Jun 28 2009
On AKB
This entry has little to do with H!p. You’ve been warned.
You know, there has been a lot of growth in the AKB48 fandom lately, and several of my (online) friends really like them. I had a ton of free time this weekend, so I decided to go out and give them a thorough honest chance. I watched the full Top 100 concert, since I though it would give me a good look at all the teams and some of their best songs. I watched some random other stuff and read various profiles of the girls too, so while I’m no expert, I consider my fairly educated. I’d say I can identify 3/4 of the girls or so (pretty much got A and K down, B not so much). So, what do I think? Plus and minus style.
+ Some of the girls have really nice voices. It’s true. There are definitely several girls who are as good as or better than the best h!p has to offer. Lots of good dancers/ stage presence too.
- WAY too much lipsyncing. This is a huge minus for me. There are only a handful of performances that I can find that seem to be live, and that’s just not acceptable. With h!p, the majority of concert performances are live, with occasional lip syncing. With AKB, it seems to be the other way around. If I go to see idols sing, I want them to actually sing, not just pretend to. Are they afraid that if everything doesn’t sound just perfect, their fans will desert them or something?
+They have some very good songs. There’s plenty of boring filler in there, but the gems make it worthwhile. I’ve expanded my music collection quite a bit!
+Also on the topic of songs, I have to admit that the lyrics are often more creative than h!p. They’re willing to do more daring things, like sing overtly lesbian themed songs, for example. More variety in song types is a plus.
-That said, sometimes I think the sexuality can go a little far, especially considering that there are several younger girls. Many of these girls release much more risque photobooks than you would expect to see from h!p, and as a female, that would make me feel a little weird if I were their fan. Also, I know that CK will hate me for this, but Miss Ohori slinking around stage literally wearing negligee makes me feel like I accidentally wandered into a sleazy strip joint. No thank you.
-There are just too many girls. I know, I know. It’s the same old argument you hear all the time, but it’s true. And they keep adding more. So many of those girls will forever be pushed to the very back. If they’re not good enough to be on the CD, why are they even there? It sounds harsh, but it seems to me like AKB is carrying some deadweight. From a marketing standpoint, it’s an established fact that the sheer number of girls can be a turn off when it comes to attracting new fans.
+That top 100 concert is a great idea! I know that there is some argument about the fairness of the voting system, but I still love the concept. I wish h!p would do something like that, but then I guess they’d just be copying AKB. I’m quite curious to know what the fans would pick as their top 100 h!p songs of all time.
-I also worry that the girls may be being exploited a bit. They’ve done a lot to remove distance between fans and the idols, but are all the girls truly happy with that? Handshake events is one thing, but hug events? Personal wake up calls? Private photo sessions? I dunno. Not to mention that the daily performances ensure that the girls are working their asses off all the time, and from what I hear, only the very top girls get paid much at all.
+Their AKBingo show looks to be much more entertaining than haromoni or yorosen ever were.
-Lastly, in the negative category, some of their promotional schemes are just exploitative. The infamous “collect all 48 posters, 1 randomly chosen with each CD purchase” incident was the worst, but this new “buy a CD, get a vote for who is in the next single” ploy is kind of dirty too. The voting idea isn’t bad, but it should just be one vote per person. Making people buy their votes with stacks and stacks of CDs… the CD itself is meaningless.
Overall, I appreciate a lot of AKB’s music and performances. I’m sure they have some good idols in their ranks too, but I’m going to be sticking with my h!p fandom for now. There’s just too much about AKB that makes me feel uncomfortable for me to really get into that fandom, and the lipsyncing drives me crazy.
~Celestia~
The lipsyncing sometimes tends to be only in DVD releases. From What I’ve heard, they usually perform live in the stage shows, and actually perform live in some concerts, but the recordings are put over the DVD to make it sound better. I don’t quite understand it.
As for the ‘deadweight’, in stage performances, every girl pulls their own weight. While they may not all be leads, they are given a fair amount of solo time in their own respective units, and plenty of screentime in LODs and concerts. While it’s obvious that some are pushed to the back, the same thing happens even in Hello! Project.
i was watching some behind scenes of the 2009 top 100 and they were indeed singing live, and i’ll believe that they put the regular recordings over the dvd, because one performance sounded like they were yelling the songs… poor girls. i was reading somewhere that they actually cut a lot out from the dvds (MC, and such) which is also a disappointment.
exploiting the girls are one thing though. some are waaaay past their “adult age” so rather than have h!p taiwan ages, i’d say, why not be sexy if they don’t mind to be. it’s one thing to be cute, but to be sexy of age isn’t not always that bad.
their original motto was “idols you can meet” i remember watching a dvd where the fans giving them high fives, etc, a lot of whole fan interaction before they got more famous.
[...] On AKB (Bikkuri Project) [...]
I’m thinkin their music can be decent to good but there’s just a little magic I think Tsunku’s got left that is unique to him.
