[GENERAL] The NGT48 Thread

Took me a while to get this one done, but here's a translation. There's really a bit of everything being discussed inside.

Spoiler

Toward the 3rd anniversay of the NGT theater, we ask theater manager Imamura
Virtual Theater Manager Booth

At the handshake events by NGT48, a corner is set up inside called the "Theater Manager Booth", in which one can express one's own opinions and questions directly to the theater manager himself. Before we reach the 3rd anniversary of the theater on January 10, 2019, we thus conducted a real interview with theater manager Imamura Etsuro (59), imagining this to be the same theater manager booth.

■■The 1st generation has held out strong
Q: If you were to look back at the activities over these last 3 years and give it a score, what points would it be?

60 points, more or less, maybe? The fact that so many of the 1st generation members are still around and well is something that surpassed my predictions. Even those girls who have already graduated truly worked hard at their jobs, and since this is a decision they agreed upon of their own accord, I think there is no problem about that, either. But the fact remains that the 1st generation girls have endured through a lot of things.
What I am trying to say is that, like in the case of shuffles and rank positions, which are also part of the defining traits of the AKB Group, girls like them kept being tossed around based on the decisions of the higher-ups, which when seen from the girls' perspective might look unreasonable. This is a condition that these girls from the Niigata countryside with their hearts of gold had understood clearly. And the fact that, all the while going through lots of plights, they still chose to remain up until this point is something where my calculations turned out to be pleasantly wrong, and I am grateful for that.
Even speaking of the way the fans propelled the members so far up in the rankings at the AKB Sousenkyo, I was dreaming for something like this to happen, but it still surpassed my own estimates.
Regarding the other 40 points missing, it has to do with the fact that since the inception we had "locally-rooted" as our catchphrase, and yet, while we ought to have performed a more extensive caravan tour across the various municipalities within the prefecture, we never got around to doing it yet.

Q: What was the reaction of the people from the Niigata prefecture?

A conservative one at first, but we have received a warm welcome once they had come to embrace us. They had been following us along with much investment and interest during our start dash. That aside, the issue at hand now is to avoid that this enthusiasm from the beginning will cool down.

Q: What's a way to prevent this enthusiasm from cooling down?

There's much talk about how television is losing audience, but at least in Niigata I feel there's still this a culture of gathering in front of the TV with all the family to watch it together. Even on my part, given how I used to work in television productions, I am mindful about such things, but we must necessarily utilize media much more than we do now. That is, I want to do what is possible to let NGT show up there on a normal basis, every day and at a time slot when all people are gathered before the screen.

■■Fans too are growing up along the way
Q: What's a distinctive trait of the fans of Niigata?

They are thrifty with words, they wouldn't say to me directly what they have in their minds when at the venue. Even when we are setting up a "Theater Manager Booth" at nationwide handshake events over in Niigata, I still wouldn't see any particularly fiery fans coming in. I come from Nagoya's SKE, and I have to say they are of an absolutely different kind from the fans that are in Nagoya. However, they also know how to act quietly and responsibly.

Q: At voting-based events like Request Hour and Sousenkyo, NGT was exceptionally strong.

This is where the true characteristics of the prefecture's population show through, in my opinion. And I feel truly thankful for that.
By founding a new group outside of the five largest cities in the country, it means that the near entirety of their fans would be new to the ways of the AKB Group. How should one support them? What's the way one is supposed to deal with the members? Those are things that they need to learn from scratch.
Even the more invested of our fans are just into their 3rd year. This is completely different from a SKE fan of 10 years, let alone an AKB fan of over 10 years. On top of that, being them taciturn as they are, when it comes to NGT fans, it is me who would go out of my way to speak up to them, instead. Yet, once this happens, it is then that they lay bare their soul.
Fans and the group itself are two entities who are growing up together along the way, but the point is that both the members, the staff, and the fans are still 3 years into, at the end of the day.

