Nogizaka46 confirmed – MELOS no Michi
AKB48 vs. Nogizaka46 – Pure Idol Heart
Melos and Gaki bring more details about Aki-P’s new idol project – auditions have already begun and there’s a schedule that seems to indicate a group debut before the end of 2011. Gaki sees this as Aki-P’s chance to continue his rein of the idol world even after the sell-by date of AKB passes. It’s as good a theory as any, and certainly speaks to the business acumen of someone who has found two different idol collectives.
I have to say, this is as much a “fuck you” to Hello! Project as it is to AKB48. Not only is H!P considered too weak to compete against AKB48 – and let’s face it, the numbers bear this out in an excruciatingly obvious fashion – but Sony is the company behind UFA, which runs Hello! Project. If Sony really wants to push idol groups, why aren’t they working with the collective already in their realm of influence? On the surface, this looks like a vote of no-confidence for Tsunku and company.
Beyond that, one has to wonder if Aki-P is hoping this new rivalry will actually increase sales for AKB in the short term. After all, the senbatsu election has proven so wildly successful, and that’s all about choosing favorites and picking sides. It could backfire – people could see Aki-P as being overly manipulative in playing both sides of a fence he created. That said, he’s already done one highly manipulative stunt after another with AKB and has barely even been called out on it by the fan base. Who’s to say they’ll start now?
I remember when I first heard about AKB48 – there were a bunch of other new super-sized idol groups at the time whose names I can’t even remember now, including the one BENI came from and another one created by a department store, and Avex was trying to aggregate all their girl group under the Girl’s Box title. In that context, and with Morning Musume still the biggest fish in an ever dwindling pond, AKB48 looked like a long shot at best.
Now, idol girl groups have cycled back to being all the rage, Morning Musume remained the same size while other groups outdid them by leaps and bounds… It’s a very different landscape, and Aki-P trying to do a threepeat with a new girl group collective doesn’t seem so quixotic or misguided. I’m actually rooting for this group to succeed – because the more the merrier, right? But I do believe in cycles, and if AKB has become SO successful that we’ll see the same idol burnout that happened in the mid-2000s… well, to quote numerous people, It is what it is.
I see what you mean as this being a big FU to H!P, but as long as H!P makes money sony wouldn’t compleatly abandon it. I think. :s
True, but imagine if the money Sony is spending on Aki-P’s new group was instead being spent on Hello! Project. Imagine AKB level PVs being made on a regular basis again by H!P groups, something as epic as “River” or “Everyday”, because they had the cash and mandate to do so. Imagine a more aggressive marketing campaign to push H!P groups to non-wota, again with the kind of financing that Nogizaka46 will inevitably receive. I’m not sure if Sony is losing out on a big opportunity by not doing these things with H!P or simply cutting their losses and going with the better bet by choosing Aki-P.
This is just like back when WWE bought over all their competition and became the only big supercompany doing sports entertainment, so they create an in-house rivalry between Raw, Smackdown and ECW. (this was before TNA was formed). It’s the only way to go to create a “virtual competition” of sorts.
I still go back to my original understanding that UFW/UFA is not interested in expanding the entertainment side of the business because they are more interested in the real estate and agriculture which gets the mother company to live and survive in the stock market, which is where the big money comes in. H!P project revenue is used to pay the bills and that’s it. Until there is a change in their mindset to focus on showbiz, nothing is going to happen. Still it will be interesting to see if this plan will backfire if the idol bubble dies down cos nothing lasts forever right?