One month ago NEWS released its 10th anniversary concert DVD, which is merely half a year after the said concert. Johnny's groups, as far as I know, release concert DVDs in a span of 1 month gap minimum to 6 months gap maximum after their concerts. NEWS' latest DVD is no exception, as it is in the 6-month gap mark. Logically there is nothing to worry about.
But the fandom, who has experienced the highs and lows of the group, has some little rants going in our heads...
NEWS always seems to be on standby. The members have their own activities, of course, so does the subgroup Tegomass; but isn't it saddening that their last single was released in 2012? They only had one release in 2013, and so far, after a month since NEWS10th DVD came out, we're still not seeing any upcoming release yet.
It is never normal for an idol group to release materials in a veeery slow pace, unless that group undergoes a break, a shift, or a problem of some sort. When NEWS became four it was their biggest issue but the biggest improvement afterwards; the four of them, along with the fandom, became stronger and inseparable. They became more natural and constant again in their activities.
But... It seems the constancy didn't last long. Each fan has different takes on this matter; some think that it's fine because there's still the solo activities--at least we get to see the members active in their own ways, and because we've reached the highest level of confidence and trust we have in NEWS, we don't really worry about the pace of the group activities. In other words, nothing's alarming, everything's good.
However, there are people who say that NEWS has passed its prime. They've been around for 10 years and unfortunately, unlike Arashi or SMAP who still soars to the top and still has in-demand activities all the time despite their age, NEWS goes to the side of the senpai groups, which, though being there, are just there... and releases only when the company feels like it. One example is V6. They were once very famous too, but their popularity faded away with time. Maybe this is what's happening to NEWS. And don't forget about the RyoPi incident which honestly took a huge number of supporters away from the group. And what about the younger, fresh acts like Hey! Say! JUMP, Sexy Zone, etc? They're going up drastically. NEWS has no choice but to go to the far, barely seen sides of the Johnny's polygon.
Although there are others who think that the company is just protecting NEWS' statistics as a group with steady #1 releases. Releasing too often may break the stats--think of it, they said, if NEWS is always very active we won't really miss them, and we won't feel subjected to buy their every release--which can mean lesser buyers and lower ranking. In the contrary, when NEWS release their stuff once in a blue moon, we anticipate for that blue moon... With the will to buy everything they have for us.
Back to the original question, the title of the post itself. Is depriving NEWS from us a tragedy or a strategy? Tragedy, because we know that NEWS will never be as popular as they were before? Or strategy, going in a pace that is different from all the other groups? In my opinion, it's a mixture of both; now the suggested way of making things simpler is for them to have their own TV show. (With a good timeslot of course!)
I'm sure everyone agrees with this. Even NEWS say straightforwardly that they want to have a TV show of their own. We know how NEWS' chemistry works, now all that is left is for them to present it regularly on an outlet that fans and even non-fans will see. Seeing NEWS in a different light, we'll forget all the tragedy and boost the marketing strategy as well. This might not bring NEWS back to its highest peak again but we know for sure this is one of our biggest dreams come true.
Meanwhile, I hope to hear a new release from NEWS soon. I wanna feel what the group prepares for us this year, in its 11th year of existence. NEWS がんばってください！
