Keyakizaka46’s 9th Single Announcement

The Senbatsu System Strikes Back

Sunday Keyakizaka46 announced the member line-up for their 9th single, due out sometime this winter. Up to now, they have had all members* participate in the A-side senbatsu for every release. However, for the 9th single they have reduced the senbatsu size to 17, meaning with 26 members there are now 9 unders.

*Because she joined late, Nagahama Neru was a member at the time of their debut single’s announcement, but was not selected for the Silent Majority senbatsu. Instead she became the founding member of Hiragana Keyakizaka46.

Sadly, my kami oshimen Saito Fuyuka didn’t make the sebtasu cut. It’s not shocking that she got put in the unders based on the likely metrics of handshake sales and outside work, plus almost exclusively being in the back row up to now. As one of Keyaki’s best dancers and a sort of emotional leader of the group, I think she’ll do fine wherever she gets placed. My original oshi, and first member in any idol group that caught my eye, Suzumoto Miyu, is also now an under. Her placement is a bit more shocking, as she is fairly popular, was one of the most frequent front-row members, and is the group’s best dancer.

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It looks like the change to a more traditional senbatsu/unders system came as a shock to many Keyaki fans. I think this system is actually how fans (and the members) expected the group to be structured in the beginning, as it follows on from their Nogizaka sisters and the AKB48 groups before that. Keyaki consistently going with an all-member senbatsu instead was different, like how many things about Keyaki were different. There was still competition between members to be front and center, but there wasn’t the additional risk of being dropped from the limelight entirely for 3-4 months until the next release.

Maybe management decided this change was needed to motivate the members to improve their performance, especially with impressionable 2nd generation members having joined, and the prospect of a third/kenkyuusei generation following soon. Certainly there’s no a priori reason the senbatsu couldn’t include an arbitrary number of members, though you could argue the smaller senbatsu gives more opportunity for each member to be highlighted and grow their popularity. And I think that is one of management’s goals with this — create more stars more quickly. Less popular members aren’t kicked out, but instead fade into the background. In a small way it also makes the group more resilient, as unders can perform their nominal role, as understudies, to fill in for senbatsu members at short notice.

No other details about the single have been announced, so I’ll have to wait and hope that the unders at least get their own song and music video. Hopefully this will help blunt the shock that they must be feeling (though they’ve known for at least a month). It appears, at least for the next few episodes, only senbatsu members will appear on their weekly TV program Keyakitte Kakenai. That’s understandable, and might continue for the single’s main promotional cycle, but I’ll hope that, like Nogizaka, they eventually start bringing a mix of members into the studio again.

As for the formation, I would have liked to see Pon (or in an alternate timeline, Zumiko) take center, but I think the lineup is still quite strong. It’s good to see Sato Shiori moving up; I think she has a lot of untapped potential. Also it’s fantastic that my favorite 2nd gen Matsuda Rina has the place of honor beside center.

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Between new members, graduations, dating scandals, injuries/hiatus, and now the senbatsu change, there’s been plenty of drama to occupy 46 group fans the last few months. I’m eager to see how this pans out for Keyakizaka, both in the kind of content they put out and in the dynamics of the group.