Report from today's Sexy Zone new single presentation event

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From News @ Asahi TV.

Today, July 15th, Sexy Zone's Sato Shori (17), Nakajima Kento (20), and Kikuchi Fuma(19) held a presentation event for their new single in Tokyo's Yoyogi National Gymnasium. In front of 10,000 fans, they performed their new song for the first time, and announced that that same song would not include Matsushima Sou (16) and Marius Yo (14) but would instead be comprised just of Sato, Nakajima, and Kikuchi. The fan's shocked voices, crying out "Ehhhh???" rose up in the venue. Nakajima commented, "We want to move forward showing the fans many forms," while Kikuchi asked the fans to understand, saying, "If we work hard just the three of us, and each become stronger before returning to 5、I think the possibilities for our group will instantly increase." From here on, centered on the three with Sato, there's the chance that they'll become a fluid group with members being switched in and out, and Nakajima expanded what might be expected, saying, "It's possible that next year, we'll put out solos and stuff, too." In May, two derivative groups incorporating Marius and Matsushima respectively were born, and all five will appear in the summer concert starting on July 23rd.

I'm going to refrain from making a comment right now, because I don't want to let my emotions get the best of me, but as you might guess, I'm pretty much livid. All I'm going to say is, we'll have to wait and see how things pan out.

And just as I thought things were looking up, too.

[EDIT] snow has kindly translated a tabloid article about this event here. Please read the translator's notes on the actual translation and keep in mind, though, that these tabloids basically make up facts to sell copies. I think the jury's still out on whether this will continue in the future, but I figured for completeness, I'd add this more "sensationalized" view. Please, though, remember that this article is a tabloid, and not a reliable news source.

Comments

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Yeah, I think the "fluid" and "members changing" might be an exaggeration by the news sources. The first place I saw it was Nikkan Sports, and everyone knows they're about as reliable as a high school rumour, so I don't know how much stock can be put in that. But it really worries me that the management seems so interested in mimicking AKB's management tactics. They're different groups with largely different fan bases and styles, and I think that it's absolutely ridiculous that they might try to copy AKB.

I'm really worried for Marius, too… struggling with culture shock and language barriers, and heck, just being fourteen is hard enough, he doesn't need this on top of it all (but recently it's been seeming that things are getting better between Marius and Fuma? At least from what Marius has been saying in magazines and stuff as of late. But Sou can be pretty negative about himself, too, so I feel really bad for him, too. I hope they don't get too depressed.

I haven't had much problem with Julie, but after Ijima destroyed KisuMai and is working on destroying Sexy Zone, it's really made me hate her. I don't understand what she thinks she's achieving by doing this.

I agree that it seemed like things were getting so much better… and now this. I feel bad for all of them, but I agree… I think the older three would understand if sales drop for this single.

Ugh. This is a mess. I hope that this ends soon.