Ponytail to Shushu and Heavy Rotation

This post is a continuation of the AKB48 Discography post (here's the first post: http://filipinoakbfan.blogspot.com/2010/01/akb48-discography-actually-just-list-of.html)


18. Ponytail to Shushu
( ポニーテールとシュシュ)

Ponytail to Shushu continues the successful streak of AKB by being their first single to sell over half a million copies within the first week of its release, of course ranking #1 again in the Oricon charts. "Ponytail and Scrunchie" is an upbeat love song, whose PV was shot in Guam, where only for the second time in AKB's career, the Senbatsus don bathing suits. 


The second track, Nusumareta Kuchibiru ("Stolen Kiss") features another batch of AKB Undergirls, and is a slower-paced love song.


Continuing what they started in Sakura no Shiori, both versions again contained different third tracks.


Version A of the single contained Boku no Yell ("My Yell" or "My Cheer"), another of AKB's encouraging songs, this time containing AKB Theater Girls. The PV is soccer-themed, and prominently centers Haruka Nakagawa for the first time in her career. Fittingly so since Harugon is one of AKB's sportier girls in real life. This track is my favorite in this single and its PV is one of favorites from AKB.


Version B contained the track Majijo Teppen Blues, featuring the cast of AKB's finished TV drama, Majisuka Gakuen. The song is a rock riff containing quotes from the show, and the PV contains scenes fans would have wanted to see in the series.


The single contained off-vocal versions of its tracks, and was released May 26, 2010. It also had the biggest first week sales for a female artist since Utada Hikaru's "Can You Keep a Secret", released in 2001.

Ponytail to Shushu

The PV contains a sexy-comedic opening featuring a funny, pervy dog, as some fans like to refer to him.

I believe this is the first time they adapted a move from a PV to alter dance steps.

 Although they didn't totally eliminate this step (bursting star effect thingamajig)...

...they replaced most of it with this one (conductor hand thingamajig). You'll notice that they never do this step during the dance shots on the PV, and if I am not mistaken, they don't perform this step in their earliest performances of the song, only later, such as with AKBingo! If what I observed is correct, it was a good alteration, proving AKB can make modifications midway when necessary.

Nusumareta Kuchibiru

The PV contains a lot of beautiful shots

The lyrics contain a description of the feelings of the girl after a stolen kiss from a guy she likes, and the PV contains depictions of this scene where the girl is talking, then the camera focuses on the girl's lips, signifying the guy going in for the kiss, and the girls' cute reactions after the kiss.

Boku no Yell

 

 

Majijo Teppen Blues

 

 

19. Heavy Rotation

(ヘビーローテーション)

Ranking #1 again within the Oricon charts, Heavy Rotation is the second single for AKB to sell over half a million copies within the first week of its release, aligning AKB48 with no less than Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru as the first three female artists to sell over half a million copies within the first week of its release for two consecutive singles.

For the second time after Iwake Maybe, the Senbatsus for Heavy Rotation were chosen via fan votes, and for the first time in her career, Yuko Oshima centers an AKB single as a result of the votes.

Heavy Rotation is a fun, upbeat love song, where the title "Heavy Rotation" is descriptive of an old vinyl record playing nonstop. 

The PV is maligned by some eventhough it is the first PV showing some of the members in lingerie, although the clothes themselves are no more revealing than swimsuits many entertainers wear. Many misinformedly claim that in this PV, underage girls should not be appearing in lingerie, where in fact, within the lingerie scenes, only the top ten Senbatsus were in lingerie, and among them, only Mayu Watanabe was underage, at 16, and what Mayuyu was wearing wasn't even lingerie, as I liken it to something a ballerina would wear. The lingerie scene was only one of three kinds of scenes in the PV, the other one being the one with the dance routines in the Heavy Rotation outfits with the mic stands, and the third being the one with cat suits, which I found had the funniest, most adorable scenes, eventhough the lingerie scenes had plenty of cute and funny scenes also. The kiss scenes were also by close friends, not much different as when two close female friends would kiss, although I could understand why the typical person would still find this hot. 

The fact that Ponytail to Shushu and Heavy Rotation hit #1 has also been used to malign AKB and its fans, saying this is how they became #1 (by wearing swimsuits and lingerie) when in fact, it was River that hit #1 first and Sakura no Shiori that hit #1 second, where they wore fullbody camouflage suits and fullbody kimonos respectively, and neither of which were love songs.

