There are a lot of questions on my head as I travelled from sunny Cavite to Eton Centris in the heart of Quezon City. Will the group sing their songs? Will the performance be good? Will there be haters among the audience looking to stir up trouble? Will the event go smoothly at all? But most of all, will MNL48 finally fulfill their promise as professional idols?
It’s a lot to ask from a fledgling group on their first event. Only a prick with a grossly inflated sense of importance expects – demands – perfection on the first day. But there is a real sense of urgency with making a splash and proving their naysayers wrong that it feels imperative that the event be successful at least. I had hoped that through this event, the group will be able to prove their value as idols and I expect the program itself to run as smooth as possible.
I can say that my hopes were fulfilled, and the event met my expectations, and that over-all, I had so much fun and am very happy with the event.
Everyone was excited to see the girls especially after getting sneak peeks of their strict training regimen, their make-overs, and their transformation into idols. MNLife and MNLaugh also increased the interest on the girls. Wotas were also looking forward to the photo-sets will be sold during the event.
But enough of that. How did the girls do, and how does the event rank among those I’ve been to?
Instead of writing a chronological sequence of last Sunday’s activity, for convenience, I’ll divide my review into several parts to better articulate what I believe the event got right and what needs to improve in the future.
The Registration:
On all the past events of HHE, their registration has always been a headache. They improved somewhat during the handshake event, and I expected that they will also improve for this one.
It’s not as abysmal as the Team 8 Fan Meet or the ABS-CBN events, or Cool Japan Festival, but the registration area really needs to be done on a much bigger table with a lot more staff to better facilitate the number of checks and verifications of each ticket holder. There are three things needed for verification: the Fanclub Member ID (formerly the Voter’s ID), a valid ID with complete name, and the ticket reference ID for those who bought online tickets. Verifying all of those takes time and there should be a lot more booths and staff handling each part of the process. As a result, the numbers on the wrist-bands given after successful verification no longer followed the correct sequence.
It could have been a lot worse, but the staff at the registration eventually got their act together and the line eventually moved.
Organization:
The original idea seems to be that the fans will enter the event area in order based on the number on their wrist-bands which is for your seat. In my honest opinion, having seat numbers would fine on the theater, but are not really necessary for events like this, especially since the merchandise area will pretty much guarantee that the fans will go out of the line anyway.
That also posed another problem: we have literally no idea if we should stand in line under the intense heat or if we can loiter around and just come back at 3PM when the doors opened. I assume the latter was the case but it wasn’t properly communicated, or I just wasn’t able to hear it. As a result, fans and family alike were baked under the intense heat of the sun.
To their credit, the doors did open at 3PM and the event started at around 4PM. The ushers and the staff there are also very happy to assist and patiently answer questions.
In the future, seeing as the members’ immediate family seem to regularly come to events, I propose that either they are allowed to enter earlier or at least be provided with a special place exclusively reserved for them. I don’t view this as special treatment, but respect accorded especially to the parents, some of whom are at an age when they’re not supposed to stand under the heat of the sun.
The Merchandise:
Idol merchandise is the life-blood of any idol group, and the wota’s didn’t disappoint. The photosets were on a limited run only, and while any unsold copies would presumably make their way to the Hallohallo Mall, additional copies will no longer be printed so there was a mad dash to buy and trade. Owing to my limited funds, I only managed to buy one set. As luck would have it, I got a picture of Ash, my kami-oshi. I literally leapt for joy.
It proved to be a lucky draw: Ash’s photo-card is one of the most sought after during the day, partly because Ash is that popular among the wotas, and because her photo-cards seem to be in short supply. I’ve seen fans willing to trade five senbatsu member photo-cards for just one Ash card. There’s so much people scrambling for it like some rare Pokémon.
The merchandise was also to expanded to include pens, new designs of the mug, tumblers, and other stuff. But it really was the photo-set that the fans were after. They were priced at PhP 400 (far lower than AKB’s) and there were people who bought 6, even 10 sets. You do the math.
The photo-cards were crisp and I like how clear the images were. But since I owned only one photo-card before, I’m not sure how they actually compare with the various editions, but I am satisfied with this one.
I wish I could have also gotten a Dian photo-card, but the person offering Dian’s card was asking for my Ash. Sorry sir, not at that price.
The Program:
I am separating my review of the Performance from the Program itself. I have read criticism of the program due to the inclusion of games and one-shots that some fans felt was unnecessary.
There was also the question of the introductions of all the members and kenkyuusei which, admittedly, did take quite some time.
But here’s the deal: this is a fan meet. The group’s first event with their fans since being formed last April 28, 2018. We are technically still in the introduction stage. This may be unnecessary by the wotas, but not to the newer fans and the members’ family, friends, and relatives who, it should be pointed out, make up about half of the people in the event.
The games were supposed to make the event fun and interactive, and I would dare to say that for the lucky fans who did get to play with their idols, the memories will last for a lifetime.
If the group still did Pick Pack Poink on their third fan-meet, then yeah, I’d take exception to that. But can we fault the management for wanting to give some fans the opportunity to interact with their oshimen? While it may feel boring and dragging to us who weren’t chosen, a precious few were having the time of their lives. For me, knowing that these fans were making most of their precious moments with their idols and making lasting memories and (hopefully) good impressions of the girls that they can then tell to other people, I’d gladly be bored.
Faith, Ash and Alice briefly introduced the new Fanclub Version of the app and its new features. The Fanclub App will be the fans’ gateway to the wonderful world of MNL48 with member profiles, music (ala-Spotify?), theater ticket reservations (yay!), and event schedule. Most of these features are not yet live (for obvious reasons), but I am very interested in the “Special Member” feature which seems to be paid premium membership. I don’t normally subscribe to VIP-level of fanclub membership, but I guess there’s always a first time.
