The Great Kenkyuusei Battle (Dec 2009)

On 30 November 2009, AKB48 management did another Kenkyuusei selection for the 8th gen Kenkyuuseis. The purpose was to filter those girls who have not improved much since they joined from those girls who did improve enough to join a Team. The results were a total massacre and only 3 girls remained standing out of the 13 who once stood. The remaining 10 girls were sent packing.

THE RESULTS
IN: Imai Yurie, Ueki Asaki, Sano Yuriko
OUT: Ishii Ayaka, Ishibe Aya, Kaku Grace, Komizu Nanami, Sakamoto Rio, Tomite Ami, Miki Nicole, Muranaka Satomi, Sugiyama Miku

I haven't seen any LoDs of Kenkyuusei performances yet, only as replacements in the Team LODs. So I can't say much about the 8th gen Kenkyuuseis. But for those who have, it seems that a couple of fan favourites were eleminated and well... The fans aren't happy thats for sure. What confuses me is that why wasn't this done earlier? Or why can't they release the 2010 weekly calendar after they did the auditions? Those girls who were fired got pages in the weekly calendar. Now because of the auditions, those pictures will just bring sad memories to their fans.

Also, AKB official site has updated their Kenkyuusei list with the new 9th gen Kenkyuusei.

Uh..... Those are really bad photos. Really really bad. But then, so are 70% of the profile pictures on the official blog. I wonder when will they finally update the profile pics with the new costumes. I hope they look better when they finally debut and we get to see pictures and videos of them. It has been said that these girls have already been in the show business for some time already so they should have the experience and knowledge to survive in the idol world.