Bi-Polar idol online session blues and highs and everything in between

It's not an online cheki session without Jorge! I always feel assured about your purchases for these things and when you choose to do that is always okay. For you and for anybody. I'm just happy to see everybody participate!

One thing that I always do for the cheki sessions you host is buy near the day of, just due to not feeling the need to order immediately.

Jorge Montelongo

Hi Derek, the clash with your cheki session and the free live concert (plus cheki session) of the other popular group was really bad timing. I love these girls to death too. My first signed cheki with my name on it was from them. But there are many reasons I don´t buy signed cheki there anymore. Only themed sets. And the cheki sessions themselves aren´t very personal. Especially in comparision how cool, how funny and how interactive your sessions are. You really help making a connection to fans and I deeply appreciate that. I am full aware of the situation getting harder for groups being permitted to perform in the late evening. This is really shitty. Yeah. All three HKP groups at once are a lot of cheki but they all do an awesome job. Emopippi was the group I know almost nothing right now since they are barely represented on icolony. In fact… Their first concert that is streamed ever is next week on the youtube channel. But I know HKPs work and they can´t be less than fantastic. I struggeled at first and had only Emomomo and Bakashinu Tickets in the first but decided to do a support here too. At least having one cheki per member. The bigger groups always make me wish I just was rich. At your point, making these groups more appealing to foreingers to gain more fans is definetly essential. With more fans there is also more support and it´s easier for groups suddenly having an extra source of income. Especially the groups you work with know that already. The first steps are done. Of course, in the beginning the extra support is smaller, but it´s only a matter of increasing fans. I see one effective way making the bands a little more interesting for fans. Showing some live concerts. The icolony channel ones for example. Many idols I love and support now i saw on idol underworld. When I first saw them I could barely find music material they work on. But then your Birthday show came and I was in love with all 8 groups who performed there. Blown away by Okinawa Sayas Performance, falling deeply in Love with Last Questions retro RPG Love idol image, having fun with Emomomo 7. It gained interest for the groups. And when you browse of my order history you notice I started collecting stuff of these groups. The doc made me familiar with NaNoMoRaL etc. But what I want to say: What you do works. I think occasionly sharing a free available concert or a new music video of a group on your social media accounts will gain some attention. “This is Emomomo 7´s new music video. Great work girls.”. I gladly retweet stuff like this.. Maybe this hepls spreading the word. And of your photobooks. I see the dilemma. Many of your creative ideas are focused on that idol you want to do the book for too. If the Momoi book would have happened I bet a big part would be focused on fantasy and gaming related ideas which you can´t adapt to any other idol. Just to give an example. But you already had an inspiration from my side on the last commentary who might be interested. Have a good one.

Svensei

ahhhhh gotcha. well, it's always truly truly appreciated. You are the best Andre, and I can't thank you enough for your continued support. And Mirai will be happy to know her cheki just got sold out! I'll be sure to get that stocked up soon! Thank you so much!

