Rena Matsui isnât the one percent. Sheâs the less than one percent. As far as idols go, sheâs quickly shot to the top of the group she belongs to, SKE48. No wonder Microsoft roped her into promote Kinect in Japan.
Shame that didnât exactly work out.
SKE48 is a Nagoya-based spin-off of AKB48, Japanâs most popular idol group. You cannot turn on television these days without seeing them on variety shows, dramas, or music programs, or in commercials selling everything from vegetable juice to video games.
Last year, when Microsoft launched Kinect, it seemed to believe that the controller-free platform would finally be the breakthrough moment in Japan. It would do what even the man who created Final Fantasy could not: boast a mainstream success. It didnât happen.
During the Kinect ad campaign, Rena Matsui, dressed as a schoolgirl, appeared with fellow SKE48 member Jurina Matsui (no relation) in commercials and even at the countryâs Kinect launch event.
https://lastchance.cc/schoolgirl-singers-promoting-kinect-in-japan-5655801%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
That launch event drew about 100 people, and even Kinect shirts signed by both Matsui girls fetched high prices online
Twenty-year-old Rena Matsui, however, continues to get more and more popularâXbox Japan in reverse. At a recent handshaking event at Chibaâs Makuhari Messe, home of the Tokyo Game Show, she drew massive lines that dwarfed the lines for her fellow SKE48 members. Over 10,000 people showed up, with the majority seeming to make a beeline for the long Matsui line.
In the photo, you can see the long line for Rena Matsui. Next to her is the line for Jurina Matsui, which is considerably shorter.
Handshaking events are not only a way that SKE48 and its sister-groups interact with fans, but a way in which each idolâs popularity can be measured. When the lines are long, obviously a certain idol is popular, for whatever reason.
If the lines are short or even non-existant, sometimes fans end up feeling sorry for those less popular idols and might even become their fans, if anything because those idols seems far more approachable.
Idols can often seem interchangeable. And they often are. Thereâs no denying the starpower that the top ones have, much in the same way famous actors or actresses do. The lining up to shake their hands part has always been lost on me. If I were going to line up, it would be for AKB48 producer, song writer, and horror book writer Yasushi Akimoto, because that guyâs a genius. That, or Kinect. Yes, I would actually line up for Kinect. Not a long line, mind you, but still, a line.
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(Top photo: Office48)
You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
