AKB48 3rd Senbatsu General Election - Seiken Housou

AKB48 has created a YouTube channel with the "Seiken Housou" videos of all the candidates for the AKB48 3rd Senbatsu General Election. "Seiken Housou" in English is "broadcast of political views". A more understandable explanation would be "campaign video".

Link: http://www.youtube.com/AKB48SEIKENHOSO

There are videos of each and all of the 152 members participating, nicely separated into Teams. Each member is given approximately 1 minute to promote themselves.

Remember to vote for the members you support! Voting will start on 24 May 2011, and will last until 8 June 2011. Voting tickets are included all copies, except theater, of AKB48's 21st Single Everyday, Kachuusha.

SKE48 Concert [SKE48 ni, Ima, Dekiru koto]

SKE48 Concert [SKE48 ni, Ima, Dekiru koto]
SKE48 コンサート [SKE48に、今、できること]
[What SKE48 can do now]
SKE48 only

29 April 2011 (Friday)
Location: Zepp Nagoya
1st concert:  13:00 Start
2nd concert: 18:00 Start

2 May 2011 (Monday)
Location: Akasaka BLITZ
Doors open: 18:00 Start

Tickets are priced at 5,800yen


SKE48 will hold 3 solo performaces 2 at Zepp Nagoya on 29 April and one at Akasaka BLITZ on 2 May. Expecting some announcements, maybe the long overdue announcement of Team KII 3rd Stage?

AKB48 Concert [Minogashita Kimitachi e]

From 24 May to 12 June 2011, AKB48 along with SKE48, SDN48: and NMB48 will be performing at the Tokyo Dome City Hall (formerly called JCB Hall). But this isn't like any concert before, this is a revival concert. For 18 days (no performance on 9 June), AKB48 or their sister groups will be reviving one of their past or current stages, one per day.

---

AKB48 Concert [Minogashita Kimitachi e] ~AKB48 Group Zenkouen~
AKB48コンサート「見逃した君たちへ」 ～AKB48グループ全公演～
[For those of you who missed it] ~AKB48 Group All Setlists~
AKB48 with SKE48, SDN48:, NMB48

Date: 24 May to 12 June 2011
Location: Tokyo Dome City Hall (formerly JCB Hall)

Tickets are priced at 3,000yen
*lottery


May 24: Team K 5th Stage [Saka Agari]
Team A: Kuramochi Asuka, Matsubara Natsumi, Katayama Haruka
Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Umeda Ayaka, Oshima Yuko, Miwazawa Sae, Yokoyama Yui
Team B: Kasai Tomomi, Kobayashi Kana, Sato Natsuki, Chikano Rina, Masuda Yuka, Ishida Haruka
SDN48:: Ohori Megumi, Noro Kayo

May 25: Team K 4th Stage [Saishuu Bell ga Naru]
Team A: Matsubara Natsumi, Kuramochi Asuka, Oya Shizuka
Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Umeda Ayaka, Oshima Yuko, Miyazawa Sae, Uchida Mayumi
Team B: Kasai Tomomi, Kobayashi Kana, Sato Natsuki, Masuda Yuka, Chikano Rina, Ishida Haruka
SDN48:: Ohori Megumi, Noro Kayo

May 26: Himawarigumi 2nd Stage [Yume wo Shinaseru Wake ni Ikanai]
Team A: Oya Shizuka, Katayama Haruka, Nakata Chisato, Matsubara Natsumi, Kuramochi Asuka, Ota Aika
Team K: Kikuchi Ayaka, Nito Moeno, Matsui Sakiko, Fujie Reina
Team B: Sato Amina, Kobayashi Kana, Komori Mika, Miyazaki Miho, Chikano Rina, Hirajima Natsumi

May 27: SDN48: 1st Stage [Yuuwaku no Garter]
SDN48:: Akita Kazue, Imayoshi Megumi, Umeda Haruka, Urano Kazumi, Ookochi Misa, Kaida Jyuri, Kato Mami, Kouchi Masami, Kohara Haruka, Kondo Sayaka, Sato Yukari, Serina, Chen Qu, Tezuka Machiko, Nachu, Nishikunihara Reiko, Noro Kayo, Hatakeyama Chisaki, Mitsui Hiromi

