Best of 2014: The 46/48 Edition - Winners

Awards time.

Best of 2014: The 46/48 Edition - Shortlist

This is the second stage of the Best of 2014 series, where I narrow down the categories to only a few entries for further consideration.

Best of 2014: The 46/48 Edition - Nominations

Semi-resurrecting this blog again for my end of year awards. Click here for a brief reminder of how I do things, from two years ago.

Changes from last year:

• Nogizaka46 songs will be included across all categories where applicable.
• New stage songs, album-exclusive songs and Team Surprise-related songs will be included as part of the "C/W Song" category.

(information current as at 7/12/14):

Preliminary Thoughts on Numbers

Some preliminary thoughts about the pennant points system (source post here, a useful translation here), and its wider implications:

• From a high level, it seems to have encompassed the three major types of "processes" that form the crux of the 48 Group's popularity: theater performances, handshakes and elections. From a completeness point of view, it looks reasonable.
• One point that I stress that has been emphasised in the following detailed discussion, is that if you look beyond the maths involved, there are no new practical implications arising for fans. The objective is once again, as is always in the idol fandom, to maximise your spending on these members across all three areas. However, what this has done is to slightly shift the focus away from the individual to the team, and incentivised the shift accordingly. 
• Some of my understanding, and the comments/implications arising from it, may change depending on what further information (if any) AKS decides to release - as well as the obvious language barrier. 

Australia: A Primer

Much has been said about my country, both in the media and in pop culture, good and bad. Primarily for the benefit of my followers on Twitter and elsewhere, let me show you what it's really like from the perspective of someone who has lived here for most of his life.

Warning: this is supposed to be light in nature; expect a lot of generalising, sledging and possibly offensive (to some) and racially inappropriate material. 

A memo note on the Grand Reformation

The purpose of this post is to provide a high level overview of the results arising from the recent 48 Group "Grand Reformation" (also more commonly known in the fan parlance as "shuffles", used hereinafter), including a detailed discussion on focus areas of strategic importance and interest to the goals of the group as well as for the various stakeholders involved.

Reboot 2014

(Warning: strong, blunt opinions which may cause some slight offence)

It was announced yesterday that there is going to be a 48 group-wide team shuffle to be held late next month. Given the lack of details at this stage, apart from location and date, fans and members have been very divisive about this issue, filled with much nervousness and cautionary anticipation about what will happen come February 24.