Miyawaki Sakura (Sakura) / 1st Generation

Welcome to Stage48 hell...

Yeah, don't DP. Mods don't like it when you DP.

 

Thanks for the advice

 

I don't know if you guys remember but back in December (before we had any rumors yet, I think) we talked about the possibility of Sakura joining Produce48. and I made this post. Honestly it's not that I want Sakura to join the show, the best thing for Sakura would have been to stay in Japan, sign to a good agency, and start getting solo jobs. but sadly, none of this happened. I still wonder how come she isn't signed to an agency, I don't believe that she didn't have offers (there's no way). Even new girls from NGT get signed to big agencies... Meanwhile Jurina got signed to a random agency (I mean I don't know it, so it doesn't seem to be a big agency) I still wonder, is it AKS deciding this? do they refuse to let the popular girls go to good agencies? This still all makes no sense to me.

Sakura barely had any job since last year's elections, I don't know how is she supposed to rise in popularity and votes if it's like this... btw @yousakura about that chinese drama, which is one of the only solo job Sakura had in the past year, it was just a 10 seconds cameo. She didn't actually act in it... so yeah :/

The girl isn't getting any solo jobs, not even photoshoots. She used to do photoshoots almost every week but now we barely have photoshoots from her... it's been more than a year that they said she will have a 2nd photobook, yet there's no news about it anymore (it might not happen now that she's in Produce48).

If someone makes a list of what Sakura did in 2017/2018, especially after 2017 elections, there's barely anything. and both AKB/HKT are pushing other girls. AKB is focusing on pushing the AKB new gens, HKT is focusing on pushing the younger member. it's just sad how Sakura's career turned out. She was the top popular young member but at that time management prefer to push other girls in HKT and decide to push Sakura in AKB, and the best thing she got from the AKB push is ONE solo center single... and now they don't seem to be pushing her anymore anywhere. I thought being center in HKT album (it's a song without Pv or promo so it's kinda useless) was a sign of her being finally pushed as HKT's ace (even though it's too late and useless by now) but no, she isn't center for HKT's new single.

There's really nothing much going on for her and it's like management moved on from giving opportunities to Sakura or Jurina even though they are the 2 big names now who will compete for #1 in elections. it's frustrating tbh. They basically send them to Produce48 because management can't be bothered to care.

So even though going to this show is not the solution and definitely not what I wanted for Sakura, I feel like there was no other better option for her when she isn't getting solo jobs and she isn't being signed to an agency and AKS isn't pushing her anymore. I just hope everything goes well and I'll support her ;_;

I have so much more to say about this but I'll save it for future posts LOL

 

I think Sakura is the girl people comfort themselves to hate.

Because they are biaised, they label her as having an attitude, being bad at singing or dancing, discarding the cultural aspect of japan focusing on spirit and feelings and not on physical performance.

I do think Sakura is smart, and she knows the hardship that was awaiting for her in produce48. Yet she grasp it like you grasp opportunities. She shows great courage, and resilience compared to her disappointing ranking in Sousenkyo.

We often forget the thrill of challenge. She was not having activities as mana said, and i think going to korea might have stimulated her fighting spirit. She can get a fanbase just from it.

Going the cute route in Kpop is plausible to make a breakthrough.

 

Agree with your post, and to add to this, I think the reason AKS accepted Produce48 and send big names there is to increase the members fanbases not just in Korea but all over Asia and Japan as well. Kpop brings interest a lot more easily than Jpop, even though it doesn't mean that Kpop fans spend money though... but it's still an increase of fanbase and a good thing for AKB who's on decline in recent years. Having more international/korean fans, even if it doesn't increase sales much, will help to keep the group alive, and that's probably what AKB needs the most right now.

Spoiler

The most popular Kpop girl group right now is TWICE and they're a group with a mix of korean members and japanese members and I think this is something that inspired Produce48. The japanese members of TWICE became very popular with korean fans, and in return they received interest from Japan. Japan have some "pride" in seeing the japanese members being popular overseas, and this made the japanese members of TWICE get popular in Japan as well. so I think that might be the plan for AKB being in Produce48. what if Sakura and Jurina (and others) get really popular in Korea... and in Asia, and internationally too? That would definitely increase their popularity in Japan too. The group is said to last for 2,5 years and I'm pretty sure Sakura will make it, since she was selected as the center already (congrats btw!). 2,5 years to build her popularity in Korea, Asia and internationally... then return to AKB with all that. Her status will be much higher once the show ends. of course the show might fail, we never know (it's getting too much attention right now to fail though)

But yes I think right now Sakura probably didn't have a better option than this. it's good to see her taking a challenge, hopefully she can be successful at it. I know it will be hard for her to promote in 3 groups at the same time (AKB/HKT and the Produce48 group) and I know she might get hate in Korea just for her origins, but I really hope things go well for her and this can be a good experience. I think she knows what she's doing too and I hope she has self-confidence more than what we've seen in recent months where she often cried and feel down (that made me so sad for her tbh).

