NMB48 KKS Ishihara Masako Left the Group

As announced on June 27, NMB48 4th Generation Kenkyuusei Ishihara Masako has left the group. Her leave happened the same day without any gradution ceremony. Ishihara Masako had to rest often because of health problems and could not perform often. Following the judgement of her doctor she decided to leave NMB48 completely.

Ishihara Masako had passed the 4th generation audition in fall last year and debuted in December together with the other 4th generation members. She is already the third 4th generation member who left NMB48, after Sugino Risa and Hirose Sena resigned in February.


Ishihara Masako's Comment:
Original Message

I, Ishihara Masako, will resign from NMB48.
While being active in NMB48, I became ill several times. I was sorry that I caused a lot of troubles to the people around me but I still wanted to continue my activities, so I gave my best as well as I could.
But when I fell ill this time my doctor told me "It's impossible to continue your activities.". I consulted with the staff and my family and decided to resign.
I am leaving without responding to the feelings of all those who supported me. Actually I should tell you all my thanks in person. That's why I really feel sorry for this sudden announcement in the blog.
The gentle comments and letters I received from you always supported me. I won't forget the kindness and messages I received from you at handshake events. I am really, really thankful.
My dream of becoming a producer in the future hasn't changed. I will walk towards this on a different way, but I will make use of the experiences I made in NMB48 and do my best in order to be able to realize my dream.
My kind senpai, the staff who always supported our work and the other 4th generation members who were always encouraging each other and with whom I have done my best together. I love NMB48!.
From now on, I will support them as an NMB48 fan together with you. I was allowed to make a lot of very precious experiences, I was allowed to stand on a big stage and I was able to meet you all. I was happy that I could work as an NMB48 member. Thank you so much.

SKE48 12th Single [Utsukushii Inazuma] Covers + Tracklist

The tracklist and covers for SKE48's 12th Single [Utsukushii Inazuma] have been revealed! Check them out below. Utsukushii Inazuma will go on sale on 17th July, 2013.

Utsukushii Inazuma is the first single that will feature the new Teams after the SKE48 Team Shuffle on April. Another change is that there will not be an Akagumi and Shirogumi in this single, they will be replaced by the Boat Pier Senbatsu and Magical Band from SKE48 no Magical Radio 3.

Boat Pier Senbatsu is a team formed for a collaboration with Boat Pier Nagoya. Their song is titled [Seishun no Mizushibuki] and will be used in the CM. The members are:

Team S: Oya Masana, Yakata Miki
Team KII: Suda Akari, Takayanagi Akane, Furukawa Airi
Team E: Matsui Rena
SKE48 Kenkyuusei: Matsumura Kaori




Magical Band was formed in SKE48 no Magical Radio 3, SKE48's own variety comedy TV show. I won't spoil you the details on the show, but the members in Magical Band are:

AKB48 Team K: Kitahara Rie
Team S: Kizaki Yuria
Team KII: Takayanagi Akane
Team E: Kimoto Kanon
Graduates: Ogiso Shiori, Hata Sawako, Yagami Kumi


In addition, the PV preview for Utsukushii Inazuma was uploaded onto SKE48's YouTube channel yesterday, do check it out. It features the girls on a beach, but instead of the usual cheerful summer single with bikinis, it's a cool song and there are freaking fire dancers! The fans we're right when they said it could be comparable to Tsuyoki Monoyo.




Here is the full tracklist and covers of Utsukushii Inazuma. Enjoy!


