2012-03-25, 21:04 | Link #121 |
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Well, after learning that Kaoru belongs to AKS.
The way I look it now is that it is not unlike when they decided on picking Aachan as permanent center with Takamina as aid and surround them with few selected younger members like Mii-Chan and Tomochin. That move was made purely from marketing standpoint with future of the group in mind. Really, that decision made no sense at time considering there are more skilled and more popular member, yer they decide to bet on age and a concept of a "face" more then anything. That move obviously worked and they struck gold with a group of toughest girls I've never seem in entertainment world. But at same time you look at the history of AKB and you can't fault any members (especially originals) from leaving the group because they constantly saw things that are unfair at time, from the focused push to Team K recruits, to Team B demotion, to Reorganization, a lot of things are unfair. Heck Akicha is probably the closest case considering that her sister is in the entertainment business with decent popularity at time she joined AKB and then become the fastest Kenkyusei to be promoted over many hardworking seniors and enjoyed spotlight since. Not saying Kaoru will be like that, but I'm willing to reserve my judgement until I see more of her.
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2012-03-25, 21:13 | Link #122 |
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Full transcript / translation here:
http://forum.nihongogo.com/topic/137...ost__p__229682 AKB49 Talk: And one strange thought came to me, as I remember reading the manga: given the unusual turn of events since yesterday, did the manga foresee that (this might sound real crazy but) Minoru/Minori replacing Aachan as center???
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Last edited by sa547; 2012-03-25 at 22:16. |
2012-03-26, 11:11 | Link #123 | |
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Not going to change my mind. You can support her if you want.
Anyway I wouldn't go far as to say AKB49 could forsee this but that would be interesting to see it develop in the plot line. Anyway......some chinese fan tried to commit suicide after hearing the Acchan news... http://rihosan48.tumblr.com/post/199...-maeda-atsukos yeah.............. Also more potential heart attacks for fans. So you see those little purple words at the bottom corner of those boxes? They don’t mean anything at first look… but after careful code-breaking, it becomes clear that they actually have meanings like future events that are already planned. It sounds like an absolute horror story, but some of the events are definitely going to happen (like birthdays) so we know these codes definitely mean SOMETHING and someone put them there on purpose. Here is a compilation of what the Japanese people have been able to figure out so far. Some are VERY interesting like solo debuts etc. A lot of them are not completely solved yet and are still under speculation so take everything as a grain of salt for now. — 50音順 (50 syllable chart) = http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%...9F%B3%E9%A0%86 Quote:
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2012-03-26, 13:26 | Link #124 |
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Like I said, currently I neither root for nor against Kaoru. I'm simply willing to give her benefit of doubt and agree with others that she is at least an interesting piece at the moment.
The code does seem interesting, but I think some suggested event either make no sense or are too detailed to have it set like that. (BTW, what's the source from? a staff member? high rank decision maker? members?) For example, IMO, any potential graduation or transfers are events too sporadic and specific to be coded into a daily planner for regular staff just for the fear of leak like this and are simply too random to plan year or even months ahead. Besides, a single transfer are really not big enough event (unlike is someone of Jurina's level) to have specific code or needs for other to know other the the select few in decision process unlike it involves ton of people like SDN graduation. As for those suggested graduation, base on prior patterns, it's unlikely any real graduation would happen before September (other then Aachan's) considering that so far almost all graduation intents are announced 3-4 month prior to the actual last event(planned or not) especially with election coming up in early June. If there are planned graduation, it'd be public by now. I mean, one of the biggest question right now is if Aachan will be selectable in this year's election. Besides, that's too many core members leaving at too short of time that will give a PR image that core member are a group of self-centered kids that doesn't love AKB as much as them claim. That would really destroy the group and them individually. I mean with Aachan's decision, most seasoned fan, while sad, was believe that the decision guarantee another year from Yuko who was known to want to leave the group for similar reason. As for other top member, none of them really ready to go solo yet and still have room for growth inside the group unlike Yuko and Aachan. And while Sayaka is pretty awesome but HollyWood debut? ATM, she might not even survive in Japan if she gone solo, besides her leaving would be huge to the group internally as AKB really don't have a lot of leader type and Takamina is already busy enough running the entire family and last thing you need is to put more burden on her, (especially now one of her biggest partner and emotional support is due to leave). Random thought: +38 might simply mean debut for TPE48 in Taipei that is schedule to debut by the end of summer this year and makes more sense than SDN revival. With that being said, -7,-2,-3 etc, might be planned oversea trips for member handshake events and promotion. People outside of East Asia might not know, but there a a lot of mini oversea events for AKB48 in East Asia. A lot of time those are individual 2-3 day trips or in a small group of 4-8. Yukirin already had a handshake event earlier this year in Taipei and Hongkong in a 2 day trip. Mayuyu and Takamina was the highlight last year in Taipei for the opening of official shop and promotional events. Takamina is also all over the place with those events such JKT debuts in Indonesia, HKT debuts/introduction, along with opening of official shops in Hong Kong, Korea, China. (another reason I grow more and more fond of her, every top member is busy, but Takamina is also in charge to a lot of little things behind the scenes that helps the group grow and not widely publicized. I mean the fact she was in SSA yesterday with all the shocking announcement today she is leading the group to DC and then due back by the end of week with all of her other arrangements is pretty insane.) If +38 is as I thought, then -7 a day before would just mean that Takamina is oversea heading the charge for the introduction which is in line with debut of every sister group so far.
