In Defense Of AKB48
Yes, I, the insane H!P wota will be defending AKB48′s latest effort “Heavy Rotation”, most specifically it’s oh so ~scandalous~ PV and all the hate that it’s been reviving.
First, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, watch the PV. And if you already have, then watch it again so it’s fresh on your mind~
Well the first thing that everyone notices is the revealing clothing the girls wear. I admit, it is revealing and when teaming it up with pillow fights and them laying around in a huge bed, fooling around and what not, it does prove to be HUGE(the biggest I’ve ever seen) fan service. What’s so wrong with that? Their simply making the release even more attractive for their main audience, even if it might draw away their female fans(who might not be COMPLETELY against it since the song and some parts of the PV are pretty ~kawaii~).
“BUT OMG HOW OLD ARE THEY?! THEIR LIKE 15!!!!”
WRONG. If you did your research, out of the 21 members chosen to be in the single, only 6 of them are under 18(with the youngest being the bb from SKE48, Matsui Jurina at only 13!).
DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE SOME MEMBERS UNDER 18, AKB48 ARE YOUNG WOMEN NOW AND NO LONGER GIRLS.
Now since none of the girls are doing anything too wrong, I think all the hate to the PV comes from what we think the male Japanese wota is thinking. “OMG Jurina in a bath tup FAP FAP FAP”.
Is that the real case? Possibly, possibly not. While I do agree that the Jurina bathtub scene IS pushing it a bit too far, I found the scene irrelevant and useless since they do nothing in the tub(and I wouldn’t want them to). We see there that it was pure fan service.
Members under 18
Now about the kissing. Girls kissing in Japan is no biggie and that element is just more fan service(to both genders of fan I would say, since it is cute~).
Now imagine if the song were different. Let’s say it were something sexy and synthy. That would TOTALLY change the view on the PV since as it is now, it seems like something cute with some ~interesting~ scenes. I must congratulate the PV however as it’s accomplished everything a music video is supposed to do; be attractive to the viewer(it’s pretty and colorful as heck) and to spread word about the release, which is what everyone is talking about these days.
Although I prefer any H!P group to AKB48, I must admit that they brought something new to the idol scene and I quite honestly wouldn’t mind seeing Morning Musume do something similar. I mean, if it brings in more sales(which ANY H!P artist needs right now) and is different from their usual stuff(if I get another pop-synth song with a boring PV, I’m going to explode), I’ll be waiting for it with open arms.
Congrats AKB48 for causing a scandal~♡
Oh and I have a new favorite AKB48 member to add to my list by the name of Oshima Yuko~
Agreed. Actually, I was laughing at how over-the-top it was, instead of focusing on the sexual aspect.
Glad to see I’m not the only one!
I don’t see what the big freaking deal is, especially if, like you said, you do your research. That and I guarantee if it were a bunch of boys doing similar things (read: young masculine semi-sexual silliness) no one would be whining about it.
It’s fun, sweet, and uber-pink fan service and nothing more. And ditto with Mara, if it were boys and fan service, no one’s gonna complain so why the double standard.
It was disgusting and disgraceful. And I was actually planning on getting into AKB48 until I saw that PV. Screw them, Morning Musume rules. I still want to know how they became Japan’s top girl group of the moment with a song like this. ¬_¬
The bathroom scene was stupid. I’m afraid I agree but then again, I still dislike them pretty much.
I agree with NyNy. I feel like this PV suggested a lot of sexual innuendo. Yeah there was cutesy music, but that kind of lends itself to a “fettish” kind of atmosphere IMO. Also, all the lingerie clearly implies much more than a bunch of girls just hanging around. This isn’t AKB48′s scandal… in fact, I think that’s the kind of stuff they thrive on to survive. Yeah, there are more scandalous PVs out there (Koda Kumi, ahem?), but the fact that the group is associating all of the sexual innuendo with girls that are so young can get into some dark territory.
Okay, end rant. =]
I can deal with the kissing, but the kitty outfits sealed the whole fetish deal for me, and that bathtub scene was entirely inappropriate. It’s actually scarier that this kind of stuff is incorporated into cute music rather than “sexy” music. Gawd, I sound like an old lady.
I enjoy reading many opinions, especially those different from mine, and I see many points that we could agree on. Still, I think they went too far. The way AKB48 incorporate sexy in cute is over the top. It’s not even subtle. The same with wearing bikini. I know that in Japan those things are awwwrite (look: Alo Hello series) but AKB48 took it to a whole new level of underage sleaziness.
^Underage??? Would you get your facts right? Only Jurina and Mayu are underage (13 and 16) the rest of the girls are well over the legal age of 18.
^Two things: 1. I meant those two girls. 2. AKB48 aren’t promoted as mature women. They are promoted as high school students, innocent, wearing seifukus whenever possible and BAM go bikini all over the place. But than again sweet and innocent and BAM Heavy Rotation. For me it is disturbing. A part of Japanese culture? The ideal image of an innocent woman? Fine, unless this woman looks 13 on most of her photos and is put in a sleazy PV.
And the last thing. This is my opinion so please accept it as such
AKB-48
Just another Japanese system set up to objectify Japanese girls and suck money out of horny nerds. It’s disgusting.