Technicals:
HHE needs to improve the skills and equipment of their Technical crew. I think one or two of the microphones weren’t working, and the over-all quality of the sound wasn’t that great especially the non-singing parts. I think it’s time to invest in better equipment for future events. I’ve always been treated to excellent sound quality whenever I go to Movie Stars Cafe before, so I know they can pull this off. For me, the technical difficulties was the biggest drawback of the whole event.
Performance:
But we were all there for the performance. The girls didn’t exactly wow people during the competition, and they weren’t exactly dancing in sync during the Handshake event. What about this time? Will MNL48 perform their own songs (“own” here meaning localized versions of AKB48’s discography)? How will it turn out? Will it make me cringe? Will it make my ears bleed? Will it bring me to rapture? Will it give me inner peace?
I loved it. I really, really loved it.
I knew the day would come that we would all face the reality of hearing localized AKB hits. I know many fans dreading that day and while I’m not one of them, I still knew I would also have to adjust.
The truth is, I didn’t even had to consciously force myself to adjust: it just came naturally. It did feel strange to hear Aitakatta sung in Filipino, it also felt kind of right. By the time the first song was done, I was so ready for more.
The second track, Heavy Rotation was a better performance, with Sheki showing to everyone why she deserved to be center. And it’s not just her, the whole senbatsu showed amazing performance levels that is beyond anything they’ve ever shown us before. Even Ash, a senbatsu member who had made a name for herself doing song and dance covers of J-pop tracks and whose dancing skills I am quite familiar with, is on a different level. Hebirote has been covered by fans countless of times, and the MNL48 senbatsu clearly showed the difference between fans copying dance steps from You Tube, and idols who were professionally trained to do it.
Sakura no Hanabiratachi though, was the song of the day for me. A track whose original I wasn’t crazy about was ironically the one that made a lasting impact. Maybe because the lyrics were appropriately done. Maybe it’s because the girls started crying during the song which added more emotion to an already emotional song. But maybe it’s because it was performed so damn good. It was the perfect song to herald the transition of the girls from aspirants to real idols.
The localization of the tracks was sufficient and fitting. They wisely did not go for a literal translation (which would be awkward as the words won’t fit the melody), but sought to maintain the spirit of the original song instead. While I acknowledge that some people still found it “cringey”, for someone like me who grew up to localized theme songs of Super Sentai and Anime, they’re actually up there as one of the best available Filipinized Japanese songs. Besides, if all you listened to are Japanese songs and took them really to heart, it would naturally be difficult to make the adjustment and any translation would sound awkward.
All the hard work the girls had invested for this event has produced the hoped-for results. For some of them, it is a fulfillment of a life-long dream. For fans, it felt like redemption after a very contentious and divisive elimination process. Both sides are in agreement that this is just the beginning of the long haul.
Alice, the overall team captain of MNL48, gave a heartfelt message to the audience and congratulated the whole team for the successful event. “Maraming maraming salamat po sa tulong niyo para mabuo po ‘yung pangarap namin,(Thank you very much for helping us fulfill our dreams)” Alice expressed.
“Sana ‘wag niyo po kaming iiwan hanggang dulo. Thank you po sa lahat ng effort niyo and sa time niyo na binibigay sa amin. Kayo po ‘yung nagiging lakas namin kaya nagagawa po namin ang lahat, (I hope you all stay with us until the end. Thank you for all the effort and time you gave us. You are the source of our strength that makes us accomplish everything)” said center girl Sheki to everyone who came.
During her speech, Sheki was also thrilled to share that the Kami 7 will soon fly to Japan to further train and hone their talents as idols and prepare for their upcoming debut single, and informed every one about the MNL48 Theater that will open very soon. She also added that they will be attending the AKB48 53rd Single World General Election to be held in Nagoya on June 16, 2018.
Epilogue:
As a paying customer, I was satisfied. As a fan, I was entertained, thrilled, got excited, and had fun. As a blogger reporting on MNL48 since 2016, I felt that all my faith, hard work, and interest were justified.
I’ve decided to follow MNL48 (and AKB48 itself) just as my interest in idols has started to wane, and as a result, I have not followed – nor have any interest in closely following – any other idol group besides the 48 Groups since. Not even my precious Morning Musume and Hello! Project who I stuck with for a little over a decade (I still like their songs, I just don’t follow them that much anymore). I’m not even that crazy about the wota stuff anymore (not that I was deep into the culture to begin with), but if there is something I learned from MNL48 it is that you can enjoy yourself and the group without worrying too much about labels and expectations, because at the end of the day, those are just labels and expectations of other people that can distract you from what you should be doing.
As fans, we are supposed to enjoy and have fun with our idols, whether we are “true idol fans of true idols” (whatever that high-handed statement is supposed to mean), or someone who just genuinely loves the group, pop culture conventions be damned. The members shouldn’t worry about whatever some self-anointed High Priest of Idols is preaching on the internet against them, but instead should continue focusing on their task at hand, which is to continue to improve as idols and continue making their fans happy.
I had hoped they would give us a solid event, and a solid event is what we got and more. I am really hyped up for the time the Theater finally opens and we will see full performances both by the whole group and by the teams. I can’t find any way to describe how happy the event made me, except to say that MNL48’s Sakura no Hanabiratachi, is still playing on my head as I close this review.
Sooo….am I coming to the next event? Oh yeah. Oh HELL YEAH.