New Team B [Pajama Drive] Shonichi

On April 28, another one of the new teams started its new stage show. Team B performed the shonichi of [Pajama Drive]. This show is a revival of Team B's own 3rd and first original one which has already been redone several times: by Team E, by AKB48's Kenkyuusei, overseas by JKT48 and currently also by HKT48. Out off the 23 members of new Team B 16 performed, among them also Nogizaka46 concurrent member Ikoma Rina who made her AKB48 theater debut. The two girls who already performed [Pajama Drive] as Team B's 3rd stage, Watanabe Mayu and Kashiwagi Yuki, were given new units. AKB48 Team...

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JKT48 6th Single Senbatsu Election - Final Results

JKT48 have finished their first event of single senbatsu election. The final result announcement event was held on 26th April 2014, Melody Nurramdhani Laksani came out as a winner to be the center of JKT48's sixth singl...

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New Team A [Renai Kinshi Jourei] Shonichi

On April 25, Team A started their new stage [Renai Kinshi Jourei]. The stage is a revival of Team A's 5th stage which was also redone by AKB48's Kenkyuusei and overseas by JKT48 and SNH48. As with almost all of the new teams, some team members, in Team A's case 6 members, could not perform the shonichi show because the number of team members exceeds 16. Two members, Takahashi Minami and Kojima Haruna, have already been in Team A when [Renai Kinshi Jourei] was performed before but they got new unit positions now.  AKB48 Team A [Renai Kinshi Jourei] Performing Members: Iriyama Anna,...

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New Team S [Seifuku no Me] Shonichi

On April 25, the first new SKE48 team started their new stage: Team S performed the shonichi of [Seifuku no Me]. Team S' overall 5th stage is a revival of their own 3rd stage, also redone by SKE48's Kenkyuusei.  Out of Team S' 17 members 16 performed. The one member who did not perform is Matsumoto Chikako. Three Team S members, Nakanishi Yuka, Matsui Jurina and Oya Masana, have already been in the team when it performed [Seifuku no Me] as the team's 3rd stage, the interesting thing: they did not get their old unit positions back. SKE48 Team S 5th Stage [Seifuku no Me] Performing...

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New Team 4 [Idol no Yoake] Shonichi

On April 24 the first of AKB48's new teams started its new stage: Team 4 performed the shonichi show of [Idol no Yoake], Team B's 4th stage. It was also redone before by AKB48's Kenkyuusei and by Team M. The new Team 4 is quite large with 23 members which meant that 7 members could not perform the debut show. AKB48 Team 4 3rd Stage [Idol no Yoake] Performing Members: Iwatate Saho, Okada Nana, Kato Rena, Kizaki Yuria, Kotani Riho, Kobayashi Marina, Komiyama Haruka, Sasaki Yukari, Shinozaki Ayana, Shibuya Nagisa, Takashima Yurina, Nishino Miki, Minegishi Minami, Mukaichi Mion, Murayama Yuiri,...

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New Team H [Seishun Girls] Shonichi

On April 23, the new Team H performed the shonichi of their overall 3rd stage show [Seishun Girls]. [Seishun Girls] is originally Team K's 2nd show but it was redone several times since then by Team B, Team N, NMB48 Kenkyuusei and is also done overseas by JKT48. Even though the usual number of performing members is nowadays 16, all 20 members of the new Team H participated at least in parts in the shonichi show. One day after Team H's new show started, HKT48 announced that they will continue to perform their Himawari-Gumi stage [Pajama Drive] in addition to the new team shows. HKT48 Team...

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Details on the AKB48 Group Pennant Race

In November last year the AKB48 Group announced that they will introduce a new event, the AKB48 Group Pennant Race. Now details about this event have been finally revealed. The teams of AKB48 (except for Team 8), SKE48, NMB48 and HKT48 will compete against each other in terms of theater ticket applications, ticket sales for theater handshake events and total votes at the Senbatsu Sounsekyo. The race started on April 22 and will continue until October 31. AKB48 Group Pennant Race ~AKB48 Group wa Kisoiatte Migakareru~ ＡＫＢ48グループペナントレース～ＡＫＢ48グループは競い合って磨かれる～  Date: April 22~October 31 Participating...

