NGT48 2021 year in review, what to expect for 2022 ?

Because NGT48 also worked this past year
Warning! No trolls !!

• The goods ?
• The bads ?
• A few words to sum up 2021 ?

And let's mix this up with the somewhat Stage48 traditional year end thread

• Hopes for 2022 ?
• Fears for 2022 ?
• Your predictions ?

Please don't just post a list, give some arguments to your reasoning.

 

THE GOOD:

• Assertiveness: The girls finally getting "aggressive" for looking for a new fans and opportunities to promote themselves (and the groups with it) especially among the 2nd gen where all their "momentum" halted due to the incidents. Whole Japanese twitter community suggested "あざとい" (Azatoi) as the keywords for NGT member this years in a good way And apparently it showed positive results beyond expectation. For example, Saayan just plays her guitar on Showroom to the point she caught attention and being endorsed by Yamaha Music. For perspectives, not even Sayanee ever being endorsed by them
• Local supports: The management seem to acknowledged that national outreach are not "reasonable choices" anymore. So, they decided to focus their market on Hokuriku/Shin'etsu Region and the girls went all out with it. Result? Ando Chikana is Miyota City Tourism Ambassador, Nishimura Nanako being appointed as Nagano City Tourism panel members since last year, Morohashi Hinata finally being appointed as Yahiko Village Tourism Ambassador (She's been promoting her village like crazy since her twitter being verified to the point her nicknames became Yahiko-chan due to how constant she promote it), Honma just being promoted as Murakami City Tourism Ambassador just past weeks. Not to mention the Ramen Club successfully regain the favor of local establishment as successor of Niigatta Friends in promoting local cuisines, to the point they establishing another "Club" specifically to promote the local desserts shops.
• Local Event Involvements: Their participation of local event and gigs are increased this past years. In fact, IMO if they still has that "national" label with them, I'm 100% confident management would thought this kind of event as more than a "side hustle". They even peforming the High Schools Festivals and University events now. Example: Niigata So Odori Festival 2021 (http://www.stage48.net/forum/index.php?threads/general-the-ngt48-thread.8587/page-181#post-1726434), and Entame Mix Niigata 2021 together with fellow Niigata groups of RYUTIST and Negicco et al (https://twitter.com/NAMARA_PR/status/1469855684020011012) which gains positive reviews among other artists and their fans, which is definitely a plus.
• The Singles: Hey, they manages to release 3 singles in 2 years, and 2 singles in one calendar years, that 1 single more (almost twice more) compared to other sister groups. Granted that the sales were far from the numbers before 2019, but reminder that all sales are dipped during Covid seasons and compares to all female idol groups in hindsight, for 80k+ sales, they're pretty much "middle-of-the-packs", as comparison, EMPiRE of Wack Group single, "Hon-no" sold 11k.
• The Sub-units: CloudyCloudy, Ramen Clubs, S'mores, SIGNAL. The formation of sub-units like this could help all the girls that has little exposure to gain at least a bit of works and promotions.

THE BAD:

• The Depleting "numbers": They got 29 members, 27 if we counted out Noe and Sara graduating the end of the year. They're arguably has the smallest numbers of members within 48G. It's smaller than average high school class. Althogh the small number of member mean the fans could learn about the member easier, but any "graduation season" would hit them hard from now on.
• The Images (?): From Sherbet Pink up to Ponkotsu na Kimi da Suki da, we seen that they're keeping that "clean, wholesome", "Sakamichi-like concepts and images throughout the course. There's nothing wrong with that, but IMO, that got stale fast. I'm looking forward for them to at least ventures to slightly more "upbeat" songs for their next singles. Not "Namohamo Rumors" intense, but a "fresh set of concept" would helped.

TO SUMS UP 2021:
To sums up 2021, I'd say...expected? We heard ZERO scandals news/rumors involving NGT member in the past 3 years, that a plus. They finally moving on with their activities, "baby step" at the time and I'd say the management "strategies" of focusing with their "territories" first and foremost bears significantly positive results. 5 Good point and just 2 "Bad" point isn't that bad IMO, isn't? They lost national (and international) favors and audiences in the past 3 years and yet this year they manages to regain that Hokuriku/Shin'etsu markets back with just sheer hard works. Don't expect the "Pre-Incident" results from now on, but to expect zero success whatsoever is naive.

HOPES FOR 2022:
What I learn in the past 3 years was "don't expect much". So you could be "pleasantly surprised" if they did well. But again, my hope gonna be:

• Another Single next year: Like I said before, I hope they willing to gamble a bit on the concept and produce "different" kind of songs next year.
• Third Generation KKS audition: This could be tough and laughable from the perspectives of "outside looking in" in "Who TF gonna voluntarily joins NGT" and "What kind of parents allows their kids to join such group?" and yes, we get it. Hence "hopes". Nationwide Audition already an NG ideas, but again if they focusing on their regions, they might find "something". Don't expect 16 member batches, if they even get 4, I'll be grateful
• Hokuriku/Shin'etsu Local Tour (?): Niigata, Nagano, Fukui, Toyama, Kanazawa? Again, I'm not even expecting 2k capacity venues.

I don't have anything about "Fears", but like I said before, another wave of graduations would hit them more "severely" than other group since they already so little members.

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Another things I'd like to add. For anyone want to see how's the group fares recently, just check the japanese twitters and google, search the members name in their kanji and you'd see a surprising amount of local fans still supporting them (aside the usual bot acc sharing 5ch) and their "schedules" are pretty filled most of the time. Don't expecting any English/International content anymore , especially from Twitter. That bridge burned long ago and you wouldn't find anything but "Twitter level shitposts".
All the graduated member also integrating well back into the industry (White and Black, regardless), which is also especially ironic in hindsight bc all wished "dem black members" being "exiled" by industry, yet they are more busy than the rest of whites.