Hebiroto…Glorious Fanservice or Excessive Fan Insult?

Let me start by saying I am so excited about AKB48’s upcoming single.  I pre-ordered it the moment it became available on HMV because I didn’t want to get stuck in a one-week backorder like I did with the Ponytail CD.  Sure, I hadn’t heard the songs yet.  But that hasn’t mattered to me for a while now when it comes to AKB.  The producers have done a great job packaging a single that is full of great material.  Even if I don’t like a title track, there is always a c/w that catches my fancy.  Such was the case with Sakura no Shiori and RIVER.  I already knew I would love this single the moment I saw the PV preview for Namida no Seesaw Game, which I spoke about two posts ago.  I loved the concept of the girls as classic R&B artists on a show like Soul Train.  Totally cool, totally hip.

But I didn’t expect to love Heavy Rotation as much as I do.  It is everything I want to see in my favorite idol group’s PV.  Cuteness, sexiness, quite a bit of teasing and some amazing cosplay.  To me it is candy to my eye.  I can’t get enough of watching the PV, even if none of my favorite members are in it.  I’m not alone in this opinion as I have read many reviews of people literally drooling over this PV.

But Heavy Rotation is not without it’s detractors.  That’s okay, everyone has different taste.  I can see how some could find it a bit gratuitous in it’s blatant fanservice.  I wouldn’t call it the greatest song either.  It is definitely the PV pushing it over the top.  But there is something that I have found annoying for a long time, and I’m about to get it off of my chest.  I know I am going to piss a few people off.  So be it.

Throughout my life I have found that I enjoy rooting for underdogs.  I did it as a sports fan when I was a child, and I find I am the same way with idols.  In my 3+ years of being an AKB48 fan, I have come to an understanding of what rooting for underdogs looks like.  It means that I don’t expect my Oshimen to be front and center in PVs.  Heck, she might not even be in them  at all.  It means maybe she will get to sit in on an episode of AKBingo!  And if she is lucky she will get to say a line or two.  The bottom line is I root for my favorites, and relish in their victories during the few moments that they stand out as idols.  What I don’t do is bitch and complain every time they aren’t the focal point of attention in AKB-land.

It just seems like with every release we need to hear from the “peanut gallery” about it is some heinous crime that certain girls aren’t included.  Or with the Senbatsu election itself.  How annoying it was to hear people bitch that their favorite member dropped a few spots, and now they are only in the middle of the Senbatsu.  As someone who roots for a member that ranks somewhere between 40-48 it is quite insulting.  Oh boohoo she dropped to number 13-20, what a tragedy! So you can say it annoys the hell out of me to hear people complaining that their favorite members didn’t get any close-up screen time in the new PV.  First off, I don’t remember that promise being made to begin with.  All I know is that the Top 21 members got to be part of the team that creates the new single.  How the creative team chooses to promote the song is their decision.  The last thing I want as a fan is to have a video crammed with a bunch of unnecessary close-up shots just so every girl gets their chance to be featured for 2 seconds.  Because then AKB48 videos become Harry Potter movies, filled with unnecessary filler so the hardcore fans don’t go batshit because a scene from the book isn’t included.

So if the director chose to use the Top 10 girls for the lionshare of the PV, threw in a tub of Matsuis and used the rest of the girls as backdancers…So be it.  I still love the video, even if NONE of my favorite members were in it.  That is simply the way it is with AKB.  Some girls get the focus, some don’t.  It isn’t some tremendous “injustice” if certain girls don’t get their face time.  Every single girl in AKB48 has fans.  We all buy the product, and we all voted in the senbatsu election.  So I ask you…what makes YOUR Oshimen so much more deserving than anyone elses?

Nobody is saying you can’t bitch about the way things are in Akihabara.  Go ahead, whine all you want.  It’s just that the more you complain about your Oshi not getting their fair share, the more everyone else gets annoyed with you AND your Oshi by default.  It is like me with Takahashi Ai.  I used to love her to death, but now I find her annoying.  Why?  Her fans, that’s why.  I do feel badly about it because it isn’t really fair to Aichan.  I don’t like rooting against idols.  But subconsciously that is what happens.  At least for me it does.  For what it’s worth…

So is it a great single, or an awful single?  I guess that depends on who you ask.  As for me, I am giving it a big thumbs up.  My only concern is “where do they go from here”?  I can’t imagine them getting any sexier than this.  So my guess is the next single will take a completely different direction.  As for Heavy Rotation and sales…I wonder how it’s gonna do?

I’m not worried.  I have a feeling that about a quarter million wota hit the “buy” button the moment that video came out!

CK in California