New AKB Subgroup [Natto Angel Z]

This is pretty dated but the full song only came up few days ago. Anyone here still remembered the subgroup [Nattou Angels] with their song Nattou Angels last year? They were supporting Nattou Day (July 10) in Japan. This year, they are back. Well....only 1 of the original 3 is though... Gone are Itano Tomomi and Kasai Tomomi, leaving only Miyazaki Miho in the group. She has gained some new allies though: Nito Moeno, Ishida Haruka and Sato Sumire. The four has united to form the new and improved Nattou Angel Z! Like their predecessor, they will be supporting Nattou Day again with their song Nattou man. There won't be a Single release unfortunately, this time it's a digital download only. For those of you who are unfamiliar to Natto, Wikipedia has an article on it. With pictures too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natt%C5%8D slight...

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[Heavy Rotation] 1st Week Sales

  527,336 copies sold! Ponytail to Shushu sold 513,453 copies in its first week.And of course they took the no. 1 spot in the Oricon weekly chart. AKB48 now hold the record of being the 1st female group and the 3rd female artist to have 2 consecutive Singles sell more than 500k in the first week (behind Utada Hikaru and Ayumi Hamasaki) That's not all for this week, In the Recochoku (online music store for japan) weekly ranking, Heavy Rotation is ranked 1st for Ringtone downloads, Full Song downloads, Video downloads and Movie Downloads! Congratulations with Heavy Rotation selling over...

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No Sleeves Debut Album [No Sleeves]

Updated 23 September: Kimishika has been added to tracklist Updated 17 September: Release date confirmed. The title of the album is "No Sleeves". No surprise there. Their first 4 singles' title tracks Relax!, Tane, Kiss no Ryuusei and Lie will be on the album, as well as remix versions of no3b's Mendol drama songs Christmas Present and 3seconds. There will also be a surprise inclusion of Team A stage songs Junai no Crescendo and Bye Bye Bye on the album. These are stage songs that the 3 of them did together, so unlike the French Kiss single's coupling songs, no3b is the exact original singers here. Their latest single, Kimishika will not WILL be included. There will be a total 11 songs on the album, which comes in 5 versions. No Sleeves 1st Album Release date: 2010/01/01 Versions: ￥3,059...

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[Heavy Rotation] 1st Day Sales

Once again, congratulations to AKB48!    Heavy Rotation sold 340,487 copies on the first day, topping the Oricon charts!    For comparison, Ponytail to Shushu sold 354,403 copies on its first day. This means AKB sold about 10k less this time, but it doesn't mean that it's lousy, because Ponyshu had voting tickets which resulted in more people buying multiple copies. This time, there is no election, but Heavy Rotation managed not to drop drastically in comparison, which means that AKB is really gaining fans.    And supporting the thinking that the number of fans...

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[Heavy Rotation] Final Updates + Review

 My my my. It's the day of release for Heavy Rotation and wow, there has been nothing but good news with this Single this last few days. I'll start of with the first one. Heavy Rotation.........somehow........amazingly..........ships.........out.......... 650,000 COPIES!!!!!!! (note: its shipped not sold. Shipped as in to the various stores for selling) HOLY SHIT! That's A LOT! To give you a comparison, Ponytail to Shushu shipped out 500,000 copies. Ponytail to Shushu had a 1st day sale of 354,403 and a 1st week sale of 513,453. Wow AKB is definitely on a roll now. That's not all! The...

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AKB48 Team Pigg Battle

Some time ago, there was a competition going on in Ameba Pigg, a game sort of like Second Life for Japanese, entirely in Japanese. First announced at the Yoyogi concert (see post here). The Pigg characters of all the members of AKB48 (except Shinoda Mariko due to a contract with another company) were split into 10 teams of various sizes. They will be competing for the title of Team Pigg, and their song will be featured on the B-side of AKB48's 18th Single which will be released on 27 October. We have no information on the songs, only the team name, members on that team, and the title of the song. Here are the teams: Team NameSongMembers Love CompanyThirstyOshima, Sato A, Nakaya, Miyazaki MINTKimi ni Tsuite (君について)Maeda At, Katayama, Kasai, Nito, Matsui S UDeleteItano, Masuda, Komori,...