SKE48 12th Single
Utsukushii Inazuma
美しい稲妻
17 July 2013

TYPE A Limited TYPE A Regular 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Utsukushii Inazuma 02. JYURI-JYURI BABY //Team S 03. Through the night //Selection 8 04. Utsukushii Inazuma (off vocal) 05. JYURI-JYURI BABY (off vocal) 06. Through the night (off vocal) [DVD] 01. Utsukushii Inazuma Music Video 02. JYURI-JYURI BABY Music Video 03. Bonus Video [SKE48 Team Battle! Lightning! Cooking Battle] Part 1
TYPE B Limited TYPE B Regular 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Utsukushii Inazuma 02. Futari dake no Parade //Team KII 03. Seishun no Mizushibuki //Boat Pier Senbatsu 04. Utsukushii Inazuma (off vocal) 05. Futari dake no Parade (off vocal) 06. Seishun no Mizushibuki (off vocal) [DVD] 01. Utsukushii Inazuma Music Video 02. Futari dake no Parade Music Video 03. Bonus Video [SKE48 Team Battle! Lightning! Cooking Battle] Part 2
TYPE C Limited TYPE C Regular 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Utsukushii Inazuma 02. Shalala na Calendar //Team E 03. Band wo Yarou yo //Magical Band 04. Utsukushii Inazuma (off vocal) 05. Shalala na Calendar (off vocal) 06. Band wo Yarou yo (off vocal) [DVD] 01. Utsukushii Inazuma Music Video 02. Band wo Yarou yo Music Video 03. Bonus Video [SKE48 Team Battle! Lightning! Cooking Battle] Part 3
TYPE Theater 1,000yen	[CD] 01. Utsukushii Inazuma 02. Yuudachi no Mae //SKE48 Kenkyuusei 03. SKE48 12th Single Medley 04. Utsukushii Inazuma (off vocal) 05. Yuudachi no Mae (off vocal)

Nogizaka46 6th Single [Girl's Rule] Tracklist and Covers

Nogizaka46 will be releasing their 6th single [Girl's Rule] (ガールズルール) on 3rd July 2013. Shiraishi Mai  will be centering the single, replacing former center Ikoma Rina. She is flanked by Hashimoto Nanami, and Matsumura Sayuri.

Limited Edition CD+DVD Types A, B, and C will come with a national handshake event ticket, a randomly selected photo from 32 types (each edition will have 32 types with 96 types in total), as well as one of 16 trading cards. The CD Only Regular Edition does not contain any bonuses unless bought through forTUNE music, which you get with an individual member handshake ticket. Nogizaka46 have previously sold their regular editions with handshake tickets through chara-ani so this is a change.

Nogizaka46 6th Single
Girl's Rule
ガールズルール
3 July 2013

Type A 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Girl's Rule 02. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover 03. Koumori yo 04. Girl's Rule (off vocal) 05. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover (off vocal) 06. Koumori yo  (off vocal) [DVD] 01. Girl's Rule (MV) 02. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover (MV) 03. 16nin no Principal @ Parco (Digest)
Type B 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Girl's Rule 02. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover 03. Senpuuki 04. Girl's Rule (off vocal) 05. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover (off vocal) 06. Senpuuki (off vocal) [DVD] 01. Girl's Rule (MV) 02. Senpuuki (MV) 03. Best of Early Summer! Nogizaka46 Athletic Battle
TypeC 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Girl's Rule 02. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover 03. Hoka no Hoshi kara 04. Girl's Rule (off vocal) 05. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover  (off vocal) 06. Hoka no Hoshi kara (off vocal) [DVD] 01. Girl's Rule (MV) 02. Hoka no Hoshi kara (MV) 03. Girl's Rule MV making-of (Making of 6th Single)
CD Only 1,000yen	[CD] 01. Girl's Rule 02. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover 03. Ningen to Iu Gakki 04. Girl's Rule (off vocal) 05. Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover  (off vocal) 06. Ningen to Iu Gakki  (off vocal)

Senbatsu
Ito Marika, Inoue Sayuri, Nakada Kana, Wakatsuki Yumi, Hoshino Minami, Akimoto Manatsu, Fukagawa Mai, Saito Yuri, Sakurai Reika, Ikuta Erika, Ikoma Rina, Nishino Nanase, Takayama Kazumi, Matsumura Sayuri, Shiraishi Mai, Hashimoto Nanami

In: Ito Marika, Saito Yuri
Out: Ito Nene, Nagashima Seira

Hachi Fukujin
Ikuta Erika, Ikoma Rina, Sakurai Reika, Shiraishi Mai, Takayama Kazumi, Nishino Nanase, Hashimoto Nanami, Matsumura Sayuri

In: Takayama Kazumi, Nishino Nanase
Out: Akimoto Manatsu, Hoshino Minami

Be sure to check out the amazing B-side, "Sekai de Ichiban Kodoku na Lover." It's a catchy song with an electro-sound that is sure to get stuck in your head! 

AKB48 Game [1/149 Renai Sousenkyo] to be released on PS3

The AKB48 game [AKB 1/149 Renai Sousenkyo] will be released for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) on 12th September 2013. Currently the game is only available for the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation Vita portable gaming devices. This game is a sequel to the PSP only games [AKB 1/48 Idol to Koi Shitara…] and it's follow up [AKB 1/48 Idol to Guam de Koi Shitara…].