■■"Connected with the territory" and "Reaching out nationwide" aren't mutually exclusive
Q: I'd like to move on to ask about the locally-rooted model, which can also be said to be NGT's own concept. How are you thinking to reconcile "being connected with the territory" with "reaching out to the entire country"?

I argue that those are two things to be carried out simultaneously. Being locally-rooted doesn't have the same meaning as being inward-focused, it means more like having people feel cheered up from watching our members, collaborating with the enterprises in the region so as to make local people rejoice, and such. By doing this properly, it also opens the door toward the whole country.
If the inside of the Niigata prefecture is teeming with vitality, the message will also be passed along to the outside of the prefecture. If you are asking how, it's because we are part of the AKB Group, consequently if NGT is giving their best in Niigata, even AKB fans and fans of the other groups will get to see that. They'll become curious about it, and maybe consider paying a little visit to Niigata along with that, too.
On those times when they are having activities outside of the prefecture, I would always tell to the members "Please do your best to make a pitch for Niigata while there". The other groups wouldn't go around talking about "our territory, our territory", but when it comes to us, don't you see how they often say "We are giving our efforts for Niigata"? That is an aspect that we have thought long and hard about.
But what's more important than anything is to make sure the natives of the Niigata prefecture living in Tokyo can be proud of it. With them being surrounded by many people from other different regions of the country, I can put my hopes in a ripple effect to result from it.

Q: One aspect that became a matter of debate at the time of the group's creation was how, compared to the other groups affiliated to AKB, Niigata had an overwhelmingly low population, which is to say that the market there is rather small. How are you managing to overcome this disadvantage?

Actually, we still haven't overcome it yet. At present, we still are right in the process of doing so. However, it's just the playfield that is small, but the rules of the game do not change. If the playfield is small, then there are moves and techniques intended for a small playfield, so to speak. With that said, we belong to a group of a nationwide scale such as AKB, and with that in mind, by engaging in activities outside of the prefecture using this as our identification badge, we have the possibility of attracting people from the other prefectures over to Niigata, also.

Q: We get the impression that the members born in other prefectures are carrying out promotional activities more and more frequently back in their own native region. Is this also part of the strategy to attract people from outside the prefecture?

That's correct. And even speaking of the members, I figure they would be happy to be able to make a triumphal homecoming there, as well. To have people, not to mention their family and close relatives, take pride in the fact that a girl from their own region is in NGT, is of great importance.

■■I put down the low number of theater shows to my own lack of ability
Q: The theater stage has passed the 400 performances mark already, and with all audience seats filled to full capacity, by the looks of it. What is your view on the current situation?

Well, when compared to the other groups, the number of theater performance is still low, by a great margin. But I can argue that this is because of my own lack of ability. On the other hand, I find that the members have truly given their utmost efforts at it, all the while being no more than 22 people up until this last August. So I want to express my admiration to all those girls. Between people suffering injuries one after another, and the necessity to also attend school, it is simply not possible to fill in the theater schedule in the same way as the other groups do.
Starting from this Autumn we will have the 5 Kenkyuusei members from the Draft go fully operative at last, we are also helping the 2nd generation Kenkyuusei torward their theater debut day one person at a time, not to mention that the regular members of NIII and G are also crossing over from their own team into the other, all of which keeps the theater show schedule filled in some way or another. In the future, once the 2nd generation members will begin stepping up little by little in their level, it will help take some of the workload off the 1st generation's shoulders. That will allow the schedule program to be on par with that of the other groups at last, and in doing so it would also allow to maintain a stable number of theater shows.

Q: For sure, they have been performing with a small number of people, although good ones at that. But anyway, if the goal was indeed to increase the number of theater performances, I guess this is also how you came to the assessment that you had to start looking for new members faster than intended, or to promote the Kenkyuusei as soon as possible...

This was dictated rather by the circumstances of the group. While in this current state, this was the course of action we couldn't avoid taking.

■■We selected the members in the same way as one makes a school baseball club
Q: From time to time, Imamura-san would go on to describe the 1st generation members as a "collection of super-unique characters". And you have gathered together people of all different talents, that's for sure. Now that the Draft members and the 2nd generation members joined in as well on top of that, what are your views about this 2nd chapter of NGT?

