NMB48×BREO CM

     NMB48's CM for BREO, an oral care candy, has started airing on February 26. It is the first CM for NMB48 and preparations and filming for this project were accompanied by the TV show Star Hime Sagashi Taro.

AKB48 TV Program [Naruhodo! High School] gets golden time slot

 

     One of AKB48's TV Shows is getting an upgrade! The show, titled Naruhodo High School, aired only two times last year, on 30 May and 9 October 2010. But starting April, it will be given a regular broadcast schedule every Thursday at 7:00PM JST, considered the golden time slot for Japanese TV. The show's title will also be given a supplementary exclamation mark, just because it looks nicer with it. So now the title is Naruhodo! High School. This is the first time AKB48 gets a golden time slot show.

     The reason for this upgrade is because of the high ratings the two episodes of the show had, the May episode with 8.0%, and the October episode with an even higher rating of 11.8%, despite its timing. The show's original hosts, Announcer Hatori Shinichi, and one half of the owarai duo Audrey, Wakabayashi Masayasu , have been replaced by Tamura Atsushi, who is one half of the comedy duo London Boots Ichi-gō Ni-gō. Other celebrity guests will also be appearing on the show.

AKB48 Team B Oku Manami to graduate

     Dammit. Two graduation posts in a row. This is too much for me to handle. And to think that I went to sleep a few minutes before the announcement.

     Last night, 15 year old Oku Manami of AKB48's Team B made a sudden announcement on the AKB48 Official Blog. She will be graduating. Her reason for this is that she wants to focus on her education. Having joined AKB48 since the age of 10, she has yet to experience life as a student and longed for it ever since. After consulting with their producer Akimoto Yasushi as well as some staff, her new goal is to enter University some time in the future and decided to graduate so she could fulfill that dream. The exact date of her graduation has been confirmed to be 30 April.

NMB48's first internet show [NMB48 Presents [NUMBER SHOT]]

     NMB48 has started their first regular internet program called NMB48 presents [NUMBER SHOT] on 7 February. The show is shown on advertising screens in Osaka, Tokyo, Saitama and Chiba and can be found online, too. Each episode is broadcasted every day for a full week, and new episodes will be available every week.


Official Website: http://www.rvj.jp/category.php?category_id=11#265

     The MC for the show is the group's youngest member, 12-year-old Kinoshita Haruna, who welcomes a different member of NMB48 as her guest every episode. The guests present their personal rankings of various things.

     The first episode featured Kondo Rina as guest and she presented her Top 3 Shojo Manga. The episode can be found here. The guest for the second episode, which started airing on February 14, is Matsuda Shiori and the episode will be available online from February 21 on.

AKB48 Kenkyuusei Kanazawa Yuuki Graduates

     10th generation AKB Kenkyuusei member Kanazawa Yuuki just announced her withdrawal from AKB48 Kenkyuusei. She will be leaving due to personal reasons. Nothing else has been stated. This brings the number of 10th gen Kenkyuuseis left to 8.

     This makes Kanazawa Yuuki the 5th Kenkyuusei to graduate after the "Sashihara under curse". Those who fell due to this curse have at one point replaced Team A member Sashihara Rino when she was absent. 1st member to graduate was Uriya Akane and she was Sasshi's under in Team B 3rd Stage [Pajama Drive]. Hayashi Ayano, Imai Yurie and Ishiguro Atsuki followed and all 3 were Sasshi's under for Itoshiki Natasha in Team B 4th Stage [Idol no Yoake]. And now Kanazawa Yuuki too has fallen. She replaced Sasshi in the group songs for Team A 6th Stage [Mokugekisha].

     Now this is why I choose not to follow Kenkyuuseis.....

SDN48 2nd Single [Ai, Chuseyo]

     SDN48 returns after 3 months with their 2nd Single, [Ai, Chuseyo], releasing on 23 March 2011. Hmmm? "Chuseyo" doesn't sound Japanese. That's because it isn't, it's Korean. “Chuseyo” means “give/please” in Korean and the title in the lyrics roughly translates to “Please give me a burning love”.

     Unlike GAGAGA, this time the senbatsu members will not be going through an election, but are chosen solely by their producer Akimoto Yasushi. Ai, Chuseyo has been described as an "impressive love song sung with the feeling of adult women like only SDN48 can". One big shock is that a half of the GAGAGA Senbatsu members aren't Senbatsu members anymore. Ohori, Noro, Urano, Ito, Akita, and Chen Qu have been replaced by 2nd Gen SDN members.

SKE48 likes their pizzas hot

     Frankly speaking, who doesn't? I absolutely hate cold pizzas. Pizza Hut Japan knows this too so they requested the help of the members of SKE48. The two will be collaborating to help promoted Pizza Hut Japan's new "Hot Value Series". Members of SKE48 will be appearing in Pizza Hut Japan's newest CM. The theme song for the CM will be SKE48's upcoming Single Banzai Venus. It will be broadcast nationwide starting March.