May 28: Team A 2nd Stage [Aitakatta] (SKE48 ver.)
SKE48 Team KII: Akaeda Ririna, Abiru Riho, Ishida Anna, Ogiso Shiori, Katou Tomoko, Goto Risako, Sato Seira, Sato Mieko, Takayanagi Akane, Hata Sawako, Furukawa Airi, Matsumoto Rina, Mukaida Manatsu, Yakata Miki, Yamada Reika, Wakabayashi Tomoka

May 29: Team B 3rd Stage [Pajama Drive] (SKE48 ver.)
SKE48 Team E: Isohara Kyoka, Ueno Kasumi, Umemoto Madoka, Kaneko Shiori, Kimoto Kanon, Kobayashi Ami, Sakai Mei, Shibata Aya, Takagi Yumana, Takeuchi Mai, Tsuzuki Rika, Nakamura Yuka, Hara Minami, Mano Haruka, Yamashita Yukari, Yamada Erika

May 30: Team A 5th Stage [Renai Kinshi Jourei]
Team A: Kojima Haruna, Takajo Aki, Takahashi Minami, Nakata Chisato, Maeda Atsuko
Team K: Itano Tomomi, Nonaka Misato, Fujie Reina, Matsui Sakiko, Minegishi Minami
Team B: Kitahara Rie, Sato Amina, Sato Sumire, Miyazaki Miho
Team 4: Oba Mina
SDN48:: Sato Yukari

May 31: Team A 6th Stage [Mokugekisha]
Team A: Iwasa Misaki, Ota Aika, Oya Shizuka, Katayama Haruka, Kuramochi Asuka, Kojima Haruna, Sashihara Rino, Takajo Aki, Takahashi Minami, Nakagawa Haruka, Nakata Chisato, Nakaya Sayaka, Maeda Atsuko, Maeda Ami, Matsubara Natsumi
Team K: Yokoyama Yui

June 01: Team K 6th Stage [RESET]
Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Itano Tomomi, Uchida Mayumi, Umeda Ayaka, Oshima Yuko, Kikuchi Ayaka, Tanabe Miku, Nakatsuka Tomomi, Nito Moeno, Nonaka Misato, Fujie Reina, Matsui Sakiko, Minegishi Minami, Miyazawa Sae, Yokoyama Yui, Yonezawa Rumi

June 02: Team A 4th Stage [Tadaima Renaichuu]
Team A: Kojima Haruna, Nakata Chisato, Takahashi Minami, Maeda Atsuko, Oya Shizuka
Team K: Itano Tomomi, Fujie Reina, Minegishi Minami, Uchida Mayumi, Nito Moeno
Team B: Sato Amina, Chikano Rina, Ishida Haruka
SKE48: Nakanishi yuka
SDN48:: Sato Yukari, Kohara Haruka

June 03: Team B 4th Stage [Idol no Yoake]
Team A: Ota Aika, Katayama Haruka, Sashihara Rino, Nakagawa Haruka, Nakaya Sayaka
Team K: Uchida Mayumi, Tanabe Miku, Nakatsuka Tomomi, Nito Moeno, Yonezawa Rumi
Team B: Kashiwagi Yuki, Komori Mika, Hirajima Natsumi, Watanabe Mayu
SDN48:: Urano Kazumi, Kohara Haruka

June 04: Team A 4th Stage [Dareka no Tame ni] (NMB48 ver.)
NMB48: Ogasawara Mayu, Kadowaki Kanako, Kishino Rika, Kinoshita Haruna, Kotani Riho, Kondo Rina, Shinohara Kanna, Jonishi Kei, Shiroma Miru, Fukumoto Aina, Matsuda Shiori, Mori Ayaka, Yamada Nana, Yamamoto Sayaka, Yoshida Akari, Watanabe Miyuki

