[GENERAL] The Sakurazaka46 / Keyakizaka46 Thread

Personally, I think the biggest stumbling block is the elephant in the room: Hirate*. Like it or not, the whole shebang that the group and fandom had to go through over the past 2-3 years, stems from her presence/absence and eventual withdrawal (not graduation). If you want to perform any song centered by Hirate, it is hard to shake off the ghost of Hirate. After the pain of the past few years and rebranding, who wants to bring back that ghost? Hirate looms too big over it, especially among those who were Keyakizaka fans. Prior to all this, if anyone who centered one, gets automatically compared to Hirate. While this is probably expected for any group, I find that too much attention is heaped upon the differences than is healthy.

With Hirate gone, the remaining former Keyakizaka fans are likely to fans of the group or those who are non-Hirate oshis. They aren't so attached to Hirate, but Keyakizaka songs do carry a reminder of the past that is not all bright. I love the songs myself but I can't pretend that the whole baggage of the era doesn't exist. Among the present members, the first gen and second gen are the ones who have interacted with Hirate on a personal basis, and especially for the first gen, having gone through that time of pain. Practicing and performing Keyakizaka songs will just bring back all the memories. I'm pretty sure that's not what they want to do right now, given that SKZ has only been launched about a year ago.

Sure, the management is driven by profits, but this is also shaped by what the market wants, or at least what they think the market wants. With all that drama of the past few years, SKZ is supposed to wipe the slate clean and restart. I find it hard to believe that the management will want anything that carries the taint of the past, certainly not these couple of years.

Time can perhaps ease the pain and heal some of the wounds (among the former members and fans). Perhaps one day Hirate might actually come out and put all the doubts and questions to rest, thus bring closure**. Maybe. By that time, how many of the first generation would remain in SKZ? How many of the fans of SKZ were former KYK fans? At that time, would they care anymore about the old KYK tracks?

So maybe, 5 years from now, Sony might decide to do a remastered version of Futari Saison, but I'd suspect that would appear in a B-side or maybe for a compilation album. Right now, I can only imagine Futari Saison getting this treatment. The heavier songs of KYK? I find that unlikely, considering the fit to SKZ. The non-Hirate songs? Maybe like something Bokutachi no Sensou and Bathroom Travel, but are these popular enough?

As for the KYK tracks, they are up on Youtube, Spotify, etc, and will continue to bring in revenue for Sony. They may even let other groups (not SKZ) cover them, which brings in even more royalty. It's just that they aren't milking them as hard as before.

* I'm not assigning fault, just point out the crux of the matter here.
** We never got any closure. Bokutachi no uso to shinjitsu isn't much of an expose.

I hate to say this, but I have the same feelings with the current (and only single). The pandemic is not helping matters, but I worry about SKZ's survival as a group. Most of the current SKZ fans are likely to be former KYK fans. If this crowd doesn't get excited about SKZ, SKZ doesn't have a sufficiently large fanbase to serve as a spring board and will have to almost start from scratch. I hope I am wrong.

 

The lyrics to Buddies suggest the idea of starting from scratch ("We have nothing, so we can go anywhere"). I keep getting a feeling that management is trying to de-emphasize and even drive away many of the 1gens. I myself am more interested in the 2gens now.

I thought sales of Nobody's Fault were pretty good, all things considered. Was that due to the songs, the 2gens, the 1gens, or just fans' habits? I don't know. Probably a bit of all of those, I guess.

The nine 2gens have been around for two years. I think it's their time. There are some very attractive/interesting/capable 2gens, and the right song, right centre, and right timing could really lead to something. But it's not a sure thing.

Hirate "inhabited" a song. She was not so much presenting a song as being it. Is there anyone now who can do something like that, even in songs of a different type?

I was pleased to see Karin talking about everyone having their own interpretation of a song, and how interesting it was to find one's own way of understanding and expressing a song.

And Ten-chan is a force of nature, "on the scale of the sky." Run-chan has her own specialness, too, a natural, strong, warm presence. I don't want to go back to a permacentre, but strong centres help.