It seems to me that your reasons to do with disliking AKB has little to do with the girls and the performances.
Disliking the way they are managed is a different matter entirely. It’s not the girls’ fault that they are managed in this way. They don’t choose to lipsync or participate in the shady promotional schemes.
As for the sexuality, there’s nothing wrong with that if they’re old enough (and Ohori is more than old enough). Even if they aren’t old enough, take a look at Kpop singers - there are a lot more overt displays of sexuality.
First of all, i’m tsunku’s product fan. Based on your article i agree that H!P is lacks in variety of their songs. Lately they’re only sing refurbished songs and that’s make me very disappointed. I only watched some of AKB’s PV, i admitted that their songs are far more better than H!P’s with more brilliant concept in every each PV. In this first half year the only good things from H!P are
- Momusu’s Naichou, Shouganai & Platinum 9 (album)
- Mano’s Hajimete
- and Buono’s My Boy & Hybrid Punch.
- any H!P member solo photobook (yeah each of them is superb)
For song, I feel sorry for c-ute. I can say they’re pretty good, but generally most of people (not hardcore fans of c-ute or H!P) said that there is nothing special in their song and PV except they’re look cute and adorable. This is based on my disucussion with my beloved sister and an observation to some of my neighborhood and my friend who just come to my house and ask if there is anything new in my J-pop collection.
Letely, i started to get interested in NGP. Their movement are far slower than H!P and AKB but i can see they’re marching toward to direction that better than their older sister project.
Wow, you just detailed the exact thoughts I have about AKB48. Like you, I have also added several of their songs into my playlist but have never really jumped on the bandwagon either. Its just feels too much like Akimoto Yasushi is just exploiting the girls to make big money off the idol market, and is doing everything he can to pander to the fans without giving any due consideration to the dignity or welfare of the girls.
I’m no CK, but…*sticks tongue at you* leave my Meetan alone!! meh, she is controversial and over the top, but she cares a lot for her fans and is very commited to what she does. That AKBingo special when she had to sell 10k to stay in the group was heartbreaking.
About the girls exploitation, it’s true that they are overworked, and they may not like some of their fans, but they have much more control over their careers than H!P. They can get different agencies and do whatever they want, photobooks included. For example, Erepyon’s PB goes over the risque side, Mariko’s makes her look like a professional model, and Tomochin’s doesn’t have a single bikini shot (!), and she also produced it (!!!). They are the ones who decide at the end if they want to be or not in the group, no one is forcing them.
These ’special privileges’ (bowling, etc) are obtained only with guys and girls willing to spend big cash on them, so very few people can actually do this. The unpopular girls, treasure and love their few fans, and these stuff helps them keeping them and raise they popularity aswell. And as a casual fan, I would love having Meetan answering my letters
And, same as Max said, watch the making ofs. You can hear every concert has been sung live (confirmed by bootlegs and people who went). But I dunno why they put the recordings over them.
Very good post! You wrote all the reasons why I love and hate AKB! As a fan myself, I can only suggest you to keep looking, and take what you like the most
@Ruri- You`re right. I don`t have anything against the girls themselves, but rather, the entity AKB48. Unfortunately, you can`t seperate the girls from the way they are managed. It`s the whole AKB package. If anything, I feel sorry for the girls.
@Max. I don`t mean that some girls aren`t working hard enough or trying enough or anything. I mean that if some girls don`t have the charisma or whatever to pull in more fans, then maybe they don`t have any business being idols. I know that sounds harsh, but it`s still true.
@bontakun. Yeah, that`s exactly it. No matter how much money you spend on a h!p girl, you can`t buy a date (bowling) with her. Paying a girl to date you is getting into very dangerous territory. The girls are majorly overworked, (supposedly) majorly underpaid, and I`ve got to wonder where all the money they`re pulling in is going. Not to the concerts or stages, as they reuse the same costumes over and over and over again, and there are next to no stage effects. The PVs seem pretty high budget, but other than that, I`m willing to bet that the vast majority of all that money the fans think they are spending to support their favorite girl is going right into Akimoto`s pocket. Guh. He`s like their pimp or something. The whole thing makes me feel icky.
And I saw pictures of the little “announce who got enough votes to be in the single” event. Almost all of the girls were sobbing, someone fainted, and I heard that other girls were hyperventalating and looking unsteady. Also, I know that last time a girl left a team, they announced it to the team for the first time on stage, in front of fans, to many tears all around of course. If this sort of thing isn`t exploiting the girls with little regard for their dignity or welfare, then I don`t know what is.