The game will be available in a regular edition and a limited edition. The regular edition has a suggested price of 5,980 yen and will come with a single, random picture of a member as a bonus. The limited edition has a suggested price of 7,980 yen and will come with 10 random pictures, a blu-ray disc containing the confession scenes and kiss scenes for each of the 149 members, and a special sleeve box.

In this game, originally released on 20th December 2012, members from AKB48, SKE48, NMB48 and HKT48 confess their love for the player, but the player must choose only one girl to stay with.

You can find the game's official website here.

HKT48 show [HaKaTa Hyakkaten 2 Gokan] will be released on DVD

The HKT48 TV show [HaKaTa Hyakkaten 2 Gokan] will be released on DVD on 28th August. It is already available for preorder on various websites.

The show will be available in a limited edition and a regular edition, each one containing 4 discs. The limited edition has a suggested price of 11,760 yen and includes as bonus a making-of video, a compilation of unreleased footage from the show, a booklet and an oshimen badge. The regular edition has a suggested price of 10,710 yen and includes a making-of video and a compilation of unreleased footage from the show (not the same compilation as the limited edition).

[HaKaTa Hyakkaten 2 Gokan] was aired between 26th January and 30th March for a total of 8 episodes. It was a sequel to the [HaKaTa Hyakkaten] show and was hosted by HKT48 member Sashihara Rino. In each episode, a member of one of the AKB48 groups came to the show and had to choose who would be their oshimen in the group. The HKT48 members competed against each other in an assortment of tests to be chosen as the guest's oshimen. At the end of the episode, the chosen girl, the guest and host Sashihara Rino went on a dinner date in Hakata.

The members who made guest appearances on the show were:

Matsui Rena (SKE48)
Ichikawa Miori (AKB48)
Matsui Jurina (AKB48)
Shimada Haruka (AKB48)
Umeda Ayaka (AKB48)
Ikoma Rina (Nogizaka46)
Kasai Tomomi (AKB48)
Oba Mina (AKB48)

You can find the official website for the DVD release here.

NMB48 7th Single [Bokura no Eureka] First Week Sales

NMB48's 7th single [Bokura no Eureka] finished its first week and ranked No.1 in the Oricon Weekly Charts. The single sold 481,843 copies in week one and hence has the highest first week sales of any NMB48 single. Sales surpassed those of the previous record (375,785 by [Nagiichi]) by more than 100,000 copies. This is NMB48's 6th number-one-single.

[Bokura no Eureka] started off with an amazing first day selling 420,906 and surpassing NMB48's first week sales record after only one day. The rest of the week turned out fine as well with NMB48 taking the top rank every day of the week.

Best selling album of the first half of the year and now these amazing sales. Congrats to NMB48!

JKT48 [Let Us Introduce Ourselves] Concert Setlist

On 23rd June 2013, JKT48 performed a concert in Makassar. It was the first date of their [Let Us Introduce Ourselves: JKT48] five cities concert tour.

JKT48 performed 10 songs, which are mostly AKB48 single songs. For the first time, they performed [JKT Sanjou] which comes from Team J's current stage [Renai Kinshi Hourei]. The concert was followed by a meet and great event for a limited quota afterwards.

Setlist:

M00 - Overture
M01 - JKT Sanjou
M02 - Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara
M03 - Baby! Baby! Baby!
---MC1---
M04 - Aitakatta
M05 - Gomen ne, Summer
M06 - Ponytail to Chouchou
---MC2---
M07 - Heavy Rotation
---ENCORE---
EN1 - RIVER
EN2 - Oogoe Diamond
---MC3---
EN3 - Hikoukigumo


There is no exact announcement from the management about the setlist on every city. But JKT48 members themselves already posted on their social media account that there are going to be some surprises during the tour.

They will hit the stage again on 27th June in Solo before continue the tour to Balikpapan and Surabaya, and a two days concert in Jakarta as the ending on 3rd and 4th July.

Check the schedule and details of the [Let Us Introduce Ourselves: JKT48] here
.