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AKB48xYJ - AKB48 Mangaka Debut/Kitarie Seiyuu Debut

Weekly Young Jump will publish manga works by AKB48 members Watanabe Mayu, Kashiwagi Yuki, Kitahara Rie and Sashihara Rino. They will start in issue No. 38, with Kashiwagi on the cover. Each of the 4 members' manga will be released once a month, and each members' manga will be released every different week. So each week, you will see a manga by one of the four members. The pattern repeats every month. The official site for the collaboration is here. The titles of the mangas are as listed: Watanabe: "Mayuyu no Mangaka Debut Keikaku" (Mayuyu's Mangaka Debut Plan) Kashiwagi: "Yukirin no THE...

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Watarirouka Hashiritai 6th Single [Gyu]

Covers From left: Limited A, B, C and Regular Gyu (ギュッ) Release Date: 01 September 2010 Price:     Limited ver: 1700 yen     Normal ver: 1200 yen Gyu (Limited ver. A) [CD] 01. Gyu 02. Tenohira 03. Gomennasai 04. Gyu (Instrumental) 05. Tenohira (Instrumental) 06. Gomennasai (Instrumental) [DVD] Tracklist TBA Comes with 1 trading card out of #73, 74, 75Gyu (Limited ver. B) [CD] 01. Gyu 02. Tenohira 03. Gomennasai 04. Gyu (Instrumental) 05. Tenohira (Instrumental) 06. Gomennasai (Instrumental) [DVD] Tracklist TBA Comes with 1 trading card out of #76, 77, 78 Gyu...

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Puccho x AKB48

Another collaboration between AKB and some other company. How many have there been this year already? This time the collaboration is with food producer UHA Mikakuto. AKB48 will be collaborating with UHA Mikakuto for their for 10th year anniversary, who will be releasing a bunch of new flavours for their Puccho candies (ぷっちょ). The song used for the promotion is the title song of their upcoming single, Heavy Rotation. The members who are participating in the collaboration are the Senbatsu girls voted in the recent election. These are: Oshima Yuko, Maeda Atsuko, Shinoda Mariko, Itano Tomomi, Watanabe...

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Team A 6th Stage [Mokugekisha] Review

I'm probably the last one to do this. Sorry bout that, exam period plus project submissions and my GPA ain't really that good. Well it's the holidays now so expect a mass of updates. First up is my review of Team A's new Stage [Mokugekisha] meaning Eye-witness. Now with pictures! Team A 6th STAGE [Mokugekisha] No.RomajiJapaneseTranslationSingers OPMiniskirt no Yoseiミニスカートの妖精Miniskirt fairyZenza Girls M00Overture--- M01Mokugekisha目撃者Eye-witnessTeam A M02Zenjin Mitou前人未踏UntroddedTeam A M03Ibitsu na Shinjuいびつな真珠Distorted pearlTeam A M04Akogare no Popstar憧れのポップスターLonged-for popstarTeam A M05Ude wo Kunde腕を組んでCrossing my armsMaeda At, Nakaya, Kuramochi M06Enjou Rousen炎上路線Blazing roadsSashihara, Takajo M07Itoshisa no Akuseru愛しさのアクセルAffection acceleratorTakahashi M08Hoshi no Mukougawa☆の向こう側Beyond...

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SKE48 Request Hour ~Set List Best 30~

SKE48 held its own version of the AKB48 Request Hour ~Set List Best 100~ on 31 July 2010, called SKE48 Request Hour ~Set List Best 30~.Held at the Nagoya Congress Center Century Hall. To vote, you need the voting ticket which is included in the Aozora Kataomoi Single. For those of you who voted, which song did you vote for and why? I voted for Aozora Kataomoi, because that song pwns \m/. During the concert, there were a couple of announcements. Announcements - SKE48 will be opening their official shop in Shibuya for Tokyo and in Sunshine Sakae for Nagoya. - Team KII's new stage planned for middle of September. - Concert Announcements: Osaka - BIGCAT Date: 16 August 2010 Performing: Team KII Date: 17 August 2010 Performing: Team S Fukuoka - Imuzu Hall Date: 24 September Performing:...

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