So, as I am feeling a little melancholy, I think I’ll tackle what I’ve recently decided is a rather melancholy event- the Senbatsu Elections for AKB48. For those got lost and ended up reading this blog out of curiosity, the most absurd creation in all of this absurd existence, AKB48, has an annual election with its sister
groups, SKE48 and NMB48 to determine which members of the group will be featured in the next AKB48 single. As the management of AKB48 determines the line-up for songs and singles in most every other instance, the general results of the final selection are of little surprise. Those featured in other recent singles and programs tend to do the best.While the members of AKB48 likely treat the election process as a friendly competition, management is clearly using the process to make money at the expense of the members and their fans. There were several possible ways to vote in the election process and multiple votes were not prohibited. The only unrestricted access to multiple votes was through purchasing multiple copies of the current AKB48 single (which sold over a million copies in its first week of sales) and using the dual keyed ballots to vote online. I purchased two ballots myself, though reportedly some fans purchased hundreds if not thousands of ballots.
The financial exploitation of the fans in this instance is transparently obvious and as long as one maintains some sensible self restraint, there is little harm in the grand scheme of things in wasting some money on the votes. I personally think my two votes borders on the excessive, but I wanted to vote for two different members, the god Watanabe Mayu and the rock-scissors-paper champion of the universe, Uchida Mayumi. I voted for Watanabe because she is my god and deserves my unwavering faith and dedication. I voted for Uchida because she is something of an underdog and I wanted to participate in perhaps making her feel good. (This is also why I sent my only fan letter, thus far, to her. I figured a letter with stickers from the US&A would mean more to her than the infinitely perfect and generally worshiped Watanabe).
As the election results came out, I watched them appear on the AKB48 message board I belong to and I looked at some of the other fan comments. These comments left me quite disturbed. Several fans had highly negative things to say about those who did better than their preferred candidates. Others clearly carried a great deal of hate in their hearts for members of AKB48, while remaining engaged as fans. I really
don’t care for these expressions of hate and anger. This to me seems to be the antithesis of what is good and decent about AKB48- the group is sweetness, joy, and love, in completely trivialized and commercialized forms- but love, joy, and sweetness nonetheless. While the election only brought this disturbing hate to the surface, I still find I cannot abide the process itself. While I knew Watanabe would do well and I hoped more would recognize her divine perfection, I wanted Uchida to do well so that she would feel more appreciated. The problem here is that the members are pitted against each other and only the top forty results are reported. Last year Watanabe came in fifth with 20,088 votes, she placed fifth this year with 59,118 votes. Last year about 400,000 voted. This year more than 1,166,145 votes were cast. This year’s 40th place, Fujie Reina would have placed first two years ago with the total number of votes she received and about 22nd last year.
The good news should be that each member of AKB48 is receiving more support and love from the peoples of the world, but instead there is tension, stress, disappointment, and the potential for the overlooking of the actual accomplishments and successes of the members of the three groups. Uchida did not place, but likely received many more votes that highly popular members did two years ago. Instead she bravely wrote on her blog, “whatever place I would be in I'm still me[;] It won't change that I'm Uchida Mayumi to be able to enter the Senbatsu[.]”
Though she did admit the next day to having cried over the results of the election and bravely added, “I have to head forwards! Since time won't wait-so being depressed is such a waste!” Uchida turned seventeen at the end of December of last year.While one can admire the strength and determination of this young woman determined to do her best, work hard, and achieve results, as a conscientious fan of AKB48, one has to admit the entire election process is fatally flawed. As noted above, everyone received a great many more votes, and this is the real measure of their success. In the process of seeing the election results I found myself hoping for lesser known members that I like to place in the top forty so they would not have to be strong about losing as Uchida had to. But the difficulty here is that if Uchida placed, or a new favorite of mine in SKE48, Kimoto Kanon, then another member of the groups would not have placed in the top forty and she would be facing the disappointment and stress of the loss. I love all the members of AKB48 and am coming to love all the members of SKE48 and NMB48. None of them should have to suffer the pain of loss that Uchida did. And had my support of Uchida succeeded another member would have suffered that pain.
The reality of the situation is that all the members of the various 48 groups are quite blessed and talented and deserve the love and support of us all. The love, as expressed in total votes, for the members of all the groups has only increased and they should all feel great about that. In the end the election does little except help the capitalists sell more cds and bring pain and mortification to many hard working young women who deserve much better treatment.
I still have to ponder the meaning of this pointless suffering more, but as I write these words I am considering doing what little I can to organize a fan boycott of the election process. Again, if you really love these young women and support them, you can’t let even one of them suffer the pain of not placing at all. My thoughts might be different if we could hear the opinions of the members free from any potential retaliation by their capitalist employers, but until then I think I have to disapprove of the entire election process.
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