Change is Good Part 4: AKB48

Long time no see, blog world!  Recently, with university and a few personal events I haven’t been blogging, but I still feel like I need a medium to get what I want to be said out there.  While I have forums and personal friends to tell about it, I think blogging is the easiest and most expressive way to get things out there, and I’ve recently found myself in an idol slump.

Don’t get me wrong; I really really love idols.  They are an endless source of entertainment for me and as I get better and better at Japanese I see myself watching things over again and finding them even more entertaining on the fourth or fifth watch.

While the world of idols might seem like the land of milk and honey, especially for fans of AKB48 and it’s sister groups like myself, I’ve actually found that as their popularity has gone up, I find myself more and more bored by their news and new releases.  I want some variety, and AKB just doesn’t seem to have that nowadays.  So, without further ado, here’s my first batch of opinion cookies for how I would fix AKB.

Change is Good Pt 3: S/mileage and Soloists

I have already discussed what I would do if I was given control of Hello! Project, with changes to Morning Musume and the lineup of the Hello! Project Kids groups.  I mentioned giving Suzuki Airi and Natsuyaki Miyabi solo careers, along with already established soloist Mano Erina, but I never gave them any real direction.  What style music would they release on their own?  And what of S/mileage, Hello! Project’s newest unit consisting of four of the most popular of the long neglected H!P Eggs.  Here’s how I would handle them:

Change is Good Pt 2: H!P Kids

My overhaul of Hello! Project is not done with Morning Musume.  Who can forget our lovely H!P Kids?  They’ve been around about as long as the 5th generation members of Morning Musume (which is really hard to believe ._.) and they’ve been performing at concerts and in groups for almost as long.  While their groups seemed to be stable for a long time, especially after Maiha and Megumi graduated/withdrew, the rapid change in the lineup of C-ute has revealed some problems with both groups, and they need to be fixed.

Here’s what’s up:

Change is good pt 1: Morning Musume

In November 2008, I did a “Here’s how I would change H!P!!!!!” post in extremely hopeful speculation for what direction Hello! Project would take after the dead weight Elder Club was dropped from H!P graduated.  Back then, I was not 100% educated in the world of Idols (and I’m still not, but I know and understand a lot more now than I did a year and a half ago.)

So how would I change Hello! Project?