group.
    Someone brought up Kojiharu - I wouldn't call her Ace even though she centered 5 AKB singles because she was not the face of AKB. Sure she was famous and had a lot of promo but even while she was center people thought of Acchan and Yuko when they thought of AKB. Mayuyu was sold for so long as future ace by management and when Yuko left she was put at the front of AKB & the fans & the general public. She was their chosen center in everything that wasnt a sister group member. Sasshi won the SSK but she was not managements choice at all and they didnt push her as that, so while she was popular - and the general public liked her she would not qualify.

    Right now I don't think we have a future Ace. I think we have centers that have potential to be Ace's. All of them have been in the group too long though, so they arent the future of AKB. They are Naachan & YuiYui. I also think it would be neglectful to remove Hiichan even though she isnt a center (yet?).

    Naachan - is obvious, she current center and has had a past single center under her belt. She is getting promo in magazines, although not to the degree of the previous aces, though AKB in general is not getting magazine covers and features right now like they used to. If she gets chosen again & continues in the trajectory she is in, mainly singing competition winner, nona diamonds center(?), magazines, more tv appearances and a, more likely than not, solo debut - she is a lock for current ace.

    YuiYui - its obvious that she was at least managements choice at one point. She seems to have inherited the Heavy Rotation center position, which still gets a decent amount of performances on TV. She centered Teacher Teacher and most people believe she is supposed to be the new center of 11gatsu no Anklet (inherited from ACE Mayu) although that song isnt really performed anymore. She has her Larme model thing, and she's done a few other magazine spreads, I think I dont follow her closely - so i could be over or understating those appearances. I think she has a popularity among fans but I don't think most of the general public would recognize her as a member of AKB.

    Hiichan - not a center but she is easily the most recognized "new" face of AKB right now. She has a ton of magazine & tv appearances. This push however was not instigated by management so its hard to tell how much they will push her as AKB center/ace material vs just as Honda Hitomi. She could easily go the Sasshi route and be super popular but not an Ace because she isnt center.

    IMO management should try to push Naachan for the next year but have Hiichan in the wings to start a center push at the last quarter of this year. Try to get the whole Acchan/Yuko & Wmatsui friends but rivals thing going. This could help them get back into the market & gain intrigue to the general populous. The biggest thing that needs to happen in order for this to work is they need to start releasing singles. No less than 3 this year and they have to be top tier. Unfortunately the general idol type songs are not going to do it right now.
     
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  13. Iz*One48

    Iz*One48 Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2019
    I don’t think the issue is about the problem of definition. What I think the twitter user trying to say is that we and management must treat Yuiyui, Hiichan, Zukky and Miu as the representative of AKB48 right now. Treating them as future aces giving the connotation that they will become ace in the future but how long in the future. 1 year? 2 year? Their times in AKB48 are numbered and they are in AKB48 more than 5 years already. If we consider them as the future aces for too long, by the time that they are being considered as the aces, they had loss the interest to become AKB48 members and they want to graduate already. That is what happened to Yokochan, Rei and to certain extend Sakura.

    AFAIK Chinese is tonal language. That is why there is this thing called "grass mud horse"
     
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  14. JPN48

    JPN48 Member

    Joined:
    May 7, 2019
    Location:
    Kyoto, Japan
    Oshimen:
    小栗有以
    Chinese language is actually as tonal as it can get, and not only Mandarin, but basically all of their dialects/varieties as well.

    At least in Chinese, they don't give any consideration to the tone when it comes to songs, since you know, how can one create the song that must match the language tone, it's just not possible to do.
     
  15. sc89

    sc89 Member Studio48 Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2017
    Oshimen:
    Yamamoto Ayaka
    Your answer:


    Can confirm that Cantonese songs typically respect tone and those that don't usually get treated as jokes. It is a totally possible thing to achieve but of course the lyricists have to work on it. :)



    But yea Team SH and Team TP (and SNH back then) sing in Mandarin and fan complaints about lyrics translations are seldom about tone (afaik — I only check these groups occasionally). More frequently they are about the translation not rhyming (another major difference between Japanese and Chinese pop songs; though I believe this happened more in the early days and most TSH/TTP songs rhyme now). Or having too many words in one line / generally awkward phrasing / the wrong style. There are also translated lyrics that are generally well received though, for example TTP's version of Mae Shika Mukanee.
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2022
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  16. innosu

    innosu Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

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    大阪
    Oshimen:
    小嶋真子
    Can also confirm that Thai song typically care about tone.
     
  17. IBMRP

    IBMRP Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2016
    Oshimen:
    kashiwagiyuki
    Hello, I'm sorry if its OOT here.
    I am new to Online HS, so I missed "lottery" period, I didn't check my email properly when it said they closed the period just now (Today 23:59) Japan time

    So what if I missed that lottery? Now I know I can't change my nickname nor get decided (either Sign Kai/Talk)
    Does it mean I can't join HS at all?
    pls help i am very panic now. thank you
     
  18. wlerin

    wlerin Next Girls

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2012
    Oshimen:
    Taniguchi Megu
    You can still join, you just need to connect your chara-ani and withlive accounts using the External Site (外部サイト連携) option @IBMRP
     
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  19. David61

    David61 Under Girls Stage48 Donor

    Joined:
    May 17, 2015
    Location:
    Reading, England
    Oshimen:
    Komiyama Haruka
    Twitter:
    DavidB13
    It's too late to take part in the lottery or change your nickname for the talks on 1/29 but not for 1/30, you've still got until 23:59 JST tomorrow (1/25). However I can't see any reason why you can't take part in all the talks you've bought, all that will happen is that the members will see your name in the surname/forename form that appears in your account.
     
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  20. IBMRP

    IBMRP Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2016
    Oshimen:
    kashiwagiyuki
    Thank you! I will try to do that

    @David61 Ah! Too bad mine is 29/1
    If the disadvantage is just member can see my surname/name that’s totally okay for me (no problem at all)
    I thought because I missed the lottery, they disqualified me (I am still learning about HS).

    Thank you all for kind words! Will practice my japanese for upcoming HS! Wish me luck
     

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