Produce 48

[Farrah]

Honestly, I think the Japanese trainees just make for better TV because their story is inherently more interesting.  We've already seen expertly trained Korean trainees battling it out on these shows.  Just in the last couple of years - Sixteen, Finding Momoland, Idol School, two seasons of Produce 101, The Unit, MixNine... it's been done to death.  Japanese idols, with no formal training or real foundation doing this kind of thing?  That's new and exciting.  

[Arichii]

Just watched some of the performances from the position evaluations, and they were all kind of meh. I'm very disappointed with the dance performances, but that could also be because of Mnet's crappy editing... (like why do they have to do slowmo's on hairflips I don't understand). Also interesting to note, all of the Korean trainees from the current top 12 were shown this week. Looks like the performances from the Japanese trainees in top 12 will be shown next week. I'm not sure if that is intentional or not, but you never know with Mnet... In any case I'm hoping there will be better performances next week.  
 
 

[Anderei]

The editing is bad. Lots of slow motion, cuts, etc. Can’t just let you watch the dance because then you’ll know how bad it is.

[aine]

41NsJuJiI1L._SX353_BO1,204,203,200_1.jpg

[Zaeleus]

Me watching episode 8.
Ko Yu Jin was robbed.

[JPope]

Pretty much all of my favorites are gone now. 

[Farrah]

This, imo, shaped up to be the most bland and underwhelming season of this series so far.  The concept is novel but in the end we barely have 10 Japanese girls left, and much of the dance/performance talent has been eliminated (when this season was already short on talent anyway). 
 
My interest in the show honestly kind of puttered out after Jurina left but I have been lazily following the eliminations and watching the performances even without her, but nothing has really impressed me or caught my eye.  I only hope that at least one or two of the good vocalists makes it into the final group, because most of these Korean trainees are pretty boring anyway.  At least let the group be boring and talented lol.
 
Just a very bland batch of trainees in the end... I really wish Korea would give these shows a break for a year or two so that the companies can stockpile some actually impressive trainees again.  Sending trainees all over these shows for two or three years has clearly stretched their reserves thin.

[Anderei]

Their name is IZ*ONE.


Final lineup:

Jang Wonyoung (Starship)

Miyawaki Sakura (HKT48)

Jo Yuri (Stone Music)

Choi Yena (Yuehua)

Ahn Yoojin (Starship)

Yabuki Nako (HKT48)

Kwon Eunbi (Woolim)

Kang Hyewon (8D)

Honda Hitomi (AKB48)

Kim Chae-won (Woolim)

Minjung Kim (Urban Works)

Lee Chaeyeon (WM)

[WonderBuono]

Only three Japanese girls? That's pretty disappointing... Twice has more by ratio lol

[Anderei]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="WonderBuono" data-cid="215055" data-time="1535764385">
Only three Japanese girls? That's pretty disappointing... Twice has more by ratio lol</blockquote>


Wonyoung is officially an honorary Japanese idol since she’s the center despite turning 14 like today or something like that.

[JPope]

[quote="WonderBuono"]
Only three Japanese girls? That's pretty disappointing... Twice has more by ratio lol
[/quote]
 
Finally watched this last night. Only three AKB girls made me happy, tbh. This season kinda sucked overall from a strict talent perspective.

[Anderei]

I’d be pretty surprised if they do well. I said it before but I don’t think this group will be able to hold peoples attention without the heavily edited narrative backing them up. I think signing them for two and a half years was a little ambitious.

[JPope]

2.5 year contract is insane for this group. 

[Anderei]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="215158" data-time="1536272806">
2.5 year contract is insane for this group.</blockquote>


Rumor is that it’s only exclusive for the first year and a half, which sounds like an excuse to ship the Japanese girls back in case it’s not working out.

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="215158" data-time="1536272806">2.5 year contract is insane for this group.</blockquote>I mean that's only like 2-3 singles by UpFront's standards...

[JPope]

[quote="aine"]
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="215158" data-time="1536272806">
2.5 year contract is insane for this group.
</blockquote>
I mean that's only like 2-3 singles by UpFront's standards...
 
[/quote]
 
 

[Anderei]

Confirmed that after the next AKB single they’ll be promoting exclusively with I*ZONE until April 2021.

[JPope]

There has to be a mutually-agreed upon opt-out clause in the event that this groups bombs.

[Anderei]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="215412" data-time="1537936860">
There has to be a mutually-agreed upon opt-out clause in the event that this groups bombs.</blockquote>


Or if they can’t hack it in Korea, they’ll just go scrape some money out of Japan.

[Mukuro]

Remember this?


Takahashi Juri is graduating AKB to join Woolim entertainment and join a girl group.


Takeuchi Miyu is joining Mystic Entertainment.


I wonder if any other AKB members are going to jump ship to Korea.

[Anderei]

Probably not anyone who didn’t compete on the show.


I have a hard time imaging those two being successful in Korea. Miyu in particular if she’s going to be a soloist.

[JPope]

They're both kinda old to pull this off. If they could've jumped over closer to when the show aired, that would've helped, but I doubt most Koreans even remembers who they are now.

[WonderBuono]

I assume you mean old news and not old as in age right? Cuz Juri is 21 and that’s far from being too old for a Kpop idol.


Actually in that sense going to Korea is a pretty smart move. Their time in the spotlight could potentially last longer than in the J-idol system if they are successful.


I support it.