     It is currently unknown how many members will be appearing in the CM, as well as which ones. The only confirmed member of the CM is Matsui Jurina and Matsui Rena. They will be showcasing their pizza eating skills in the CM. Matsui Rena commented "I've eaten pizza enough for 1 year". Be prepared for something "cheesy". Bad jokes aside, customers that buy an item from the new menu will get a bonus exclusive SKE48 trading card. While stocks last.

     So.... I wonder whats the limits of Pizza Hut Japan's delivery system? Wonder if they ship to Singapore?

Maeda Atsuko will star in the Movie [Moshidora]

     Maeda Atsuko of AKB48 is due to star in a new movie titled [Moshidora] (もしドラ), short for [Moshi Koukou Yakyuno Joshi Manager ga Drucker no 'Management' wo Yondara] and otherwise known in Japanese as [もし高校野球の女子マネージャーがドラッカーの『マネジメント』を読んだら]. Long ass name indeed. A translation of the title to English would be [What if the female manager of a highschool baseball team reads Drucker's "Management"]. She will also be joined by fellow AKB48 member Minegeshi Minami. Seto Koji, Ikematsu Sosuke, Kawaguchi Haruna, and Oizumi Yo, will also be taking part in this movie. AKB48's producer Yasushi Akimoto is serving as general producer for the film. Theatrical release is scheduled for June 2011.

AKB48 20th Single [Sakura no Ki ni Narou] Sales

DAY 1: 655,344
DAY 2: 101,304
DAY 3: 51,196
DAY 4: 53,206
DAY 5: 30,801
DAY 6: 27,180
DAY 7: 23,448

FIRST WEEK TOTAL: 942,479




FIRST WEEK COMMENTS
     Who am I kidding, really. "Maybe this one will sell faster, but who can say for sure.". Hahahahaha. Why did I even make that statement. Obviously it will. When the sales figure is as incredibly high as 942,479 just in the first week, there's no point doubting anymore. Why? Because IT'S OVER 900,000!!!!!!!!! How many times have they out do themselves, I do not know. but let's see how much this one did.

     The last time ANYBODY (in Japan) was able to sell a Single with OVER 900,000 copies in it's first week was Utada Hikaru with her Single Addicted to You, 11 years and 3 months ago. But for this millennium, their the first ever. The freaking first! Which makes Sakura no Ki ni Narou the 6th highest first week sales EVER (in Japan). But if you thought that was all, of course not! They are the 2nd group to achieve a streak of 7 #1 Singles. And who are the first? The all famous Pink Lady duo from back in the 1980s. That's 33 years ago!

AKB48 Concert [Takamina ni Tsuite Ikimasu]

        
AKB48 Concert [Takamina ni Tsuite Ikimasu]
AKB48コンサート「たかみなについて行きます」
[We'll follow Takamina]
AKB48 with SKE48, SDN48, NMB48

Location: Yokohama Arena

25 March 2011 (Friday)
1st Concert - 18:00 Start

26 March 2011 (Saturday)
2nd Concert - 13:00 Start
3rd Concert - 18:00 Start

27 March 2011 (Sunday)
4th Concert - 13:00 Start
5th Concert - 18:00 Start

Tickets are priced at 6,800yen.

     AKB48, along with their sister groups SKE48, SDN48 and NMB48, will be descending upon Yokohama Arena again this year for 3 days, from 25 to 27 March 2011. This is the 2nd time they have performed at the venue, the first being [AKB48 Manseki Matsuri Kibou Sanpi Ryouron] which took place last year on 24 to 25 March. For this year, the groups will be performing 5 times over a span of 3 days, the biggest they have ever done so far.

     The title of this concert series is [Takamina ni Tsuite Ikimasu], meaning "We'll follow Takamina". In case there are any misunderstandings, "Tsuite iku" means "to loyally follow a leader", and Takahashi Minami is the unofficial leader of AKB48. One interesting fact is that Watanabe Mayu's birthday falls on 26 March, the 2nd day of the concert. So in addition to honoring Takamina, Mayuyu will probably get a birthday surprise like Acchan at last year's [Surprise wa Arimasen] at Yokohama Arena..... without the following accident that happened of course.

AKB48 20th Single [Sakura no Ki ni Narou] updates

      Mayuyued already wrote about this, but this is my own take on it. Sorry Ed but I just had to do this. Warning for those who haven't seen the PV: SPOILERS AHEAD.



     AKB48's 20th Single [Sakura no Ki ni Narou] (Let's become Sakura trees) releases today, 16 February 2011. This is the 3rd time AKB48 has done a Sakura themed Single, the previous being their debut Single Sakura no Hanabiratachi in 2006, and then 10nen Zakura in 2009 and Sakura no Shiori in 2010. Their 4th if you count Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008.