Thanks as always for your lovely comments. I'm so happy you take time to listen to me and my late night thoughts... seriously, means the world to me. As for this clashing with the other event last night, it was unfortunate, but what a lot of people maybe are forgetting, or perhaps I would hope take into consideration, is that the reason that other group toured the USA and Europe so much was, in large part, due to me and my abilities to set up those tours and secure shows. I had a huge hand in all of that, and out of respect for me and maybe what I'm trying to do next, I would hope that I could have enough pull and influence to bring people to what I'm doing with these lesser known groups. But... it's a consumer's market with idols, and also I get it totally... and there's no bad feelings involved on my end with any of this really. I just had hoped to see more of my usual crowd, at the very least, attending this session, considering the amount of work, time, and effort that goes into setting all of this up, managing it, paying people involved in it, and then preparing all the cheki orders and then shipping them out, etc. It's a LOT of work for only like 12 people to tune in. So... that's where it gets somewhat frustrating to me. Also, I have to think about this when the future arrives and we all can begin touring the world again... I am in a MUCH bigger position with a lot of groups now than I was two years ago, and if fans don't support me and what I'm doing now with all of these groups, I have to really think about the fact that setting up tours for all of these groups or doing big matsuri festival type shows overseas for these idol groups might not be able to happen like I was hoping for. The reason is because I really can't be taking twenty to thirty plus idols and staff overseas to play for 12 people in a room... and seeing only a few people showing up last night and dipping out to go join the popular club last night.. well, it makes me wonder what would happen if the same situation occurred overseas, you know? In other words, this is a testing ground for me to consider my future actions to help foreign fans connect with idols, as much as it is me trying to give idols a chance to live and breathe a little easier this month, like we're all trying to do these days. That being said, I don't want to sound like foreign fans are doing anything wrong for wanting to support any idol of their choosing just because it's not the idols I'm representing. So please please please don't come away from what I just wrote thinking that. I just look at last night as something to consider when moving forward with what I'm doing here in Japan for people wanting to really have a chance to meet idols that they can't otherwise meet right now. That's all. I was TRULY happy that some people attended last night and they were kind enough to buy cheki for these girls and overall, it was a really fun time. So... in the end, it still turned out to be a positive thing, and that's super important, right? RIGHT! As for you talking about connecting with the idols, I feel ya... that's an honest statement and I appreciate that. I want so badly for these girls last night to have a larger foreign fanbase, considering how insanely fun they are as both idols and during their live sets. So perhaps seeing them live will really make you think you've experienced something amazing. Trust me, there's nothing more incredible than seeing the EMOx7 girls walk off the stage during Yandere revolution and get everybody in the crowd to do a massive, coordinated hangbang with them while you're locked arms with the idols, and then they get you to run side to side in a tiny venue and knock everybody in their way over, and so on. They just make people do ridiculous things during their live sets, and it's a ton of fun. A total blast. So... my crusade for them will continue, as they truly are exceptional and fun and well deserving of everything I can help them achieve and they can help themselves achieve. For real. As for the variety shows, there's no way I can do anything on the level of AKBINGO, with a full TV set, but... I was thinking more like a Youtube series done in a small studio where we can come up with a fun series of talks, games, etc. Just something to create content that brings idols closer together with foreign fans (and Japanese fans too, of course, but they can do that already with the billion live shows and offkai events they can go to now). I also just think in general it's a way to really know who these idols actually are and have fun with them. So... really been thinking about how best to do this... maybe it will hit me in some fashion and I can try to figure something out and then get going on it. Still in the works for sure. Thanks for your ideas about generating money. I would lose money if I put those idol goods in the boxes (I know what you're talking about), since renting those out are not cheap and space is limited in a lot of cases anyway. I have seen plenty of those boxes selling idol goods but mostly major idol goods like AKB items, etc. But good thinking and appreciate the brain power on this! I hope to find something else to generate income that's idol-specific. Working on that now! Thanks so much. Truly. I love all your comments. Take care and talk soon !

Despite buying chekis, I couldn’t watch the cheki session while it was happening, since I had to work then (10 am in the morning here). Sometimes it’s possible for me to attend when the sessions start at 9 pm in Japan, as I may be able to have a lunch break around that time. Anyway, in the meantime I’ve been able to watch the archive and I loved Mirai’s reaction.

As I’ve written before due to having less spare finances at the moment I’m having to pick and choose some of these online cheki sessions and unfortunately although I’ve tried I haven’t clicked with Emomo & the others music. Perhaps seeing them at a live show would change my mind but that’s not likely to happen in the immediate future (and the way it’s going I’ll be surprised if Japan lets tourists into the country this year). I also think it was very unfortunate that this clashed with another popular group who have been able to gain a lot of foreign fans by performing in Europe and USA - most groups would struggle up against them so it sounds like you did pretty well considering (I didn’t partake but I know a lot of fellow idol fans did). Hopefully clashes with them can be avoided in the future. Variety shows would be a great idea but expensive and hard to coordinate. I couldn’t name one AKB song or member but I’ve watched quite a few of the AKBingo shows on YouTube and found them highly entertaining. Thinking of ways to generate additional revenue would there be an opportunity to approach any of the shops that specialises in idol goods? I’m thinking of the ones in Akihabara and Nagano but I’m sure there’s plenty of others around Tokyo. Or there are those shops where people rent out display boxes and sell figures/gacha. I don’t ever recall seeing any selling specific idol goods but maybe it’s a way to get the Idol Underworld name out there in the otaku world (I have no idea how much these boxes cost to rent so might be a nonstarter). Anyway if I think of any more ideas I’ll let you know. Stay positive, Graham