 

At the end of the day it is the music that matters. I don't care how "magnetic" Hirate may have been (and is), if the first songs from Keya didn't "click" or moved you, they'd just be another idol group in a sea of idols. I was awestruck with Silent Majority for its musical quality first, then choreo second. I thought the title sounded like another set of English words put together without much meaning, only because it would sound cool to native Japanese. Once I got the English translation, the lyrics made total sense for the song and only made it even better. But if SM had been just another OK/meh song (not horrible sounding, just "nice", a notch above mediocre), Keya would have been just a novelty and I would have passed on regardless of how good the center may or may not have been. There are many groups out there I don't follow nor care for these reasons.

I do realize that the whole is larger than the sum of its parts. There is no denying Hirate's performance contributed to the success of the group. Add the unique combination of members and their personalities, plus more good and "cool" music/lyrics, and you have a winning combination. Saku has this potential, my personal wish is for Saku to have its own killer song, on a SM-level equivalent.

 

Hi.

Hinatazaka46 group performed「Hiragana Keyaki」that day as tribute and 'goodbye' to Keyakizaka46 and not for any special treatment.

Thank you.

 

I'm not sure what thread this info belongs in, but there was apparently a Sakurazaka46 mini-live broadcast Thursday with live singing. Lots of positive comment in Japan. Chinese site:
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1HV411i7tk

 

https://www.aeon.co.jp/app/error/

error?! Ok new outfits for new aeon campaign

OMG this outfits is one of the most prettiest outfits ever ❤️

 

I meant that in a positive way. It was a very nice gesture by the management to give Hina a chance to perform this song after all those years. I find it touching that Hinatazaka as a group does not shy away from their roots and history. I wish the same could be applied to Sakurazaka too.

 

https://www.aeon.co.jp/campaign/lp/sakurazaka46/

The CM's only on the site above, hopefully they get uploaded to Youtube soon. But it's a different kind of cross promotion compared to the past!

 

True. After watching the documentary, I personally feel her withdrawal was the best for the other members. Techi said not everything shown in the docu is true, but also not everything shown is not true. I already said here some time ago that no matter how much we pity her, most of all that happened was because of her. She was made to feel special and i think that thought got into her, something that somehow made her have some "selfishness" in team work. What I am more afraid is that she's still carrying that thought into her new career and her die-hard fans are oblivious to all that.

When hirate left, so did her 'cult' as most fans call them lol. The new sakuzaka lost fans and started with fewer fans than in keyaki. But the positive thing is, and most of us know this, even antis, is that, these remaining fans are very loyal to the group. The kind of loyalty that is built when you go through a crises and overcome it together. But again, these fans were also keyaki fans and will still want to experience it again,

It's here that I have to disagree. like i stated before, these fans are from keyaki era, but these fans are also fans that stuck with them through all that happened and followed them to the new group. During these times, through the new singles and all, we,ve seen a new feeling in fans where they will do anything to make this group prosper. The m&g is an example. Also fans are engaging more in them. Fans are confident in them and with this, the girls can move on smoothly with no thoughts back

 

Well, as the Japanese so wisely (and plainly) put it: それはそれ、これはこれ。。。

In other words, we are finally talking about two different things. I guess there are fans out there who feel the same as I do: YES, I want to dismiss completely the Tecchi ghost, YES, I want the girls (especially 1st gen) NOT to feel uncomfortable in case they are asked to perform KYZ songs but also YES, I want to experience KYZ songs again. As a (remaining) loyal fan, I want to experience whatever new and fresh SKZ is about to bring and I will welcome it with open arms but I do not want to lose track of the group's past: and KYZ songs IS their past, belongs to them and nothing can take it away from them.

Indeed, there is a conflict there, a dead-end. The solution in my humble opinion is to let time heal everything and I foresee that in SKZ's future, 2nd gens and the upcoming 3rd gen (when they come) will REVIVE old KYZ songs. I crave the day when we will all see these songs under a different light from girls that breath a different air! I wouldn't be surprised if we even like them more...