JKT48 Team KIII Announced

At the end of the JKT48 trainees [Boku no Taiyou] theatre show on 25th June 2013, JKT48 unveiled their 2nd team, Team KIII. The numbering follows Team K in AKB48 and Team KII in SKE48. 18 members were chosen to be part of Team KIII:

Alicia Chanzia
Cindy Yuvia
Della Delila
Dwi Putri Bonita
Intar Putri Kariina
Jennifer Hanna
Lidya Maulida Djuhandar
Nadila Cindi Wantari
Natalia
Noella Sisterina
Octi Sevpin
Ratu Vienny Fitrilya
Riskha Fairunissa
Rona Anggreani
Shinta Naomi
Sinka Juliani
Thalia
Viviyona Apriani

An announcement about who will be made captain will follow later. The remaining members will stay as trainees.

New Nogizaka46 x HKT48 TV Show [Kanmuri Bangumi Battle!] Announced

A new TV show featuring HKT48 and Nogizaka46 has been announced. The show will be called [Nogizaka46 x HKT48 Kanmuri Bangumi Battle!] and will air on NTV on Tuesdays at 25:34 JST. The first episode will air on 2nd July 2013. The announcement was made on 18th June during a press conference in Tokyo.

This 1-hour show will actually be divided into two half-hour "kanmuri bangumi" shows (a TV or radio show that features the name of the performing artist in its title), each one featuring one of the two groups. Each week, a guest will come to the show to judge which one of the two groups is the funniest, and the winner will occupy the show's first slot in the following week.

The HKT48 show will be called [HKT48 Tonkotsu Mahou Shoujo Gakuin] ("Tonkotsu Female Magic Academy"). It will be set at a magic school in the mountains of Fukuoka, where the group members will be magic apprentices, working under the tutelage of magician Sashihara Rino. Each week, a guest will come to the show and will have to answer difficult questions asked by the HKT48 members.

The Nogizaka46 show will be called [NOGIBINGO!] and, as the name suggests, is inspired by AKB48's show [AKBINGO!]. The premise is that the group members will try to follow in their rivals' footsteps to see if they can become national idols like AKB48.

During the press conference, Nogizaka46 member Ikoma Rina said: "I'm usually a pacifist and don't like violence, but since this is a confrontation with HKT48, I want to be unyielding and make a fun show together with all Nogizaka members".

HKT48 member Sashihara Rino also talked about her expectations: "Actually I had a confrontation with Nogizaka one year ago on my solo debut and lost to them by a dramatic margin. I couldn't win with my force alone before, so now I want to work hard with all HKT members so that we can beat Nogizaka". (For the original statements in Japanese, please see this page.)

The official websites for the shows are below:

• Nogizaka46 x HKT48 Kanmuri Bangumi Battle
• HKT48 Tonkotsu Mahou Shoujo Gakuin
• NOGIBINGO!

AKB48 34th Single Janken Tournament Announced

AKB48 will hold a janken (rock-paper-scissors) tournament to determine the senbatsu members for their 34th single. This tournament will take place in the Nippon Budokan on 18th September 2013. This was announced over the weekend at a [Sayonara Crawl] national handshake event at the Kyocera Dome, Osaka.

This will be the 4th janken tournament AKB48 have held to determine the senbatsu members of their singles. Here are the previous winners and the resulting singles:

2010	Uchida Mayumi	[Chance no Junban]
2011	Shinoda Mariko	[Ue Kara Mariko]
2012	Shimazaki Haruka	[Eien Pressure]

All full members of AKB48 are participating in this tournament. There will be preliminary rounds to decide the following additional members:

2 x AKB48 Kenkyuusei
8 x SKE48
8 x NMB48
3 x HKT48

In addition, there will be other preliminary rounds to determine the sister group kenkyuusei who will proceed into the sister group rounds. The number of kenkyuusei who will proceed to the main sister group rounds is as follows:

2 x SKE48 Kenkyuusei
2 x NMB48 Kenkyuusei
2 x HKT48 Kenkyuusei

Looks like AKB48 is sticking to the formula this year as regards to singles, we've had the sakura single, the bikini beach election ticket single, election winning single, all we need now is the so-called "cool" single before this janken single.

AKB48's 32nd Single will be titled [Koisuru Fortune Cookie]

Sashihara Rino has announced earlier today the title of their Senbatsu Election Single to be [Koisuru Fortune Cookie] (恋するフォーチュンクッキー / Loving Fortune Cookie). The single release date was also confirmed to be 21st August, 2013, and will be releasing in 7 different types (3 Limited Edition + 3 Regular Edition CD+DVD Types + CD only Theatre Edition). Check out the senbatsu members here.

