We are in a time in Japan when there are no majorly outstanding stars in the music scene and both teams had to play strategically to make the most out of their chance to win. With the lack of new talent, once again the reliance on the long-standing stars was the only resource both teams had at hand.
The show started with an immediate loss from Shirogumi when Go Hiromi took the stage and was paired with Sakurako Ohara. If there were major highlights, this was a moment to point out. A 19 year-old girl took winning points from a long-standing veteran.
As things continued, Shirogumi recovered and gained some ground in the first half of the show, but they did so with no highlights and while using the boy bands with boys who are no longer boys. Kyoshi Hikawa scored with a good performance and everybody else didn't stand out apart from Arashi who did well.
On the side of the ladies there were a few performances that scored the winning points. Kana Nishino, Nogizaka46, and Miwa provided that overall higher ground Akagumi needed to win, but the people in charge of delivering the win are: E-girls with a good performance that could have been better, Ikimonogakari, and NMB48. Perfume can counted in the winning team, but they could have delivered a better performance with a better song. The definite moment when Akagumi won was when AKB48 performed and brought back Atsuko Maeda and Yuko Oshima. Everything else is really history that was enhanced by Seiko Matsuda and Akiko Wada as the show came to its final stages.
Other highlights that are important and worth mentioning are, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi in the stage as occasional MC and the Anime Kohaku which is something quite innovative for a show of this magnitude. This was a very good move that caught the attention of animation fans and therefore more votes.
A good strategic game dominated the whole show and in a way this year's Kohaku was matched in favor of the changing social reality of Japan. It was thought out to drive people to vote with timings that matched when both young people and the elderly were going to be in front of the TV with their remote control to vote. In a country that has more women than men, getting them to swing their vote to Akagumi was key for the latter to win. All timings were provided equally to the two teams at all the different stages of the show giving the highest moments of opportunity to vote for one or the other team. A good combination of young and old stars at strategic times during the first and second half of the show with a heavy focus during the golden time drove the overall activity towards deciding the win of Akagumi. At the end, especially the last hour, it was almost not necessary to watch the show with all the stars from 35 years ago performing and this is what made the decision in favor of Akagumi peak before the show concluded.
Congratulations to the ladies for winning the show and for doing so strategically and carefully turning obstacles in their favor.
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