Melos' Report on JKT48 Theater Shows 25~26 May 2013

Last weekend I finally had the chance to fly to Jakarta again with a couple of friends to watch JKT48. It hasn't even been 2 months since I became a fan of JKT48 on my previous visit but I already couldn't wait to go back, and I grabbed the first opportunity that I could. As I'm still in the army, my leave is very limited so I had to wait until the Vesak Day holiday in Singapore on Friday to minimize my leave usage. Unlike my first trip where there were only JKT48 Trainee shows, this time round there were both Team J's [Renai Kinshi Jourei] stage on Saturday, 25 May, as well as JKT48 Trainees'...

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More Details on Komori Mika's and Matsubara Natsumi's Graduation

As previously reported, Umeda Team B member Komori Mika announced her graduation on May 9. A few days earlier on May 5, Matsubara Natsumi had announced her graduation during the [Omoidaseru Kimitachi e] performance of K3rd [Nounai Paradise]. At the time of the announcement the graduation dates were undecided, but now the dates for the girls' last activities have been revealed. Komori Mika's last theater show will be on June 3, only about a week from now. One day later on June 4, Matsubara Natsumi will  have her graduation show. But these shows won't be their last activity in AKB48 because...

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Matsumura Kaori Will Release Indies Solo Single Produced By Sashihara Rino

As announced during SKE48's Concert in Nippon Gaishi Hall on April 14, SKE48's Lifetime Honorary Kenkyuusei Matsumura Kaori will release an Indies Solo single. The single will be limited to 1000 copies, but if those are sold out new copies will be made. This will be the first solo single by an SKE48 member. A month later on May 13, it was revealed during the late night show AKB Eizou Center which is hosted by Sashihara Rino, that Sashihara will produce the single. Five minutes before the start of the show, a mail had arrived from Akimoto Yasushi saying that Sashihara will pick the song, arrange...

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Nakatsuka Tomomi To Graduate

AKB48 Shinoda Team A member Nakatsuka Tomomi announced her graduation during the theater show on May 20. In her comment she explained that she will turn 20 soon and now wants to take a "step forward". A graduation date has not been announced yet. Nakatsuka Tomomi joined AKB48 as a 5th generation member in 2007. She was promoted in January 2009 to Team B and later became a member of Team K and then A. Tomomi ranked #9 in the first Janken Tournament in 2010 and hence became a senbatsu member for [Chance no Junban], her first and only time as senbatsu. Since she never ranked in the sousenkyo...

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NMB48 7th Single [Bokura no Eureka] Senbatsu, Covers, Tracklist And Short PV Revealed

NMB48 has revealed several new details about its 7th Single which will go on sale June 19. The single, NMB48's first in 7 months, will be called [Bokura no Eureka] (僕らのユリイカ; Our Eureka). The covers, tracklist, senbatsu, line up for the coupling songs and a short PV have been revealed too. The Senbatsu line up shows a few changes. Team M members Shimada Rena and Takano Yui were selected for the first time as Senbatsu. Ichikawa Miori, whose double position in NMB48 has just been announced recently, is also part of the Senbatsu. As usual, the single will be released in four types: A, B, C and...

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AKB48 31st Single [Sayonara Crawl] 1st Day Sales

AKB48's 31st Single [Sayonara Crawl] was released on May 22 and the first day sales amount to 1,450,881 copies. Not surprising, AKB48 ranked first in the Oricon Daily Charts. These are the highest first day sales for AKB48 ever. The previous record was set by [Manatsu no Sounds Good] with 1,170,554. Sales made a huge jump from the prevous single [So long!] which sold 817,530 copies on its first day. Singles containing voting tickets always sell more but given the slight downward sales trend of the previous singles this is a surprising sales number. This time voting tickets are included in...

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AKB48 32nd Single Senbatsu Election - Preliminary Votes

AKB48's 31st Single [Sayonara Crawl] was released today, and with that the voting tickets for the 32nd Single Senbatsu Election. The AKB48 Official Blog released the first and only preliminary vote count for this election. http://ameblo.jp/akihabara48/entry-11535824621.html Do note that this is not the final result, and there will most likely be big changes from now to the final result on July, which is the case for all the previous year's senbatsu elections. RankTeamVotesPrev Rank -----Future Girls line----- 64Kimoto KanonSKE48 Team E2,27556 63Tano YukaAKB48 Team A2,39445 62Iwasa...

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Nogizaka46 2nd Generation Profiles + Videos

The Tokyo phase of Nogizaka46's [16nin no Principal Deux] Stage has ended on 12th May, and with that all the Nogizaka46 2nd generation of members have been revealed, numbering 13 in total. This brings the total number of members in Nogizaka46 up to exactly 46, living up to it's name. Nogizaka46 2nd Generation profile page: http://www.nogizaka46.com/2kisei_profile/ Each of the members self introduction video has been put up onto their profile pages. You can take a look by clicking on the link above. Included among the 2nd Generation members is an AKB48 Kenkyuusei graduate,...

