[GENERAL] The Sakurazaka46 / Keyakizaka46 Thread

For those bored and with nothing interesting to watch, a Korean Nogizaka46 fan who has worked in the music industry in Korea, Japan and China posted a youtube reaction video with English subtitles of Keyakizaka46's songs in a "World Cup" format together with two Korean girls who doesn't know anything about Japanese idol music or Keyakizaka46.



if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Wow this is a honest reaction to the group. As with most fans, they didn't care about the image of the girls, their beauty or beat of the songs. It's all the lyrics. The performances. The messages.

I truly hope Akip & management listen more to the girls, who wish to continue sending such messages, instead of following the traditional way. Most fans of keyaki/Sakura are pulled in by these strong messages and performances.

On another note

Overture uploaded on YouTube channel

if the video does not show watch the video here

I really love this overture.

 

The intial selection was kind of arbitrary. For some reason he decided that Seka ni or Ambivalent are not worth mentioning. I'd have included at least all of the singles plus some prominent A-Sides.

 

November 16, 2018

Yeah, about that...

 

Wait, please don't tell me somebody else besides Rikopi announced graduation...

 

Nah, nothing to worry about for now. I was just reading these old messages while contemplating everything that happened. Some of the posts were surprisingly on point, while others not so much. Like that one time when somebody sort of correctly predicted that 1st Anniva BD will be released in 202X. Still waiting for this one though
Or when the 'Graduated members' subforum was created and soon after Imaizumi announced her graduation.
If am not mistaken, it was you @Jsprite who predicted that Keyaki's restart might begin when Shida returns from her hiatus. Yeah...
The Hirate wars through all the years.
With Documentary finally being released and hopefully translated I decided to dig deep into this thread to sort of relive those events. One hell of a read it is.

 

I really won't like to relive those days lol, especially the hirate war, the mocking of keyaki etc. Not calling for them, but I wonder where those 'loveable and caring' fans are now.

Haven't watched the docu yet, but next time they feel it's okay to come here and diss a member or the group, then they'd better watched the docu already

Saku doing good now, lots of potential. So many to achieve. Gotta look forward to that instead of these lol

 

Those posts didn't age well.

The pros and antis left with Hirate. The pros left for "Techizaka with better backup dancers". The antis left because the fun is gone.

 

Good thing I said might as opposed to will, for Shida's return. Regardless, I still miss this rascal

 

no hirate no keya or keya is for hirate is the most accurate statement ever been said by troll and some fans still couldnt accept it are delulu. lmao

 

Past is past and future is future. I still miss Yurina and Neru and Shida and Mon. And especially Memi. But there is a lot to love about Sakurazaka, even just among the 2gen members. And I think some original Keyaki-chans are getting a bit of a new lease on life: Yui, Ozeki, Habu, Koike.

In today's SokoSaka, enormous praise was piled on Ten-chan by other members, who were writing jacket copy for imaginary photobooks: "The pillar that will make the sakura bloom," "as huge as the sky," "perfectly calm," "her eyes prove that the world is a beautiful place," "can't take my eyes off her...eagerly await what's to come."

I agree with all of that, and rate other members very highly, too: Karin-chan and Run-Run, in particular, but there's lots of beauty and talent and fun in Sakurazaka. I particularly like Ozono and Onuma and Endou and Masumoto and Yumiko and Rina and Inoue.

However, I still think Yurina is a great performer who will have an interesting future, and created some wonderful things for us in Keyakizaka. And Neru is now blossoming more than she ever could have as an idol. I've been thinking that a major difference between Yurina and Ten-chan -- the two major talents, in my opinion -- is that Ten-chan is an idol, and Yurina never really was. By six months after their debut, she had become an "artist," in her own mind and in reality.

As for Tenchan, the only question is whether she will centre the 2nd single or the 3rd. Depends on when staff think she and the market are ready. But I think Seed & Flower has learned its lesson (as I have), and she will not be a permanent centre.

 

Man, I really can't get this out of my head. What was the deal with Sakurazaka46 originally?
Really seems like they wanted to make a group out of Shin 2ki and fellow Sakamichi kenshusei.
I mean, that domain name was first registered on "2019-02-01".
Twitter account created in August, official reveal on September 7, 2019.
Them having their own little tour (2019.10.30 - 2019.11.21), after spending so much time in training. Their own site.
Kira centering Sekai and Marino Kaze ni.
The way I see it, a surprise debut with 15 members might have a bit risky, but not completely unimaginable.
Come to think of it, the name shin 2ki in itself sounds strange, isn't it? Like we already had 2nd gen and then more than a year later 2nd+? Really feels like a haphazard last minute decision we all love S&F for.
Taking everything into account, Keyaki's rename could possibly have been on their radar during early 2019, so it leaves us at this. Keyaki being renamed Sakura probably has its roots in that other project that didn't come to fruition. I'm sure that as late as July 2020 they were sticking with Keyaki brand. Cause what was the reason to release this then? (such a giant false flag in hindsight)
At times I don't get this management at all

 

Dude, the group's name is now Sakurazaka46. We've done so many calculations and deductions but nothing came out of it. Thing is, they probably decided long time to change the name or like you said, create new group with new 2ki.

But all these don't matter anymore to ponder over. We have the members still, no matter the name. That alone is enough lol

 

It may would have been the only decision I would have accepted from SnF lol
ShinKiZaka is still the utopia I long for

 

I would like to share something interesting about Hamaguchi Yoshiyuki's fortune telling, which he did not Keyaki during their New Year's 2020 party on Keyakitte Kakenai.

