On March 4, 2009, Japanese girl idol group AKB48 released its 11th single "10 Years of Sakura". The song has a lyric that reads," "Let's Get Together Again in 10 Years(10 Years Later), "Let's Get Together Again After 10 Years", and even the slogan is "2019, where will I be and what am I doing(2019, 僕はどこで 何をしているのだろう)? ”。 It seems somewhat coincidental that Atsuko Maeda, who served as the "Center" in "10 Years of Sakura", announced the birth of a child on March 4, 2019, which gave an answer to the question of the lyrics of that year.
Ten Years of Sakura
On the other hand, for AKB48, "10 Years of Sakura" also has a different general meaning, it is the first single since the establishment of AKB48 to sell more than 100,000 copies, so it is called "100,000 sakura" by fans. Since then, AKB48's momentum has risen, with five singles selling over one million in 2011, and in May 2013, it became the highest-selling female group in Japanese history, rising to the "National Girl Group" at that time.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of "10 Years of Sakura", the current AKB48 is not all good news. Also on March 4, First AKB48 Team B Captain Takahashi Juri announced at the birthday performance that he would "graduate" from AKB48, and he would also go to South Korea to "debut" again; later, news came out that Takeuchi Yu, who graduated from AKB48 for less than half a year, was rumored to be signing a contract with a Korean entertainment company. Although AKB48 has always presented itself as a "springboard for dreams", the departure of members in this way ("re-employment") ultimately gives rise to the uneasy feeling of eventual dispersion.
Juri Takahashi, who suddenly announced his "graduation."
Juri Takahashi left in the context of NHK's suspension of the "AKB48show" program in March 2019, and Rina Ihara, who won the AKB48 general election championship four times, is also about to "graduate" in March. The former represents that the "ground ban" named AKB48 is only left with the only seedling "AKBINGO". The latter means that of the 20 people who entered the "10 Years Sakura" selection lineup that year, only 3 people will remain in AKB48 (Minami Hagishi, Yuki Kashiwaki, and Jori Matsui). Li Nai Ikuhara, who is known by fans as the "Emperor of Fingers", may be the most popular member of AKB48 today, and even AKB48 insiders admit, "There are many people who don't know about the AKB48 Group but know about Li Nai... If You lose Rina, everyone's concern for the AKB48 Group may decline, and there are still people internally worried that because of Therahara's graduation, the AKB48 Group will cut off the NHK Red and White Song Contest Record."
At its peak (2014), there were four regiments (headquarters and SKE48, NMB48, HKT48 sister groups) on the NHK "Red and White Song Battle" stage AKB48, but now they have to worry about whether they can go up to "Red and White"... Even die-hard fans have to admit that the current AKB48 is indeed on a downward spiral compared to the golden age of yesteryear. This can be found in the annual event of Japanese music, "Red and White Song Battle". After winning the 2011 and 2012 "Japan Record Awards", AKB48's appearance order in the 2013 "Red and White Song Battle" moved to the second half of the higher ratings, and even some viewers sent messages, "When I was most lost, I could recover when I heard AKB48 songs."
AKB48 on the 2013 Red and White Song Battle
Since then, in the "Red and White Song Battle" for several consecutive years, AKB48 has been the last to appear in a number of female idol groups created by Yasushi Akimoto. Whether it is because of the seniority ranking or the relationship with the highest ratings, this situation has changed in 2018 "Heisei Final Red and White", in the "Akimoto Yasushi" women's group, AKB48 actually took the lead, indeed called "a huge change that has not been seen in many years", so that when NHK announced the program schedule, some people teased, will AKB48 be rushed to the first half next year? Fortunately, AKB48 performed quite competitively, finishing ninth with a rating of 42.4%, overpowering the other two "Akimoto Yasushi" girl groups , although one of the latter has already achieved two consecutive "Japan Record Awards".
