Next AKB48 Concert announced: Seibu Dome

After quite a long wait since the last concert, AKB48's next concert will be on 22 to 24 July 2011. It will be held in Seibu Dome, which seats an incredible 35,655 people, more than double of their previous one at Yokohama Arena which seated only 17,000 people. This is by the way AKB48's first 'dome' concert. Congratulations! They will also be having a nationwide concert tour in August. A total of 15 concerts in 13 cities. 8/1 - Fukui 8/2 - Kagoshima 8/4 - Kouchi 8/8 - Tottori 8/10 - Aomori 8/12 - Miyagi 8/15 - Hiroshima 8/17 - Niigata 8/19 - Hokkaido 8/22 - Toyama 8/24~25 - Aichi 8/29 -...

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Tanisaki Tomomi graduates from SDN48

SDN48 2nd Generation member Tanisaki Tomomi has graduated. In a recent blog post on 29th May, she announced her graduation. No official reason was given. Tanisaki, commonly known to fans by her nickname, Bambi, was in Senbatsu for Ai, Chuseyo She was originally in Undergirls B for the GAGAGA single. The blog post can be found here. SDN seems adamant on leaving no favourites for me. First Yukapo, now Bambi? This is what my top 5 look like now: 1. Ninomiya Yuka 2. Ito Kana 3. Kato Mami 4. Tezuka Machiko 5. Tanisaki Tomomi All my enthusiasm for the SDN48 stage in Singapore is gone. I still...

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AKB48 12th gen Kenkyuusei profile pictures

Iwata Karen(Karen)Sasaki Yukari(Yukarun)Saeed-Yokota Erena(Erechan)Omori Miyu(Miyupon)Muto Tomu(Tomu)Tano Yuka(Tanochan)> Takahashi Juri(Juri)Hirata Rina(Hillary)Suzuki Rika(Rikachan) Debuting only a few weeks ago, the profile pictures of AKB48's 12th generation Kenkuuseis are finally up on the official site. One interesting fact is that all of them are born within 1994 - 1998, ageing from 13 to 17 years old. Quite a young bunch.Just judging from the profile pictures, my favourite from this bunch would be Iwata Karen and Muto Tomu. Which are your favourit...

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Maeda Atsuko to take lead role in remake of HanaKimi drama

AKB48 frontgirl Maeda Atsuko will take the lead role in a remake version of Hanazakari no Kimitachi he ~Ikemen☆Paradise, aka HanaKimi.The drama will start in July and is planned to be aired on Fuji TV every Sunday 9.00pm, which is a golden timeslot. It will have modifications to the original story. The original drama was broadcast in 2007 with an all-star cast.The drama theme song will be AKB48's 22nd Single. It is not known who will be Maeda's co-sta...

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Rino Sashihara's 200 Blog Updates Challenge

Remember not too long ago how AKB48 member Sashihara Rino had a challenge called the Sashihara Project where she updated her blog 100 times in 24 hours?She recently took on a similar challenge again on May 20th, this time to create 200 blog entries in the same time span of 24 hours. She said that the reason for doing this was to celebrate the 1st year anniversary of her blog.Yahoo Japan News reported that the "Rino Sashihara's 200 Blog Updates Challenge" created the highest records ever among all Ameba blogs, by receiving more than 91,000,000 page views and 810,000 comments. Congratulations to...

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AKB48 21st Single [Everyday, Kachuusha] sells a million in 2 days!

Everyday Kachuusha ORICON sales Day 1:  942,475 Day 2:  142,233 Total: 1,084,708 If there's any sign that AKB48's popularity is gonna decrease anytime soon, I don't see it. All they are doing now is rising and rising. AKB48's latest Single Everyday, Kachuusha smashed the 1st week sales of their preceding Single Sakura no Ki ni Narou in just a single day! Sakura no Ki ni Narou sold 942,479 copies in it's first week, and Everyday, Kachuusha sold 942,745 on it's release date, just barely making it over by 266 copies. Only 57255 copies left to a million! Which of course wasn't a problem...

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AKB48 3rd Senbatsu General Election - Early Results

Voting for AKB48's 3rd Senbatsu Election has started yesterday on the 24th. On the 25th after 1 day of voting, AKB48 announced the early results at the AKB48 theatre. Lots of big surprises! However do remember that this is only the early results, only a small portion of the total votes. There are still loads of unused voting cards left. There will definitely be a lot of movement from this result to the final result.Results are as followsNote: Since there is always the big problem of the Team colours, for this time I used the colours of the election posters from here. Except I darkened the Green of Team K to differentiate with Team KII.PositionNameTeamVotes01Oshima YukoAKB48 Team K1715602Maeda AtsukoAKB48 Team A1645203Kashiwagi YukiAKB48 Team B1205604Takahashi MinamiAKB48 Team A883305Watanabe...

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AKB48 3rd Senbatsu General Election - Election posters

Another important part of the Senbatsu Election is the election posters. All of the participating girls gets an individual poster resulting in 152 posters, a fact that reflects this year's hard competition. The girls decide the design of their own posters and can so individually appeal to their fans. A small 3R photo of one of the election posters is included as a gift in the 21st Single theatre version. Remember to vote for the members you support! Voting started yesterday 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. Pictures of the posters are blow the jump, click for bigger size. Which are your favourite poster designs? Comment...

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status update

hi Melos here. As usual I apologise for the lack of posts. To put it straight, I'm sick. Very sick. Been down with the flu for the past 2 weeks and it doesn't seem to be letting up. Don't know what strain it is that's so tough but it doesn't show symptoms of those killer strains like H5N1 and such. Already been to the doctor 2 times in this week alone. I'm not in the state where I can be out of the house for long periods of time. It's not easy to concentrate on anything. However I am pushing my mind to it's very limits now. Hopefully I can finish this backlog of news today. Hope you understa...

