[2/19] Berryz 34th single : Otona na no yo! / 1 Oku 3 Senman Sou Diet Oukoku

[sb]

You're omitting the fact that C-ute jettisoned its members who didn't want to be there and that's why they are now so cohesive both as performers and (seemingly) as colleagues. They may not all be equally skilled but nobody's half-assing it on stage, because they all feel invested. Berryz still have their half-assed performers, and what's worse, they're half of the assets in the group. Forget subunit; at least two of 'em need to point blank graduate out of H!P and try their luck in one of the other Up-Front stables. Maybe they'll end up marrying millionaire sports figures. More likely, they'll shack up with some leftover J.P.ROOM performers.

EDIT: I should add that I really don't care about their poor sales. Plus, I think this single is awesome.

I almost feel bad for agreeing with this as much as I do, but honestly, the members in question right now add nothing to the group and would be addition by subtraction. Certainly it sucks that it's gotten to this point but that's the unfortunate truth.

[BerryzCelebration]

It's funny how you guys were all rooting for this single to have good sales, talking about how great the songs are. But the moment their first week didn't end up the way you guys wanted it to, "Nope, someone has to go.".

[Rm88]

I disagree, honestly. Given the right single they all have shown they can do fine. What we see in C-ute that it's not in Berryz is that they're a uniform, homogeneous group and not the sheer asymmetry and all-over-the-place-ness that is Berryz. Because of this I think it's dumb approaching both groups the same way, which is happening quite a lot lately. Yurina owns in Golden Chinatown, Chinami owns in WANT! (and cha cha SING, and Be Genki, and even in this! she looks radiant in Otona IMO). Yes, it'd be nice if they were all on par singing and dancing-wise, and if they all had matching personalities, but the group has never been like that. There's crazy Momo, shy Risako, girly Miyabi, gentle Yurina, goofy Maasa, sharp Captan and genki Chinami in the group, and they kind of suck at not being that That's actually part of why I liked them in the first place.

[BerryzCelebration]

Seriously, Berryz would never be the same if one or two members left. I would get that missing feeling, that you know something is gone. I mean, they had the same line up for about eight-nine years. Honestly, if Yurina doesn't want to leave, she doesn't have to.

I mean think about it: Yurina is one of the most popular members of Berryz. So if she left, she would most likely be bringing most of her fans with her. So then Berryz would drop in sales (But not by much, atleast.).

I like Berryz the way they are, to be honest. Insane Momochi, Energetic Chinami, Badass Diva Miyabi, Sophisticated Yurina, Otaku Maasa, Hopeful Captain and Timid Risako. That is basically the perfect line up, right there.

I mean, sure, there are weak girls. But let's get real: What H!P group doesn't have girls that still need to improve? Nakajima, Uemura, Ikuta, Suzuki Kanon, Nakanishi, Iikubo, Katsuta, Miyazaki, etc. So why is it bad that Berryz have girls that still need improvement? Because they have been here for "ten years"? Even if they have been training for ten years, maybe singing/dancing just isn't their thing?

[iceymoon]

we're talking in terms of why Berryz doesn't seem to be able to get the same boost that the other groups are getting while H!P is starting to gain some traction. i love Berryz and would love them to stay as-is, and of course i would love it even more if they stayed as-is AND started matching ℃-ute in popularity, but right now it's not working for them.

so it's along the same lines as wishing/hoping that they will get crazy awesome music, or be given better choreography/styling/etc. the reason i don't wish for those things *alone* (i do wish for them, but i think everyone does that for every group) is because even if they do that, i don't think it would be enough for them right now. the girls are growing more far apart than ever (in terms of look & strengths) during a time when the other groups are becoming more cohesive. imo the best way to keep the girls around while making them more marketable to a wider audience, is to change the group dynamic. i would rather that be by splitting the group in 2 than by graduations, but i can't say that i don't see the point of the latter.

but this is only because i want for them to be doing better, because THEY want to be doing better. i would still love and follow them even if they got downgraded to an indies group, but they want to become more popular/sell better even more now that they are watching this happen to their sister groups. so i'm speculating as to what might be needed to make that happen. i honestly think they would see more success (and get some free advertising) out of a Sakura/Otome gumi bomb shell announcement. and if not that, then some other drastic change.. but definitely some shaking up needs to happen.

[esm]

It's funny how you guys were all rooting for this single to have good sales, talking about how great the songs are. But the moment their first week didn't end up the way you guys wanted it to, "Nope, someone has to go.".

It would actually be too good to be true if this single were to sell better than the previous one (42k total, a significant jump for them, a group that gets shitty styling and promotion).

This is still going to end up as one of their best singles. I feel bad for them that they're not selling more and more like the other groups, but this single is actually pretty damn good (both songs + their dances + videos) so I doubt it's the girls' fault.

[wotakubrandon]

I like Berryz the way they are, to be honest. Insane Momochi, Energetic Chinami, Badass Diva Miyabi, Sophisticated Yurina, Otaku Maasa, Hopeful Captain and Timid Risako. That is basically the perfect line up, right there.

Almost none of that comes across in what we see of them though Their personalities are probably their biggest asset and when they can show off how funny they can be (asdfghis khan, monkey dance, cha cha sing, etc.) it works really well.

[Menno]

Berryz now is a bit like how Morning Musume was at the end of the Platinum generation just before the 9th generation joined. That was also a long period without too much changes where you could clearly see that slowly the life went out of the group. With Berryz now it's kind of different since the sales have actually been picking up with the recent releases, even this one still sells better then what they did 2~3 years ago. But it's clear that something went missing in the group. With MM being able to reverse this slow downhill process by adding new members, creating a new sound and a adding a gimmick with the formation dances. You can't really change the members of BK, that simply wouldn't work for them. That leaves only a new image or a new gimmick for them to work with. But since BK is now the older group in H!P you see that Up Front really doesn't know how to do this. They are trying, as can be seen with all the "sexy songs" BK the last couple of years. But judging from the reactions here that is not something that is really working. Going all genki agian is also not a guaranteed success, they are older now which makes it more difficult.

What they probably should do now is use the current overall H!P buzz to try some different things. They got the sales to keep going on, why not use it to try to find the right style for them where all the girls can shine. I would like to see them doing another proper ballad like VERY BEAUTY as a single and then some other styles as well. Just give them a bit more diversity right now and lets see how it works out. Maybe it's the diversity of songs that they used to have which is missing right now, make it a bit more unpredictable. Don't look too much at the sales, just let them for a bit.

[Celedam]

Some of them obviously don't want to be there anymore; they've been doing it since they were children, and they've outgrown it. But they can't leave because they either feel obligated or have nothing else to do.

You can't fix that.

[Menno]

It's not like Up Front is known to be difficult when it comes to letting people go. It would also not be the 1st time that one of the girls is offered another job inside the company. And seriously doubt that they would not have enough job opportunities outside of the business. It would also not be too much of a problem to find a providing husband if they don't want to work anymore.

If they really want to leave they would have left already, I don't think that's really an issue right now.