IZONE News and Discussion Thread

Related from https://www.reddit.com/r/Produce48/comments/duox4n/official_police_announcement_postponed_until/, "However, there is no confirmation if the conference will reveal the true rankings of trainees. One police official said, “We are not sure how much we can actually reveal.” He conveyed the police agency’s cautious attitude on the matter."

So the police have been told the true rankings by the PD who confessed to rigging them.

 

I worry more about the Korean members. Sakura, Nako and Hitomi already are part of an established group that works and sells well. Japanese media and public are even more supportive of this whole incident towards the girls than Korean, based on what I've seen. I worry more about the Korean members who will go back to being trainees if there was a disbandment; and even if not, they will go back to their talent agencies, who could use that as a reason to not let them debut as members of their own groups. Even if the public supports them, putting one of IZ*ONE girls into a new group would mean that they might be associated with the scandal as not everyone follows them closely until the end, and they might not want that reputation for new and unestablished groups. I really do think that SakuNakoHii are gonna have it easiest, no matter the outcome.

 

IOI also performed in KBS Music Bank, MBC Music Champion & SBS The Show

 

The girls could easily lobby their agents to work something out so they can work together under a different name with a fresh start. They're too tight to just walk away from it all. I can even see the JP-line graduating to join them if need be.

 

People are still waiting for their comeback...

https://twitter.com/IZONE_stats/status/1193824735416573952

 

Ignore Korea, leave this country, assemble them as an official AKB48 sub unit, and have them perform regularly in a theater in Akiba

 

i heard gyuri's group is getting some flak too from the koreanzt. maybe dissolve both groups and create a 21-nin group with chaewon (who had cut her hair short) as center and release a song about being the silent minority (among knetz) or something

 

I don't know how you see it but I find this pretty laughable. These J-Line members may just want a new challenge or may just want to increase their popularities overseas which is more than enough to attain in 2.5 years. Their could still see their futures in 48G (at least that's how I see it). As some posters mentioned before, maybe the management has a hand to decide which 48 members got to participate in P48.

 

News story pulished about 10 minutes ago by Sports Chosun.com which seems to be a reliable Korean news site:
http://sports.chosun.com/news/utype.htm?id=201911120100092560006169&ServiceDate=20191111

Copying straight from Google Translate this is the important part (my bolding):

 

Does anyone know if Rocket Punch has got some kind of comments on the issue? If Gyuri's group is getting comments, then I wonder just how long it'll take to attack Rocket Punch, who also had three members in Produce 48. In comparison to Juri, Suyun and Sohee were part of Woollim back then already and I have seen people argue that Woollim was one of the agencies that bribed Produce (seeing as Eunbi and Chaewon made the lineup, when Chaewon barely got any screen time)

 

The issue of it whether its voluntary or not has already been answered by the participants themselves (see in pd48 thread). We're talking in circles here.

I still remember the fierce 150 to 200 page debate even before PD48 aired of how sure some stage48ers that top members like Sakura, Jurina et al wont join said show. But alas they did. And most of those users never posted in pd48 thread again and just expressed their disappointment on the member's individual thread (Most notably Sakura thread, where only a handful of loyalist are still very supportive on her izone activities)

I guess what i wanna say is we can't really grasp what the j-line are thinking right now in regards to their career path, specially someone as unpredictable like Sakura.

 

Gyuri’s group was formed from a survival show which is also believed to have been rigged. So I think Rocket Punch will be fine.

 

The issue with fromis9 is entirely different from Rocket Punch. Fromis9 (Gyuri's group) has the same/bigger controversy as the PD groups. It was revealed that although the show claimed the girls all auditioned to be there, only 4 were actually from the audition, the rest was hand picked by the staff. They were told to react to things, but in fact it was just acting because nothing was in front of them. The overall treatment of the girls was inhuman during their survival. And basically, they knew already who they wanted and only made the others waste their time lol.
The show was also produced by mnet and is managed by the same people as izone.
So the issue is entirely different from Rocket Punch. They shouldnt be hit by comments negatively... unless woollim as a whole come down for manipulation like Starship

 

Best case for IZone is that they only promote in Japan, since in Korea they will be blacklisted like Tara from the industry. In IZone, Hitomi gets no promotion, Nako gets a bit of promotion when they are in Japan, and Sakura only really gets promoted now in Japan. I think J-Line would do better if they withdraw.

It is likely that Sakura came 1st, and the 1st place getter deservedly is promoted more than everyone else. Why let Korean Kpop executives continue to cheat and use you to promote their own idols?

 

Blacklistment has'nt been finalize yet as far as i know.

Base on SNS, it seems some shows are reconsidering revoking the current ban on the girls.

Difference between Izone and other Kpop girl groups is the public support / size of the fan base.
There's an ongoing campaign right now by K fans and casual fans to spare Izone members which seem to be working.
Not really familiar with Tara though, so cant comment how the gravity of their scandal compare to that with Izone.

Its not like J-line specially Sakura gained absolutely nothing from Izone. Though if that's how you perceive it, can't really help you on that. Moreover, Sakura's placement is just a presumption. Can't know for sure if she's truly first, regardless, I agree on a previous post that being second is the best for Sakura considering how much hate Wonyoung is getting, then how much more would a Japanese person would be in Korea

 

@kamihime @Henry Dill thank you both!

 

i dont think its the case in this thread (at least most of this thread) but I find it very surprising when I see Sakura fans on twitter (mostly post-P48 fans) who are very quick to claim that Sakura is basically doing IZONE a favor with her presence when she was a legend in Japan and has no need of being in the group.
Wether she was really #1 or not (i wouldn't bet anything at this point), Sakura has benefited inmensely from IZONE. Her fanbase has grown SO much, she has been exposed to a completely new public, she has grown SO much as a performer... She did have a stable career in Japan before the show, but IZONE has been a huge gain for her both in terms of current career and future perspectives.
If she really was #1 and the managers decided to keep her #2 it really is unfair to her and her fans, but i can kinda see where they come from: just her nationality would have brought her so much negativity. On top of that, her performance skills by the end of P48 were not on par with Kpop standards, the public would have looked at every minimal mistake/inaccuracy in her performances and tear her to pieces

 

The police will give their findings in a news conference today at 11 am KST

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

I agree IZONE has helped Sakura (and 2 others) gain bigger popularities. In fact, even P48 alone has done that to unselected J-line members. But that's probably what the members are going for once deciding to take part.

However, regarding whatever reasons the management put Sakura 2nd (of course, this is just in case she is actually 1st, which we don't know yet at this point), there are nothing I can agree on, doesn't matter if it is about nationality, if it is because her skill isn't as good as some others, or if anything else. If the management decided not to put her as their No. 1, then why vote. Voting always has the element of popularity contest.

 

I agree with although Sakura is the member with the most prominent positions, in the japanese singles the positions of the members have changed by each release making some members who ranked high in PD48 to be in a low position like Yena in Buenos Aires and vice versa like Chaewon in Vampire. But Sakura, the lowest position she has gotten is the 2nd for STI and Buenos Aires. So even if management acknowledges Sakura as the 2nd place she's like the mvp of the group. I just wanted to add that.