     Sources indicate that Sakura no Ki ni Narou is another million seller. It has certainly shipped that much, but how long will it take to sell it? Their last million seller Single Beginner took around 2 months IIRC to reach a million sales. Maybe this one will sell faster, but who can say for sure. The cover song will be used as the theme song for AKB48's upcoming 17 episode drama Sakura Kara no Tegami ~Sorezore no Sotsugyou Monogatari~, which starts airing 26 February.

     Mid day sales of Sakura no Ki ni Narou is 70,734. Beginner was 77,821 with a first day sale of 568,095 and Chance no Junban was 66,665 with 471,242 first day.

Not Yet 1st Single [Shuumatsu Not Yet]

 

     Announced during the Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2011, there is a new unit in town! Not Yet is compromised of Oshima Yuko, Kitahara Rie, Sashihara Rino and Yokayama Yui. The group is under the Nippon Columbia label, known for Team Dragon from AKB48, as well as Idolmaster and Matsuyama Chiharu. They will be releasing their debut single [Shuumatsu Not Yet] on 16 March 2011. Shuumatsu Not Yet is the theme for the new TV Asahi Drama Dr. Irabu Itirou, starring Tokushige Satoshi, Yo Kimiko and Hara Mikie.

Not Yet Website: http://columbia.jp/notyet/

SKE48 to have LoDs soon

     LoD stand for LIVE!! on DEMAND, and it is a service where you can download videos of the daily performances in the AKB48 Theater, as well as other bonus clips, for a fee of course. AKB48 has been offering the service since 2009, and now SKE48 will have their own too! Starting from this month, it will be free until March, where it will launched fulled as a paid service just like AKB48's. Oh but unfortunately for us foreigners, payment requires you to have a Japanese Credit card.

AKB48 DMM.com page: http://www.dmm.com/lod/akb48/
SKE48 DMM.com page: http://www.dmm.com/lod/ske48/

Official Pictures of the 11th Gen Kenkyuuseis

Kawaei Rina	Kojima Natsuki	Morikawa Ayaka	Natori Wakana
Suzuki Shihori	Ushikubo Sara	Yamaguchi Nau

     This one is quite late as the profiles have been up since early December but I totally didn't notice them until recently when I checked the site for something else. My fault. The 11th gen Kenkyuuseis made their debut appearance at the AKB48 Tokyo Aki Matsuri with 10 members. However if you count the pictures above, there are only 7. The 3 missing girls, Toyoda Saki, Kawakami Marina and Okazaki Chinami, has since left the group due to personal reasons. The remaining have been performing regularly in the AKB48 Theater. All of them will be singing in Ougon Center in the upcoming Sakura no Ki ni Narou Single.

     Just judging by their faces and voices, I would say that my favorite would be Kawaei Rina, followed by Natori Wakana and Suzuki Shihori.

SDN48's Ito Kana Graduates

 

     1st generation SDN48 member Ito Kana announced a few days ago through SDN48's Official Blog that she will be leaving the group due to poor health. She has been on leave since the end of January resting for Influenza. As of time of posting, Kananyan has already graduated, as her picture has already been taken down from the wall in the AKB48 Theater. There will be no last performance for her.

Kenkyuusei Nakamata Shiori gets promoted

Yesterday 12 February 2011, during the evening Kenkyuusei performance, 10th gen Kenkyuusei Nakamata Shiori was promoted to member status.

The move comes just after she got accepted into the Department of Politics and Economics at Waseda University. This is to be effective immediately, although she has not been assigned to a Team yet. This brings the total member count in AKB48 to 57, with the 9 extras being team-less promoted Kenkyuuseis.

AKB48 20th Single [Sakura no Ki ni Narou]

Sakura no Ki ni Narou (桜の木になろう)
Release Date: 16 February 2011

TYPE A Limited TYPE A Regular 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Sakura no Ki ni Narou 02. Guzen no Jujiro (Under Girls) 03. Kiss made 100 Mile (MINT) 04. Sakura no Ki ni Narou (off vocal) 05. Guzen no Jujiro (off vocal) 06. Kiss made 100 Mile (off vocal) [DVD] 01. Sakura no Ki ni Narou Music Clip 02. Guzen no Jujiro Music Clip 03. Kiss made 100 Mile Music Clip 04. Gachi Shifuku Fashion Show (Type-A) (Bonus Footage)
TYPE B Limited TYPE B Regular 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Sakura no Ki ni Narou 02. Guzen no Jujiro (Under Girls) 03. Area K (DIVA) 04. Sakura no Ki ni Narou (off vocal) 05. Guzen no Jujiro (off vocal) 06. Area K (off vocal) [DVD] 01. Sakura no Ki ni Narou Music Clip 02. Guzen no Jujiro Music Clip 03. Area K Music Clip 04. Gachi Shifuku Fashion Show (Type-B) (Bonus Footage)