[DISCUSSION] After School in Japan

So I noticed the fandom has different opinions regarding ASs Japanese releases.

I remember when I first saw Rambling Girls, I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. When I look at it now though, the music video doesn't seem as appealing, the choreography is not as good as it could be, and the lyrics... I'm sorry, but to me they seem kind of stupid. It has a nice beat so its a pity it didn't do that well on me. Lady Luck though... I'm hesitant to say its 'cuteness' is forced, but I really don't know how to word it unless I call it awkward. Especially when they're sitting on those chairs. Gotta be honest I didn't expect that coming from AS, let alone Japanese AS of which I had sexy concept expectations. I'll add that the choreography was the best although I have mixed feelings for the bag flashing at the end.

Orange Caramel though. Cookies Cream & Mint was a let down for me... the song sounded good enough, but there was something with the PV that made me fall under the impression that it was half-a**ed. Lipstick pretty much set my face to the floor. They make three versions of the CD, a dance version and a cover music video, yet they can't make the main PV without re-using the original Korean parts or have Lizzy die her hair again back to blonde for the filming. Aside from all that, they slayed Lamu no Love Song and Yasashii Akuma. Loved it.

Ahhh and the recent releases - Heaven and Shh.

It's true pole dance never had a positive view from the people, and that's what First Love was trying to change by giving it an artistic vibe to a slow and meaningful song. Honestly I think the pole intro to Heaven contradicts this statement. The background music, the lighting, the way It was filmed... It seemed like something you would expect from a club... Not that I've ever been into a club, but you get what I'm trying to say. Also, as Jayden mentioned in her essay posted on the site - the cover of the album looks a bit too sexy considering the cut shots centering their bodies.
Shh was like a healing potion - right when I was about to get my torches and flame on avex, look at that! They're fully clothed, the focus isn't their body, the song is nice although the chorus bugged me at first and the choreography is so good it even has room for a chicken dance. Not to mention the photobook is fabulous. By far the best concept coming from Japan.

Well that's that and that's only what I think. What do you guys think about Japanese releases so far?

I just heard that After School's new album "Dress to Kill" charted at number 14 in the Japanese daily Oricon Charts.
I hope it's not true but on the other hand i actually wouldn't be surprised either.
It is not just Pledis, it's Avex too who doesn't give any promotions to After School.
I remember when they promoted their first Japanese Single "Bang!" in various music shows and concerts.
It paid off and it became their best sold single today.
Sadly after that their singles had less and less sales. Which i think is really a shame because their songs got better and better but Avex just didn't promoted them as much anymore as before when they debuted in Japan.
I wouldn't be surprised if Avex expire their contract.
I had a weird feeling about Avex since the begin of After School's debut in Japan in generall.
Diva was a mess.
Rambling girls was really unoriginal and forgettable.
Lady Luck was just not After School. It didn't suit them at all.
Their first Japanese Album was actually really good, i have to say.
Heaven and Shh were surprisingly great. Really different sound from a Kpop group in Japan.
Such a shame they didn't do any promotions.....
They really had potential to get big in Japan but Avex failed.

Same to Orange Caramel. Big potential in Japan. Cute, weird and funny, that's what Japan loves right?
But they got 2 bad remake songs as singles and 1 really bad album. I mean, in Korea After School/OC always trying new stuff but why not in Japan
It is just "remake their songs and going a trend what everybody else is doing."
I'm sorry but that screams already the word "flop"!

I can't at these flop company's.... (Pledis & Avex)

wowous wrote:Ahhh and the recent releases - Heaven and Shh.

It's true pole dance never had a positive view from the people, and that's what First Love was trying to change by giving it an artistic vibe to a slow and meaningful song. Honestly I think the pole intro to Heaven contradicts this statement.

I h8 Avex, throughout the First Love promotion I kept telling people that there was no stripping, no twerking, pole dancing is a very respectable talent so there's nothing slutty about the First Love MV and then Avex go and puts in porn music with pole dancing in the Heaven intro just to satisfy the mass ignorance and stupidity. Rihanna's Pour It Up containing references to strippers, pole dancing and twerking doesn't help After School's cause either. It's sad that mass ignorance and stupidity seems to prevail so much.

wowous wrote:Also, as Jayden mentioned in her essay posted on the site - the cover of the album looks a bit too sexy considering the cut shots centering their bodies.

In Jayden's essay she wasn't saying the album cover looked too sexy. She was saying how the shots were reducing the girls to sex objects. Seeing some of those pictures does makes me want to smack the camera out of the photographer. I agree with Jayden it's not the poses that was the problem. It's the way the photos were cut.