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New Team BII [Saka Agari] Shonichi

As the first of the new teams, NMB48's Team BII held the shonichi of their new stage show on April 22. Team BII's overall 3rd stage show is a remake of [Saka Agari] which was originally Team K's 5th stage show and was also performed by Team E as their second show. The current Team BII has 17 members, one more than the usual number of performing members, so one member, Iso Kanae, did not perform the shonichi show. One member, Vice-Captain Umeda Ayaka, who was transferred from AKB48, has already performed this stage show before as part of Team K. NMB48 Team BII 3rd Stage [Saka Agari] Performing...

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Otona AKB48 Member Revealed

Recently, AKB48 announced that they are looking for a temporary member aged 30+ who will be in the group until late summer and also be the main promotional character for the ice cream brand Papico. On April 17, the winner of the Otona AKB48 audition was revealed. While some already famous women like AKB48 imitator Kintaro and former Morning Musume member Ichii Sayaka applied, the winner is a non-celebrity: Tsukamoto Mariko, 37 years old, housewife and mother of two. Tsukamoto Mariko was chosen out of 5066 applicants, among which the oldest one was 82 years old. Mariri (nickname suggested...

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Akazawa Hono Leaves NMB48

On April 16 Team BII member Akazawa Hono announced that she will leave NMB48. The announcement came one day after Team BII's Senshuuraku via the official NMB48 blog and was effective the same day. As reason, poor physical health was stated. Akazawa Hono joined NMB48 in early 2012 as part of the 3rd Generation. She became a member of Team BII when it was formed in October the same year. She was supposed to go to Team M once the new team system starts but after consulting with her doctor and family she decided to leave. Akazawa Hono's graduation announcement Original Message Here is Team...

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AKB48 Two Tentative Kenkyuusei Promoted to Kenkyuusei

At Team B's theater show on April 14, two new AKB48 members were revealed. Taniguchi Megu and Iino Miyabi who were tentative Kenkyuusei appeared as backdancers at the show and were promoted to full Kenkyuusei status. They are officially part of the 15th Generation. Something like this happened before: Okawa Rio and Tatsuya Makiho started as tentative Kenkyuusei too and were then promoted to 15th Generation Kenkyuusei in October last year. At the AKB48 Group Daisokaku Matsuri in February all Kenkyuusei left were promoted which meant that in the new team system AKB48 would have been without...

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AKB48 Katayama Haruka Announces Graduation

On April 14, only one day after Kikuchi Ayaka had announced her graduation, Katayama Haruka did so as well. She wants to become a musical actress. Her last handshake event will be on September 23, the same day as Kikuchi Ayaka's last one. Her graduation show has not been decided yet but it is planned for the time after that handshake event. She will participate at stage shows of Team A, the team she was shuffled to at the Daisokaku Matsuri, until then.  Katayama Haruka joined AKB48 in late 2006 as part of the 3rd Generation and became an original Team B member. She was transferred...

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AKB48 Kikuchi Ayaka Announces Graduation

On April 13, AKB48 member Kikuchi Ayaka announced her graduation. She wants to pursue a career in fashion. Her graduation show will be Team A's Senshuuraku on April 21 but she will continue to participate at handshake events until September 23. Kikuchi Ayaka first joined AKB48 in late 2006 as part of the 3rd Generation and became an original Team B member but had to leave in 2008 because of a purikura scandal. She re-auditioned and came back to AKB48 as part of the 7th generation. She was promoted at AKB48's first Sokaku Matsuri in 2009 and became a Team K member but then was transferred...