In the case of the 1st and 2nd generation members, I was the only one who checked the application documents, at the initial screenings. I didn't take into the consideration the input from any other staff employee at all. It was 6,000 applications for the 1st generation, and roughly the same for the 2nd generation as well. It took me about 2 months to get through it, but I read them all thorougly, in order to find out what the peculiarities of that specific girl were.
I selected those applications which I found curious and interesting, and it is those girls that were left, as a result.
I have repeated the same operation even with the case of the 2nd generation, which means they are also a lineup of members with peculiar characters that can give the 1st generation a run for their money. In a good, or a bad sense.

Q: What are your criteria for something being "interesting"?

It's the same as building up a school baseball club. You cannot have just a pitcher, you need also an outfielder, and then a catcher, and that's how creating a team is like. If I have to name the only policy that I have, it's indeed to aim for an assortment of unique characters.

Q: We get the impression that, in terms of the members' birthplaces, things are leaning heavily toward East Japan. Is there any intention to draw a line between yourselves and West Japan groups, like STU is instead?

With the 1st generation, rather than it being about East and West Japan, I kept an eye on things within the prefecture itself. It was about keeping a balance between the Jouetsu, Chuuetsu, and Kaetsu areas.
Being this the northernmost team within AKB, the Touhoku and Hokkaido regions were also taken into consideration. But nonetheless, if there were any great girls even in the South part of Japan, they were more than welcome.
To tell the truth, on the first stage of the auditions for the 2nd generation, we received applications coming from all 47 prefectures. However there are also people who, after they had come over from far away on their own decision, then decided in a hurry to withdraw, after I had explained in detail about the climate in Niigata, the kind of lifestyle and anything else about how things would be like after moving over here. But I think that these changes of heart are to be expected anyway. Even making them move over to Niigata this simply, especially after taking personal responsibility for it, would be a source of problems, I say.

■■Counseling with the members happens on a daily basis
Q: The members are also in an age where they are emotionally delicate, so I imagine this too is another difficult part of the job. How do you normally approach them?

There are times when I act as a brother, others when I am more like a classmate, and other times still when I turn into a rather intimidating grandpa. When dealing with a specific girl, I avoid going over the line when speaking with her. When dealing with another girl, I make sure not to be severe with her, at least for the moment, etc... Depending on the times and the circumstances, as well as each single member, the ways of approaching them tend to vary.
Problem counseling happens on a nearly daily basis. But the way to handle them is different every time. The only rule is not to be too gratuitous with the encouragements. I would hand out advices to them, granted, but I would always conclude it by saying "In the end, make your decisions by yourself".
I would look back at how things were like back in my twenties-something, and then tell them: "You may think so right now, but do you know how things will be 2 years from now? There's a lot of things still to figure out", "Those worries you have now may already be water under the bridge in 3 days, maybe one week time; this is going by my personal experience". Also, "First of all, don't rush things", "Don't fret", I remember having told such things to pretty much all members in the past.

■■Getting things started to make the tour a reality
Q: For all those people who have taken an interest in NGT but don't know it very well yet, what show pieces are you considering to provide them in the near future?

For one thing, I wish them to come over and watch the theater shows, but for those who are unable to, well, how about a tour? It is my personal thought that it's about time we need to hold one.
I am not saying that it must be a nationwide tour. It would take us 2, 3 years at best if we were to cover the whole country. But as far as the inside of the prefecture is concerned, I want to offer and opportunity for people to take a look at the member's performance.
I keep being asked this often even at the theater manager booth. I have never said once that we wouldn't do it, but at the same time, I don't want to cause any unintentional implications, either. So I'll say it clearly that the time has come for us to finally get working on it.

 

^ Reading this here is so different from what the antis on the matome sites try to pass Imamura off as incompetent.