@Jayden, as for who to blame. I blame AVEX!!!

In contrast to the cover images of Heaven the Flash Back teaser images were way sexier but done so tastefully. For example, even though Lizzy's teaser image is super revealing, the full body shot of her shows her as a whole person i.e. there's more to her than her specific body parts. The Flash Back images present the girls in a dignified manner.....sort off. In Lizzy's case, netizens said she looks like she's doing a poop in a lavatory.


The teaser was Lizzy's idea so.... GO, LIZZY!!! empowerment through self objectification FTW!!!! LOL, although the netizens do have a point.

wowous wrote:Shh was like a healing potion - right when I was about to get my torches and flame on avex, look at that! They're fully clothed, the focus isn't their body, the song is nice although the chorus bugged me at first and the choreography is so good it even has room for a chicken dance. Not to mention the photobook is fabulous. By far the best concept coming from Japan.

I still want to grab my torch and flame on Avex, I thought the choreography in the Shh MV was sloppy and I didn't like the song. My impression of Shh was that it is another attempt by Avex to produce a poor quality product to make some quick bucks.

PrinceX wrote:It is not just Pledis, it's Avex too who doesn't give any promotions to After School.

What do you mean? Pledis spends several weeks on promoting each of their artists' comebacks.

PrinceX wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if Avex expire their contract.

  Yay, that means more activities in Korea! From the way things look it does seem Avex is losing interest in After School  

PrinceX wrote:I mean, in Korea After School/OC always trying new stuff but why not in Japan

In Korea After School/OC is promoted by Pledis, Pledis can be frustratingly incompetent sometimes but they've always produce a very high standard of work. In Japan After School/OC is promoted by Avex. I don't think Avex is the type of company that's going to do something like spend 6 months on training the girls to pole dance just so AS can put on an awesome performance for fans. Pledis comes across as the type of company that'll ask themselve "What can we do to make this more fun for fans" while Avex comes across as a company that'll ask themselves "How can we quickly make more money from fans".

PlayboyzAdam wrote:

PrinceX wrote:It is not just Pledis, it's Avex too who doesn't give any promotions to After School.

What do you mean? Pledis spends several weeks on promoting each of their artists' comebacks.

I meant that they don't promote some of their artists properly. (Live performances, not much CF's, nor many variety shows, Concerts, ect.).
That's why Dress To Kill is gonna have bad sales as it looks like. After School does no promotions for their new Album right now. Which i don't understand what the point is to release an Album and not promoting it. And what was Pledis thinking to make a OC comeback before their new Japanese album is gonna be released. Stupid move from Pledis....

PlayboyzAdam wrote:

PrinceX wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if Avex expire their contract.

  Yay, that means more activities in Korea! From the way things look it does seem Avex is losing interest in After School 

No that is not good because their songs got better and better since their album "Playgirlz" and their fan base is bigger than in Korea.
I wasn't a fan of their debut in Japan but since they released "Heaven" and "Shh", and now "Dress To Kill" they have such a different and unique sound from most Korean groups in Japan.
Which is a good think and it makes After School different. I mean, their songs right now are probably the best songs from a Korean artist.
Maybe if their contract expires than i hope they move to a different Japanese company to get at least better promotions but to stop promotions in Japan forever is a bad idea in my opinion.

PrinceX wrote:I meant that they don't promote some of their artists properly. (Live performances, not much CF's, nor many variety shows, Concerts, ect.).
That's why Dress To Kill is gonna have bad sales as it looks like. After School does no promotions for their new Album right now. Which i don't understand what the point is to release an Album and not promoting it. And what was Pledis thinking to make a OC comeback before their new Japanese album is gonna be released. Stupid move from Pledis....

I'm only here to defend Pledis, I h8 Avex and After School's Japanese promotions so I don't care that Dress To Kill is going to have bad sales or After School is not promoting it.
From what I've seen I think Pledis has put a lot of effort into promoting their artists in live performances so I not sure what you means, please elaborate. You do understand Pledis can't hold a gun up to another company's head and force them to produce CFs with Pledis artists in it right. Other companies offer Pledis artists to do CFs and promote their products, Pledis can't produce CFs for other company's products just to promote Pledis artists. Just like CFs, Pledis can't force variety shows to feature Pledis artists just to promote Pledis artists. Pledis artists join variety shows either through invitation or auditions. Also for a variety show like Playgirlz School to be created the need a broadcasting station to be willing to host it unless they upload it to Youtube but I'm not sure how effectively that'll promote Pledis artist. As for concerts, Pledis is a small company with very limited resources. Holding concerts is very expensive and consume a lot of resources and given Pledis artist's popularity in Korea, I don't think using concerts to promote Pledis artists is a good idea.