The second track is performed by AKB Undergirls, this time the girls who ranked #22 to #39 in the 2nd Senbatsu elections, centered by #22 Aika Oota. Namida no Seesaw Game (Seesaw of Tears Game) is a love song that is a throwback to hip music from a few decades ago, something also featured prominently in its funny and enjoyable PV. This is my favorite track of this single and has one of my favorite PV's in AKB.

Again, two versions of the single contained different third tracks, both of which were used for advertisements.

Version A contained Yasai Sisters (Vegetable Sisters), a theme song for a vegetable juice drink, and is one of the cutest children's song AKB has had since Honehone Waltz and Akkanbe Bashi, accompanied with a cute, kiddie PV where the girls dress up in various veggies.

Version B contained Lucky Seven, a theme song for a retail chain store, another of AKB's encouraging songs, where this time the girls dress up as pirates.

The singles contained off-vocal versions of its tracks and was released August 18, 2010.

Heavy Rotation

 

 

Namida no Seesaw Game

 

 

Yasai Sisters

 

 

Lucky Seven

 

 

In the Age of Piracy, Why Fans Still Buy Official Merchandise

Some people think that most people buy singles and albums because people like the songs in that single or album. Then again, if you just wanted the songs, you could easily download those essentially for free on the net. So there is some flaw in that concept. Why is it that in this day and age where it’s so much easier to download pirated material off the net that AKB48 can still sell half a million copies of their singles?

It’s no news that these days, much of what artists release can be downloaded off the net essentially for free, from MP3 to videos, to scans, software and games. If we can download everything, why buy?

Fans have different reasons why they buy official or licensed merchandise. Some like the thought of true ownership of a copy of that song. Some like the idea of owning an impressive collection. Some want something tangible they can touch and see in person. But I just wanted to focus on one reason.

We can easily presume that every one of us own some pirated material. (I mean, if you have the means to read this, then what are the odds that you don’t.) I’m not here to bash on that. There are a lot of sites available where you can download AKB48 material, for example. Is AKB48 Management not aware of these sites, which is why these sites are still around? I hardly believe that. It wouldn’t be that hard for AKB Management to find these sites. But what would happen if these sites didn’t exist? Then it would be very hard for their fandom to spread. If it weren’t for pirated material, I most likely wouldn’t have had any material to win me over and become an AKB fan. And from using pirated material, I now also purchase official AKB merchandise. AKB needs these piracy avenues to let themselves be known to more people, and hopefully, these people will become buyers of their stuff. AKB didn’t get popular in an instant, it took months and years of material to sell from 20,000 copies per single to half a million a single, and it cannot be denied that these piracy avenues help spread the appeal of AKB. (If you’ll notice though, some of these avenues, like forums, have threads where members can show off the stuff they buy, to show anyone, including AKB Management, that hey, we’re doing a good thing here, we’re buying your stuff, and we’re encouraging people to buy your stuff, not just download everything for free.)

Now, if you can download everything, why buy? If every one of us just downloaded everything, the artists wouldn’t get money from what they do. What they do is many things, but let’s not forget it’s also work, and for many artists, if they don’t have money coming their way, some of them may have to get other jobs! More importantly though, material don’t get published on their own, if nobody buys AKB products because everyone is just downloading them, AKB’s record label will no longer produce and distribute their material. Meaning if no one buys their stuff, there eventually will be no more new stuff to come. So some of us need to buy their stuff if we continuously want more stuff. Someone has to buy their songs if we want more songs, some of us will have to buy their DVD’s if we want more videos, some of us will have to buy their mooks if we want more mooks, etc.

I actually have a theory that when AKB’s first major record label, Defstar, dropped them (I guess around 20,000 copies sold per single wasn’t great enough for a big record company like Defstar, so they felt that it was ok to drop artists they felt wasn’t going to go anywhere), AKB’s fans may have panicked. They may have thought, “oh no, this could be the end of AKB! We better start buying their stuff or else AKB will disappear.” So when AKB was picked up by their second label, King Records, sales became more than double on their first single at King Records (Oogoe Diamond) and after that (10nen Zakura), 100,000 copies became a minimum, with sales steadily increasing up to half a million copies sold each by the last two singles at the time of this writing (Ponytail to Shushu and Heavy Rotation).

