Yeah, sorry exactly. They are NOT apically dominant, so the low branches will grow stronger than the apex. And as a satsuki, it will likely backbud on old wood without pruning.
As you say, you have two and you think they are fattening up at a reasonable rate AND they look great already with their flowers. So why chop? You want it to look as fat as a strong traditional pine bonsai? I just think it is always a waste to remove half or 1/3rd of your imported satsuki bonsai. It is not a 10 euro nursery azalea, which you could chop. A tall azalea is of value, as they are not apically dominant and naturally don't grow tall and single-trunked.
If you are skilled at bonsai, you can make finely branched foliage pads even on very thin tall satsuki azalea. Those will look good and do well out of flower in satsuki azalea exhibitions in Japan. Or feature in the magazines. They will look great. But they won't look like a miniature version of a 300 year old strong masculine pine tree, as a high quality pine bonsai would. But it is not a pine. It is an azalea. Do you really need to meet that trunk diameter to tree height ratio? Yes, it may take way too long for a tall meika satsuki azalea to grow out and be as fat so that it meets the ideal diameter-to-height ratio for a bonsai. Unless you chop. But chopping won't make it look older. And it won't make the tree trunk be fatter either. I am not saying that one should never remove the apex of a satsuki azalea. But I don't think you should plan to do so. Let alone buy a tree you don't like as it is, grow it for years, planning to remove the apex from the beginning, and then doing it.
Sure, grow the trunk thicker. You will have more age and more taper. And maybe better nebari (though don't count on it). It will take years, but you should be enjoying the journey. And if at some point in the far future, you throw a white cloth over the apex and it turns out it looks great without it, then go for it and remove it. But don't buy an imported meika satsuki azalea, and plan to turn it into a 'true bonsai' by planning to chop 25% to 50% of the top of the tree from the start. Accept it as the tall tree it is, with the apex. Then see it fatten up, age, mature and develop. And then maybe it might reach a point far in the future where with the apex gone, it will be a better bonsai without it than it will be a meika with apex. And then you remove it.
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