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What went wrong with Ikoma Rina?

Discussion in 'General Nogizaka46 Discussion' started by UrFavAsianGuy, Nov 6, 2015.

  1. UrFavAsianGuy

    UrFavAsianGuy Upcoming Girls

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    Please be respectful.

    I've been wondering, she was meant to be the Ace of the group (or one of the aces), she centered early Nogi's singles but her popularity (read: HS sales) among the fans are getting worse and worse. She wouldn't be in the line up if a single senbatsu is based on HS events.

    I guess my main questions

    1. Was she popular in the beginning? (I started following Nogi after Free&Easy), if so why the drop?
    2. Why the management still favors her despite her lackluster HS sales? Is she popular among the general public? but somehow she was able to get into senbatsu when she participated in AKB Sousenkyo. So what gives?
     
  2. Rurouni

    Rurouni Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

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    This is only my personal opinion since I used to like Ikoma more than any other member, but her character gradually change to something... different.

    Basically right now she is probably the most guigui character in Nogi, which is something I didn't expect since she wasn't like that in the beginning. It isn't that I don't like guigui character, but it isn't what I can expected from Ikoma.

    But Nogi itself, afaik, didn't have guigui character, so I welcomed that.

    Again, this is purely my personal opinion. It might or might not have any connection to the question. I still like Ikoma, but she definitely isn't my number 1 anymore (that belongs to Ikuta Erika).

    Sent from my LG-E988 using Tapatalk
     
  3. Momentosis

    Momentosis Kenkyuusei

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    She'd always been pretty guigui. In early shows in stuff she was always kinda interrupting and speaking over other grils.

    She's a lot less weird and ackward now so the gui gui ness just shines through more.




    As to OP's questions, I don't know. Management seems to just really want to get her out there.
     
  4. Rurouni

    Rurouni Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

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    Yes, she did show some guigui-ness, but probably because she wasn't as confident as she is right now, she choose the timing when she was trying to interrupt something. Right now, she just do that in every opportunity. Probably like having a girlfriend who you is shy but managed to crack a few jokes here and there, but the more she is comfortable with you, then the jokes started to coming left and right, which is definitely not why I like the girl the first time.

    But I guess she is probably really professional in her job, thus the management still favors her. Also people probably know her the most vs other members, thus although her HS didn't sell well, she is still one of the face of Nogizaka46. The senbatsu thing is probably because most of the Nogi fans vote for her. It is like a (voting) competition between country, regardless of whether your representative doing well or not, most of the people in your country will vote for someone from your country.
     
  5. baymon

    baymon Next Girls

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    Sorry but what is 'guigui' character?
     
  6. SSFV

    SSFV Kenkyuusei

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    I don't think anything went wrong. She just wasn't the most popular member to begin with that's all.

    And yeah what's guigui? Sounds very mandarin.
     
  7. Flondrapica

    Flondrapica Kenkyuusei

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    My Japanese friend told that she just isn't that good at Handshake events. She's supposed to be nice to girls but isn't that good when it comes to boys. But she still is popular overall
     
  8. kanjo

    kanjo Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

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    If I had to speculate, I'd say...

    Management chose her originally because she has a unique image, a likeable character, is a hard worker and good dancer.
    However, she didn't have stand-out good looks or much in the way of social skills at the start and she didn't really build a following.

    This was a problem because:
    a) there were girls who had stand-out good looks AND were great on TV (particularly Maiyan and Ikuchan) who got shafted so that Ikoma could get all the attention.
    b) and this really annoyed members because Nogizaka was supposed to have a rotating senbatsu and centre according to press releases pre-debut.

    And idol fans in general never like girls who get centre for a long time, especially if it wasn't hard earned. A lot of AKB fans got really pissed Acchan returned to centre beginner after Yuuko won the sousenkyo and centred Hebirote. Even just talking stage as an example, discussion about Nanase was always positive until Natsu no Free and Easy when it cooled down a lot and she got some haters.

