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Originally Posted by Blaat
Pretty much this, Aoki is only there to prevent this from turning into a four man group and four man group is a big nono in East Asian countries (as four sounds a lot like dead) So Aoki already fulfilled his role.  |
Yes, the number "four" and the character for "death" are both pronounce "shi" in Japanese, making "four" a very unlucky number.
Same goes for Chinese, where "four" and "death" are both pronounced "si". Don't know about Korean, but I guess it's the same there.
So why not up the count one more and have a six person group, three girls and three boys, which would have better swapping potential? That's probably because five person sentai groups are very popular.
Still, as a German saying goes, Aoki pretty much is the "fifth wheel on the car".
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Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat
IIRC Japan doesn't really care about the unlucky number 4 and the lucky number 8. That's more of a "Chinese" (and Chinese influenced countries) notion. Heck, I'm pretty sure Japan is only of the few Asian countries that don't celebrate Lunar (Chinese) New Year.
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Wrong, also in Japan "four" is a very unlucky number, as I know from my Japanese teacher at uni. For example, presenting four pieces of whatsoever to someone would be considered an extreme faux pas and would get you on very bad terms with the recipient.
While Chinese New Year isn't celebrated everywhere in Japan, cities with a good share of chinese population do celebrate it.