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Last edited by Undertaker; 2012-03-26 at 13:49. |
2012-03-26, 16:58 | Link #125 | ||
Imouto-Chan♥
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I love the Warota style and that, but honestly, I think I'd get sick of it if that's all AKB was putting out. I like AKB's sound as it is now. Mayuyu would look awesome as center, but tbh, I couldn't imagine here there.
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2012-03-27, 03:13 | Link #127 |
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That is a nice PV, The Conscience of AKB walking the distance to Tokyo Dome. Only 1830 meter away from their 2nd home, the place where it all starts. So close yet so far, and it took them six and half years to reach it through combination of hard work, luck and perseverance.
It' s gonna be bittersweet, considering it's also where most fans expect to be the last performance for Aachan as well.
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2012-03-27, 06:46 | Link #128 |
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Speaking of her, the day later, she and two more came to Hong Kong, but feted with cheers:
http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/03/mae...-announcement/ Seems that after a very long time of contemplating, she completely accepted the far-reaching consequences of her decision.
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2012-03-27, 20:11 | Link #129 |
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I WENT TO THEIR DC SHOW!!
And yeah some fans congrat them on Tokyo Dome too. It's awesome lol Takamina was so typically Takamina. She did alot of weird/cute things. Some fans printed giant Sae, Taka, and AkiP head and when Taka saw AkiP, she said AKIMOTO SENSEI!! lol
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2012-03-27, 20:18 | Link #130 |
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Lucky you, if not because I'm taking a long oversea trip next week, I would have used my vacation this week.
BTW, have you read my comment on the codes yet? any thought? and where did those codes from anyway?
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2012-03-27, 21:09 | Link #131 |
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Sorry I was still tired from the concert...:P Yeah honestly I have no idea either. I agree that the codes don't make sense with all that mass graduation. Other than that no ideas lol The code came from AKB planner that AKB fans found...and then leaked...and then I posted on tumblr but I didn't realize so many people would pay attention since my tumblr don't get that much attention anyway XD But now some fans are freaking about it lol......I don't understand these -7, -3 things...maybe solo activities maybe?
anyway this is from ZIP. OMFG I recognize some people there since they were in lines at the concert too http://vid48.com/watch_video.php?v=47A52YNXXY19
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2012-03-27, 22:49 | Link #133 | |
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And boy, they have it so good (nice that they had Hirata onboard as a go-between, who once lived in Arizona): http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifest...ReS_story.html ---------- This had to be one of the funniest pics I ever seen: "Edward, is that really you?"
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Last edited by sa547; 2012-03-27 at 23:20. |
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2012-03-27, 23:20 | Link #134 |
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eww i hate that washington post..it sound really condescending...
ok after i waited like 2 hrs in the line outside in the cold…<_< The line waiting outside before going in was pretty long. There was alot of fans there for the first showing and it almost fill up all the seats except a few on the balcony. I didn't go to the 2nd showing but I stick around for 30 min waiting for my ride talking to my friend who lined up again for the 2nd show, and IT WAS FILLED UP! The line this time was twice as big as the other line. There were alot of kids there too with their parents who were AKB fans (take that people who say AKB only have male fans!). It's kinda cute There's also this group of kids that look like they're on a field trip. Probably from when AKB visited the kid school the other day. During the 1st show, the ratio was like 40:60 girls to guys...but at the 2nd concert it's close to 50:50 even. I remember seeing alot more kids the 2nd show around. We got inside the theater for the 1st show and I got center, 5th row so I was pretty close to see the members….tho I should've wore heel since some of the people there were pretty tall……Anyway they handed out glow stick in the theater and the fans even know the fanchants and stuffs. Song orders Flying Get, Everyday Kachuusha,Takamina's Bird, Sae's Kiseki wa, Miichan's Gyoten Ojisama, Kioku no Dilemma tho their voice was too quiet for me to hear over the loud speakers. Then they did Kaze wa Fuiteiru, Beginner (OMFG!!!), Ponytail, sakura no ki ni narou. Then they went off stage but fans called for Encore so they did Heavy Rotation, and Sakura no hanabiratachi, they said the song was special to them. Fans yelled ENCORE for like 5 min before they came back but it was worth it because HR performance was really cheerful and lot of fans sang along with it. There was alot of cute moment like the girls try to speak english….except they suck so the most they know is "Are you happy?" "I'm happy" or one of the girl tripped up and couldn't pronounce it right so she said "I'm hahahaa- Happy" XD. Umeda asked the fan to follow her and said "when I say ton ton ton, you say washington" lol I like how she tried to be original. Hilary was the only one with proper english tho she was struggling trying to put words together when talking about the symbol of sakura trees lol The girls said they went to see the white house, and they took pictures. Takamina then did this taking picture pose to show what they're talking