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The story
On his own show, Koji Imada compared the pairing of Suzuki Airi (formerly of ℃-ute) and Saito Asuka (Nogizaka46) to “Misawa Mitsuharu and Chono Masahiro sharing a stage,” sparking buzz on 5ch. The remark was meant to capture the special feeling of flagship stars from rival promotions — All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling — appearing together, but it didn’t land with generations unfamiliar with pro wrestling, and the thread saw calls for a different analogy, like Gundam. The conversation then spiraled into the classic debate over which is “higher-ranked,” Hello! Project or the Sakamichi groups, with posters trading arguments based on CD sales, hit songs, streaming numbers, and more.
What people said
As an idol, Saito Asuka is way above her in rank anyway.
but it's hard to follow if you're not into that.
Suzuki Airi = Ryu (a minor Gundam pilot)
Saito Asuka = Char
Nogizaka and ℃-ute are on completely different levels in firepower lol
The skill gap is more like
Suzuki Airi = Lieutenant Emma
Saito Asuka = Frau Bow
the one with Masataka Matsutoya on it.
You mean FUN, the one Norika Fujiwara was also on?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzpY9ldUQAAkXeV.jpg:orig#.jpg
cars: Toyota vs. Nissan
home appliances: Panasonic vs. Toshiba
video games: Nintendo vs. Sony
regions: Osaka vs. Tokyo
pro wrestling: All Japan vs. New Japan
that's the kind of rivalry people see them as.
Saito Asuka has a show with Imada
Both pairing up with a comedian for a late-night show, that much they have in common.
Do you know how many thousands of CDs Hello! Project has sold, how many dozens of hit songs they've had?
In raw sales numbers, Sakamichi wins hands down.
You can't count handshake-event 'doping' as real sales, don't be ridiculous.
Getting crushed on streaming numbers though.
In Hello! Project terms, she's nowhere near Goto/Abe [Goto Maki, Abe Natsumi] level, but she's roughly on par with Takahashi Ai.
After Nishino and Shiraishi graduated, she was the ace though.
Suzuki Airi was ℃-ute's center from start to finish, but ℃-ute never really sold that well.
Maybe they should've demoted Airi since she could never deliver results.
Once Asuka-chan left, I suddenly lost all interest in Nogizaka.
'Hatsukoi Cider' only got big within idol-fan circles anyway.
She's well known as an influencer though.
which in Nogizaka46 terms is worth about as much as filling the National Stadium.
There's no way 5 members of Nogizaka46 could pull off filling Saitama.
Their Under Live has filled Yokohama Arena, Budokan, and Pia Arena, so I think they could do it no problem.
But can people of all ages actually sing along to it?
No idea if they can sing it, but you'd probably recognize it if you heard it, right?
Nah, I really doubt it.
I don't even know it myself, and if that's the case, most middle-aged guys definitely won't either.
I've heard of Equal Love and Kawara Lab,
but Sakamichi groups I genuinely don't know.
Saito Asuka, who made Nogizaka a hit
vs. Suzuki Airi, who kept ℃-ute stagnant
Background and Key Points of the Debate
The comparison Imada used, “Misawa Mitsuharu and Chono Masahiro,” refers to two wrestlers who were once the top stars of rival promotions — All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling, respectively. For generations who remember the inter-promotion rivalry boom of the 1990s, this instantly conveys the special feeling of “flagship stars from rival organizations sharing the same stage.” But for those unfamiliar with pro wrestling, the reference didn’t land, prompting comments like “hard to follow” and “wish he’d used a Gundam analogy” that broadened the discussion. What split opinion in the thread was the question of which is “higher-ranked” — Hello! Project (℃-ute) or the Sakamichi Series (Nogizaka46). Those who prioritize CD sales pointed to Sakamichi’s sales figures, while those who value track record and history brought up Hello! Project’s number of songs and the relationship between handshake-event culture and CD sales (so-called “handshake doping”). Streaming numbers then entered the conversation as yet another metric, leaving the matter unresolved by any simple ranking. Since this is fundamentally a comparison between groups with different metrics and different fan bases, readers should note that no objective “ranking” actually exists.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Koji Imada: ‘Suzuki Airi and Saito Asuka appearing together is like Misawa Mitsuharu and Chono Masahiro sharing a stage’ — comparing the pairing of aces from rival promotions.”
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