    She was an okay choice to go to AKB though and I guess management thought they could build on this and make her popular, hence Taiyou Knock, but it didn't really work.

    I used to really like her. What changed wasn't her centreship but how much she changed after going to AKB. Just see the Nogibingo christmas special where she tries leather and it's a big sigh.
     
  9. rust

    rust Kenkyuusei Retired Staff

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    What's guigui character? x3
    @SSFV I lol-ed at your "sounds like Mandarin" characterization xD

    Mind elaborating dear kanjo?


    On your first question, I think it's fair to say early on relative to other members her standing wasn't as bad I think (altho she was never the top.) As for the slide relative to other members, to put it simply I think sadly her popularity never took off while members after members surpasses her standing. As for why I'll speculate more elaborately below.

    As for your second question, I don't think she's popular among the general public, altho I think she is definitely among the top in terms of recognition (either top or 2nd to maiyan). Being well-known doesn't equal like however, & I think Ikoma's fame doesn't translate to popularity unfortunately. As for her SSK rank, I agree with @Rurouni that it was due to mass voting from many nogi-fans that don't necessarily oshis her. Being the only nogi-member in the SSK she have the whole nogi-fandom crowd to herself (while other SSK participant have to compete with other many members of their group for same pool of votes). Also I that one nogidoko episode dedicated to pushing her SSK campaign helped lol. We can never be exactly sure why mngmnt favours her so badly however, but I can speculate; maybe after having invested so much in her there's this sense they can't just back off. Maybe they feel there's some value in utilizing her high recognition. Maybe they simply don't want to be wrong (ego can cause surprising stubbornness in decision-making sometimes lol.) There have even been speculation that it have something to do with her politician grandfather lol. We can never know for sure tho unless they come forward with the reasons themselves.


    Going back to why Ikoma's popularity never took off, building on kanjo's points I agree she might have been initially chosen for her uniqueness among nogi-members. I also thought that maybe they been trying to pull an acchan with her lol; trying to make an unlikely star shine brightest. As for why it didn't work, I agree with kanjo once again on that she got outshone by other nogi-members on both look front & also the personality front; I think it's fair to say Ikoma is generally not considered top-notch in look among nogi-members, but in the early days there were also many strong personalities that outshine her a la iku nanamin sayurin etc etc. Those who didn't early on did so later on e.g. maiyan nanase tsuki reika maimai.

    Another way to look at it, one that I personally hold, is that her uniqueness & style doesn't exactly befit nogi. For me at least, nogi can be characterized as a group of talented, classy ojousama whom are nonetheless approachable, quirky & fun. I think this characterization can be put on to most nogi-members, but not so much onto Ikoma. I'm not saying therefore her style have no place in nogi however, but simply that it might not be what most nogi-fans look for, & hence it explains her limited growth in popularity.

    Adding to the above, there are more specific things too that might explains things. While I think she's certainly more professional now, there was a time when she acted quite unprofessionally to put it mildly. There was also a time, on two separate series of nogidoko where the members were doing waterfall meditation to promote two of nogi's singles, that Ikoma happen to end up as the only one among senbatsu to have not taken the waterfall meditating at all. These are two more specific things that rubbed me the wrong way (& I'm sure the former disappointed a lot more ppl than me.) I'm still unsure what gui gui means lol, but I see interruptions mentioned in the above discussions. Ikoma's interruptions to convo is something that I at times can find irritating too lol. Maybe these sentiments are widespread?

    Lastly on aspects beyond her character, more to do with the resource she receives & the positions she gets. kanjo mentions being prolonged centre builds up wariness & anti, this I agree. However the sense that the position is not earned results in a lot more dissatisfaction I think. Ikoma have always been well-positioned & well-resourced since the beginning, but never with strong result unfortunately & never as top. There's always at least one member (& now many many members) that have higher popularity that get vastly inferior position or vastly less resources, & it begs the question why aren't the other members getting their fair share, or for the less popular one, getting their shot at staking out grounds? This brews a lot of strong resentment I think, & I think is among one of the biggest problem for her.
     