June 05: Team K 2nd Stage [Seishun Girls] (NMB48 ver.)
NMB48: Ogasawara Mayu, Kadowaki Kanako, Kishino Rika, Kinoshita Haruna, Kotani Riho, Kondo Rina, Shinohara Kanna, Jonishi Kei, Shiroma Miru, Fukumoto Aina, Matsuda Shiori, Mori Ayaka, Yamada Nana, Yamamoto Sayaka, Yoshida Akari, Watanabe Miyuki

June 06: Himawarigumi 1st Stage [Boku no Taiyou]
Team 4: Abe Maria, Izuta Rina, Ichikawa Miori, Iriyama Anna, Oba Mina, Katou Rena, Kobayashi Marina, Shimazaki Haruka, Shimada Haruka, Takeuchi Miyu, Nagao Mariya, Nakamata Shiori, Nakamura Mariko, Fujita Nana, Yamauchi Suzuran, Kojima Natsuki

June 07: Team K 3rd Stage [Nounai Paradise]
Team A: Matsubara Natsumi
Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Umeda Ayaka, Oshima Yuko, Miyazawa Sae
Team B: Kasai Tomomi, Kobayashi Kana, Sato Natsuki, Masuda Yuka
Kenkyuusei: Ushikubo Sara, Kawaei Rina, Morikawa Ayaka, Natori Wakana, Suzuki Shihori
SDN48:: Ohori Megumi, Noro Kayo

June 08: Team B 5th Stage [Theater no Megami]
Team B: Ishida Haruka, Kasai Tomomi, Kashiwagi Yuki, Kitahara Rie, Kobayashi Kana, Komori Mika, Sato Amina, Sato Sumire, Sato Natsuki, Suzuki Mariya, Chikano Rina, Hirajima Natsumi, Masuda Yuka, Miyazaki Miho, Watanabe Mayu
Kenkyuusei: Yamaguchi Nau

June 09: NIL

June 10: Team S 2nd Stage [Te wo Tsunaginagara]
Team S: Oya Masana, Ono Haruka, Kato Rumi, Yuria Kizaki, Kinoshita Yukiko, Kuwabara Mizuki, Suda Akari, Takada Shiori, Deguchi Aki, Nakanishi Yuka, Hirata Rikako, Hiramatsu Kanako, Matsui Jurina, Matsui Rena, Yagami Kumi
SKE Kenkyuusei: Saito Makiko

June 11: Team S 3rd Stage [Seifuku no Me]
Team S: Oya Masana, Ono Haruka, Kato Rumi, Yuria Kizaki, Kinoshita Yukiko, Kuwabara Mizuki, Suda Akari, Takada Shiori, Deguchi Aki, Nakanishi Yuka, Hirata Rikako, Hiramatsu Kanako, Matsui Jurina, Matsui Rena, Yagami Kumi
SKE Kenkyuusei: Kobayashi Emiri

June 12: Team A 1st Stage [PARTY ga Hajimaru yo]
Team A: Kojima Haruna, Shinoda Mariko, Takahashi Minami, Maeda Atsuko, Matsubara Natsumi
Team K: Itano Tomomi. Minegishi Minami, Oshima Yuko, Miyazawa Sae, Akimoto Sayakam Umeda Ayaka,
Team B: Hirajima Natsumi, Kasai Tomomi, Masuda Yuka,
SDN48:: Sato Yukari, Urano Kazumi

NMB48 announces 2nd Stage [Seishun Girls]

On April 21, NMB48 announced their second stage show on the official website. Starting May 19, NMB48 will perform Seishun Girls, the 2nd stage of Team K. The stage show was originally performed by Team K from July to November 2006 and later remade by Team B as their first stage. Further details about the NMB48 version of this stage will be announced later.

Personally I am excited about this news because I really like Seishun Girls. Also this announcement might bring us a step nearer to a DVD release of the 1st stage.

Concerning the positions in the unit songs I think we should watch out who gets to be in Kinjirareta Futari and Blue Rose, both frequently performed songs in AKB48`s past.

AKB48 21st Single [Everyday, Kachuusha] full member arrangements and covers

A side note before I start: For those of you wondering why I haven't blogged about Acchan's solo Single announcement, that announcement was unofficial from a Chinese/Korean site. I'll wait for something more solid from AKB48 themselves before posting it.



