[3/13] Berryz Kobo 31st single : Asian Celebration

[Starra]

If we're talking about singing, the only ones who can somewhat sing are Miyabi, Risako and Momoko. But Momoko's voice is annoying to some.

And hey, Berryz still sell more than 90% of other idol groups out there so I don't know why y'all are complaining.

[resop2]

^
^
Maasa gets 1-2 lines per song. That's not enough to ruin ANY idol song. Let's face it, it's a badge of honor for an idol group to have a crappy singer.

Yurina doesn't have a horrible singing voice. And, since she's the #4 singer in the group, if she was horrible her singing would ruin EVERY Berryz song.

Socko is all that no matter what her dress size is.

They have tried to leverage Momoko's popularity with Yurina. Only time will tell if that will succeed.

Maimi being a TV/Stage/Movie star doesn't hurt either.

Other than that, I agree with your post.

Also
^
Berryz have also outlasted 99% of all non-generational idol groups, so you would think at some point they would have gained some traction in sales.

[AyuHikaru]

I don't mean to say Captain is a scapegoat, but the way Miya (And then Risako) were talking, Berryz is very "meehhh" mellow. Chisato was saying that Maimi's leadership is there and underhanded (Apologizing first to make them apologize for doing something wrong) and we all know that Sayu is pushing Morning Musume to be better. Someone needs to step up in Berryz and light a fire under their ass.

I did like Tsunku's idea about rotating Captain's now that they're all adults.

[321BreakinOut]

I did like Tsunku's idea about rotating Captain's now that they're all adults.

What . Did i miss something

[Denki]

WHEN THE HELL CAPTAIN WAS LEADER OF BERRYZ.

I hate those who a backlashing Captain for not being a good leader when she was not a leader to begin with. If anything, being "Captain" of Berryz is just a title - nothing else. Leaders do more, even if they do nothing at all, they still do more.

Maybe that is one reason why Berryz is like it is. There is no leader, thus no one to look up to, everyone acts wild uncontrollably. Ju=Ju still yet to have a leader or a captain...

[Starra]

J=J is still really new and they haven't even debuted yet though.

And isn't captain basically the same thing as leader? She's kinda treated the same. She just has a different title.

EDIT: From Saki's Wikipedia page:

公式にも他のユニットのリーダーと同列に扱われることがあるが、リーダーではないと明言されている

I think this says that she's not technically a leader, but she does perform the duties of a leader.

[Sohee]

And isn't captain basically the same thing as leader? She's kinda treated the same. She just has a different title.

It is. The members talk about her as such, fans talks about it that way, Tsunku and Management talks about her that way as well. Why the hell they decided on Captain I don't know, but she's the leader of the group no matter what her title is.

[randompasserby]

@321breakin out : Tsunclub. It's subbed, go watch it

I've always thought from the beginning that the captain - leader distinction was just to make berryz stands out from other idol groups standard "leader" system although it's functionally the same. It seemed to worked out pretty nicely too back when they were going around music shows early in their career, the captain vs leader topic is always brought up..kinda like s/mileage and their "idol group with the shortest skirt" shtick. It seemed to have cooled down a lot though in berryz's case since everyone knows it's pretty much the same thing by now

[Sohee]

They're not the only group with Captains either. Arashi did it in 1999 already.
Doesn't make it any different from Leader though.

[Rm88]

It really is about the songs, guys. You can't watch the cha cha SING PV and say they're lacking in energy. I know we're all currently in love with Momusu (and C-ute, I guess), but they're quite rough live too and don't get nearly as much heat for that. The girls can butcher the high lines in Help Me!! and it's okay, but Maasa is out of tune and this is somehow why Berryz is stuck in 30k land. Opinions may vary but Berryz were considered to be very strong during the Inazuma days - it wasn't coincidence that they were getting strong songs left and right. Morning Musume is coincidentally getting nothing but great songs lately, I really don't think their image would be as positive if they were releasing nothing but Pyokos (and I love Pyoko, but that's hardly a "killer app" song).

And really, it is normal that some groups end up being more popular than others, and 30k territory is not bad by Berryz standards at any point. If anything it's kind of amazing how they've been like this for so long. I just wish UFA/Tsunku would stop being so experimental with Berryz, it's very clear they're following a particular style for Morning Musume since it worked and it'd be dumb to drop it right now. Berryz should build a strong momentum with stuff like Otakebi and cha cha SING, not only crazy wild Berryz is successful but they're good at it.