even the way H!P/MM marketing is little dirty… having a lot of version of a single & 2 b-side for their latest single.. even having 2 b-sides for the latest single kind of make me little angry… that’s why i cant accept the way Akimoto market his idols… just to much exploitation that i felt sorry for the girls…
for me, AKB48 is an extreme version of H!P/MM… if MM is innocent, for me AKB is more sexy & little bit not-so-innocent.. PV full of girls with bikini (i always hate seeing them in bikini, even is she’s my fav), wearing sexy negligee on stage is just too extreme for me… even Viyuuden (Rika Ishikawa group), i hate that group with a passion…
however, i love the way AKB girl is marketed (minus the voting & poster thingy)… through drama, tv show, fabulous PV & drama-tie theme song… it is something H!P should learn…
i already love some of the girls from AKB (Acchan, TakaMina, Mariko-sama, itano tomomi etc well mostly team A)… but there is something about AKB that keep me away from them… mostly because i’m not sure if i’m ready for them… mayb when i’m older (means that when i’m not-that-innocent phase start… hoho)
“I mean that if some girls don`t have the charisma or whatever to pull in more fans, then maybe they don`t have any business being idols. I know that sounds harsh, but it`s still true.”
True. For example, being the frontgirl as she is, maeda ALWAYS gives EVERYONE that “I’m better than you, fuck you, I wanna go home” look. Same for Itano. Oku (fat one in team K, young and ugly) basically doesn’t give a shit. She gets paid, so…
By the way, the girls get equal payment. X en per performance, Y per photoshoot, Z per outside events (radios and such)
Hmm, can’t edit…
“Also, I know that last time a girl left a team, they announced it to the team for the first time on stage, in front of fans, to many tears all around of course.”
They ALWAYS announce it out of the blue.
On average the singing being better in H!P is the only thing they have over AKB for me, but I don’t really care about lipsynching so it isn’t a big deal to me. I can understand why other people don’t like it though. I do agree that AKB has some singers that match or around the level of H!P’s best, though.
I can also understand the aversion to the sexy stuff like Meetan (who’s my favourite as well xD) but I’d rather them do that with the older girls than put them in a permanent evening gown and having them perform dinner shows all the time the second they turn 24 that makes them seem they’re more like 40.
“Not to the concerts or stages, as they reuse the same costumes over and over and over again, and there are next to no stage effects.”
I don’t understand this though. They only do their concerts 1-3 times so they can’t make a whole set of new costumes for every song. They have stages where they regularly perform a song so the costume becomes linked with it just as much as the lyrics or the girls performing it, so they reuse the costume whenever it’s performed.
In the latest stages, each girl has 6 costumes (7 in B4) so that’s 96 (112 in B4) costumes for a stage, and each stage has 16 songs. So every 10-11 months (how long a stage lasts) they have to make & design over 96 costumes and 16 songs, for each team. I also reckon (apart from H!P’s costumes for PVs, which are pretty nice) that AKB’s costumes are much better than H!P’s.
@warladin- they get paid per event? I`d be very interested to know what X,Y, and Z are. I once hear it quoted as “barely enough to cover their train fare to commute to work and back” though I doubt anyone would stay in the group if it was really THAT bad. What about staring in a drama or a photobook? That`s got to be different than a single photoshoot or radio appearance.
^I don’t know how much their payment is, but I’ve seen several non-popular girls wearing expensive clothes and accesories (Rina Nakanishi with a Louis Vuitton bag, and I remember a kenkyuusei wearing a Liz Liza dress, which isn’t cheap). So their payment mustn’t be that bad. Many of them come from wealthy families, so it isn’t a problem, but they aren’t exactly hungry.
They get enough.
I feel that AKB went over the hill mid last year, their best performers rarely show up to lives becouse they have better paying jobs and I havn’t been enamoured by any of their recent songs. I went over to Japan and saw the last few Himawari stage b got a good 10 or so shows in before the end of the lining up.
However I may very well suffer the same problem former H!P fans suffer, once your main girls don’t show up much you lose interest. Their losing money hand over fist aswell - although I can’t see how - maybe the cost of the theatre really is just that high. Or someone has his hand in the piggy bank.
One of the problems with their initial line up is unlike UFA all the girls were on their own management agencies and once they got more popular they did their own things instead of AKB things.
I too feel the same way you do about AKB48. I’ve never really seen the draw about them except for the tactics that they use to exploit the girls. I guess I don’t like the way that they are pushed to be loved. I almost feel like I’m going to be flashed any moment while watching a PV or performance. And for me (especially since I’m a female) that’s a DO NOT WANT!!
But, one of the main reasons I’m sticking with Morning Musume because I feel that they are respected as a group by many in the music world. They have collaborated and worked with different groups/troupes/shows….you name it. Just recently this year they worked with some guys and girls from the music industry (one that I recognized is one of the writes for SADE’s old song Smooth Operator). How many people have collaborated with AKB48 that are respected musicians?
^ AKB’s target is solely the wota. And as such, it is a lowly and not so respected group.
^Are you serious? Akimoto has been around from the 80’s, working with many people of the mainstream jpop industry. I’d say he has more respect than Tsunku himself, based only on the variety of groups and artists he has produced and how long he has been doing it.
He even wrote a song for EXILE.