AKB48 32nd Single
Koisuru Fortune Cookie
恋するフォーチュンクッキー
21 August 2013


AKB48 was in Fukuoka, Shinoda Mariko's hometown, for the past few days to film the PV of Koisuru Fortune Cookie. A total of 3,000 extras joined in the filming, and the dance was choreography by Papaya Suzuki. The song was described by Takahashi Minami to be like a huge disco.

Another call for extras has been put up for the 2nd day of filming, this time in Saitama on 26th June.
http://www.ske48.co.jp/news/?id=1371865748

Miyazawa Sae's Team K Concurrency Officially Revoked

AKB48 management has announced that Miyazawa Sae's concurrent position in Team K has been officially revoked as of 24 June 2013. With this decision, Sae goes back to being a full member of SNH48 only. The announcement was posted to the AKB48 official blog, and cited as reasons Sae's speech during AKB48's 32nd single senbatsu election and a meeting held with her.

Sae's concurrency in Team K was announced on April 28, during the AKB48 Group Rinji Soukai concerts at the Nippon Budokan. At the time, Sae's reaction to the surprise announcement led fans to speculate that she was not satisfied with the decision. At the 32nd single senbatsu election on June 8, during her acceptance speech, Sae confirmed fans' suspicions by stating that she wanted to quit Team K and focus only on SNH48.

Although AKB48 management granted Sae her wish, there are still other obstacles for her work with the Shanghai based sister group. The transfer was announced almost a year ago, at the first Tokyo Dome concert, but Sae still hasn't got the working visa that would allow her to work in China. This has prevented her from performing with the group she is officially assigned to, a problem that is still to be solved.

AKB48 & NMB48 Dominate Oricon Chart For First Half of 2013

Last Friday, Oricon released the "Total Sales by Artist" figures for the first half of 2013 with AKB48 coming in at No.1 in terms of total CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs sold and No.2 in total sales revenue.

This comes after the success of AKB48's 31st single [Sayonara Crawl] which took the highest ever first day (1,450,881), first week (1,762,873) and total sales (1,933,454 ) of a single in AKB48 history.

A total of 3,582,000 CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs have been sold in the past 6 months alone from all artists, chalking up a total sales of 6.86 billion yen. This mark a slight increase in total CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs sold as compared to the first half of 2012 at 3,414,917.

Can AKB48 continue their winning streak and clinch Oricon's Total Sales Revenue position for 2013?

On the other hand, NMB48's debut album, [Teppen Tottande], has sold a total of 411,800 copies, earning it's place as Oricon No.1 selling album for the first half of 2013, defeating various established acts like Funky Monkey Babys, Exile and Kis-My-Ft2.

It's noteworthy that this is the first time an AKB48 group has attained this accolade, and the second time in Oricon history for a female group.

Hopefully NMB48 is able to make use of this success to achieve greater heights and exposure to the mainstream audience, and steadily march towards their dream of performing at the annual Kouhaku Uta Gassen!

SKE48 Senshuurakus and New Team Shonichis Announced

SKE48 have announced the senshuuraku's (closing night) of their current three stages. These will be the last stages of the old teams, and the new teams as revealed in the shuffle will perform from then on. The shonichi's (opening night) of the new stages have also being announced. The three SKE48 teams are not getting new original stages, but will be performing old AKB48 stages. Fans could vote out of a limited selection which stage they wanted each Team to perform. The outcome of their vote will not be revealed until the shonichi. View more details of the stages available to vote here.

Team S 3rd Stage [Seifuku no Me]	Senshuuraku	10 July 2013
Team E 2nd Stage [Saka Agari]	Senshuuraku	11 July 2013
Team KII 3rd Stage [Ramune no Nomikata]	Senshuuraku	12 July 2013
New Team S	Shonichi	23 July 2013
New Team E	Shonichi	24 July 2013
New Team KII	Shonichi	25 July 2013

SKE48 have also released Team E's 2nd Stage [Saka Agari] on DVD, available at their official shop. The ending Team S and Team KII stages have previously been released on DVD.