Going back to my opening paragraph, some people think all fans buy AKB singles because the songs are good, knowing full well they could download them for free. Why do we buy? To support the artists. To give money to them in an acceptable way. It is specifically instructed that AKB members cannot accept monetarial gifts from fans. Can you imagine the conversation? “Hey, I love your work, here’s thousands of dollars cash for you.” “Uh, why?” “Because I love you! Isn’t money one reason why you’re working? Here’s cash right here!” “Uh, what do you expect from it?” “Nothing at all!” “Uh, yeah, I think I’ll pass.” Besides, if the girls get money directly, it means their agencies and publishing labels aren’t getting a portion of it, which means more money for the girls, but also means the girls won’t have any more published material for us 'cause the publishing companies et al. aren’t getting any money from publishing it. And would the girls prefer that? I really doubt the girls are just doing this for the money. OK, I’m also just fanboing now. Well, there are things like popularity, fame, living your dream, etc.

It’s not just about the money, the number of items sold also matters. From Oricon to Billboard charts to whathaveyou, copies sold is a very important indicator to the industry; it’s a tangible measure of success and popularity which can be used as barometer for further exposure activities (like being invited again to Kouhaku). Thus, fans want their beloved artists to be #1 for the whole world to see, and since the artists would be happy for such achievements, their fans do what they can to bring some happiness back to the artists that brought them such happiness. I, for one, was happy that when AKB hit #1 for the first time in their career with River, that I was one of thousands who helped them do it, by being one of those who bought the single. I’m happy that coincidentally, I have preordered all the singles they have released that have hit #1 up to the time of this writing, including those by AKB subunits. Yes, preordered, meaning I am one of those thousands listed under first day sales. Yes, first day sales, meaning the very first day the single was released. Meaning I even preorder the singles without knowing a single thing about the single. I don’t know what the songs will be are. I don’t know who the Senbatsus will be. I don’t know what the cover looks like. I don’t even know what the title is, as AKB frequently doesn’t announce the title on the first day the single is announced these days. I buy it because I support the artists and I am basically telling them, produce more stuff, and I will buy them. Now, AKB isn’t the first one I’ve done this for. Without talking about local or English artists, I used to buy Utada Hikaru albums without knowing anything about the album. I just wanted to tell the publishers, if you make more available, someone will buy them, specifically me, so produce more. Of course, I only do this if I really like the artist, or much of the material the artists come up with, so one-hit-wonders are out of the question. But with what I do, what happens if the artists start releasing stuff I really don’t like, even though I already preordered them? If it’s to the point that I lose my interest, then I stop buying their stuff in the future. So it can also be said that the current releases dictate future sales.

I mentioned in another post that I was disappointed to learn that my second favorite AKB song, Iiwake Maybe sold less than its predecessor, Namida Surprise; I thought people didn’t like it. But when it was voted as the #1 song in the Best 100 2010, I started to think, maybe it’s because Namida Surprise didn’t have a great reception. River’s sales was around double that of its predecessor, Iiwake Maybe, does it mean people like River more? As I said, it was Iiwake Maybe that ranked #1 in the Best 100 2010, River was #5. Also, former releases like fanfavorites Bingo! and Boku no Taiyou sold about a measly five percent of the sales of either Ponytail to Shushu or Heavy Rotation, does it mean Ponytail to Shushu and Heavy Rotation are twenty times better than Bingo! or Boku no Taiyou? I really doubt that, but I guess we’ll have to wait for the Best 100 2011 to find out. But few can deny, past and current releases dictate sales of future releases. It’s not just about how good the current release is, it’s how good the previous releases were that can affect current releases sales a lot. “Hey, AKB is good, they have another single coming up? I think I’ll buy that.” Not a whole lot of, “hey I like that old AKB song, I wonder where I can still buy that old single.” Well, not unless you’re a collector, that is.

