HKT48 Kenkyuusei Abe Kyoka To Graduate

HKT48 Kenkyuusei Abe Kyoka has announced her graduation on December 26th. She wants to pursue a career as a model. Her last stage show will be a performance of HKT48's Himawari-gumi stage [Pajama Drive] on December 30th. Kyoka is a 1st Generation member, so she has been with HKT48 since the group made its first appearance in 2011. Before joining the group, she already gathered experiences in modelling. After her graduation, two 1st Generation Kenkyuusei will be left in HKT48: Imada Mina and Fukagawa Maiko. Abe Kyoka's G+ entry about her graduation Original Message Good evening. I, Abe...

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Sato Amina Announces Graduation

AKB48 Oshima Team K member Sato Amina has announced her graduation during the theater show on December 22. She wants to pursue a career in voice acting. A date for her graduation is yet to be decided. Amina has been in AKB48 for more than 6 years and is known for having been a big fan of the group before joining. She debuted as a 4th Generation Kenkyuusei in mid-2007, was promoted to Team A in 2008 and later shuffled to Team B and then K. Amina made Senbatsu for the first three election singles [Iiwake Maybe], [Heavy Rotation] and [Flying Get] and was a voice actress for the AKB48 anime AKB0048...

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AKB48 5th Album [Tsugi no Ashiato] Tracklist

AKB48's 5th Album [Tsugi no Ashiato] will be released on the 22nd January 2014. There will be 4 types of this album, a Type A Limited Edition 2CD+DVD, Type A and B Regular Edition 2CD and a Theatre Edition 1CD. The first CD is identical on all types but the Theatre Edition has an exclusive track. The Theatre Edition sales are now over but included 2-shot photo tickets with a member of your choice, so was very popular. Disc 1 contains the singles [Manatsu no Sounds Good!] through [Koisuru Fortune Cookie], also including their Theatre Edition coupling songs. The other disc contains a mixture...

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Team M Tour Dates Announced

It was already announced during NMB48's 3rd Anniversary Concert on October 13th that Team M would have its own tour in 2014. Now the dates for this tour have been revealed. Team M will perform 7 concerts at 6 venues in February and March all over Osaka Prefecture with a two-day final in the Orix Theater in Osaka City. The dates are: February 25th Kishiwada Municipal Namikiri Hall, Kishiwada February 26th Osakasayama Culture Hall SAYAKA Hall, Osakasayama February 27th Sakai City Public Hall, Sakai March 17th Kaizuka City Hall Cosmos Hall, Kaizuka March 18th Izumisano Municipal Culture...

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48Groups Dominate the Oricon Yearly Charts Again

Oricon has released its yearly ranking and once again AKB48 took the top spots. The year's best selling single is [Sayonara Crawl] followed by the other three AKB48 singles released this year before the release of the ranking ([Suzukake Nanchara] was released too late to be counted in). [Eien Pressure], already released last year, also makes an appearance on #48. The sister groups also have good ranks with SKE48 taking #7, #8 and #11 and NMB48 on #9 and #12. HKT48 did not make the Top 20 but took #23 and #24. A few solo/unit singles also made it to the Top100. Official rival Nogizaka46 did...

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AKB48 34th Single [Suzukake Nanchara] 1st Week Sales

AKB48's 34th single [Suzukake no Ki no Michi de "Kimi no Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru" to Itteshimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa dou Kawatteshimau no ka, Boku nari ni Nannichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no you na Mono] finished its first week in the Oricon charts and ranked first in the weekly ranking selling 1,033,336 copies . The single sold 916,912 copies on its first day, which were good first day sales for a Janken single, but the rest of the week did not turned out as well as usual for AKB48. Weekly sales are behind last year's Janken single [Eien Pressure]'s (1,073,499)...

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JKT48 News Recap

JKT48 Second Anniversary Concert JKT48 will hold their second anniversary concert titled "Thank You For Being My Friend" on 21st December 2013. The concert will be held in two time period, there will be noon and night show. For details, click here. Concert DVD released JKT48 have released their DVD concert "Let Us Introduce Ourselves : JKT48". There will be also a 2-shot event for the fans who purchase two DVDs. For further info and setlist, click here Renai Kinshi Jourei Sensuuraku  JKT48 Team J's current setlist, Renai Kinshi Jourei will come to its last show on 28th December...