Btw she's probably the member who's getting the most attention from korean fans right now, she got a lot of fansites already and she's being discussed a lot (sometimes in bad ways but mostly in good ways!). so it looks like things are going pretty well so far!

 

Yeah. I'm feeling the same way. Working in Japan would have been better but working in Korea is better than not working at all. Besides Sakura, it gets girls like Miku out into the sunshine for once.

 

Actually, I think working in Korea is better if she wants to become more popular. People who are famous in Japan are mostly only famous in Japan. IMO, the average kpop idols work harder and get paid less than our average 48group member but most of them are more well known imo.

Also, as she is right now (i.e. with her current skill set and status), she has already done all that she can do in Japan imo. Hopefully Produce48 would breathe new life into her career, such that if she wants to focus on Japan again, she can start proceed to do bigger and better things.

 

Like I said earlier, the fact that Sakura had so much self doubt and felt worthless in AKB and HKT makes sense as to why she joined the show. To quote what she had said on showroom last year, she said she felt like she had turned greedy for centre again, and if you don't have that greed and motivation you'll be left behind. She wanted the chance to be able to say more than just a few words to an MC, she wanted the chance to be able to be in the spotlight, she wanted the attention she had gotten with her steady rise in her earlier years. She wants to be known as AKB's new ace and centre, so it makes sense why she joined, and with the cherry on top she got centre so I'm reaaaaaaally happy for her T___T I think she will enjoy herself on the show and push herself to be able to be something 'more' as she would call it.

 

I think Sakura is one of the girls who can have an impact on the Korean fans.
She is very appealing, imo.

 

I'm almost positive it will. She has all the traits that could lead to success. Let the world know of this Cherry Blossom!

 

Basically.... Sakura gets to be center because there were so many HKT48 members involved (plus any allies she won from AKB) and they just universally supported her like usual while the vote for anyone else was probably quite split.


Her chances for getting first place this year have now been greatly diminished thanks to the chosen location of the where the event is held. Because it is in Nagoya. One can easily surmise that all of the Nagoya SKE fans will be spending enough less on travel to buy an additional 20-30 votes more per person.

When it comes right down to it, when Akimoto was faced with choosing between Nagoya and Fukuoka, he was really choosing between Jurina and Sakura and just put a rather massive amount of weight down on that Jurina side of the scale.

It is not impossible to overcome... not if Sakura is seen as Sashihara's heir by her fans, but I don't know that there is any evidence of the fans of any popular member rallying behind their best friend or favored apprentice or anything and so much more evidence that it really doesn't happen... its going to be tough. Almost to the point that we can almost call the result.

 

Has the location affected the outcome of previous SSK?

 

Didnt matter where the previous 3 elections held, Sasshi just smashed them all

 

It is difficult to say for absolute certain. The competition for #1 has never been as close as it will be this year, so comparing Sashi and Mayu is kind of pointless. But, it is kind of impossible for it not to have an effect.

Because there are so many random factors that can affect any individual member's ranks, I guess the best way to check is to look at previous years results and see if members from the group stationed in the city where the event was held tended to have a larger number of members ranking in than years when the election was held elsewhere.

 

I just want Sakura to win. Seeing the underdog story come to fruition would be like top 10 anime victories of all time

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I wouldn’t say you can tell just because the location, but you can see there is an attempt by management to push jurina to get number 1. Look at hkt, nmb, and ngt. all 3 released singles this month. When was last ske single? Beginning of January. Add that to the location and you can see the hope that ske fans will spend less and finally get jurina the top spot.

I’m not saying they’re trying to guarantee jurina to win, but it’s obvious they’re trying to give a slight (or not so slight) edge.

The big shame is all 3 of those groups have their best sounding singles for a while get horrible sales, because the fans are not going to buy them with the ssk coming up.

 

http://www.hkt48.jp/news/2018/04/5307

Sakura's not showing up for the two shot tomorrow because of Produce48. It's the first time that I've seen an official announcement (from 48g) that mentions that show by name. What's interesting is that there's a number of other HKT girls in that show, but she's the only one that's had her appearance cancelled.

 

I've got tickets for Sakura at the 9th album 2-shots on 5/5 & 5/6. I've twice failed to meet her at previous events so I really want it to be third time lucky for me. However as it's part of the Golden Week holiday I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all the girls in P48 will be returning to Japan for that.

 

The admin of this site isn't taking this news very well..

https://twitter.com/ithebigc/status/987615574497738752

 

He doesn't sound very supportive of Produce48