Having been to the performances and the nationwide handshake event in Niigata, I can say, forget what people say that NGT girls have very low dance skill. The girls put in a lot of effort to be engaging, serious where needed and playful whenever possible. The girls will look rusty for songs they don't normally dance.

My Japanese friend who was a NMB fan, was at the mini live at the handshake event in Niigata with me. She said 'the people (fans) really want to support the girls' when I asked her about impression of being at a NGT48 live performance event afterwards. Seeing Ogiyuka perform and emcee in real life changed my friend's impression of Ogiyuka. My friend said Ogiyuka is the most idol like of all the girls. Her initial impression of Ogiyuka before the live was like... How did she get chosen to become a NGT48 member?

 

if the video does not show watch the video here
Koko Dake 201812

 

Drone Jealously is the title of the NGT48 2nd Generation Song on Fortune Cherry's Single (Makes me wish even more that we got an MV for this).
https://twitter.com/NGT48schedule/status/1069109217766731776

 

Hopefully this will be a EN song for the upcoming KKS Stage.

Main Song Title
ひまわりのない世界
Himawari no nai sekai
A world without sunflowers

Ogiyuka will be VERY sad!

 

Billboard Year End Stuff is out
Top Artists
4th: Nogizaka46
5th: Keyakizaka46
8th: AKB48
http://www.billboard-japan.com/special/detail/2543

Hot 100
3rd: Glass wo Ware! (Keyakizaka46)
6th: Synchronicity (Nogizaka46)
7th: Jikochuu de Ikou! (Nogizaka46)
10th: Teacher Teacher (AKB48)
11th: Ambivalent (Keyakizaka46)
21st: Kaerimichi wa Toomawari Shitaku Naru (Nogizaka46)
32nd: Sentimental Train (AKB48)
33rd: Jabaja (AKB48)
37th: Kaze ni Fukaretemo (Keyakizaka46)
38th: Ikinari Punch Line (SKE48)
43rd: Muishiki no Iro (SKE48)
47th: Silent Majority (Keyakizaka46) (lol)
50th: Fukyouwaon (Keyakizaka46)
57th: Warota People (NMB48)
65th: Influencer (Nogizaka46)
71st: Boku Datte naichau yo (NMB48)
80th: Hayaokuri Calendar (HKT48)
81st: Yokubomono (NMB48)
92nd: Itsuka Dekirukara Kyou Dekiru (Nogizaka46)
98th: Sekai wa Doko Made Aozora na no Ka? (NGT48)
http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=hot100_year&year=2018

Albums
6th: Bokutachi wa, Ano Hi no Yoake o Shitteiru (AKB48)
22nd: Hashiridasu Shunkan (Hiragana Keyakizaka46)
36th: 092 (HKT48)
38th: Bokudake No Kimi ~Under Super Best~ (Nogizaka46)
61st: Masshiro na Mono wa Yogoshitaku naru (Kanji Keyakizaka46)
http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=hot_albums_year&year=2018

Stream Songs
12th: Glass wo Ware! (Keyakizaka46)
16th: Silent Majority (Keyakizaka46)
22nd: Fukyouwaon (Keyakizaka46)
32nd: Kaze ni Fukaretemo (Keyakizaka46)
34th: Influencer (Nogizaka46)
38th: Synchronicity (Nogizaka46)
98th: Futari Saison (Keyakizaka46)
http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=stsongs_year&year=2018

Download Songs
26th: Glass wo Ware! (Keyakizaka46)
53rd: Synchronicity (Nogizaka46)
80th: Kaze ni Fukaretemo (Keyakizaka46)
92nd: Fukyouwaton (Keyakizaka46)
99th: Ambivalent (Keyakizaka46)
http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=dlsongs_year&year=2018

Download Albums
99th: Hashiridasu Shunkan (Hiragana Keyakizaka46)
http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=dlalbums_year&year=2018

