Event / Concert Sakurazaka46 BACKS LIVE!! [2021.06.16-18]

Pon sent a video on mobame showing she was there on the 2nd day. My guess is they all went but we only saw some take pictures

 

Rikopi was also seen at one of the shows with Sato and Yone.

Honda’s comments on all the girls were really great. I hope he writes another drama like Borderless for them.

 

Unrelated to the actual BacksLive but something I knew it would come out:
I'm not sure the girls meant for the fanbase to take Buddies as offical name, but I saw many accounts on twitter putting it on their bio (me included).
Of course some Gfriend fan didn't take that well since it's their name since 2016 and, if I'm not mistake, Gfriend is gonna sadly disband in 2021... not something easy to accept by any fan.
And yeah, the official name is Buddy, but they always called themselves buddies so....

Discussions on socials are unavoidable.
I just wish we all try to keep them as respectful as possible.
We more than any other fan of 48/Sakamichi group, know how it feels to lose something we care about and have to protect it from everyone else; so I hope we can understand where eventual discussions and fights come from and keep calm as possible.

Fans love the same kind of love when it comes to their idols.
We lose nothing being kind to them.

 

Well saku fans being saying the name buddies since the song buddies was released. I have seen what is happening and quite frankly, it's really funny. I am a saku fan. My idol called me buddies. Of course I will feel myself as buddies. Doesn't mean it should be something I would call myself all time. I think that is what many of the fans feel. But then we have other fans who chose to drag gfriend in. This of course will bring in the fandom name thing going on.

Also if the official name is Buddy and they chose to call themselves buddies, that shouldn't be a problen with saku fans calling themselves that too. The world is made up 2 things. Even the same names are repeatedly use for different people all across the world. I won't worry about that. I will just go with the names buddies lol

 

It's a bit off topic but I felt that I should point out that (despite me hyping her up for it) saying that Hono has the best sales stats is a bit misleading. Yes, she sold the most in the first round of BAN, but first round sales are not the most reliable metric of popularity. For Kimi shika Kattan, Nibu had sold out the most in the first round but I don't think anyone would really argue she is more popular that Katoshi, Kosakana, or even Miku. First round sales are always kind of weird between all Sakamichi groups (they likely withhold some tickets in order for people who missed the first round could try and apply again) so I think spreading the idea that Hono is the best-seller is just going to create misconceptions. The reality is, in terms of sales Yuuka, Rika, Risa, Hikaru, and Hono are all fairly equal.

Also you said Ten and Karin sold the least out of Saku8 which isn't true. Ten and Miichan are at the same level in terms of selling pace- Karin lagged behind in for BAN but they all sold out their slots. Every Saku8 member has sold out all their slots between both singles so no one has sold "the least."

 

Yes, the truth is that we move away from the topic. But someone commented on it above and I just gave my opinion. As for what I comment on sales, I was referring to speed. As you have pointed out. Speaking all within the same 8 people
. Hono on the single BAN, she stood out a bit more than the others at first. Then they caught up with her. Sure. But if they choose the senbatsus for sales as happened in the BAN, that is the reality.

What I really wanted to say with my comment. The STAFF has a very difficult job that I would be unable to do. I have my favorites, but the sales are unbiased to the opinions. Anyway, this was just a note from me. Do not take it out of context, just as what it was that this GREAT 3rd ROW GIRLS CONCERT HAS BEEN WONDERFUL and shows the amount of talent in all of them.

Hopefully everyone has a chance to shine.

And since we are we can buy this concert. Maybe they'll put it on the extras of the next single.

 

I don't think you got my main point, which was that first round sales are not a good indicator of popularity because fortune music very obviously prevents full sell-outs on the first round. Furthermore, the difference between 5 sold out slots and 3 is negligible when the top five members all fully sold out in the following round.

If you've applied for handshakes and meguris before, you'd know that often times even if you win 0 tickets out of 25 applications for members like Yuuka in Round 1, the slot may not show as sold-out the following round. While normally you should only lose tickets if the slot is selling out that round. But because fortune withholds tickets for the first round you do not get an accurate picture of handshake popularity. So saying that members are "catching up with Hono" is misleading because these initial numbers are capped by fortune. Does it make sense that someone like Rika sells out zero slots first round, and then second round she suddenly fills out all 30 slots? Did her demand suddenly only go up in the second round? No, it was that fortune withheld some tickets to give fans more incentive to apply for a second round, and maybe apply for more members in the meantime since the fan didn't win as many Rika tickets as they would have hoped. The important statistic is win rate and what round they fully sold-out in. Win rates statistics are only available when fans share the information so obviously we don't get the full data and shouldn't rely on that either (I personally won 2/3 Hono tickets I applied for and 0/3 Hikaru and Risa tickets I applied for).

If you've attended a meguri event where it shows the number of fans in line, you sometimes see scenarios where "sold out member A" can have 15 fans in line, while "sold out member B" could have 115 fans in their line. The "reality" is that no one except fortune knows how many tickets are in each slots, how many tickets they allow to be sold in first round, and even if maybe certain members have more tickets available for their slots than others.

Meet and Greet stats are meant to be taken with a grain of SALT. I put together the meet and greet charts as a reference, I don't want you to spread misinformation because you interpreted it the wrong way when I'm trying to explain to you how they normally work across the Sakamichi groups.