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AKB48 32nd Single Senbatsu Election - Election Posters

The Election Posters for the AKB48 32nd Single Senbatsu Election have already been uploaded on the official election website. The 254 posters are also being hung at the TOKYO DOME CITY HALL, and the respective groups' theaters. http://www.akb48.co.jp/sousenkyo/32ndsingle/member.php A small 3R photo of one of the election posters will be included as a bonus photo for the Theater Edition of AKB48's 31st Single [Sayonara Crawl], which releases this we...

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SKE48 12th Single Announced

SKE48 has announced its 12th Single during their handshake event in Port Messe, Nagoya. Currently, the Single is still untitled, but the release date has been set for 17th July, 2013. The announcement came unknown to the members in the middle of their mini-live where they performed Okey Dokey, Kataomoi Finally, Aishiteraburu!, and Kiss Datte Hidarikiki. Just as they were about to sing the next song, Choco no Dorei, the announcement flashed on the screen. The 12th Single will be SKE48's 2nd in 2013. SKE48's 11th Single, [Choco no Dorei], was released more than half a year ago on 30th January,...

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Kuramochi Asuka [Itsumo Soba ni] PV Preview

The Promotional video for Kuramochi Asuka's solo single [Itsumo Soba ni] has been uploaded onto YouTube. The PV was shot in Guam and will release on 29th May 2013. However, not all went smoothly during her PV shoot. Kuramochi reported on her blog that her wallet was stolen on the set of the shoot. Unfortunately, she only found out about it after the shoot and by that time it was too late; when she blogged about it she was already back in Japan. Some of the things inside her wallet included a baseball card signed by her father, cash, and various insurance cards. ...

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Yokoyama Yui and Yamada Nana Leave Team N

Yokoyama Yui and Yamada Nana both performed their last show as Team N members on May 20. With this, Yokoyama's concurrency ends and she will be only an AKB48 member from now on while Yamada Nana will move to Team M. During the show the two and Yamamoto Sayaka also performed their unit song [Dazai Osamu wo Yonda ka?] from the NMB48 album for the first time in the theater. Yokoyama Yui's concurrency had been announced during the Tokyo Dome Concerts in August last year. Since then she was quite active in NMB48. She was senbatsu in NMB48's single [Kitagawa Kenji], participated in the album [Teppen...

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[NMB48 Geinin! The Movie] Will Come To Theaters 1st August

NMB48's first starring movie [NMB48 Geinin! THE MOVIE Owarai Seishun Girls!] will be released in theaters nationwide in Japan starting 1st August, 2013. Official Website: http://www.ntv.co.jp/geinin_1/movie.html NMB48 Geinin! THE MOVIE is an adaptation of NMB48's variety TV show NMB48 Geinin!, which broadcasted on Nippon Television (NTV) from July to September 2012. The filming started already on February and the movie was already featured earlier this year at the Okinawa Film Festival, but finally the movie will be available for public viewing from August. The movie is set in the...

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Kitahara Rie Ends Her Concurrency in SKE48

Kitahara Rie performed her final stage of [Seifuku no Me] on 9th May, ending her concurrency as an SKE48 Team S member. She will revert back being just a member of AKB48's Oshima Team K. Taking her place will be Umeda Team B's Oba Mina, who will be joining SKE48's Team KII. Kitahara Rie's concurrency with SKE48 was announced during the AKB48 Tokyo Dome concert on August 2012. She made her debut on Team S's [Seifuku no Me] stage on 13th February 2013, performing for 2 months before her concurrency was shuffled from Team S to Team KII at the SKE48 Gaishi Hall concert in April....

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Eguchi Aimi Disappears from AKB48's Profile Page

AKB48's very own virtual idol Eguchi Aimi has finally graduated from the group. Her profile was taken down from the official website a few days ago. Eguchi Aimi debuted on June 2011 as the "Ultimate Kenkyuusei", impressing Akimoto Yasushi during NMB48's 2nd Generation audition. She then got transfered to AKB48 and become the only member of AKB48's generation 12.5. Immediately after debuting, she made the cover of the magazine Shupure, as well as starring front and center in the Ice no Mi commercial collaboration with Ezaki Glico. It was later revealed though that Eguchi Aimi was not a real...

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JKT48 1st Single [RIVER] Released

The Theater version of JKT48's 1st single [RIVER] went on sale today, on 11th May 2013, in Indonesia. RIVER will be released in two types: Regular ver. and Theater ver.. The Theater ver. will be sold earlier, on 11th May 2011 at the JKT48 Theater in fx Sudirman, while the release date for the Regular ver. has not yet been announced, but expected to be mid May. The Regular ver. has a special photo as a bonus along with digital card for mobile content brought by IM3 (Indonesian mobile provider), and the theater version will give you an individual handshake ticket and one trading card. RIVER...