about. https://plus.google.com/113175170244...ts/dU9wmuRe1xy Some fans screamed out TAKAMINA DAISUKI~ and she said back Aishiteru I already mentioned the giant heads lol. Pretty sure it might appear in news coverage since everyone attention was on it when Sae pointed it out. The girls ask the fans question like have you been to japan, have you seen akb, have you seen them at their new york show? etc. And since they are the representative of tourism, they kinda try to tell fans to visit them in Japan lol. Some fans congrat them on Tokyo Dome and they seem really happy about it. Oh and Sae was really nice, she have a really cheerful smile. There was alot of miichan fans…or her fans are just loud because you can hear them yell her name out alot. Lemon is SUPER SMALL! like her head is two time less than the size of other member head D: Umeda was really pretty, I noticed her the whole time BTW~ I notice some fans who were going crazy and jumping up in their place...the weirdest was this white guy with preppy styles clothes, huge muscles, kinda the jock type, acting like a total fanboy and going crazy at the concert XD I thought that was kinda funny lol. When we left the 1st show, some interviewers were talking to this small blond girl, around...5, 6 maybe? and they asked her what does she think of the concert and she said "I like AKB" >w< There're fans came from places like Cali and Arizona and they're AKB fans for 6 yrs. It's really cool...:O
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2012-03-28, 00:04 | Link #135 |
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That was one helluva experience you got there.
The Post article do miss a few things and more facts that could've cleared things up for the non-fans, and commentators below the article put those up for the sake of clarification. If anything, I think they're pretty much astonished just how far they've become well known (at least through the Internet and the fandom), but as representatives of a pop music genre, it's a matter of time before they could very well challenge the dominance of k-pop (aggressively promoted by their government) on a global scale. Anyway, earlier this morning, a naysayer posted up a small scathing and possibly trolling comment, but nevertheless as a defense I replied at him at length: http://www.japanator.com/akb48-celeb...ws-22612.phtml Some people really do need to be open-minded and understanding; ignorance is one of the sources of hatred. OBTW, there will always be some fucking trolls like this dick.
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Last edited by sa547; 2012-03-28 at 01:19. |
2012-03-28, 01:00 | Link #136 |
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Damn, they actually did 12 songs?!! Now I'm really regret for planned that oversea trip of mine way too early. With this type of event, I'd thought they'd sing like 5-6 songs max. Not to mention it it includes rare ones like Bird and Sakura no Hanabiratachi that you only get to see in a full concert or the yearly AX.
But happy to know their fan also grows in U.S. maybe NYC48 or LA48 is not far off... As for Washington Post, went to check. The got Sae and Akicha mixed up in their gallery. And yeah, the article is condescending. I don't have problem with them saying that the group's main target crowd is male or even otaku because that is truth. But they should also mention that at this time are are appealing to all age group from 3 year old to 60 years old. And they did more in relief effort than majority of other organization in Japan as well. They are now at a level and referred to as National Idols. There really is no need the phrase it the way they did. It's like saying don't get fool by Halle Berry or Natalie Portman's acting, they are really just two hot piece of a@@ that is flirting with male movie goers. Come on...
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2012-03-28, 01:08 | Link #137 |
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LOL people calling AKB using "dirty tricks" to be popular?
Marketing is marketing. There's no such thing as dirty tricks since the point is to grab people attention however you can. <__< Even tho AKB is at a higher advantage since they have their own channel as well as adding english on the video...when it come to their image, I don't think westerner...ie the reporter on that article...get it. Well when it come to western hemisphere, I doubt that any asian music will be able to get into mainstream US/EU music scene. I don't believe in any of these hypes lol.
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2012-03-28, 01:27 | Link #138 | |||
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No surprises that often, without further understanding, the media gets its facts or writings completely wrong as it tries to explain the system and make direct comparisons.
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2012-03-28, 01:53 | Link #139 | |
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Anyway, some fun stuff, Kuramochi "Mochi" Asuka, AKB's resident pro-wrestling nut with a ear fetish post this lovely pic on her Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/10378792...ts/MyLP5ojqRz4 And looking through her pictures, once again I was reminded that my Oshimen is a really weird chibi... Almost forgot, I was going to mention something about that Robert Pattinson picture. There is actually a follow up related to that meeting in a later episode of AKBingo. BTW, where id you can those video/screenshots? The resolution is much better then the videos I've watched before.
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Last edited by Undertaker; 2012-03-28 at 02:09. |
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2012-03-28, 02:31 | Link #140 | |
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(Sidenote: registered in their forum some days ago just to clarify issues about 0048 and bring in some additional news, as most of them -- being hardcore wota -- either watch anime casually or don't like it at all.)
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