AKB48 on the 2018 Red and White Song Battle
Unfortunately, the effect of the "red and white song and battle" of the needle "cardiotonic agent" did not last for several days. As the New Year passed, negative news once again wrapped up in AKB48. The root cause of this problem is still in the "relationship between men and women." As "job-seekers" who sell dreams and love, Japanese female "idols" need to fulfill their work during their tenure, maintain fan-idol relationships, and have the responsibility to maintain loyalty to fans. Therefore, many female idol groups, including AKB48, have a "no love" clause, and members are in love with the same as cheating fans. But even at the peak of AKB48's popularity, such a scandal broke out. For example, in 2013, the love between popular member Feng Annan and Shirahama Yalan in the "Libertine Brothers" group was exposed, and public opinion was in an uproar. The operator immediately announced that fengannan would be demoted to a "graduate student" and excluded from the ranks of full members. In order to gain the understanding of fans, Zhao'anNan took the means of self-harm tendencies and released a video of his shaved head apologizing, which barely got the understanding of fans (but never recovered his past popularity).
Shave your hair to apologize for your sins
The impact of this incident is quite far-reaching, and due to the incessant criticism of "human rights violations" inside and outside Japan, the "love ban" regulations have gradually become literary under pressure. In the 2018 AKB48 "general election" won the second place Suda Yakari recently blunt, although signed this provision, but then basically did not prohibit much, you want to fall in love and no one cares - but love is found by fans to be untrustworthy after all, popularity will inevitably decline.
The problem is that someone doesn't care. Sudo Rinhana announced the explosive news of the imminent marriage on the spot in the 2017 AKB48 general election, which made Asahi Watanabe's announcement of "graduation" and The feat of Irihara achieving the "triple crown" were incomparable. Some people compare this "AKB48's first scandal" to taking off a cartoon hood in Disneyland to break the fairy tale fantasies of tourists, but it is very reasonable.
In the general election announced the marriage of Sudo Rin flower
Mayo Watanabe at the scene was stunned
In 2019, the problems that have exploded seem to be getting worse. On January 8, Masaho Yamaguchi, a member of the Niigata-based AKB48 sister group NGT48, broke the news on Twitter that he was maliciously attacked by two men while returning home. The reason is that non-local members of NGT48 live in the same apartment according to the company's arrangement, but some members always "bring men back". Its nature and severity are self-evident, and Yamaguchi Anderson and others reported it to the operation, but they did not see the handling. Were the two men who attacked Masaki Yamaguchi instructed by the illegal members to "teach" her? Anyway, they said they were not, but claimed that they just wanted to talk to Masahiro Yamaguchi, and as a result, they were released by the police as "attempted attacks". The operation also chose to "cover the lid", hoping to package things as ordinary fan attacks. Even if the news is big and NHK intervenes in the investigation, the truth of the matter is still unclear. Instead, the victim, Masahiro Yamaguchi, was finally forced to "apologize" during the performance, an operation that probably went beyond the scope of "clear thinking". In the whole farce, outsiders are speechless, fans are cold, operations pretend to be dead, only the real murderer snickers behind the scenes...
NHK reports on the Masayuki Yamaguchi incident
What does the endless stream of negative news mean for an "idol group" like AKB48? Hidetomo Tanaka, a Japanese economist who is a fan of the "Good Morning Girls" group, has long been aware of this problem: the Internet has expanded the scope of fans' sharing consultations, and the speed of sharing has also increased dramatically. "AKB48 is a great group", as long as someone writes such a message, it will be seen by many people, and people who see it will be interested in AKB48 and then search on the Internet. As a result, "people are less and less concerned about non-mainstream idols, and only spend on specific idol groups that are more eye-catching, and as a result, (AKB48) is thriving." On the bright side, popularity in the online society is easy to gather, which may explain part of the reason for the rise of AKB48. But on the other hand, "its rise and fall, its demise is also sudden", the rapid spread of negative news on the Internet, the popularity of AKB48 is naturally equally imaginable.
