#i am aware that the Dreamies dont have their own version of Regular

[fadingoutintothehands]

My thoughts about NCT Tokyo (long post)

Preface/disclaimer - no hate to anyone mentiomed at all, there's no hate mentioned at all i just have to be safe. I just simply think too much about logistics and I need a place to put everything. I also have not kept up to date with NCT Tokyo at all, I only know their names and that they're debuting towards the end of the year? Or early next year? I also don't know the details of the legal issues with SM and if that's impacted their recent decisions with NCT. I haven't listen to Riize at all either, I don't know their names, only SungTaro. So take everything with a pinch of salt I guess.

1. Initial thoughts

I'm okay with NCT Tokyo, I'm okay with them being an NCT subunit I'm okay with their ages roughly, I'll most likely get as into them as I am with the rest of NCT once they debut. But ultimately my interest in kpop groups factors in the music as the *biggest* reason, so if they end up having music I don't like then I might not get into them that much (doubt it, I think they'll have good music) but I do plan to support them wholeheartedly.

I know their ages are a contention, but they're 5th gen after all and most of the new 5th gen groups seem to be in around the same age brackets. ZB1 has obviously taken off and we all love Yujin and he's the same age as the youngest Tokyo member I think?? NCT as a full group don't really interact as often as a subunit does, so having their whole unit be the same age bracket is fine. It's not like the eldest members of NCT are directly in the same subunit.

2. Golden Age

I like Golden Age its a good album its got great songs. I do have my own issues with the album and one of which is that I think it could've been a good way to introduce NCT Tokyo into NCT. A tie in album, where they get to debut in NCT and then later on they debut as the Tokyo sub unit. So personally I think maybe Golden Age should've been released much later than it was, so we could all get used to Tokyo and familiar enough that we want to see them on the album. Golden Age is obviously a mini rebrand for NCT, it's setting out the expectations for their new era, so having Tokyo included could've been really cool for that. Tokyo feels very separated from NCT at the moment so participating in Golden Age, even just only being on the all member song, could've really helped them to feel like part of the group right off the bat.

3. What would I have done?

Put the hypothetical hat on. Put it on, strap it on, you've got this, just think about it. Hypothetically if I was in charge of making the sub unit decisions, and I'm thinking like SM here, this is what I would've done. Firstly, keep Sungchan and Shotaro in NCT. Debut Riize as the sub unit NCT Riize this year (same time as their real debut ig) and have them be the 5th gen part of NCT as their concept? So now in 2023 we have NCT Riize as a subunit, at the same time SM has Tokyo in Rookies or their survival show, in the basement I dunno where they keep trainees.

Then, in a couple years (2-3) time we debut NCT Tokyo, and we add in either just Shotaro, or Sungchan and Shotaro (I know we like the "keep them together" policy) because that way we can tie in Tokyo to the rest of NCT. Debuting these existing trainees in a few years would also get rid of age hang ups as the youngest would be around 18. Shotaro as a Japanese member would not only fit the Tokyo concept, but would probably provide some comfort to these young kids who are going to need some familiarity at the start.

Could this member tie in have been done with Yuta if Riize isn't in NCT? No, I don't think so, Yuta being so much older than Tokyo would offset the vibes and the concept, whereas Shotaro isn't older than all of them completely by a wide gap. So ultimately have Shotaro act as a Mark & Haechan situation, obviously there's issues about overworking members but SM clearly has no issues with having Mark in all of their groups to ever exist so why would they have an issue with someone else doing the same thing. Clearly separating Riize and Tokyo comebacks/schedules would help too, so Shotaro isn't dead in the group 6 months in (cough cough not looking at the 127 comeback announcement made the day after Golden Age was released)

Adding 2 new sub units would also keep SM happy as they always wanted that Big Group thing going on, they've gotten rid of the limitless expansion but adding 2 new sub units doesn't ruin that. The group all together would have like 34 members or something similar,,, that's Not *too* bad, I could do that. Obviously it's going to be harder for new people to get into a group that large but the rest of us managed it with 20+ members. Are you telling me you don't know more than 30 people in you're life? I'm sure you've gone to school with more than 30 people and remembered their names well enough to get around.

5. Music

Honestly I don't really have any expectations for Tokyo's music. I'd imagine they stick the that new sound of 5th gen, and tie in the 'noise' music of NCT. I hope their sound is unique enough to stand out as a sub unit though; WayV obviously sounds like NCT but they also don't in the same way that 127 and Dream have overlap. So I'd like Tokyo to have their own distinct music genres which you wouldn't necessarily find in a 127 song etc. Or Riize for that matter, I hope they don't sound like Riize at all, because I think the last thing they need is to be compared to Riize this early on in their careers.

I don't know if it's been said that their songs will be in Japanese, but if they are then it poses a small issue for me? I've found that I don't particularly enjoy Japanese kpop songs as much, I didn't catch onto &Team as much as I thought I did, I don't listen to Japanese versions of Seventeen or Ateez songs. However as a counter point to this, I do very much enjoy the Japanese albums NCT 127 have done and I listen to them very regularly so if Tokyo is in the same ballpark then I think I would enjoy their songs in Japanese. I am a WayV ult stan at the end of the day, I have no issue with non Korean language kpop songs, and I listen to much more Japanese music outside of the kpop genre (shout out to Survive Said The Prophet i luv u).

Regular (huh?). Do we want another version of Regular? I do, I want a Japanese version to tie it all in, to have that whole NCT spin on things. It's another way to integrate them in and make Tokyo *feel* like NCT. It would be weird without Winwin because he's on all the other versions but that's not an issue I just like to think about it and giggle. Regular as their debut song however? No. Not even on their debut album. Release it as a single, or on a later release further down the line. I can wait for Regular Japanese version, I don't need it any time soon. I just think it'll be good to have in the roster at some point. Who knows, maybe it'll dethrone the WayV/Chinese version as my favourite?