 

Honda Tetsuya (51), the well-known mystery/horror/suspense writer who wrote Borderless watched all three nights of Backs Live. As mentioned earlier by @Iamyoung and @iroiroiro, he posted brief comments about each member. Here, to the best of my ability, are translations of what he wrote:

Uemura Rina – She fully showed the special “doll” feeling she gave in Mou Mori.
Saitou Fuyuka – Right from the earliest period of Keyaki, this is the kind of group she wanted. I’m sure of it.
Habu Mizuho – “There’s no point in not continuing to change.” She has in fact raised her level of perfection, so her saying this is convincing.
Harada Aoi – After her return from hiatus, she has become an impressive figure, beautiful and light.
Moriya Akane – A woman’s strength...known precisely because of her weakness. An adult woman.
Watanabe Rika – Everyone loves Pe-chan. She gave her very best.
Inoue Rina – Good girl. Nice profile. Her international-model looks are a great weapon. She definitely has to get an opportunity to show her ability to play musical instruments in a live. “The Rina-chans"?
Endou Hikari – No other member made as great strides in this live. Wonderful! Perfect. [note: more at the bottom of this list]
Ozono Rei – The camera could always pick her out. No weak spots. No mistakes. Also perfect.
Oonuma Akiho – Her expressions were totally different from on SokoSaku. Wonderfully animated.
Kousaka Marino – Her performance of expressions was surprisingly detailed. She enlivened her natural calmness.
Seki Yumiko – Day by day, she polished her Guuzen no Kotae. On the the third day, it was really excellent. But her “chairman” aspect still showed, and looked good.
Takemoto Yui – A performance with soul. And a good voice. The more she brings a song to life, the better she looks.
Masumoto Kira – “I can probably do it.” Her pureness is Sakurazaka’s treasure.
Matsuda Rina – Outstanding leadership. Make no mistake, she was the one who worked hardest in this live. Someday she will have to get a situation where we listen carefully to her singing.
Moriya Rena – In addition to a beauty that’s effective in every context, her dynamic performance was impressive. A tremendous beauty with a tremendous future. She has so much inner strength that her expression never wavers.

Honda-sensei goes on to talk more about Endou Hikari:

The way every member took on the challenge of being centre was wonderful. I like a group to have shifting centres, so this really pleased me. As we went through the two hours, new talent made itself known, and new appeal blossomed.

Endou Hikari-chan especially caught the eye. My eyes kept unconsciously following her. I knew from the time she joined the group that her dancing was sharp. But I didn’t realize how great her figure was, and how well she showed on stage. She’s too nervous to show well on SokoSaku, but on stage is a different thing altogether.
______________________________________

I myself am in total agreement about Hikari-chan – and about most of his comments, in fact. Hikari-chan’s performance of Nobody’s Fault at the beginning of Day2 was a revelation. Totally blew me away. Birth of a star. Those flashing eyes blazing straight into you, and a seductive aura I had no idea she could give. Her dance was powerful and assured, and her voice, although it needs work, was good. The future beckons.

She reminds me of my oshi Karin in the way her restrained personality in interviews, on SokoSaku, etc., can burst forth in performance into a blaze of style, skill and feeling.

 

I think Honda Tetsuya found his oshimen lol. All throughout the live, he kept writing about Endo lol. This girl just need some more push and motivation. When she joined at first, I thought she was a quiet girl but her first Saku mimi changed my mind. I knew then how good she is at talking. In SokoSaku she has been showing that a lot. Any time they start a conversation with her, you can see how well she makes it flow. If only mgmt can push her more to jobs that requires talking, like radio segments, I think she would be more confident in herself, but alas, its S&F we're talking about here lol they seem to be blind to talents when it comes to Saku

 

I would say that not only Honda sensei but also @ukifune must have a really bad time regarding Karin-chan... Hikari is dangerously grasping his heart... This girls was a big surprise for me as well, because, I have to admit, I got somewhat dissapointed by her absense/presense in the group. Before their arrival, her exotic beauty was giving the impression that she will be a dominant entry, only to reveal a rather timid, awkward crybaby. Today, I had the chance to watch again all "Nobody's Fault" performances and Hikari's was clearly the best: Habu was elegant but restrained and Inoue (my dear Inoue which I am so fond of) was so intense and austere as if she was performing "Everybody's Fault". Hikari was a 10/10 on the dance part and 9.8/10 on the expression part with a super-kawaii scrunching eyebrows and a killer-smile. And her voice was very pleasant indeed I should say!

On a serious note however, I forsee that Backs Live will prove to be the turning point for a lot of girls and the future will show this. The six new girls especially managed to have a fantastic "maiden voyage" into the ocean of live performances and, taking into consideration the experience gap with the original 2nd gen, they travelled a long way in a short time. This makes them easily the "hotspots of attention" of the event. The original 2nd gen girls, managed with their performance to raise internal competition with Run, Karin, Ten-chan and Hono considerably. Finally, the 1st gen proved that ... they have nothing to prove, all being accomplished and experienced idols. They gave me the impression that taking the center was not "something that destiny owed to them and at last has been given" but something quite normal to them, something they've been doing all this time. The younger girls would not have reached these levels of performance without the benevolent presense of their senpais, and that was evident!

And finally, I hope that this event has restored the confidence about Sakurazaka's success to even the most suspicious of fans...

 

It's such a happiness to see all the girls rising to the occasion, gens 1, 2 and 2a. I'm not going to say every one of them could be a great centre, but it comes pretty close. I remember fans of other groups criticising Keyaki for not singing live. Sakurazaka sings well live and is now really a new group. It's like a daughter: a new entity, but with Keyaki genes still showing. Fortunately.

@Philosophy Senpai -- I do keep watching Hikari's Nobody's Fault, which is so great, but she's still #2, lol. Good new blog post from Karin.

 

Sakuzaka channel new video


if the video does not show watch the video here

3rd single bonus content preview

 

Did they wear the same outfit for all 3 days or a different outfit for each day ?

 

From what I can remember, they're the same outfits all three days. I'm not sure if they have more than one, like one outfit per day, or if they use the same one for all three. I'd hope they'd get a quick clean if they do only have the one outfit.