Of course, I encourage fans to purchase official and licensed goods, as I do so as well, but I’m not bashing on pirated material or those of us who are very dependent on piracy (which is in all probability all of us). Unless the price of licensed material drop to a few cents per item, I really don’t think a hardcore fan, unless he’s a bazillionaire, can afford to buy all releases of his favorite artist. We will download stuff, because we can’t afford to keep our fandom solely on buying stuff. And pirated material can eventually encourage us to purchase at least the licensed material we can afford to buy. I certainly won’t encourage someone not to eat just so he can buy more AKB stuff. But in Business, we have the term “disposable income,” a part of a person’s income that the person would, under typical conditions, spend on non-essential items. If the question now became, do you buy cigarettes and booze, do you spend all your money on a bar or some vice that won’t be great for you, or do you spend the money on AKB instead, then I would encourage you to save your money and support the artists that bring you so much of whatever you enjoy and get from them. If you don’t have a lot of money to buy AKB stuff now because you don’t have disposable income now, like say, you’re a typical student, then that’s fine. Once the time comes that you do have disposable income, your heart will have to decide as to where it goes. And if AKB has made such a great impact on you, then by all means, send some of your money their way by buying their stuff, so they can produce more great stuff for us fans and future fans.

My AKB48 Merchandise

Here's some AKB merchandise I own! These are, of course, licensed / official merchandise. Click to enlarge!

I'll start off with Theater pics, BLT's, Gachas and, well, pictures! (My albums are arranged by old teams.)

Mayuyu <3

Yukirin!

Nacchan!

CinDy!

Sasshi!

Moeno!

Harugon!

Team B!

Mikipomu!

Matsuyuki!

B! B! B!

Watarirouka Hashiritai Cards

On to Team A:

Tomochin!

Nyannyan!

Takamina! Reinyan!

Reinyan!

Akicha! Amina!

Acchan!

Acchan! Mii!

Team A!

Mariya! Wasamin!

Thunderous Team K Time!

Sayaka!

Erepyon!

Nacchi!

Yuko!

Tomo~mi! Team K!

Shimazaki!

Costume cards and trading cards (Upper right is non-AKB: Idoling!!!'s leader Endo Mai, but since she has appeared on AKBingo!, January 8 and Junuary 15, 2009 episode, and since Idoling!!! is close to AKB's heart, she's cool with me)

SKE48!

Jurina!

Jurina! Kumi!

Anna! Shinkai!

Yuimin! Rena! Haruka! Oya!

Wimbledon! Tsukina!

SKE!

Unless you're willing to throw wads of cash at me or make me an offer only an idiot would refuse, the above pics are not for sale! The pics below are, because some are duplicates. I hesitate to part with my precious silver Mayuyu pic, even if it is a duplicate, so I would only sell that if the amount is too good to pass up.

Tanamin, Korisu, Eiko Maeda, Shimazaki, Nakanishi

Gussan, Narita, former Kenkyuuseis

Naruse, Naruppe

Naruppe, Matsuyuki

Matsuyuki

Naruse

All the singles released after my fandom started (which is sometime after the release of Iiwake Maybe). I preordered all the singles they have that have hit #1 up to the time of this posting. The first single I preordered was their first #1 single, River. Maybe I'm their lucky charm huh. Also included are both the albums they have released.

Unopened Theater versions (originally sold exclusively at AKB's Akihabara theater) of all the singles released since my fandom started, including Iiwake Maybe, and Kamikyoku Tachi. (Still buying Heavy Rotation though.)

Watarirouka Hashiritai's singles, all preordered, starting with the first single that hit #1 for them, Akkanbe Bashi. Again, it's interesting that the first Warota single I preordered is their first to hit #1. Also included is Watarirouka's first PB, Akkanbe.

Watarirouka Hashiritai's first album, "Rouka wa Hashiruna!", and their first image DVD (added Nov. 2010)

Mayuyu merchandise. Still to arrive are her official solo trading cards. My Kokoro no Hane below is also the Mayuyu version, of course.

Mayuyu's first solo calendar (added Nov. 2010)

CinDy's first solo calendar (added Nov. 2010)

More singles. One reason I love the Michiru Hoshino CD is because the girls wrote the songs in it.

The early AKB48 Welcome books from their first two stages.

Complete four-piece set of the original AKB Visual Books of 2008.

Complete three-piece set of the second version of the AKB Visual Books of 2010

More mooks! AKB48 Jump & Cry, one of the oldest AKB PB's, shown on AKBingo!, the first SKE48 Complete Book, and the first AKBingo! Official Book. All of them are actually pretty good!

More merchandise, including an Amina Sato Team B shirt.

3D Cards and Viewer!

Unopened posters that came with my singles. I will either sell these or post them when I move somewhere permanent. You know, because I'm moving to Japan just because of AKB. (In my dreams!)