  10. Rurouni

    Rurouni Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

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    Gui gui by definition is doing something forcefully and continuously. In this case, someone who likes to interrupt / interject and continuously doing it, like suddenly giving a remark.
    The first time I heard gui gui being used is for Murashige Anna (HKT48).

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  11. SSFV

    SSFV Kenkyuusei

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    But you know, overall there's nothing wrong with liking Ikoma-chan. She's so cute how can you not like her haha!

    @Rurouni
    Ah i see! I actually like Murashige Anna though i don't follow HKT48.
     
  12. Kawaki Otsutsuki

    Kawaki Otsutsuki Kenkyuusei

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    I didn't realize anything went wrong with ikoma other than a bunch of haters pitching a fit because she was the center a few times and I had no issues with her getting all the attention nor being the center mulitiple times but just because she was put in the third row once doesn't mean she fell off just means they gave her break from all the raging haters
     
  13. baymon

    baymon Next Girls

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    Now that I know what gui-gui means, I do agree that it's off-putting, but it's not only that. It's probably still not too annoying if she does it in a funny way like Kazumin for example, but Ikoma comments are not funny and often putting down others.
    I don't care if it is done for variety sake, I don't find it funny at all when she talks bad about others. And it's not just Ikoma actually, I generally hate the episode where they bully other members like Manatsu or Reika.
     
  14. honeyNUT

    honeyNUT Member

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    I don't really understans guigui, but a lot of members with the "guigui" label that actually became popular, like Tani Marika, Murashige Anna & Yakata Miki (though the two girls' momentum has faded)
     
  15. CutePanda

    CutePanda Next Girls

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    its hard to become popular with a guigui chara in 46/48G......
     
  16. oscar6262

    oscar6262 Kenkyuusei

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    Hmm Akarin, Milky, Marika?
     
  17. CutePanda

    CutePanda Next Girls

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    i said its difficult...but doesnt mean its impossible
     
  18. Crossheart

    Crossheart Member

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    In Ikoma's case, is more than that, she is the most noticeable in Nogi in this trait, close to being the only one, and in that extreme case it's counterproductive. Why? because it made looks her out of place, yeah, there are other members in 48g with guigui charas and are popular, because they are more than one per group and many times are grouped together to made something funny. And well, in Nogi is Ikoma and only her, so...

    Ok, i didn't know that fact at all, but it seems true for me. Ikoma has said many times (not in a explicit way), that she like having more female fans than male fans. Too bad for her that most of the general fans are male.
     
  19. kanjo

    kanjo Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

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    @rust I was actually talking about the guigui character as well. I think the best translation for guigui in this sense is "overbearing". A good example, which I'm sure you noticed, is in later Nogibingo episodes you can hear her making a comment about everything that happens, especially when it has nothing to do with her, as if she were in the MC spot, not on the hinadan.

    I didn't like the personality change from quiet country girl to in-your-face hyper idol.
     
  20. eibun2012

    eibun2012 Kenkyuusei

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    I'm not really sure of what being 'gui-gui' really means but from seeing her in shows and conversation happening here, the way I understand it is that Ikoma is a try-hard, and I can see why this turn some people off. However, just to add a perspective, looking at how Ikoma has been positioned in the group by the management and where she stands in term of popularity, I kinda understand why she becomes that way. I could just imagine the frustration and the guilt of "failing" to do the "task" while given an abundance of resource, which maybe made her think that she hasn't done enough therefore she kept on and on trying to get the "job done". This led to the thinking that maybe Ikoma is better off in a lower-tier position, lifting burden out of her, hell, putting her as unders might even bring more sympathy, which I believe she needs. The thing is there is really no telling why certain members is or isn't popular, I hope with Ikoma it's just a simple case of people likes other members more than her.
     

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