Top Single Sales
1st: Teacher Teacher (AKB48)
2nd: Sentimental Train (AKB48)
3rd: Synchronicity (Nogizaka46)
4th: Jikochuu de Ikou! (Nogizaka46)
5th: Jabaja (AKB48)
6th: Kaerimichi wa Toomawari Shitaku Naru (Nogizaka46)
7th: Glass wo Ware! (Keyakizaka46)
8th: Ambivalent (Keyakizaka46)
13th: Ikinari Punch Line (SKE48)
15th: Muishiki no Iro (SKE48)
21st: Warota People (NMB48)
23rd: Boku Datte naichau yo (NMB48)
24th: Yokubomono (NMB48)
25th: Hayakouri Calendar (HKT48)
28th: Sekai wa Doko Made Aozora na no ka? (NGT48)
35th: Kurayami (STU48)
37th: Sekai no Hitoe (NGT48)
40th: Haru wa Doko kara kuru no ka? (NGT48)
41st: Itsuka Dekiru kara Kyou Dekiru (Nogizaka46)
58th: Kaze ni Fukaretemo (Keyakizaka46)
http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=sales_year&year=2018

Top Album Sales
2nd: Bokutachi wa, Ano Hi no Yoake o Shitteiru (AKB48)
18th: Hashiridasu Shunkan (Hiragana Keyakizaka46)
20th: 092 (HKT48)
25th: Bokudake No Kimi ~Under Super Best~ (Nogizaka46)
77th: Masshiro na Mono wa Yogoshitaku naru (Kanji Keyakizaka46)
http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=albums_year&year=2018

 

Yuka said that she'd work for 21 hours tomorrow. It's only her or NGT48 too?

5th single? You better pray @ForrestFuller @Floris58

 

Wouldn't expect it that early (i'd say during spring is more likely)... Either way i'll be praying my Minamin ass off, considering she still hasn't made that huge announcement. ^^

Any source to what Yuka said though?

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

3rd anniversary of the theater opening is on the rails 19/01/10
https://twitter.com/official_NGT48/status/1072045816913653760

There are 3 events sheduled on 01/12, with local medias at Bandaijima multipurpose square
https://twitter.com/official_NGT48/status/1072047185506709504

 

She deleted the tweet that said she'd work from 6:30 AM today to 3 AM tomorrow.

Well, she had at least 2 magazine shootings today. One is from a gravure magazine which she hasn't announced which one, another is Junon, a magazines targeting teenagers & young adults which she's an exclusive model.

But it should've been done at 4 PM. Well, I also dunno what she'd do later.

I actually had big speculations such as 5th single & even Yuka's solo photobook.

Spoiler: ...

Or she just wanna hide because she don't want to be involved to an internal conflict between ………………………………

 

NGT48 will be performing at the Tokyo Idol Project x @ Jam New Premium party 2019 (Premium Stage) on January 3, 2019.
http://www.newyearpp.jp/2019/lineup/

NGT48 will once again be performing at the Tokamichi City Snow Festival on February 16th
https://snowfes.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/9dff9dee81579c3402db54ad6b3b3d2b.pdf

 

No announcement about a 3rd Anniversary concert in TDC? (yet)

 

Another snowstorm performance.
Weeeeee !!

 

if the video does not show watch the video here

Drone Jealousy
2Ki
NGT48『2ki』『ドローンジェラシー』2期生 ラジオ音源

 

The song is so awesome. I feel very optimistic about the 2nd generation

By the way, does anyone know about what is happening in team G right now?

https://www.jshowbiz.com/english/news/ske48/item/4260-ngt48-civil-war-the-saga-continues.html

 

I don't agree with the jshowbiz article and the 2nd comment that it is from Team NIII.

The Mahohon's tweet was removed for damage control when the original intent of the tweet was misconstrued by fans or people like jshowbiz.

1. The girls are very straight forward in their handling of each other.
2. They will not use SNS to 'air dirty linen'.
3. Everything is handled within the group. Even Rika's punishment/discipline within the group is not aired out for all to see.
4. Rika has been doing her best recently to mend bridges.