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3rd AKB48 Kouhaku Utagassen Setlist

On December 17, AKB48 and their sister groups held their own Kouhaku event for the third time. Members from the 48groups competed against each other divided into two teams: the White Team with captain Yokoyama Yui and the Red Team with captain Watanabe Mayu. The White Team won with 8 out of 11 votes. Red Team (Akagumi) Captain: Watanabe Mayu Vice-Captains: Takahashi Minami, Sashihara Rino, Minegishi Minami AKB48: Izuta Rina, Iriyama Anna, Iwata Karen (did not perform due to illness), Oshima Ryoka, Kawaei Rina, Kobayashi Marina, Takahashi Juri, Takahashi Minami, Tano Yuka, Matsui Sakiko, Morikawa...

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AKB48 34th Single [Suzukake Nanchara] 1st Day Sales

On December 11th,  AKB48 released its 34th single [Suzukake no Ki no Michi de "Kimi no Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru" to Itteshimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa dou Kawatteshimau no ka, Boku nari ni Nannichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no you na Mono]. The single sold 916,912 copies on its first day making AKB48 once again the top in the Oricon Daily Charts. Sales have declined by about 100,000 copies compared to the previous single [Heart Ereki]'s first day sales of 1,020,800 but compared to last year's janken single [Eien Pressure]'s 840,043 copies, sales went up. ...

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Suga Nanako and Yano Azuki Will Graduate From SKE48

On December 7th, SKE48 members Suga Nanako and Yano Azuki announced that they will leave the group this month. Team E member Suga Nanako will have her final graduation show on December 22nd and Kenkyuusei Yano Azuki a day later on December 23rd, but both will still participate in a few handshake events in early 2014. Both girls want to focus on their studies. Suga Nanako is a 5th Generation member. She joined SKE48 in late 2011 and was promoted to Team S in August 2012 and then became a Team E member after the SKE48 shuffle this April. She made SKE48 senbatsu constantly since the 10th single...

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48Group New Team Stages To Be Rescheduled

Recently it was announced that Team S' 5th Stage scheduled for November 30th had to be delayed. The new shonichi date for this stage has now been revealed: it will be on February 27th, 2014. But this is not the only news concerning new team stages. Team H's new stage, the first original one for HKT48, planned to start on December 22nd has been delayed too. A new date has not been mentioned. Additionally, new stages for the other teams will have to undergo schedule changes as well.  I guess many people expected this to happen. I did, but it is still disappointing. Why did they even...

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JKT48 [Manatsu no Sounds Good- Musim Panas Sounds Good] Is Released!

JKT48 have released their 4th single [Manatsu no Sounds Good- Musim Panas Sounds Good] on 26th November 2013 There are 16 members chosen as senbatsu for [Manatsu no Sounds Good- Musim Panas Sounds Good], 10 fromTeam J and 6 from Team KIII: Team J: Melody Nurramdhani Laksani, Nabilah Ratna Ayu, Jessica Veranda, Haruka Nakagawa, Aki Takajo,Ayana Shahab,Rezky Wiranti Dhike, Shania Junianatha, Beby Chaesara Anadila, Devi Kinal Putri. Team KIII: Cindy Yuvia,Rona Anggreani,Shinta Naomi,Ratu Vienny Fitrilya,Noella Sisterina,Jennifer Hanna  [Manatsu no Sounds Good- Musim Panas Sounds...

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SKE48 13th Single [Sansei Kawaii] First Week Sales

SKE48 released their 13th Single [Sansei Kawaii] on November 20th  and it finished its first week in the Oricon Charts ranking #1. Sales amount to 449,003 copies. Sales went down from [Utsukushii Inazuma]'s 510,673 in first weeking resulting in [Sansei Kawaii] having the group's lowest first week sales since [Oki Doki] back in 2011. First day sales amounted to 349,835 copies which was already a decline from the previous single's 416,341 copies. Nevertheless, the top spot of the Oricon Ranking was never in danger with SKE48 still selling considerably more than the competitors.　　 ...