During the Keyakitte Kakenai new year's special in 2020, he predicted that they would become stagnant (one of the tarot cards was the chariot. He stated "the chariot would not move"). Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many things were cancelled, so even if management had wanted them to do more activities than they did in reality, they could not have. He may have indirectly predicted the pandemic, in the sense that he predicted "something" would prevent them from doing activities. Keyaki also did just "barely survive" as a group in a certain sense, as Keyaki has ceased to exist and its only legacy are the members in the new group themselves. Based on how Hinatazaka46 members speak about their Hiragana Keyaki era, plus the strong connection in the public mind between Keyaki and Techi, they may distance themselves from that history (in public at least). They may still perform some Keyaki songs, but they will probably be referred to as Sakurazaka songs in the same way that DareTobe is referred to as a Hinatazaka song. None of this necessarily affects the actual activities and well being of the members themselves, but the entity known as "Keyaki" has seemed to "suffer" the fate he predicted.

Confirmation of his accuracy is present in the case of fortune telling he did for Kakizaki Memi on Hiragana Oshi during the 2019 New Year's episode. It is in a spoiler as it is technically a Hinatazaka related topic and thus outside the scope of this post/topic/thread.

Spoiler: Kakizaki Memi's fortune telling

Memi's case confirms how spot on the fortune teller Hamaguchi Yoshiyuki's predictions can be. He predicted that something would occur that would cause problems for her that she would need to over come around May. He suggested that a new rival may appear during her life. During the episode of Hiragana Oshi in which the readings took place, many thought it would be a burikko rivalry between Miyata and Memi.

Instead, it seems the "new rival" was the option of a different path in her life. Graduation from Hinatazaka, the image of which she reportedly sort of did not feel comfortable with, was a new rival against the option of staying and continuing work as an idol. Depending on whether or not the stalking incident was the "nail in the coffin" for her decision or not, he may have indirectly predicted it (in the sense that he predicted "something" that would change her life would happen around that time).

It is possible the decision for the name change was made in 2019 and the fortune teller was told by management about it (he also predicted one of the group's dreams would come true around March) but the girls appear to not have known until the first single announcement event, based on Memi's reaction (although, given the girls once faked their reaction after having known about the 2nd generation auditions in advance of the "surprise" announcement, I suppose she could have replicated her initial feelings). In any case, no one knew what Memi's feelings for Hinata would turn out to be in the long term, which is why I think this serves as proof of at least one of his fortune readings being accurate.

 

I've always believed that fortune telling is all about making educated guesses, but sometimes they do sound very plausible, I have to admit.
In case of Hiragana's dream come true (rename) episode is indeed kinda fishy and most likely staged.
Meanwhile Keyaki's group fortune really did turn out to be on point. Even though most of it could've been deduced back then given the difficult circumstances (Hirate leaving, Oda/Mon graduating), I am still impressed with 'things not going as expected' and 'getting stuck/unstuck' parts. It fits the situation just a little bit too well to easily dismiss it as a simple guess. I'll give him that one.
As for individual Keyaki rankings, Nagasawa-kun was supposed to have the best luck in 2020, i.e 'her desires will come true' and an unforgettable event in August. She herself had announced the plan to marry in August, but we don't know whether they proceeded with it or not. This one too, might be pretty accurate.
On the other hand, Koike was supposed to have the worst luck and we can't say pretty confidently this was not the case. The opposite of it, I might say. 2020 was a breakthrough year for her by all means.
All in all, I'm 70% doubt/30% believe in fortune telling.

 

Ever since Yochan's fortune telling about the group, I have started to read about them and I found out that fortunes are told so something can be done about them especially the negative ones. So you will remember whenever he reads a bad fortune of a member, he tells them also about what can be done to avoid it. Like in Pon's, the fortune said she would break her leg, but then he also said she should watch out for the day she trips and be careful else she will harm her leg.
For Koike, again he was on point. In the fortune reading, IIRC Yochan said, in 2020 she would find herself in a negative environment, in other words, she would be having negative thoughts about everything she does or tries to do but she'll blame someone for her faults hence making her luck drop. He also added she could fall ill at a certain month (he mentioned but i forgot). Here he added that, if she avoids cold and keep herself warm, she might avoid that illness. For the former, he told her she can fight it if she does something and that something is, any time she gets those thoughts, apart from the obvious reasons, she should have a 2nd truth that contradicts such negative thoughts and he even gave an example that whenever she is having fun she should think about reasons why it is so. Now, I will say Koike took his advice hence avoided that bad reading. In most interviews she has done, Koike kept mentioning how at first she didn't believe in herself and kept asking herself what she is doing etc, but because of the members she was able to overcome that thought of herself and how she can help 2ki too if they ever feel that way. She also kept saying, she would do her best to beat who she was before and be strong. Here, these words, her words, meant she has turned over that negativity to positivity. Instead of blaming, the reason why her luck was bad, she sent gratitude. Instead of thinking negative, she started thinking positive about herself. So while she was missing in that ghost 9th single senbatsu, she was center in 2nd row of nobody's fault.
So yeah, Yochan was on point. Koike only listened to his advice and took matters into her hands to change her bad reading into a good one. Hopefully Koba does the same so she doesn't get her leg broken lol

Sorry this became long but i hope it came out quite understandable than it seems

 

I ordered a copy of the Keya documentary knowing full well I won't be able to understand a lot of it because of how limited my Japanese is and it arrived today. Hoping some resources pop up that will help me with what was being said/discussed.

 

Ooh, thank you. I'll have to read that after I finish watching.