It doesn’t even matter at this point because the popular girls are just gonna steamroll the Japanese voting no matter how poorly or well they perform. No one is voting for girls like Asai Yuka and Chiba Eri when people like Kashiwagi and Miyawaki are there. I expect some of these to take some heat for their looks too.But, no offense to AKB (I'm speaking really on behalf of all Japanese idol trainees from the "big three" companies here, including H!P and Stardust), are there many stand-out KKS when it comes to singing and dancing? K-Pop trainees are subject to a much more rigorous and lengthy process that focuses on singing and dancing, whereas KKS are taught the skills of how to be a good performer and singing isn't highlighted because they don't get live solo lines. The 48 Korean girls I'm expecting to be of a completely different caliber than the Japanese girls and I'm curious to see how exactly they confront that difference in artistry quality. It all comes down to what they value in an idol- and since the K-Pop industry values idol talent much more than the J-Pop industry does, I have no idea as to how this is going to work.
That said I don’t think anyone on that list is really gonna hold their own. They had better options for sure.
The only people benefiting here are the no-name 48G KKS. Their presence in the competition will gain them valuable exposure within Japanese fanbase. But on a marketing standpoint for Aki-P's end regarding the franchise as a whole, this just seems like bad, bad PR. The Japanese fans will have a direct comparison as to how lackluster their faves are compared to idols in other countries and AKB will go from "that sugary idol group with all the members" to "that overinflated idol group with no talent."