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HKT48 Announce Kyushu Seven Prefectures Tour

At their 2nd Anniversary Theatre Show, HKT48 announced their first tour. This will be around the seven prefectures of Kyushu, their home region. The dates are as follows: 11 January 2014 (Sat) Oita iichiko Grand Theatre 12 January 2014 (Sun) Miyazaki Municipal Culture Hall 13 January 2014 (Mon) Kumamoto Prefectural Theatre 19 January 2014 (Sun) Kagoshima Shimin Bunka Hall 1 February 2014 (Sat) Saga Civic Centre 8 February 2014 (Sat) Nagasaki Brick Hall 21 March 2014 (Fri) Fukuoka Sun Palace Hall Some venues will have both noon and evening shows, only the January show details have been announced...

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HKT48 2nd Anniversary Theatre Show Setlist

On the 26th November 2013, HKT48 celebrated their 2nd Anniversary with a special theatre show featuring all 3 generations of members. The setlist included their own original songs and songs from all the different stages they have performed so far as well as other songs. The full setlist is below. They also announced their first tour, details in another post. M01. Hatsukoi Butterfly M02. Suki Suki Skip M03. Onegai Valentine ---MC--- M04. Glory Days  (Kodama, Murashige, Shimono) M05. Wimbledon e Tsuretette (Akiyoshi, Miyawaki, Tomonaga) M06. MARIA (Anai, Matsuoka, Tanaka) M07. Ame...

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Niidoi Sayaka and Kitahara Yuna Leave SKE48

On November 22nd, two SKE48 members announced their graduation. Team S member Niidoi Sayaka will graduate on November 30th with a final performance in the theatre. Kenkyuusei Kitahara Yuna's leave instead was immediate, she is not a member of the group anymore. Both girls want to focus on their studies. Niidoi Sayaka is a 5th Generation member. She joined SKE48 in late 2011 and was promoted to Team S during the SKE48 shuffle this April. She made SKE48 senbatsu once for [Utsukushii Inazuma]. Kitahara Yuna was a 6th Generation member who had only joined early this year. You can read their...

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AKB48 34th Single [Suzukake Nanchara] Tracklist and Covers

On December 11th, AKB48 will release this year's Janken single. The single has the longest title in AKB48's history: [Suzukake no Ki no Michi de "Kimi no Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru" to Itteshimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa dou Kawatteshimau no ka, Boku nari ni Nannichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no you na Mono], shortened to [Suzukake Nanchara]. The title can be translated as: Sort of a slightly embarassing conclusion I came to after thinking for several days about how our relationship will change if I told you "I see your smile in my dream" while being on a road with oriental...

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NMB48 to Make First Solo Appearance at NHK Kouhaku

The year is coming to an end and soon it is time again for the next NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen, the annual music show contest between a red (female artists) and white (male artists) team broadcasted on December 31. On November 18 it was revealed that NMB48 will make their first solo appearance at the famous event this year.   AKB48 already made several appearances at the Kouhaku and last year SKE48 also got their first solo appearance there. NMB48 members performed at the Kouhaku before but only as part of AKB48's performance, not on their own. A solo appearance at  the NHK Kouhaku...

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NMB48 Team N 3rd [Koko ni Datte Tenshi wa Iru] Setlist

On November 19, Team N's long awaited first original stage [Koko ni Datte Tenshi wa Iru] was performed for the first time. This is the first newly written stage for the 48group since Team KII's 3rd Stage [Ramune no Nomikata] back in 2011. One and a half year and five postponements after the first shonichi date, Team N could finally put on stage 15 completely new songs as well as the already performed [Aoi Tsuki ga Miteru kara] and a NMB48 medley. Among the songs is also a Yamamoto Sayaka solo called [Yume no Dead Body]. Watanabe Miyuki, Ogasawara Mayu and Ichikawa Miori are centers for the...

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SKE48 Team S 5th Stage Postponed

The start of Team S' 5th Stage which was scheduled for November 30th has been postponed. No new date for this stage has been announced yet. New stages for all teams had been announced during AKB48's Dome Tour this summer. The first one of this, Team N's [Koko ni datte Tenshi wa Iru], is supposed to start in a few days on the 19th after several delays. Now the next in line, S 5th, was delayed which raises doubts whether the stage scheduled next after S5, Team H's new stage, will really start on time on  December 22nd. ...

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SNH48 Team SII and Team NII Formed

On 11th November 2013, SNH48 formed their first two teams, SII and NII. Mo-Han was named captain of Team SII. With this announcement, only Ding ZiYan remains without a team. Check out the official site here: http://www.snh48.com/member.html Team SII Team NII: ...

