minaeshi

Rino's grad wouldn't be related to Naachan's firt center at all, since Naachan was already very popular before people started to know the other members of STU, so she's always been #1 in STU, and her popularity in AKB has been on the rise since 2015. With only Mayu gone and Mion's rank down last year, it's really no surprise they picked her.

minaeshi

Plus it helps to push STU more into the public eye, just as having Sakura as the center of AKB helped HKT's relevance a lot. I can't say you can use that theory on the sister groups tho..

ajma93632

@minaeshi The same reason you mentioned is why I think Rino's grad could be related, because after she left STU the group lost a top member representative (a member who has been center and at least has ranked into senbatsu in SSK), so since Nana has already ranked into senbatsu all she needed was a center tittle and she got it. And it'll help a lot to STU. Because every 48 group needs a top member and even if she's popular the center tittle is necessary. I can share you a doc I ma...

WorldGN18

Kara T.T

ajma93632

@GetRapper I don't know if you've seen but it shows like if KAra is still alive with only one member.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMbDLLe9qGs

GetRapper

I did see it! :)
She did so well too! KARA is beloved in Japan still, I'm glad people still appreciate their music.

ajma93632

@RenaiHunter If this were an one-time event I could see it as a good idea, but I really doubt it. My fear is that Sakamichi also follow the path of adding more members to maintain the groups selling power like AKB. Isn't it supposed that Nogi's concept as AKB rivals that they won't lose by having less members?

minaeshi

the smart thing for them to do would be to focus on the girls they already have so that the groups ALWAYS sell well, even if they popular members aren't present. then when a lot of them start graduating, that's when you add new members.

minaeshi

3rd gen joining nogi is understandable, to make up for the past and upcoming graduations in nogi. 2nd gen keyaki hiragana members made sense to make kanji and hiragana's parallel. this? doesn't make anymore sense than yoshimotozaka.

ajma93632

@taylorniw yeah, that and probably they'd like to blame the fact almost all of their top members are gone.

SailorKame

it's sad how many gimmicks are needed now to keep the one million weekly streak going.

ajma93632

@SailorKame Sad indeed and the saddest part is that they have to rely on other groups to reach the 1m goal, which has been happen since the 1st moment.

Juandalyn

Here it's one for 2€ but they're super rare.

ajma93632

@juandalyn Interesting, it's even more expensive in Europe, more likely because of distance. Unlike here in Ecuador where you can find them in almost every market of the coast region.

kurebesu

at my work it's one for $2 (converted to dollars) but people rarely buy them!

Blu-Cherri

I heard pevious p101 the contestants voted? With so many hkt members the rest of 48 probably rallied around Sakura whist the other contestants probably split their votes

Blu-Cherri

for the centre*

ajma93632

@Blu-Cherri even if that's true, the song was supposed to have 2 centers and Mnet just focus on Sakura, the same happened in the teaser that give her a little more screentime even though her face was blurred. It's like she's Mnet new fav.

Lalalaalala

Same!!!

Konohita

lol I was having a panic attack since H!O is part of my routine

core2quad

Same!!!

Muyim Pimoup

i'd love that :D

SailorKame

Uta and Sayashi for MM 15th gen

minaeshi

I think she did great but I think they did her more harm than good giving her an A simply because she has the "potential" to be great on the show.. should have given her B class, she still would have been happy but now she once again has a burden over her head due to mgmt push. tragic.

taylorniw

Rigged for dayzzz. Notice how she got to perform the Japanese version when she should have had to do the Korean version to parallel the Korean trainees’ Japanese version. They just gotta make sure some popular Japanese girls make it to the end.

beyooooonk

Are you guys forgetting about the part of the show right near the end where the judges remarked, "Wow, nearly all the Japanese trainees tried the Korean version well, but the Koreans did not give as much effort to sing in Japanese." Did you guys skip the end part where they mentioned this?

ajma93632

Yeah, but I don't know how management will act with this situation.

minaeshi

at this point the best thing to do is swap out some old faces in favor of newer ones so that when graduations start being more frequent, the group can still stand on two feet. there are lots of senbatsu ready girls who haven't been given that chance yet but have no intention to graduate soon

ajma93632

@minaeshi I totally agree, the closest senbatsu to that idea was on the 19th single where Manatsu was put on 3rd row, but they gave her a song with Maiyan. Management could easily put some popular members out of senbatsu and give them solo or group songs for them so their fans won't get so displeased.

taylorniw

Neither, they're not very adventurous.

megumibex

normal kanji senbatsu is my bet but I hope for double a-side

IchVermisseDenSommer

look at forum posts like that. When things like this started in Ger I was still in the cosplay community and since we imported so much stuff this was a hot topic. Your country probably has communities like this as well and they surely discussed this before. DHL only started doing this at least in Ger 2 or 3 years ago. Chances are they did so in your country as well.

Juandalyn

I feel it. I rarely order stuff even from the US because everything from outside the EU gets weird additional import taxes.

ajma93632

@IchVernisseDenSommer The answer is negative and she told me what you mentioned. I'll be paying that because the package is here and I'm sick of that bs. I guess if I'm willing to buy Cds next tiem I'll do it from another store that doesn't automatically uses DHL for shipping.

tadase

Same about my country, which is the Philippines. Still trying to see the silver lining in it though. Hugs, mate!

ajma93632

Mine is Ecuador there have been crimes of rape, and murder, nad the last one was made by a man from Venezuela and people have gone crazy and started to go to all the places where venezuelan people live and started to take thier things and burn them outside.

ShiningLight445

Lol you're not the only one. I didn't care much for them either

tadase

Same. I liked Spring Breeze tho. It felt so nostalgic.

ajma93632

Hiragana Keyakizaka46 is now Hinatazaka46

megumibex

Finally!

ajma93632

Thanks, fortunetaly nothing happened with my family, but one person died and there were injured people and damaged houses. I still remember when the first earthquake came it was a bit long but not so strong, and when it ended we all went back to sleep and when I was about to fall sleep the second one came and it was stronger we all go out and after it endend i noticed my legs were shaking and wasn't able to sleep at all, I had to relax for like one hour to finally sleep again. The people...

sheikhyerbutay

Glad to hear there was only one death and you are okay. Be safe!

Lalalaalala

Glad to hear you and your family are ok. Stay safe

Juandalyn

^This, unfortunately. Which is a shame because singles usually pull in the general public while stage plays and concerts don't.

SailorKame

at this point I think they've sort of given up trying to pull the general public and are probably just trying to keep their fanbase happy for now.

ajma93632

I think more concerts and activities help to keep the fanbase but in H!P case, it won't w0do for long if they don't do something to reach to more people. The H!P single made me realize that every new group is practically supported by the same fans of older groups, so it's not like H!P fan base has grown because of the newer groups. So starting by releasing new single they should do something to reach to a wider audience.

ajma93632

@Krusha I meant AKB as AKB48G because it has affected the whole franchise, of course some groups not so much like others.

ajma93632

@tadase I just found out about that some days ago and couldn't believe it. It is said MNL is now the AKS guinea pig. So let's see how will this affect the other groups.

ajma93632

@SailorKame The problem with AKB decline is that now there's this issue. It's not like dealing with problematics members who ended up gratuading or members with scandals. This problem comes from the management and how it has let things go this far, if it wasn't for this then I could have predicted they could reach their 20th anniversary and maybe some years more. But with this I don't know if they could even reach their 15th because they have lost support from the industry and...