A few days ago, AKB48 released the Senbatsu lineup for their upcoming 21st Single Everyday Kachuusha. This time they have released the full member arrangements as well as the Single covers!

As expected, the covers are full of the girls in bikinis, just like Ponytail to Shushu the same period last year. Well 10 of the girls at least (including Theater version). Some people have pointed out that AKB48 might be following the same release format they used last year not just because it works, but because they want to improve on it. They also used Guam because it's where they made their big sales break. It's an interesting theory but would that mean the 24th Single Senbatsu will be decided in another game tournament?

Not much really noteworthy about the rest of the member arrangements other than the fact that Akimoto Sayaka and Maeda Ami is neither in Senbatsu no Undergirls, but both will still be in Yankee Soul since their part of the cast of Majisuka Gakuen 2. Nonaka Misato is not in any song at all, but this could just be a typo for all we know. Oh and Yamada Nana is in Undergirls.

AKB48 profile pictures updated

AKB48 finally updated their profile pictures on their official site today. The old ones were getting pretty outdated since most of the girls have since changed their hairstyle. Most of the profile pictures are much better this time round, due to better photography. The last time around the photographer didn't work with the stylist enough to get the girls to look their best and some ended up looking far worse than they actually were.

For some reason, the girls as a whole appear more tan-skinned this time. There is some photoshop work done to the eyes, to make them shine and essentially make them look "cuter". However, they are not visually distracting so it is okay. This time the girls are in the outfits they wore for the 61st Kouhaku Uta Gassen 2011, therefore Senbatsu members have a significantly different set of outfits from the rest. It might make things easier for new fans to identify the girls.

Some of the girls who look a lot better in their current profile pictures are Nakata Chisato, Uchida Mayumi, Kitahara Rie, Mori Anna, Oba Mina. However, there are also a few girls who look a bit weird or off, like Yokoyama Yui, Hirajima Natsumi, Nakamura Mariko and Yamauchi Suzuran. Bear in mind this opinion is limited to the profile photos and I'm not talking about their actual look.

The rest of the pictures are below the jump break because all these on the main page would lag the blog to a crawl. Really, I've tried. I just copied the whole table from the AKB48 page you see below the banner since it was too troublesome to make a whole new one just for this post. Took me 6 hours to get that page done. The rest of the group pages have been updated too by the way.

AKB48 21st Single [Everyday, Kachuusha] Senbatsu members

AKB48 just revealed the senbatsu list for their upcoming 21st Single Everyday Kachuusha. Without further ado, here is the list:

Team A: Oota Aika, Kojima Haruna, Kuramochi Asuka, Sashihara Rino, Shinoda Mariko, Takajo Aki, Takahashi Minami, Maeda Atsuko
Team K: Itano Tomomi, Oshima Yuko, Kikuchi Ayaka, Minegishi Minami, Miyazawa Sae, Yokoyama Yui
Team B: Kasai Tomomi, Kashiwagi Yuki, Kitahara Rie, Komori Mika, Sato Sumire, Masuda Yuka, Miyazaki Miho, Watanabe Mayu
SKE Team S: Matsui Jurina, Matsui Rena
NMB Team N: Yamamoto Sayaka, Watanabe Miyuki

Surprise surprise, a 26 member Senbatsu. That's their biggest in a long time. And with more slots open it means more girls now have their chance to shine! Those lucky girls are Oota, Mocchi, Ayarin, Yui, Komorin, Suuchan, Yuka, Myao, Yamamoto and Miyuki. Note that I am just listing out the girls who haven't been in Senbatsu for a while which is why Yui is there.

No surprise by the inclusion of Yui, Yamamoto and Miyuki, but Yuka and Ayarin is an interesting addition. Both of them were really popular in the olden days but faded away into obscurity, Ayarin because of her scandal.

