pyokokun

First non-recorded post funeral radio was played today. 

https://youtu.be/Qv4RSuZNJEU

I think as an idol group when it comes to BiS they are an example of when the management are trying too hard. They went out the way to push boundaries of what idols can do and then ran out of controversial shock tactics. Musically never cared for it much it was just a copy of western metal and industrial mixed with pop hooks. As a concept they were interesting but they never had much of an idea of what they wanted to do with it. the current crop of groups I hope fare better as far as having some direction or they'll just be doomed to repeat the mistakes of BiS and this time it's worse because they already did the attention grabbing shock tactics.

Whenever somebody tries something and has some success you will always get more groups doing the same sorts of things. Babymetal and BiS popped up and began getting attention then a whole lot more of these groups popped up. The groups are all trying to outdo each other and get their piece of this different idol audience which consists of younger males who like alternative music and underground idol fanatics. They all want to be more hardcore than the other groups or more crazy and weird. At this point it's probably just as hard for these kinds of groups to stand out as it is for more standard idol groups because the competition is wide.

BiS started slightly after Babymetal, and they both debuted in the same year (2010) so I don't think your second paragraph makes much sense just for that one point. 

That being said, I do agree to a certain extent that BiS management was really just trying to be as extreme as possible. What made it worse was that the managers all knew and worked with idols before, and yet stubbornly stuck to making a group that felt more like something that tried to be an extreme version of what idols stereotypically do, as opposed to what idols actually do. It obviously paid out for them pretty well - otherwise, why else would they bother making a clone?

Furthermore, the entire "alternative idol" scene does seem to be appealing to a very specific audience, one which wants to both like and dislike idols. Your point about the new focus is definitely correct, and I completely agree that they all try to one-up each other on the "hardcore" scale. 

Back when there was only BiS, it was easy for them to stand out even though they weren't particularly new because they were the only ones on the scene. Now, as you correctly point out, it's much harder - there are just too many of these "alternative underground" girl groups.

 

 

I'm not a BiS fans, to be honest. I think it's not just ex-BiS that struggle, everyone IS struggling.

I'm just a Yufi's fan, and i think she is doing quite well by herself. they're still in the business, so they're doing well..

 

Well, because there is so much competition, yes you're right, there is a struggle, which there probably wasn't for BiS because they sort-of invented the alternative idol genre. Now the members and management have to struggle against all the acts that exist (partly) because of them. But BiS had many great songs for one thing, and also used the idol genre in interesting ways - they were able to have their cake and eat it - but the ex-BiS people seem to have lost all of that.

 

Just being in the business isn't enough for an idol act. It's all built on success. Pour Lui followed BiS with a traditional rock band, presumably thinking BiS fans would follow her out of the idol world, but she seems to have had to do an about turn as her band are now mainly playing shows with idol acts. Other former members are basically just trying to cash-in on their ex-BiS status, without producing anything worthwhile, so probably someone like BELLRING少女ハート will be more appealing to ex-BiS fans than, say, Billy Idle. 

 

Didn't Togawa Jun invent the alt idol genre? Definitely not the same style, but honestly it's not really anything new.

I didn't find BiS to be particularly new or innovative, they just took the hate that exists for a lot of current mainstream idol acts and ran with it, which was pretty amusing to watch. A lot of the spin-off groups have interesting music too. As an idol group, BiS was meh, but I do agree with you that musically they were quite great.

They'll be performing two days at Saitama Super Arena on December 12th and 13th. Japanese residents can enter to win two tickets to one of the shows by sharing Superhero on Line. 

I need to win these tickets. Like now.

Thanks for the translations!

 

 

ーーWhat do you honestly think of Watanabe?

Aina: I really like him!
Watanabe: I'm going to go smoke.

(Watanabe leaves)

This part makes me think this entire interview, like everything, is so filtered and staged. Again with the nothing is real stuff...

Then again, that's why they're interesting! LOL