AKB48 Group Weekly News Roundup (17-23 June 2013)

AKB48
- The tracklist and CD covers for Watanabe Mayu's 4th single [Rappa Renshuuchuu] was revealed.
- Itano Tomomi and Akimoto Sayaka will both graduate at the [AKB48 2013 Summer Dome Tour] together with Shinoda Mariko.
- Maeda Atsuko, who graduated on August last year, will be performing back with AKB48 at their Sapporo Dome concert on 31st July. She will perform her new single (and possibly more) at the concert.
- Iwasa Misaki will release a cover album, and is taking requests from the fans for songs to cover. Applications end on 10th August.
- After Smurf 2, Takahashi Minami will dub a Korean drama titled [Happy Ending], which is based on a story by Akimoto Yasushi.
- JKT48 Team J member Rena Nozawa has announced her concurrency with AKB48 due to her parents returning to Japan to work.
- SKE48 Team E's Furuhata Nao made her debut in Team K as a concurrent member. Her unit song is Higurashi no Koi together with Oshima Yuko.
- HKT48 Team H's Kodama Haruka made her debut in Team A as a concurrent member. Her unit songs are Glass no I LOVE YOU and Skirt, Hirari.
- Kashiwagi Yuki's 2nd solo live DVD and Blu-ray was released on 19th June.
- [Sayonara Crawl] took the No.1 spot for single sales in the first half of 2013, with 1,926,445 copies sold since it's release in May.
- AKB48 filmed the PV for their 32nd Single at Fukuoka, more than 3,000 extras were involved.
- The 34th Single Janken Tournament will take place on 18 September.
- AKB48 performed with SNH48 last weekend at the Asia Style Collection held in Singapore.



SKE48
- The stages that the new SKE48 Teams will perform will be decided through a fan vote.
- Furuhata Nao made her debut in AKB48's Team K as a concurrent member. Her unit song is Higurashi no Koi together with AKB48's Oshima Yuko.
- SKE48's 3rd Request Hour concert was announced.
- A preview of the PV of their 12th Single [Utsukushi Inazuma] was uploaded on SKE48's YouTube Channel
- The covers if [Utsukushi Unazuma] was revealed.
- Team E's 2nd Stage [Saka Agari] will release on DVD around July.


NMB48
- NMB48's 7th single [Bokura no Eureka] released on 19th June, selling 420,906 copies on day one and ranking first in the Oricon Daily Charts.
- Their 1st album [Teppen Tottande] grabbed the No.1 for album sales in the first half of 2013, with 411,800 copies sold since it's late February release.


HKT48
- HKT48 will be fighting against Nogizaka46 in a new joint TV show [Nogizaka 46 ×HKT 48-kan bangumi battle!], airing on NTV starting July.
- Kodama Haruka made her debut in AKB48's Team A as a concurrent member. Her unit songs are Glass no I LOVE YOU and Skirt, Hirari.


JKT48
- JKT48 Team J's Rena Nozawa has announced her concurrency with AKB48 due to her parents returning to Japan to work.
- JKT48 started their nationwide tour this week with their first stop at Makassar on 23rd June.
- JKT48's new Tv show [JKT48 Missions] Started airing this week.


SNH48
- SNH48 performed with AKB48 last weekend at the Asia Style Collection held in Singapore.


Nogizaka46
- Nogizaka46 will be fighting against HKT48 in a new joint TV show [Nogizaka 46 ×HKT 48-kan bangumi battle!], airing on NTV starting July.
- Hashimoto Nanami has been casted in a drama titled [SUMMER NUDE], the series will start airing on Fuji TV starting 8 July.


Graduates
- Maeda Atsuko, who graduated on August last year, will be performing back with AKB48 at their Sapporo Dome concert on 31st July 2013. She will perform her new single (and possibly more) at the concert.
- Maeda Atsuko was featured in the CM for Les Miserables's DVD and Blu-ray Release in Japan

NMB48 7th Single [Bokura no Eureka] First Day Sales

NMB48 released its first single this year, [Bokura no Eureka], on June 19 and the first day sales are out now. The single sold 420,906 copies on day one and ranked first in the Oricon Daily Charts.

These are by far the highest first day sales for NMB48 ever, breaking their previous record of 280,367 set by [Junjou U-19]. It is already clear that [Bokura no Eureka] will also have the highest first week sales of NMB48 ever, because the first day sales alone are already higher than the first week sales of any other NMB48 single so far (the previous record was [Nagiichi] with 375,785 copies sold in first week).