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AKB48 Kenkyuusei Suzuki Shihori Promoted to Team B

Announced on a Theater no Megami performance today, AKB48 12th gen Kenkyuusei Suzuki Shihori has been promoted to Team B. She will be filling up the gap created by graduating member Oku Manami. Some information about Suzuki Shihori (Shihorin), she is 17 years old and is currently in 3rd year of High School. She is the tallest member in all of AKB48, standing at 171cm (the previous tallest was Shinoda Mariko at only 168cm). Her other nickname is Purple, because a kanji in her name is the kanji for purple (鈴木紫帆里). Shihorin takes Kasai Tomomi's spot in Candy for the Kenkyuusei version of B5. Shihorin...

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Team N 2nd Stage [Seishun Girls]

On May 19 NMB48's Team N performed its second stage Seishun Girls for the first time. Team N 2nd Stage [Seishun Girls] No. Romaji Japanese Translation Singers M00 Overture - - - M01 Seishun Girls 青春ガールズ Young Girls Team N M02 Beach Sandal ビーチサンダル - Team N M03 Kimi ga Hoshi ni Naru Made 君が星になるまで Until you become a star Team N MC1 - - - - M04...

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MELOS no Michi new format

MELOS no Michi Current writers: Melos Kieyuku Moonlight Sada Mayuyued: transferred SITUATION: 1. Many a times we write drafts before we post. Often, we wait for more information before posting that draft. Sometimes that information doesn't come, so we basically only have 2 or 3 lines of info in that draft. So the draft gets pushed back, waiting waiting and waiting until that draft becomes old, then we have no choice but to delete the draft because it is outdated. 2. Writers are busy with school and other personal life. Me and Kieyuku is in college, Moonlight is in University, and i'm not sure what Sada is doing (she's doing fine though, just that SKE doesn't have much stuff going on). This is not uncommon, it happens a lot to many blogs. SOLUTION: new format 1. Short detailed posts about...

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Team N 1st stage [Dareka no Tame ni] Review

I had the opportunity to visit the NMB48 theater last month and to see NMB48’s first stage show Dareka no Tame ni live. This is the first time I write a review, I hope you enjoy it. For all those who cannot see it live, the DVD of N1 will be released on June 22nd. Team N 1st Stage [Dareka no Tame ni] No.RomajiJapaneseTranslationSingers M00Overture--- M01Tsukimisou月見草Evening PrimroseTeam N M02Warning--Team N M03Tanjoubi no Yoru誕生日の夜Birthday NightTeam N MC1---- M04Bird--Kishino, Yamamoto, Kinoshita M05Nage Kissu de Ichi Otose!投げキッスで撃ち落せ!Knock him out with a blown kiss!Watanabe, Kondo, Kotani, Shiroma, Shinohara, Yoshida M06Shinkirou蜃気楼 MirageYamada, Ogasawara M07Riderライダー -Jonishi, Matsuda, Mori, Kadowaki, Fukumoto M08Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru制服が邪魔をするMy school uniform is in my wayYamamoto,...

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Ushikubo Sara, Yamaguchi Nau, Ninomiya Yuka to Graduate

11th gen AKB48 Kenkyuusei Ushikubo Sara and Yamaguchi Nau have announced that they will be officially withdrawing from the group on 19 June 2011, and 2nd Gen SDN48 member Ninomiya Yuka will be graduating today. Sara and Nau's graduations were announced through the official AKB48 blog and no official reasons were given for their graduation. Yuka announced her own graduation during the SDN48 show on the same day. She left as she hopes to pursue a career in theater. It is part and parcel for Kenkyuuseis to withdraw from AKB48. I have to admit I've never taken that...

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SKE48 [SKE48 ni, Ima, Dekiru koto] Set List

Here's the full setlist for the Dekiru koto Concert. Announcements: April 29th: A new tour "SKE48 Summer Zengoku Tour" (Performances in Nagoya 6/27-28 , Tokyo 7/2, Sendai 7/3, Sapporo 7/5, Osaka 7/9, Fukouka 7/10) May 2nd: The teams for the SKE48 Summer Zengoku Tour (6/27 Zepp Nagoya S&E,6/28 Zepp Nagoya S&KII,7/2 Zepp Tokyo S&E,7/3 Zepp Sendai S&E,7/5 Zepp Sapporo S&KII,7/9 Zepp Osaka KII&E,7/10 Zepp Fukuoka KII&E) Finally a SKE48 concert, too bad this was a very boring setlist. SKE48 needs some new songs like now. Where's KII3? I hear the outfits were really cute though. April 29th performance (Afternoon) M00 - overture (SKE48 ver.) M01 - Tsuyoki Monoyo (Team E) M02 - Aozora Kataomoi (Team KII) M03 - Gomen ne, SUMMER (Team S) M04 - 1!2!3!4! Yoroshiku!...

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Singapore to host AKB48’s first overseas 3-in-1 concept project

For those Singaporean readers out there, I created a new blog for Japanese Idols that come to Singapore (that includes AKB48 of course). http://aidorusg.blogspot.com/ The content for this post is the same as in AidoruSG (only for this post, with maybe a few exceptions). Be sure to check out AidoruSG regularly! Anyway my comments will be here: Have to say, $50 is quite cheap for the price. I was definitely expecting much more, around the $80 range. $50 accounts to 3324yen. In the AKB48 Theater, ticket pries are 3000yen for males, and 2000yen for females. So each of us is only paying 324yen...

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