I just read the single most upsetting piece of news I’ve read since 2008 and I don’t know how to process it or word it, but it’s still a really big deal so I figured I’d blog about it. I’m probably going to swear like a sailor, so you’ve been warned.
SDN48 or Saturday Night 48 was an idol group created by Akimoto Yasushi 2 years ago, his intentions were to create a group for girls over 18 years old and initially intended for their audience to be over 18 years old as well.
Then he proceeded to transfer some of AKB’s older members to it. Noro Kayo, Ohori Megumi, Sato Yukari and Urano Kazumi were moved to it and graduated from AKB48 with the team shuffle.
SDN48 isn’t a porn show like some people think. The girls that are part of the group are on average really talented girls, and their songs have a more mature feel to them (some of them are sexy songs, but not all) with the girls pulling off spectacular performances.
Despite all this, what I found the best feature about them was the fact that they completely threw out of the window the ridiculous premise the whole idol business is based upon: Youth is your most valuable asset. These girls were amazing young ladies of a varied group of ages, and they weren’t bound by the stupid rules of no boyfriends, no drinking blah blah blah, this made their MCs really entertaining and enhanced their connection to their fans, because they felt a whole lot more real than a bunch of teens in a school uniform bouncing around and squeaking in high pitched voices while pretending that they’ve never been in love.
After SDN started releasing singles, I was super excited, because I really love them and I wish I could get into them, but with the lack of SDN LODs it’s definitely complicated for me :s Without counting that they haven’t released their stage on DVD either. Their singles were sexy and sassy while a little underwhelming based on their predictable choice to make popular girls center even though they weren’t the most talented, which made them sound different from the fuller and deeper sound of their stage songs, but hey, being this far along in the fandom, I already am aware that stage songs will always be better yet remain underappreciated.
After this ridiculously long intro, here comes the bomb.
SDN48’s captain, Noro Kayo announced in a recent show that all of the members of SDN48 have decided “together” to graduate next year. They will have a graduation concert on 12/03/31.
Here’s a link to the announcement in Ebi48
Whoa. I haven’t been this upset ever since the Elder Club massacre in H!P, or the mass Team A graduation from which I haven’t recovered yet (I’ll probably never be able to like Team A again after that).
What is the fucking point of creating a group that’s going to be shafted like hell (they only have one stage) in order to give it the axe in 2 years?
What is the fucking point in having auditions and forming a 3rd gen if they were planning on pulling the plug on this? And don’t give me that “we all decided together” shit. How can the 3rd gen girls decide to graduate? They’ve barely been in the group as is ffs!
I understand that SDN’s singles don’t sell as well as the other xxx48 singles, but come on. Akimoto is a smart guy, he must’ve known that japanese people are obsessed with youth and cuteness so SDN wouldn’t ever sell millions. They didn’t do that badly either, they outsold every non48 idol group with every release.
It just makes no fucking sense. I know that idols are a business not a happy fluffy family full of feelings and emotions, but this is just being a dick.
It’s still not clear whether this means disbandment or not, the girls haven’t blogged about it and there aren’t any official words either; however, from the wording of the whole thing it looks like it’s bye bye for the best 48 group. They were the ones who were talented, sassy, unafraid to show themselves just like they are, we will never have that in any of the other 48 groups and it pisses me off.
I’m getting old for idols, the reason why I stick with AKB it’s because there are still girls who are older than me in there xD That’s also the reason why I can’t get into SKE, I just don’t care about high school stuff anymore (funnily enough, I did care when I was in college because medshool is like high school here, no kidding) and I was hoping that with the addition of one of my all time favorite AKB members in Tojima Hana I would finally find the chance to get on board with SDN, I was really rooting for her to do well and become a front girl and now that’s just all gone.
I’m very very pissed at Akimoto or whoever decided this (it wasn’t “everyone” come on, it’s never “everyone”) because from the moment SDN was formed I was so excited that there was at least one human being thinking forward in the idol industry. Now I see that that’s all bullshit.
Don’t get me wrong, I still really care about AKB, and there are times when I’m just feeling silly and want to have fun so I’ll listen and dance along to Yasai Sisters, but I can’t help becoming a little jaded after so many years in the fandom. I understand what being an idol is about, but it gets a little tiresome to listen to 23 year olds saying that the last time they liked a boy was in kindergarden and pretending to blush whenever someone makes a comment related to sex. I’m equally tired of fanboys raging that their girls aren’t virgins anymore because of a stupid purikura (Get real. Most of them are definitely not virgins, why should they be?)
I guess I have Dream Morning Musume to console me. If I’m lucky enough, Koharu will graduate and I’ll finally have another idol group I can really follow without rolling my eyes every time I hear a stupid fucking bouncy under girls song with 19 year old girls pretending to be 5 and winking spastically /bitter.
EDIT: Newsflash. It’s all in Ebi48, so check the link I posted earlier, but it looks like the group is actually disbanding, the girls have blogged about it. And there’s a statement from a staff member now too: Basically, he’s saying that since the girls got SO MUCH promotion (pfffft yeah right) they became lazy and took everything for granted, so he decided to graduate all of them so that they would work harder for their dreams.
Right. That makes a lot of sense. Because SDN was the most pampered group of the 48 family, obviously. And they were so from day one, getting a million promotion deals and Tv shows from their debut. Oh no, wait, I was talking about NMB! Sorry, my bad, I can’t even remember SDN BECAUSE THEY WERE GIVEN FUCKING SQUAT.
And besides, that “work harder” excuse is even worse than “she must continue her studies” Work harder at what exactly if you’re leaving them out of jobs?
FUCK YOU. Just… I can’t even.
I’m just going to ask everyone who cares about SDN or the girls that were part of it (I’m guilty of knowing only the ex-AKB girls, but I adore them) to please buy the Kaze wa Fuiteiru single of AKB48 and vote in the next Request Hour for the song Kodoku na Runner from SDN. It’s all I can do, and I don’t even have money to buy more than 2 copies, but I don’t want the girls to leave feeling unwanted and shafted like they were just an afterthought in Akimoto’s mind that didn’t go as well as he planned. I know that casual fans or new fans probably don’t care and they’re going to vote for all of AKB’s King Records singles A-sides and B-sides, so we’ll need as much help as we can get, that’s why I’m posting this here.