Wow, such a big rise in sales. And first week sales record broken after one day... I did not expect that at all but it is good to see that NMB48 is still on the rise.

New Unit Songs for Oshima Team K Waiting Stage

The 18th June performance of the Oshima Team K Waiting Stage, (which was Maeda Ami's birthday show and Furuhata Nao's Team K debut) had completely different unit songs to normal. It is as yet unknown whether it's just a one-off or they'll continue to do them:

M05 - Yuuwaku no Garter (Akimoto Sayaka, Kuramochi Asuka, Maeda Ami)
M06 - Hoshi no Ondo (Itano Tomomi)
M07 - Candy (Matsui Jurina, Nagao Mariya, Nakata Chisato)
M08 - Hajimete no Jellybeans (Kitahara Rie, Abe Maria, Muto Tomu)
M09 - Higurashi no Koi (Oshima Yuko, Furuhata Nao)
M10 - End Roll (Shimada Haruka, Fujita Nana, Miyazaki Miho, Suzuki Shihori)

For the usual setlist, please see this post.

It is interesting that they are doing new unit songs. I wonder if Team's A and B will follow suit. Kodama Haruka's Team A debut is tomorrow, and Omori Miyu and Takajo Aki's Team B debut's on June 24th. I'm especially looking forward to seeing the SDN48 song [Yuuwaku no Garter] being performed!

Watanabe Mayu 4th Single [Rappa Renshuuchuu] Tracklist

The tracklist has now been revealed for Watanabe Mayu's 4th single [Rappa Renshuuchuu] in addition to the covers yesterday. The single will be released on the 10th July 2013 in 5 types. Three CD + DVD types, A, B and Limited Edition, and two CD only types, Regular and Limited Edition which comes with an artbook.

The cover for the limited edition with artbook is fan design held by an online contest. Mayu herself helped judge the winner. 13 runner-up entries will appear in an illustration book that will be included in that edition. View the winner and 13 runner-up entries at the official pixiv site here.

The lead song is a collaboration with OreSkaBand. The CD+DVD Limited Edition is related to an event to be held at Tokyo Dome City Attractions from 23rd July to 23rd September 2013. Visit the websites here and here. A video of the making of this is included on the DVD in that type. A digest video from one of the solo mini-lives related to Mayu's 3rd single [Hikaru Monotachi] will be on the Type B DVD. No information is given yet on what is on the Type A DVD.

Watanabe Mayu 4th Single
Rappa Renshuuchuu
ラッパ練習中
10 July 2013

Type A 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Rappa Renshuuchuu 02. Seifuku no Identity 03. Cousin 04. Rappa Renshuuchuu (instrumental) 05. Seifuku no Identity (instrumental) 06. Cousin (instrumental) [DVD] TBA
Type B 1,600yen	[CD] 01. Rappa Renshuuchuu 02. Seifuku no Identity 03. Goujou na Junjou 04. Rappa Renshuuchuu (instrumental) 05. Seifuku no Identity (instrumental) 06. Goujou na Junjou (instrumental) [DVD] Hikaru Monotachi Mini-Live Digest
Regular 1,200yen	[CD] 01. Rappa Renshuuchuu 02. Seifuku no Identity 03. Taiyou to Sanpo 04. Rappa Renshuuchuu (instrumental) 05. Seifuku no Identity (instrumental) 06. Taiyou to Sanpo (instrumental)
Limited Edition (Real Escape Game) 2,000yen	[CD] 01. Rappa Renshuuchuu 02. Seifuku no Identity 03. Kiss no Sonar-on 04. Rappa Renshuuchuu (instrumental) 05. Seifuku no Identity (instrumental) 06. Kiss no Sonar-on (instrumental) [DVD] Making of Real Escape Game (Tokyo Dome City Attractions) event
Limited Edition (pixiv) 2,000yen	[CD] 01. Rappa Renshuuchuu 02. Seifuku no Identity 03. Kiss no Sonar-on 04. Rappa Renshuuchuu (instrumental) 05. Seifuku no Identity (instrumental) 06. Kiss no Sonar-on (instrumental)

JKT48 Announce 5 Cities Tour

Beby Chaesara Anadila, one of JKT48 members, has just announced through her Twitter and G+ account that JKT48 will have a5 cities tour, ending in Jakarta.