 

What basically happened was:

Maho first posted the following message on December 9, which the "news site" didn't even bother to report at all, expressing this praise for Team G. Here's a quick translation of its message:

"I want to defend these girls and what they stand for.
No matter how many things we have to put up with that I cannot tolerate, I want to protect Team G even more so. There are my companions with me, whose love can prevail against any hatred, sadness, and anger. That I am in the same team as these members is, for me, a salvation. It's the energy that helps me keep going nowadays. I feel thankful that we could go on to form one single team all together. I am thankful that I could get to meet you all. I love you."
---
With the original purpose of the tweet completely flying over their heads, some of Nakai's fans just took offence at the fact that neither of the group photos posted had Nakai in it, as if Nakai ever bothered to show up in any such group photos (we'll come back to that later). Evidently some felt victimized and ostracized, and began throwing a fit directly at Maho's tweet for that reason only. For the sake of evidence, a thread about the misbehavior of Nakai's fans was made on 2ch the same day, with a highlight of some of the most egregious replies (out of pity, I won't be explaining them). All the tweets are still up on Twitter, along with more of the same, and they can still be reached through a simple search query, by the way.
https://www.logsoku.com/r/2ch.sc/akb/1544360002/
This led to Maho just deleting the tweet altogether before they would start getting too noisy, and replace it with this other tweet to make it clear that there was no intention for it to be a statement about Nakai ("Even when it's not about Rika, it still gets misinterpreted as such. Whether you'll touch upon the subject or not, you'll get yourself burned anyway; it figures, being the person of the moment... lol"), also assuring they have been on good terms even after getting in Team G. Among other things, she says it's because she knows she's a type who "is consistent with oneself both in public and in private, thus on the contrary she is not a scary one at all" -- I want to underline this part because the other point below seems to be just a continuation of this reasoning.
(and as for group photos, even Maho had to point out that, because of Nakai being constantly absent for work and stuff, she actually had to look all the way back to her photos from the Hokori no Oka stage to find anything with them together at all)
---
The "2nd statement" that was reported by the site is (maybe purposefully) fragmentary and subtly incorrect on top of that. I retrieved an archived copy and here is what it said.

"What is truly scary are actually the people who act kind and nice on the front, but on the back would inflict terror on others, the kind of which won't go away for life, this is what I hope you would realize. Those kind of people are the ones who would have no qualms about betraying you as well. That makes me feel crushed by fear and a sense of chagrin.
However, since there is a lot more that I have to defend and protect than just myself, there's nothing else I can say.
The point is, that's all because I love Team G. I greatly care for it."
What I take from the wording is that it was supposed to be a private conversation that got posted by mistake on the official account, hence why it was deleted immediately after. Without first reading the examples of "fan reactions" that can be found in the point above, it loses any context, but sincerely, I don't want to investigate further, let alone speculate. I already got my day ruined when I opened up Mobame this morning and read that she decided to take a short period of break again from SNS, after this bad run-in with a pretty self-conceited side of the NGT fanbase (if I should recognize it as such).
As if she didn't already reduce her SNS activity enough because of other trolls already, now we have to deal with people on the inside.

---
And this is all. Besides, can't you guys find something more entertaining to talk about? These days was the theater screening of Nanako's and Tsugumin's Sousenkyo pledges, for one thing, but I doubt anyone is even willing or interested in bringing it up in this wretched place, am I right?

Well, see ya then.

 

https://twitter.com/tresen_Fyoko/status/1072237859174793216?s=19

Katomina and Hinatan on Tresen FM Yokohama. 20181211

 

Timetable for 2nd Night FNS Music Festival (48/Sakamichi)

7PM JST Block: Nogizaka46
8PM JST Block: NGT48
9PM JST Block: Ikuta Erika, Kanda Sayaka, Shirota Yu
10PM JST Block: AKB48 x Nogizaka46 x Keyakizaka46 x IZ*ONE, Yoshimotozaka46

ttps://www.fujitv.co.jp/FNS/time.html

 

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av38047939
I am so proud of the Nuggets to be able to represent themselves at FNS instead of being 'AKB48 Group's NGT48'.