The covers for Everyday, Kachuusha has not been released to the public yet, nor are the member list for the other songs. But what we do know is that Kore Kara Wonderland is being used for the WONDA x AKB48 collaboration, and Yankee Soul for the opening theme for Majisuka Gakuen 2, sequel to AKB48's successful first drama Majisuka Gakuen. Those two will likely have the members on the commercials and the main cast respectively. Nothing has been given so far but it's been widely speculated based on the format of AKB48's Singles that Hito no Chikara is the Undergirls song and will have the rest of the non-Senbatsu members.

The Single will be released on 25 May 2011.

Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 announces new single

Ogi Pro strikes again. Just when we thought we'd have seen the last of Watarirouka Hashiritai as a 7-member group.

A 2nd single under the name Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 has been announced, and it is called Mamma, Grazie!. It's in Italian and means "Thank you, Mother". Yes, you read that right. Once again, it is a song for another special day. Previously there was Valentine Kiss for...(what else?) Valentine's Day. Now, this new song is to be a theme for Mother's Day. A fairly interesting song title to say the least, probably to distinguish itself from the other Mother's Day songs out there.

This new song will be a tie-in with a CM for Seven & I (aka the company that owns Seven Eleven in Japan)'s Mother Day campaign, in which only Watanabe Mayu will star in. The song is meant to express emotions, in a "I want to tell mom" kind of way. Seven & I said that they want to let people who usually cannot express their feelings towards their mothers, use the song to say 'Thank you".

DiVA Debut Single [Tsuki no Uragawa]

Recently-formed AKB48 unit DiVA is made up of Akimoto Sayaka, Miyazawa Sae, Umeda Ayaka and Masuda Yuka, all of them under the Office48 agency.

Their debut single is titled Tsuki no Uragawa and comes in limited and regular editions of 3 types as well as a theater edition, with a total of 7 different covers. As is the recent AKB48 unit trend, each type will include an exclusive b-side. Type A's is called Fade out and Type B's is called Information, which is produced by famous composer Komuro Tetsuya. Type C will include DiVA's version of Blue Rose from AKB48 Team K 2nd Stage [Seishun Girls].

As additional promotion of the single, DiVA will head to Shanghai to hold a small live event at Kobe Collection 2011 on 16th April. Sae and Sayaka will also participate as models in the event.

Initially slated for 27th April, the single's release was delayed to May 18th because of the Tohoku earthquake.

Official website: http://avexnet.or.jp/diva/

AKB48 3rd Senbatsu General Election - Additional information

Additional information about the AKB48 3rd Senbatsu General Election has been released on the Official Blog.

Voting will start on 24 May 2011, and will last until 8 June 2011. The Single itself will not be released until August. Voting tickets are included all copies, except theater, of AKB48's 21st Single Everyday, Kachuusha.

A whooping total of 152 members from AKB48, SKE48 and NMB48 will take part in the 3rd Senbatsu General Elections. However there are only 40 available slots; 21 Senbatsu and 19 Undergirls. Doubt that the Senbatsu girls will have a major change from last year so the ones to look out for are the Undergirls. Oh and of course not forgetting the throne, lets see if Acchan can take it back from Yuko, or will another person steal it? Tomochin maybe?

Like the previous years, an unaffiliated third party company will count the votes. The vote counting will be performed under the surveillance of a lawyer to ensure that vote counts are accurate.

SKE48 Team S 3rd Stage [Seifuku no Me] Shuffled Review

Hey it's sada once again. I'm here with SKE48's S3 but it's the shuffled version. Ooh exciting isn't it? I can't wait to watch. I'll try to make my review easier to read this time as well.I haven't even seen the units for the shuffled stage yet. I am watching the 110206 Hiru Kouen. My Team S oshi is Kuwabara Mizuki. I hope she gets an interesting unit. Have I mentioned I love S3? Because I do. I think it has an amazing set of songs.

Note that I haven't seen the list for shuffle members before this LOD.

