carrying over the talk about Idoling dance choreography from the episode discussion thread, since this is the proper thread.
I do agree that most of their choreography are really simple and mundane and that's usually the first thing people would realize whenever i introduce idoling to them. The first Idoling!!! PV I watched was Kokuhaku and then I found the Heyx3 vid Onegai Fansubbing did on Moteki no Uta and how Downtown said its too easy even they can dance to it, it really staple down to your head that they are really simple. But I guess, its because of that also the girls are more open to just have fun on stage during encore or certain special events. Though what drew me to the group is the show but it was when I watched the 5th live, that was when I was totally hooked on the group. I've never in my life seen an idol group just out there on stage having so much fun with each other. At that particular time, AKB was on the rise and H!P was slowing down a bit and both group are just pretty strict on their performance.
At that particular time, I felt that H!P was really going all out with all sort of dance (I think I recalled C-ute's Namida no Iro just released at that time when I started with Idoling) and AKB just started to go aggresively on the promotions and then here an Idol group that didn't really focus on their dance and actually on various events seen just having fun. 5th Live, 6th Live, Ooiso long beach live, hachitama lives and it seems to me that they were really having fun up there and that is I thought that is a pretty rare scene to see. Its amusing to see and I look forward to such scene all the time that they have a live. The last one I saw was the Yarakai Heart in TIF and that was a blast.
If they are really crazy on the dance routine I don't think that they'd be doing these stuff because, well after working so hard perfecting it of course they'd want to show the end result to the fans. So I'm glad that Idoling!!! has simple routine, it doesn't really bind them to the dances too much.
notice the so many "I", lol this is all just my take on idoling!!! dance. I like it this way.
Finding the dance element lacking is a valid point but I don't agree that the dance element has been neglected or that dancing element is the biggest reason for Idoling's lack of success in the mainstream.
Ever since Ruka joined the group and finding out that she has background in dancing, the staff has started to put in dance segments in numbering lives, so the dance element in reality has gotten more prominent. I also suspect that the reason why the choreography for the songs themselves remain plain is due to the fact that Idoling sing live, whereas groups like AKB and MCZ don't so such groups can fully concentrate on doing more extravagant choreography even while performing the songs. Yes HP groups can sing live and do more complex dance routine at the same time, but Idoling simply does not have the same level of dance ability as well as technique to execute a higher level of choreography overnight, they just don't have the fundamentals, and will not look so good in trying to do a more complex choreography.
While it's not wrong to think that improving the dance aspect yielding to more appeal of the group, however people need to realize and see things in a more objective manner, Ruka is a decent dancer, but she's not the greatest either, in terms of dancing Ruka is just average when put up against the best out there, so marginally improving the dance skill for the rest of the group will mostly go unnoticed. Instead of trying to improve an aspect that is not that great to begin with, Idoling should focus on the aspect that is already very high level and expand on it, which is the singing talent of the 1st gen trio. Unfortunately, the management simply doesn't get this and is keep going the wrong way by making the songs less challenging to sing, and focusing on only showcasing the youth members and force-feeding the "cute and young" image rather than "mature and graceful" side of Idoling.
Idoling is light-years behind in terms of dancing skill to the likes of Morning Musume, Fairies, and E-girls, instead of trying to improve only to be behind still, they have to make the most of what they are best at, and as far as the live stage is concerned, it's their SINGING talent.
That's the problem with Idoling!!!, they don't really have an end goal which is clearly mentioned. MCZ has been harping about wanting to appear on Kouhaku, this year they got it. TGS aims for being big even until Asia, went overseas once and Budoukan is the first step. Having a clear goal like this helps fans enthusiasm too since we can aid for the cause. So what does Idoling!!! aim for actually?
Regardless, Idoling!!! do mirror Bakarhythm success. He has been there in the entertainment business for quite a while, slowly getting famous without anyone even realizing and by the time everyone came to their sense, He's already big. Instead of rising up to stardom super fast and then fall as hard, both Idoling!!! and Masuno just drift there slowly and surely.
When the 5th generation voting scheme backfired, the staff probably realized that using such superficial goals to motivate fans don't work. Besides, the group concept of Idoling is all about having silly fun and not caring about the accolades and recognition by the industry as the staff would like to have fans like AEUGNewtype to believe, but even that has come under scrutiny ever since the staff has been sucking up to Kikuchi hardcore to reveal their true colors of being two-faced.
As far as mirroring Bakarhythm's success, I can only laugh in a sarcastic manner, yes Bakarhythm has reached the very top in his profession within the industry as a solo comedian, however to imply that Idoling is mirroring the same type of success is simply not even close to being true, Idoling is still stuck very solidly in the 2nd tier of their respective industry as more and more idol groups pass them by while Idoling is showing no signs of going anywhere soon. It's rather baffling to me that Idoling can't even manage to have Bakarhythm's success rub off to them in some way seeing that they are very deeply intertwined, it's almost as if Idoling is invisible to the mainstream no matter what.
A good example of this Idoling being invisible would be the case where Tonchan was in a very big hit drama Marumo, where its theme song at one time has outsold AKB in Oricon rankings, and the two child actors in the drama have gone onto becoming household names, yet Tonchan remains as anonymous and unknown as before, that is very discouraging. This is when I have conceded to the fact that Tonchan doesn't have that special star genes to make it on her own because even as a supporting role, the ones who has the magic typically will shine in such an opportunity and would get noticed.
Topic: The Idoling!!! Discussion Thread (Read 759543 times)