 

Oh yeah, the good old Techi is the one to blame narrative.
Have we watched the same documentary? What about that part where members talked about their struggles when they had to center for the first time? How at that time they only started to realise how much of a weight she had to carry? Sure, Techi's mental exhaustion which resulted from the ever increasing pressure of consecutive centering was just her being selfish, no doubt about that. After all, she strong-armed the executives into giving her all the singles including the 9th, right? If anything, the members knew what she had to go through in their stead and supported her as much as possible, accepting the fact that Techi gave everything she had and then some to the group named Keyakizaka. Probably the only selfish move she ever did was withdrawing from the group after Kouhaku and for that she individually apologised to every member one by one. And even then there were members who cried because they couldn't believe she was calling it quits. Stockholm syndrome victims, the lot of them. What am I even trying to say.

 

I watch the Documentary Outtake disc again tonight and wanted to share with you all the contents of that (not sure if allowed?). Apologies that I don't have anything specific for member interviews. I was only able to pick out a few things here and there.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OpFKgrin5Pshq4Zu9_xVKOdkgvNX42j0PvZKylB5smk/edit?usp=sharing

 

lol
10 years will go by and people will still blame Techi for everything and diss her fans at every chance. Get a life already.

anyway, personally I hope Sakura will never perform keyaki song anymore. I know I'm going very against majority, I'm aware, but it will make no sense go back there when everything mngmnt and girls did was step forward and try to find their new identity as group and individuals.
Since the discussion degenerated to the point good fans are those who remained and bad fans are those who left, let each group live with the consequences of their choice. Good fans shouldn't have keyaki songs and keyaki fans shouldn't see them performed by Sakura lol

Also, Hinata and Sakura were already different back in Keyaki era, they are even more different now. Comparing them wouldn't take us anywhere

 

Dude, you're taking all this differently you know. No one is saying what you're implying. Whether we like it or not, it is the same group. Only renamed. They never said anything about finding a new concept. And they definitely didn't mention leaving everything behind. If anything, the girls are looking forward to continue their journey and hoping they can perform keyaki songs in the future, just like we hope too cos hello, we were/are all keyaki fans. We can't leave that behind.

Also no one mentioned good or bad fans. I don't know why it was mentioned here. I do understand if you imply some fans cause damage, but to bring up good or bad fans when we're discussing abt fans and Techi isn't it at all.

 

C'mon guys, please let's not take this route. Let's not get fooled by this "rebranding". It's the same girls under a different name and (somewhat) concept. As simple as that... We love and cherish them no matter what.

And regarding the KYZ songs, no matter if we want to see them performed again or not, it's nothing we can do: Only time will tell...

 

Karin said in an interview that they were asked to give out a more cheerful atmosphere after the rebranding, but declared that she herself didn't change a thing.

Personally, after being away from the group for a while -- depressed by Hirate's difficulties, among other things -- I find the 2gens a breath of fresh air as they gain enough confidence to take centre stage, and I see the remaining 1gens somewhat revived and a bit optimistic, despite playing second-fiddle a bit. All my favorites have graduated, but I'm seeing the remaining 1gens with new eyes, and appreciating them more (Habu, Koike, Fuu-chan, Yui, Risa, Ozeki, even Uemura). I've always been a huge Hirate fan, but I also think her dominating presence (especially when she wasn't present) was a great weight on the group. Both she and the group seem happier now.

 

CMs now available on Youtube.

 

keyaki last live BD/DVD covers have released
https://www.keyakizaka46.com/s/k46o/news/detail/R00151?ima=0000

 

Minami Koike, Yuka Sugai, Hono Tamura, Karin Fujiyoshi, and Ten Yamazaki of the idol group "Sakurazaka 46" held online on February 25, "Summoners War x Sakurazaka 46" 7 Appeared at the official ambassador appointment ceremony for the anniversary.


Sakurazaka 46 Yuka Sugai is impressed with the appointment of "Summoners War" official ambassador
25 Feb 2021


Sakurazaka 46 Ten Yamazaki "I'm going to get motherhood" Doting the characters I raised Yuka Sugai and others talk about "Summoners War love"
25 Feb 2021


Sakurazaka 46 Ten Yamazaki "Overtake Now" Yuka Sugai and others reveal their aspirations for 2021
25 Feb 2021


Another video was released a few hours before these.
found here
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Yamasaki Ten (Tenchan) / 2nd Generation
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2nd single: Prepare for Hono-center.