SKE48 Team S 3rd Stage [Seifuku no Me]

No.	Romaji	Japanese	Translation	Singers
OP	Overture (SKE48 ver.)	-	-	-
M01	Koi wo Kataru Shijin ni Narenakute	恋を語る詩人になれなくて	I Can't Become a Poet Who Speaks about Love	Team S
M02	Goukaku Kiss	合格Kiss	Passing Kiss	Team S
M03	Antenna	アンテナ	-	Team S
M04	Seifuku no Me	制服の芽	A Sprout of School Uniform	Team S
MC
M05	Omoide Ijou	思い出以上	More Than a Feeling	Matsui Rena, Ono Haruka, Takada Shiori
M06	Okami to Pride	狼とプライド	Wolf and Pride	Matsui Jurina, Nakanishi Yuka
M07	Onna no Ko no Dairokkan	女の子の第六感	A Girl's 6th Sense	Hirata Rikako, Kinoshita Yukiko, Deguchi Aki, Yagami Kumi, Kobayashi Emiri (Matsushita Yui)
M08	Kareha no Station	枯葉のステーション	The Station of Dry Leaves	Oya Masana
M09	Mangekyou	万華鏡	Kaleidoscope	Suda Akari, Kato Rumi, Kizaki Yuria, Hiramatsu Kanako, Kuwabara Mizuki
MC
M10	Jealousy no Alibi	ジェラシーのアリバイ	An Alibi of Jealousy	Team S
M11	Doubt!	-	-	Team S
M12	Nakama no Uta	仲間の歌	A Friend's Song	Team S
MC
M13	Mizu no Nai Pool	水のないプール	A Pool Without Water	Team S
ENCORE
M14	Rakuen no Kaidan	楽園の階段	The Stairs to Paradise	Team S
M15	Pinocchio Gun	ピノキオ軍	Pinocchio War	Team S
M16	Tegami no Koto	手紙のこと	About a Letter	Team S

AKB48 Drama [Sakura kara no Tegami] Episode 5-10

Continuing the review as from before~

It's pretty long so everything is under the cut.

NMB48 to become radio hosts

As announced recently, NMB48 will become radio hosts, appearing in three radio shows. First of all the girls will get their own weekly radio show called NMB48 Gakuen~Oshiete Chidori-sensei~ on ABC Radio. A number of girls, changing every week, will appear together with the comedy duo Chidori. The show will start on 9 April and will be broadcasted every Saturday at 22:00.

Apart from their own show, NMB48 also gets regular corners in two different radio shows. Since April 4th they appeared in the show Atsumare! MUSIC COASTER on FM Osaka, broadcasted every day from Monday to Thursday 18:00 ~ 20:00.

Official Website: http://fmosaka.net/ncf_timetable.html

From today, April 6th on, they will also get the corner NMB48 Magical Music in the show Utagumi which will be broadcasted on MBS radio every Wednesday 24:30, hosted by three of the members every week together with the magician Koizumi Eri.

Official Website: http://www.mbs1179.com/uta/c_nmb/

Team YJ7 vs Team YM7

I'm sure many fans would remember that around the time of early last year, there was a unit battle between Team YJ (Weekly Young Jump magazine) and Team PB (Weekly Playboy magazine).

This event constituted many spreads in their respective magazines in order to push its own team, a song and PV given to each team which was included in the Sakura no Shiori single, and fans voting to determine the winner. Eventually Team PB came out tops and got on the cover of both Weekly Playboy and Weekly Young Jump. This year, a similar event is being held.

This time, the opposing magazines no longer include Weekly Playboy. The battle will be between Team YJ7 (Weekly Young Jump) and Team YM7 (Young Magazine).

Team YJ7:
Minegishi Minami, Kitahara Rie, Yokoyama Yui, Oota Aika, Sato Amina, Yamauchi Suzuran, Ichikawa Miori
Team YM7:
Sashihara Rino, Kasai Tomomi, Takajo Aki, Miyazaki Miho, Sato Sumire, Komori Mika, Takeuchi Miyu

The event has begun, with voting starting from today, 4 April. You can vote for your favourite girl here, once everyday.

Official website: http://www.akb48-yj7-ym7.com/pc_index.html

AKB48 21st Single [Everyday, Kachuusha] Tracklist revealed

The title for AKB48's 21st Single has been revealed to be [Everyday, Kachuusha] (Ｅｖｅｒｙｄａｙ、カチューシャ). As previously announced, the Single will be released on 25 May 2011 with a total of 3 different versions. Voting tickets are included inside for the 3rd Senbatsu Election.