Here are the schedule for their 5 cities tour based on what Beby wrote on her G+ after she attended the press conference for the 5 Cities Tour named [Let Us Introduce Ourselves : JKT48].

JKT48 Live in MAKASSAR,
Sunday, 23 June 2013,
15:00-18:00 WITA (GMT+8)
at D’Liquid Cafe Grand Clarion Hotel
More info: @99_ent (Twitter)

JKT48 Live in SOLO,
Thursday, 27 June 2013, 19:00 WIB  (GMT+7)
at GOR Sritex Arena
More info: @BlaksCreative (Twitter)

JKT48 Live in BALIKPAPAN,
Friday, 28 June 2013, 19:00 WITA  (GMT+8)
at Ballroom Grand Jatra
More info: @funeo_bpn (Twitter)

JKT48 Live in SURABAYA,
Sunday, 30 June 2013, 16:00 WIB  (GMT+7)
at Ballroom ITC Mega Grosir
More info: @insbreak_team (Twitter)

JKT48 Live in Jakarta*
3rd and 4th July 2013 - 3 Shows
13:00 WIB  and 20:00 WIB (GMT+7)
at Tennis Indoor Senayan
More info : JFP Website

*Information taken from Java Festival Production.

Source

Weekly News Roundup (10-16 June 2013)

In a new feature, we've decided to do a weekly news roundup of all the news from the AKB48 groups that we couldn't cover in fully fledged posts.

AKB48 Takahashi Minami to be a voice actor in the Japanese version of the [Smurfs 2] movie. Nakatsuka Tomomi held her graduation theatre performance with Team A on the 13th June. Nakatsuka Tomomi will release a graduation photobook on the 5th July. Itano Tomomi mentioned on Kayou-Kyoku that her graduation date would be in August. Itano Tomomi's 4th single [1%] sold less than 48k copies on it's first day on sale to place 4th in the Oricon daily singles charts. The album [Buraban AKB48!] was released by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, covering AKB48 songs. Tracklist and previews here. [AKB48 Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2013] was released on Bluray, featuring a new music video for the number one song [Hashire! Penguin]. AKB48 and SNH48 will be performing in Singapore along with Hatsune Miku, 2NE1, Girls Generation and more on 22nd June at the Asia Style Collection event. [Bad Boys J], the TV series featuring Itano Tomomi and Nogizaka46, will be released on DVD and Bluray on 11th September, with a movie coming out on 9th November. Furuhata Nao will make her Team K debut at Maeda Ami's birthday show on 18th June, and Kodama Haruka's Team A debut will take place on 19th June. News reports say that AKB48's 32nd single will be Ondo style. Yokoyama Yui passed her Challenge U-Can and achieved a pharmacy qualification. Watch the video here. Akimoto Sayaka promoted the movie [Spring Breakers]. The winner of the fan contest to design Watanabe Mayu's 4th solo single [Rappa Renshuuchuu] was announced here. SKE48 SKE48 held a fan vote to decide on stages for their three new shuffled teams, read more here. NMB48 NMB48 started their East Japan Tour [12/31] performing three dates. Read the setlists here. [Sayanee], A coupling song on 7th single [Bokura no Eureka] got an official music video preview: click to watch. HKT48 HKT48's 2nd single will be released on 4th September 2013. JKT48 JKT48 announced concerts in Makassar on 23rd June,  Solo on 27th June, and Balikpapan on 28th June. Nakagawa Haruka, Della Delila, and Shania Junianatha ran in the Pocari Sweat run in Singapore. JKT48 won Best Boyband/Girlband at the Indonesia Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards. SNH48 Their 1st EP [Heavy Rotation] released, more info here. They performed two songs the Shanghai International Film Festival on the 16th June. AKB48 and SNH48 will be performing in Singapore along with Hatsune Miku, 2NE1, Girls Generation and more on 22nd June at the Asia Style Collection event. Nogizaka46 [Bad Boys J], the TV series featuring Itano Tomomi and Nogizaka46, will be released on DVD and Bluray on 11th September, with a movie coming out on 9th November Graduated Nakanishi Rina stated on her blog that she is married. Kasai Tomomi performed a mini-live event in relation to her 2nd solo single [Mine]. Maeda Atsuko won the Best Actress award for [Kueki Ressha] at the 22nd Japanese Professional Movie Awards(Nichi Pro Awards).

To find out what's in store for the week ahead, check out our calendar.