All of you reading should know about this event already via some other place. So, during the 2nd day noon session of the Surprise wa Arimasen Concert at Yoyogi National Gymnasium on 11 July 2010, there was an announcement which startled the entire AKB48 fandom.
The senbatsu for the 19th single released in December will be chosen by Janken tournament held in Nippon Budokan on September 21st.Top 16 members will be Senbatsu, the remaining girls will be sorted into Undergirls and Theatre Girls. All members of AKB48, plus 4 Kenkyuusei, are allowed to participate. The brackets have been decided by random draw by the girls themselves during the Concert. For those of you who don't know what Janken is, it's short for Jan-ken-pon, and westerners call it "Rock Paper Scissors".
Gameplay- Rock beats Scissors
- Scissors beats Paper
- Paper beats Rock
- There will only be 1 try (not inclusive of ties). Once a member loses, she is out of the competition.
Senbatsu. It is a dream for a lot of girls in AKB48. Girls who aren't Acchan/Yuko/Mariko/Tomochin/Mayuyu/Takamina/Kojiharu/Yukirin etc etc. To be selected for Senbatsu, you have to be pushed heavily by the Management (to be "pushed" is something like "to be promoted"). A lot of those girls have not been in Senbatsu (counting from Oogoe Diamond onwards). Not counting the Senbatsu Election Singles, the Senbatsu members haven't really changed much.
And now, they decide to select the Senbatsu members by a simple child's game. One of the simplest games ever invented by man with only 3 possibilities, used to decide one of the most heavily debated topics in the AKB48 fandom. Imagine the shock/surprise/happiness/anger/etc. etc. of the wotas! And what's more, they plan to hold the tournament in, get this, NIPPON BUDOKAN. Artists dream of performing there. It is literally a goal for many of them. And now AKB48 is using that place like a playground of sorts. Scuse me while I ROTFLMYAO!
more after the jump
This whole plan which Mr. Akimoto Yasushi thought of, it’s downright absurd. It's the craziest thing I ever heard off since the start of my fandom a year and 3 months ago. But at the same time even though its sounds like Aki-P is in the verge of insanity, it's a genius plan actually. Why?
Two words: Media Coverage. For any music artist and group, the most important thing is Media Coverage. What better way to gain media coverage than to do something really absurd like selecting the Senbatsu through Janken, and in one of the most famous sports halls used regularly for sumo wrestling championships. Heck their even releasing a book just for the event, and even going to broadcast it live to 29 cinemas around the country. The book provides a prediction on the results, posted after the break.
And start a ruckus in the airwaves it did. These are only some of the news reports of the announcement. Since its old most got deleted already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJsnh4iTwIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmTSGFAyHBw#t=0m34s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0tCl2R4fUc#t=5m33s
Now for the other reason why this whole Janken Tournament is brilliant. It gives new hope for those many girls who haven't been in Senbatsu. A fair chance for all of the girls, it is literally in their own hands. Let’s look at the possibilities shall we. Remember that the match-ups are chosen randomly at the Yoyogi Concert.
Possibilities
- Shinoda, Kojima, Kasai, Itano, Miyazawa, MAY NOT make it to Senbatsu.
- Either Kashiwagi or Minegeshi WON'T make it to Senbatsu, maybe even both.
- Either Takahashi or Oshima WON'T make it to Senbatsu, maybe even both.
- Either Maeda Atsuko or Watanabe WON'T make it to Senbatsu, maybe even both.
- Ishida, Katayama, Sakiko, Matsubara, Sumire, Nakata, Oku, Nacchi, Ishida, Umeda, etc. etc. MAY make it to Senbatsu.
- Either Umeda, Suzuki or Tanabe WILL make it to Senbatsu
- Either Maeda Ami, Oya or Nito WILL make it to Senbatsu.
- Either Kobayashi Kana, Kobayashi Marina or Nagao WILL make it to senbatsu.
Would you look at that . For those girls who have never been in Senbatsu, and have little hope in getting there, this may finally be their big break. Look at the last 3 points. Either Umechan/Suzuki/Tanamin, Aamin/Oya/Nito, Kana/Marina/Nagao will make it to Senbatsu, and those girls have never been in senbatsu since......I can't remember when.
MELOS Prediction
So who am I rooting for? Not an easy question since there are a couple of cases where my favourites are forced to battle each other. So after much self debate, my hopefuls from each block are:
Sato Sumire
Kashiwagi Yuki
Kuramochi Asuka
Nonaka Misato
Nakata Chisato
Katayama Haruka
Umeda Ayaka
Kikuchi Ayaka
Kobayashi Kana
Oota Aika / Miyazaki Miho
Nito Moeno
Masuda Yuka / Maeda Atsuko
Yonezawa Rumi
Oshima Yuko / Takahashi Minami / Sashihara Rino
Sato Amina / Fujie Reina
Matsubara Natsumi
Janken Senbatsu Official Guidebook prediction
Predictions on which girl will win inside the Janken Senbatsu Official Guidebook.
1. Sato Sumire
2. Nagao Mariya
3. Yonezawa Rumi
4. Kasai Tomomi
5. Nito Moeno
6. Kojima Haruna
7. Sato Amina
8. Miyazawa Sae
9. Itano Tomomi
10. Masuda Yuka
12. Matsui Sakiko
13. Kuramochi Asuka
14. Uchida Mayumi
15. Nakatsuka Tomomi
16. Tanabe Miku
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