Then again, even without these scandals, the decline in AKB48's popularity would have been hard to avoid. The operating model of AKB48 has no mystery, can be copied, and can be promoted. The difference is only that AKB48 is part of the same family as the "sister group" established across Japan to replicate this model, while the non-48 girl group created by Yasushi Akimoto is a well-known competitor. In the Warring States era of idols, "I never saw new people laughing", and AKB48 could not constantly innovate. In the early years of the rising stage of AKB48, there were frequent whimsical ideas, "general elections", "cabinet formation", "political opinions", "guessing boxing conference", so that fans have maintained a fresh feeling for many years. This is what the current (second) "AKB48 General Supervisor" Yui Yokoyama said, "AKB48 still has some things that only AKB48 can do... The only person who can associate something that at first glance has nothing to do with an idol is AKB48."
However, it is more difficult to keep one's job than to start a business, and the "general election" has been carried out for the tenth term so far, and everything has gradually become step by step and lackluster. Even the music of AKB48 is the same, although Yuki Yokoyama still insists that "our advantage is that there are many popular songs". But whether it is "Flying to Start", or "Love Lucky Cookie" and "365 Day Paper Airplane" are old works from many years ago... Is this also a "big business disease" in the idol world? It's not that no one is aware of this, and Miyazaki Misato, who first entered the "Shin 7 (Top 7)" in the 2015 general election, vowed at the time that she wanted to be the one who "destroyed" AKB48, because she could not move forward without destroying the AKB48 of her predecessors. Unfortunately, "Sakura" ("Sakura" Japanese is homophonous with "Sakura") was weak in heart, and only ranked third in the last general election (2018), and finally had to cross the ocean to participate in the "IZONE" idol group in South Korea.
To destroy AKB's Miyazaki Ryo
Is the sunset of the AKB48 idol dynasty really just around the corner? Hidetomo Tanaka has long said, "Maybe one day, the popularity of AKB48 will decline again, and they will have to return to Akihabara for performances", "but even then, they can still try to survive." What's more, it may not be that day yet. After all, "the blossoming in the wall and the incense outside the wall", AKB48 is in The river in Japan, but the overseas expansion of the territory seems to be smooth. Today, in Jakarta, Indonesia, there is JKT48; in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, there is SGO48; in Manila, Philippines, there is MNL48; in Bangkok, Thailand, there are BNK48; in China, there are two teams (Team SH in Shanghai and Team TP in Taipei); and it is said that MUM48 will be established in Mum48, India. BNK48 became popular throughout Thailand for its cover of "Lucky Cookies for Love", even her majesty the princess (who recently attempted to run for prime minister of Thailand). With this momentum, BNK even took the stage of the Japanese red and white song battle at the end of 2018, performing together with the headquarters AKB48... Perhaps one day, the "foreign 48" will dominate the lord.
AKB48 on a map of Asia
Even within AKB48, there are still people who have not chosen to give up. Xiang Ini, who is about to take over as the third general supervisor, admitted that she "failed to win the record award for two consecutive years", "so we must work harder next!" "I think ... Realize AKB48 to hold a team tour throughout Japan and finally take the stage of the Tokyo Dome! "AKB48 had concerts at the Tokyo Dome in its heyday. Therefore, the "Tokyo Dome" has also become synonymous with "returning to the golden age", not only the "General Supervisor-designate" Who hopes to achieve this goal in 2022 has such an idea, but even the champion who caused a storm in the 2018 general election, Matsui ZhuLina, has vowed to lead AKB48 back to the "Tokyo Dome".
AKB48 in the disaster area performance
Will their wishes come true? Maybe. In any case, in the 13-year history of AKB48, there is a saying that can be called a classic: "Hard work will definitely be rewarded". It was the first "chief supervisor" Takahashi Minami who uttered this sentence. Since 2011, AKB48 has been performing in the "Great Tohoku Earthquake in Japan" every year, although some people disdain it: "Using large trucks to go on a tour, and then making a simple small stage to perform in the disaster area, a large number of middle and primary school students flocked to ... However, it is a designated action in the Japanese art world." But only AKB48 has persevered for eight years, and in 2018 it received a "certificate of thanks" from the Japanese government.
AKB48 with a certificate of appreciation