The translation for "Kachuusha" is quite strange. Entries for "Kachuusha" in Japanese dictionaries reveal these results:

• cloth band worn around hair - named after a character in Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection"
• Katyusha rocket launcher (Soviet)

... which obviously don't make any sense, unless AKB is planning to make the single war themed (yes please). However upon closer inspection using Google images, "Kachuusha" seems to mean "headbands". Which tells us one thing: Google images is a better dictionary.

New format for AKB48 Theater shows

     Throughout the past few years, as AKB48 got more and more famous, they found it increasingly difficult to stick to their concept of "Idols you can meet". AKB48's home is the 250-seat AKB48 Theater, where they hold almost-daily shows. However, as their fanbase grew bigger, winning tickets for the shows grew harder. When once a lucky fan could win shows every week or two, now the duration is once every month or two, or more. And that includes SDN48 and Kenkyuusei shows too!

     Not only that. While it is true that they perform almost daily, many do not appear at the theater as much as before because of AKB48's growth in popularity leading to increased appearances on TV and radio . So most of the shows now are, in fact, Kenkyuusei shows.

Ojarumaru Sisters Single [Hatsukoi wa Minoranai]

Once again, the AKB48 family will provide an ending theme to an anime (children's anime, but still). Titled [Hatsukoi wa Minoranai] (初恋は実らない) (translation: First Love is Fruitless), the new AKB48 unit Ojarumaru Sisters will sing the theme song for the 14th season of NHK channel's Ojarumaru. The single is slated for release on 13 April 2011.

What's interesting about this probably-one-off unit is that it is comprised entirely of AKB48 Kenkyuuseis, including all of the 9th generation and 10th generation. Although the whole of 9th gen and Nakamata Shiori from 10th gen have been promoted, they still have yet to be placed in teams and are thus largely still considered to be Kenkyuusei by media and fans alike.

SKE48's New TV Shows

SKE48 has a couple of new shows.

Hiru made Matenai! (昼まで待てない！)

Hosts: Kawashima Akira, Tamura Hiroshi
Channel: Nagoya TV
Schedule: Weekly every Saturday
Timing: 10:55am ~11:45am
Official Website:  http://www.nagoyatv.com/matenai/
Starts: 2 April 2011

SKE48 no Aichiteru! (SKE48のあいちテル！)

Hosts: SKE48
Channel: Tokai TV
Schedule: Weekly every Saturday
Timing: 17:26PM ~17:31PM
Official Website: http://tokai-tv.com/culture/20060601_infomation_8176.php
Starts:  2 April 2011

Every episode one member of SKE48 will report on a local event or place in Aichi.

ItteKoi48 SKE48 no Nihon Ichi Subete Itadakimasu (イッテ恋４８　SKE48の日本一すべていただきます)
Hosts: SKE48
Channel: Sapporo Channel
Schedule: Tuesday
Timing: 25:34AM ~26:00AM
Official Website: N/A
Starts: 4 May 2011

AKB48 21st Single and 3rd Senbatsu General Election

AKB48 will release their 21st Single (title unknown as of yet) on 25 May 2011. The Single will come in a total of 3 different versions, including the Theater version. Included inside the single are voting tickets for, you guessed it, the AKB48 3rd Senbatsu General Election. Not much else is known of the Single as of yet, and further details will be announced later. They will donate a part of earnings of this Single for the earthquake relief.

The AKB48 3rd Senbatsu General Election will be for the still unannounced 22nd Single. The Senbatsu Elections is an annual event started in 2009 with Namida Surprise, where fans get to vote for who they would want to get into the Senbatsu (for that Single alone). It is essentially a popularity contest, or as I would say, "Whose fans got the most money". It has not been announced yet but most likely since SKE48 was included in the last two elections, both SKE48 and NMB48 will be part of the Senbatsu Election too. Voting ends on 8 June.

The previous winners of the Senbatsu Elections are Maeda Atsuko in 2009, and Oshima Yuko in 2010.

Oh and this is NOT an April Fool's joke.