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AKB48 Draft Meeting Results

  On November 10th, all 48 groups held the first AKB48 Group Draft Meeting. Team captains together with four other representatives of their team picked new team members from a pool of 29 candidates. After the candidates performed [River] and [Aitakatta] in groups and were questioned by hosts and the team captains, the actual draft took place. 20 girls were drafted. The most were picked by Team KII which chose 5 girls while Team S, N, M and H decided to draft only one. Two girls were picked by several teams: Sutou Ririka by Team KII, Team E and Team N and Kawamoto Saya by Team B, S,...

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JKT48 News Recap

JKT48's Melody Nurramdhani Laksani's photobook has been released on 31th October 2013. She is the first JKT48 member to have her own photobook. The title of the book is [Melody SUGAO-The Natural Face Of Melody]. It consist special photos of Melody on some popular places in Japan. There is a special bonus on directly buying the book on JKT48 theatre, buyers will get one of five of name card which will be traded directly with Melody on an event. The "card trading" event itself will be held on December. "Melody SUGAO-The Natural Face Of Melody Photobook" Size   =  A4 Pages = 52(4...

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Kashiwagi Yuki 3rd Solo Live Setlist

Kashiwagi Yuki held her 3rd solo live, titled [Netemo Sametemo Yukirin World ~Motto Muchu ni Sasechauzo~] at Yokohama Arena on the 7th November 2013. For this concert, 10,000 fans saw Yukirin perform 21 songs drawn from her solo songs and the AKB48 back catalogue. The first encore saw French Kiss perform their 5 singles, ending a 70 day countdown which had been held on the groups website. However, no other announcement was made regarding the group. Full setlist below: M01. Birthday Wedding M02. Seigi no Mikata Ja Nai Hero M03. Flying Get M04. Give Me Five! ---MC1--- M05. Romance Kenjuu M06....

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AKB48 33rd Single [Heart Ereki] First Week Sales

AKB48's 33rd single [Heart Ereki] was released on October 30th and now finished its first week. Not surprisingly the single topped the Oricon Weekly Charts selling 1,203,586 copies. The sales are not as good but about the same level as those of the previous single [Koisuru Fortune Cookie] which sold 1,330,432 copies in week one. Compared to last year's cool single [UZA] (1,128,696 copies in first week), sold around the same period of the year, sales are even a bit better. AKB48 continues to achieve outstanding sales numbers. ...

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NMB48 Team N 3rd [Koko ni Datte Tenshi wa Iru] Delayed Once Again

Team N's first original stage [Koko ni datte Tenshi wa Iru] has been delayed again. Only recently, the show had already been postponed from October 26th to November 9th and now this has happened again. New Shonichi date is now November 19th. Team N3rd was originally scheduled for May 12th, 2012, and then delayed several times. Today's postponement is already the fifth. Despite the delay, ticket sales lottery for the Shonichi show starts today at the AKB48 Group Ticket Cent...

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HKT48 [Pajama Drive] Shonichi+ 3rd Generation Members Revealed

HKT48 performed their new stage [Pajama Drive] on November 2nd for the first time. This stage is originally Team B's 3rd Stage and was also done by Team E, JKT48 and recently also by AKB48 Kenkyuusei. HKT48 performs the [Pajama Drive] stage in Himawari-gumi style which means that it is not done by a team but by 1st and 2nd Generation members together. The shonichi performance was done by 9 Team H members and 7 2nd Generation Kenkyuusei. Two of those members, Sashihara Rino and Ota Aika, already performed this stage before as members of Team B. Both are back in their old positions. During...

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SKE48 13th Single [Sansei Kawaii!] Covers, Tracklist and Senbatsu

As previously announced, SKE48 will release their 13th Single on November 20th. The single is titled [Sansei Kawaii!] and the covers, tracklist and line-ups have been revealed recently. Following her very good rank in this year's election Shibata Aya made it to Senbatsu for the first time. Kenkyuusei Kitagawa Ryoha also was chosen as Senbatsu for the first time. Apart from the usual Akagumi, Shirogumi and Selection 8, the single also contains a duet by Suda Akari and Matsumura Kaori, a song by a unit consisting of all SKE48 members who rankend in the Senbatsu Election named Selection 18...

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