As for what was Pledis thinking to make an OC comeback before their new Japanese album is gonna be released.   Yay, go Pledis!!!!! Beware you're asking that to someone who really h8s Avex and After School's Japanese songs. Maybe Pledis can't release Catallena any later because of scheduling problems. Who knows and I don't care   Catallena is doing pretty good right now, I hope Orange Caramel makes another comeback this year and builds on this to increase Orange Caramel's popularity.

PrinceX wrote:No that is not good because their songs got better and better since their album "Playgirlz" and their fan base is bigger than in Korea.
I wasn't a fan of their debut in Japan but since they released "Heaven" and "Shh", and now "Dress To Kill" they have such a different and unique sound from most Korean groups in Japan.
Which is a good think and it makes After School different. I mean, their songs right now are probably the best songs from a Korean artist.
Maybe if their contract expires than i hope they move to a different Japanese company to get at least better promotions but to stop promotions in Japan forever is a bad idea in my opinion.

Honestly, I don't care about After School's Japanese fans. If all they care about is After School Japanese songs and they're going to stop being fans when After School returns to Korea then they don't care about After School so it doesn't matter to me whether they're fans or not. As for the potential loss of revenue, I'll leave that to Pledis and the other international fans to work out. There are ways we can be more supportive to Pledis and help Pledis grow but it's up to fans whether they're willing to do it. It's obvious whether we consider songs to be good or not depends on personal preferences. I really don't like Heaven. For me there's nothing special about it and it actually offends me for reasons I've previously mentioned on this topic and others. I haven't really paid much attention to "Dress To Kill" so I won't comment further about it until I've given it more chances. As for Shh I've already said why I don't like it. For you and other fans After School Japanese songs maybe the best songs from a Korean artist but for me After School songs are the worst I've heard among Japanese artists.

If their contract expires with Avex(  Yay!!!) what Pledis needs to do is promoted more in Korea to raise the popularity of After School and Orange Caramel. One of the obvious reasons why After School and Orange Caramel isn't that popular in Korea is because they've been having one comeback per year. One of the obvious reasons why they have so little comebacks is because they also need to promote in Japan. No Japanese promotions  = more Korean activities   When they finally become really popular in Korea maybe then they should consider promoting in Japan again but this time I hope it's under Pledis' management when Pledis become large enough to promote in Japan on their own.

@PlayboyzAdam

But their Japanese songs are great.
I wasn't a big fan either of their Japanese songs first since they messed up with Diva and the release with Rambling Girls and Lady Luck. I thought they wouldn't be that big in Japan when they stuck to these type of songs and concept. But Heaven and Shh are really good songs but if you don't like it, oh well. That's ok on one side but on the other side we should support them whatever they do, shouldn't we?

Anyhow, seems like "Dress To Slay" didn't had a good start. That's sad...

PrinceX wrote:@PlayboyzAdam

But their Japanese songs are great.
I wasn't a big fan either of their Japanese songs first since they messed up with Diva and the release with Rambling Girls and Lady Luck. I thought they wouldn't be that big in Japan when they stuck to these type of songs and concept. But Heaven and Shh are really good songs but if you don't like it, oh well. That's ok on one side but on the other side we should support them whatever they do, shouldn't we?

Even though I really h8 Avex and After School's Japanese songs I'm really grateful for the support fans like you have given which contributed to After School's success in Japan. I think After School deserves it and more. I tried really hard to like Heaven, I've brought the album and was trying to force myself to like it. I also tried to force myself to like Shh but...seriously it's not fun doing it so I've decided to stop. I don't like Avex's ethics and the way they promote After School make me feel like I'm not getting any love. Even with Pledis' reputed/demonstrated incompetence, they've shown they highly prioritise their fans and this is reflected in their products(this I'm really sensitive to).

I agree we should support them whatever they do but it doesn't mean I have to like whatever they do(can't be help, trying to brainwash myself into liking things I don't like is very hard). I would buy all their Japanese albums even though I don't like them just to support After School but my change in career path has left me with severe financial limitations so I'm only going to buy AS/OC Korean albums. I know there are other ways to support their Japanese album  but I barely have enough time to support Orange Caramel's Catallena promotion so I won't be supporting their Japanese album(sorry guys). Also there are goals for After School/Orange Caramel and this fandom I would like to see achieved that has much higher priority than supporting their Japanese albums right now.