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Komori Mika Also Announces Graduation Tonight

AKB48 Umeda Team B's Komori Mika has also announced her graduation tonight during the show in the AKB48 Theater, just mere minutes after SKE48's Hioki Miki and Itou Akane announced theirs at the SKE48 Theater. The reason she gave for graduating is that she wants to go overseas to study. Currently her graduation date is undecided. Komori Mika was from the 7th Generation of AKB48 Kenkyuusei, where she was the first ever kenkyuusei to enter Senbatsu in AKB48's 12th Single Namida Surprise!. She debuted on December 2008, and got promoted on 21st May 2010 to Team B, later joining Watarirouka...

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SKE48's Hioki Miki, Itou Akane Announces Graduation

SKE48 Kenkyuuseis Hioki Miki and Itou Akane have announced their withdrawal from SKE48 during tonight's [Aitakatta] stage. Hioki Miki and Itou Akane were from SKE48's 5th and 6th Generation respectively. Both of them were not promoted to any teams during the SKE48 Gaishi Hall Concert shuffle. http://www.ske48.co.jp/news/?id=1368087351 Hioki Miki's reason for graduation is that she wants to pursue legal studies in university. She is currently 20 years old, and turns 21 on October. Itou Akane will also be graduating to focus on her studies, citing her difficulty in keeping up in both her high...

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AKB48 Kenkyuusei Graduate Nishikawa Nanami joins Nogizaka46

Nogizaka46 is in the process of revealing it's 2nd generation of members, one during each day of it's [16nin no Principal deux] Stage held in Tokyo. On their 8th May show, the member revealed was none other than Nishikawa Nanami, previously an AKB48 Kenkyuusei member until 2009. You can see the other 2nd generation Nogizaka46 members that have already been revealed over the past days, with more to be added over the upcoming shows. http://www.nogizaka46.com/2kisei_profile/ Nishikawa Nanami was an 8th generation AKB48 Kenkyuusei member before she was fired from the group on 25th...

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JKT48 Stella Cornelia Stars in Indonesian Tokusatsu Series

JKT48 member Stella Cornelia will play a part in Indonesia's first Tokusatsu series [Bima Satria Garuda]. In the show, Stella will play a role of "Rena Iskandar", the younger sister of "Randy Iskandar" and also a close friend with the main character "Ray Bramasakti", alter ego of the hero BIMA. Rena is a plain girl who has her eyes set on Ray, but gets often gets harassed by the evil organization VUDO from a parallel world. Bima Satria Garuda is a series jointly done by Indonesia's MNC Group and Japan's Ishimori Productions, who developed the Kamen Rider series in Japan. It also...

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First Large-Scale SNH48 concert [Pray for Ya’an, Star Flowers Blooming For You] announced

Named for the earthquake in Ya'an last month, SNH48 will hold their first large-scale event on 25th May 2013 on the Baosteel Stage built for 2010's World Expo in Shanghai. Members to perform in units are being voted on leading up to the concert. A vote was previously held to decide who would perform [Hatsukoi Dorobou] at the event, won by Tang Min, Zhao JiaMin, and Xu ChenChen. There was also a vote for two girls to perform [Oshibe to Meshibe to Yoru no Chouchou] won by Mo Han and Qiu XinYi. Many new songs will also be performed, including their version of AKB48's [Dareka no Tame ni ~what...

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3,000th Performance in the AKB48 Theater

Last night, 6th May 2013, AKB48 held it's 3,000th performance in the AKB48 Theater in Don Quixote. Although it was the 3,000th performance, the show started out like any other Kenkyuusei [Pajama Drive] Stage, with no indication that it was a special show. It was not until after the encore call that the members sported different shirts than normal, with the words "3000 TIMES" printed on them. They then performed the songs AKB48 and Sakura no Hanabiratachi. The special commemorative T-Shirt was given to all members of the audience at the end of the performance. AKB48 3,000th Show...

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Takahashi Minami [Jane Doe] Solo Live Set List

AKB48 General Manager Takahashi Minami held a solo live event at Pacifico Yokohama National Convention Hall on the 6th May 2013 to an audience of 4000. This event was associated with her solo debut single [Jane Doe], and a slip to apply for tickets was included in the first press copies, and there were 50,000 applications. She performed all 6 songs from her single, and her two solo songs from AKB48, as well as [Bird], a signature song of hers. Rounding out the setlist was [Desire],originally by Nakamori Akina, and [Yume Miru Shoujo ja Irarenai], originally by Aikawa Nanase. M01. Jane Doe M02....

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AKB48 32nd Single Senbatsu Election - Appeal Videos

AKB48 has just uploaded all 254 appeal videos for the upcoming AKB48 32nd Single Senbatsu Election, taking place on 8th June, 2013 at the Nippon Budokan. The videos can be viewed on AKB48's YouTube channel, as well as the official election website. http://www.youtube.com/user/AKB48 http://www.akb48.co.jp/sousenkyo/32ndsingle/member.php This election is to select the senbatsu members who will participate in AKB48's 32nd single, which will be released sometime in August 2013. There will be a total of 64 members elected: 1-16: Senbatsu 17-32: Undergirls 33-48: Next Girls 49-64: Future Girls There are 12 different methods to get a voting ticket for this election, and the voting period will be open from 21st May to 7th June 2013, a day before the election at the [AKB48 Super Festival at Nissan...

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