Seriously this is too much.... How many frickin units are there already. Look at what happened to Day 4 of the Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2011. Half the songs which ranked were from the subgroups. And more units would mean that the girls would have less time for AKB, which is one of the major problems the group is facing. Just look at the AKB Theater schedule. Everything now is mostly Kenkyuusei or SDN. Anyways rant over, let's get to business.
Following Akimoto Sayaka's successful run at the Tokyo Marathon, with her finish broadcasted on nationwide TV, her agency Office48 decided to use this hype and created a new unit called [DiVA]. DiVA is not to be confused with DIVA, the fictional group in the B-sides of AKB48's previous Singles Beginner and Sakura no Ki ni Narou. To differentiate this, the second letter "i" is small. DiVA is made up of Akimoto Sayaka, Miyazawa Sae, Umeda Ayaka and Masuda Yuka, all of them under the Office48 agency. The group will release their debut Single this spring, 27 April 2011, under AVEX .
Official website: http://avexnet.or.jp/diva/
DiVA's debut Single, currently still untitled, will have a total of 7 versions; TYPE A, B and C limited, TYPE A, B and C regular, and a final Theater version. The contents are unknown except for the 2nd track in the TYPE C, which is DiVA's version of Blue Rose from AKB48 Team K 2nd Stage [Seishun Girls].
The release date for the Single, 27 April 2011, is the same as Itano Tomomi's 2nd solo Single, also currently still untitled. WTF are you thinking AVEX!? Tomochin is totally gonna trash this Single. The 1st week sales of her debut solo Single Dear J was 162,871 and the total sales already passed 200,000.
DiVA has been called a "Dance &Vocal Unit from AKB48". Not to say that the other subgroups don't sing and dance, but I think this group will have more hardcore dances. The only other example of a "Dance & Vocal" group I can think of is the popular pop dance group (that's what Wikipedia says) EXILE. Arashi could fit in there for some of their songs too I guess.
Although this is an Office48 subgroup, the 5th and last member under Office48, Kobayashi Kana (Oku Manami does not count since she will be graduating), will not be included in. There has been some speculation of why she wasn't included but most likely it is because she doesn't fit the DiVA image. Speaking from experience, her singing and dancing is below average, compared to the other four who are known in AKB48 for their singing and dancing skills. If DiVA really is going to be a EXILE like subgroup, Kana would be out of place.
Tbh i think either tomochin or Diva will more the release date.
ReplyDeleteBut as for tomo killing DiVA in sales.... hm maybe.
More girls will bring in more fans and if the DiVA song is good then i don't see why it couldn't beat Tomo.
I think it will be a battle of the songs and promotions (If office48 can get DiVA the good shows then i think they will do well.)
While it is true that more girls will bring in more fans, 3 of the 4 girls of DiVA aren't that popular. And compared to Tomochin, they barely register a blip. Only Sae possesses a threat to Tomochin.
ReplyDeleteIf it's a battle of promotion, Tomochin had massive promotion for Dear J. Massive posters promoting the single were hung all over Shibuya. It will take a lot for DiVA to fight back.
But part of what made dear J a hit was that is was a good song with good promtion.
ReplyDeleteAnd since i see no reason why DiVA wouldn't get good promotion then i think it is resonable to think that:
1 mid front girl + 1 back row Senbatsu + 2 Undergirls > 1 High front girl.
Thats if we are talking about popularity alone. Also avex isn't a small label and that makes up for office48's smallness.
You know. About promotion. Seriously, Tomochin had the whole Shibuya behind her. Tomochin is a model so she has a huge following. Dear J's fanbase was mostly females.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you want to talk about popularity, look at no3b's ANSWER 1st day sales. 41k. And how much were Dear J's? 80k. That's double. And thats #6, #7 and #14 versus #4 in the last senbatsu election. Vote count is 43k versus 20k.
See something now?
Haddn't thought of it like that, lol!
ReplyDeleteBut yeah i still think, with a good song and a good buzz (which they have right now with sayaka being in the news) they could do it, but you are right on one thing. Tomochin did do really well with dear j but if she can pull that off again is another matter.
I will consied tomo has the advantage, for now!
But like i said before I think either tomo or Diva will move their release date. Or at least i hope they do because i love both tomo and saeyaka.
Love the blog!