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AKB48 Members Form a Drama-Only Idol Unit for [Sailor Zombie]

As announced before, a new drama featuring AKB48 members called Sailor Zombie will start on April 18. Takahashi Juri, Owada Nana and Kawaei Rina will play the main roles in this drama. Now it was revealed that three additional AKB48 members join the cast and will also release a song for it. Watanabe Mayu, Yokoyama Yui and Iwata Karen will appear in the drama as the idol unit 'Milk Planet', the favorite idol group of Owada Nana's role Inui Maiko. The new unit will also provide the theme song for the drama, called [Sailor Zombie] and of course written by Akimoto Yasushi. In the music video the...

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SKE48 Iguchi Shiori and Kaneko Shiori Announce Graduation

On April 8th, two SKE48 members announced their graduation: Team E's Iguchi Shori and Kaneko Shiori. Both girls will have their graduation show on April 22nd. Their last activity in SKE48 will be a handshake event on April 29. It was also announced that this handshake event will be the last activity for Deguchi Aki too who had already announced her graduation last month and will have her final theater show on April 21. Iguchi Shiori is a 2nd Generation member. She debuted in 2009 and became a member of the original Team KII but was demoted to Kenkyuusei at the end of 2010. In August 2012...

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AKB48 37th Single Senbatsu Election Candidates

On June 7, AKB48 will hold this year's senbatsu election and until April 6, 11 pm members had time to announce their candidacy. This year all AKB48 (including Team 8 and Nogizaka46 concurrrent member Ikoma Rina), SKE48, NMB48 and HKT48 members as well as AKB48 members who were transferred overseas were eligible, a total of 310 members. 296 members actually participate, the highest number ever with exactly 50 candidates more than last year. Below you can find a list of all members who have decided not to participate in the election. Members NOT participating in the 37th Single Senbatsu Election (note:...

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AKB48 Request Hour Setlist Best 200 Final Day

On April 6, AKB48 performed the second half of their Request Hour event. The first half was already performed on January 23-26 with 25 songs on each day. Now the final 100 ranks were presented on one day, split into two concerts. This year was the first time this system was used, until now the Request Hour only had 100 ranks performed on four days. The winner song this year is Seijun Philosophy, a coupling track of [Heart Ereki] sung by current Team 4. As a surprise 4 AKB48 graduates made an appearance at the second concert: Maeda Atsuko, Itano Tomomi, Shinoda Mariko and Sato Amina. Soon...

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AKB48 Group Spring Concerts Setlist (Updated)

The AKB48 Group started its spring concerts with an AKB48-only concert in the National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on March 29. During this concert AKB48's newest single [Labrador Retriever] was performed for the first time. On March 30 an AKB48 Group concert was scheduled at the same venue but got cancelled due to bad weather. This concert was supposed to include a graduation ceremony for Oshima Yuko. A replacement concert will take place at Ajinomoto Stadium on June 8th, the day after the Senbatsu Election. The second part of the spring concerts is scheduled for the week after in Saitama Super...

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AKB48 Team 8 Members Revealed

A while ago, AKB48 announced that they would create a Team 8 sponsored by Toyota. On April 3, the members for this new team were introduced to the public for the first time. 47 girls, one for each prefecture, passed the auditions. They were selected from about 10,000 applicants. The average age is 14,4. The oldest member is 19, the youngest 12. The concept for the new team is "idols who come to meet you" so from May on the new team will hold events all over Japan. Then sometime in the fall they will start a Toyota campaign. It was also announced at the presentation event, that the new Team...

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NMB48 9th Single [Takane no Ringo] First Week Sales

NMB48's 9th single [Takane no Ringo] was released on March 26th and now finished its first week ranking first in the Oricon Weekly Charts. First week sales amount to 406,579 copies. Sales improved compared to the previous single [Kamonegikkusu] which sold 374,644 in its first week. Overall [Takane no Ringo] has the second best first week sales for NMB48, only [Bokura no Eureka] had a better start with 481,843 copies in week one. [Takane no Ringo] first week sales also beat those of SKE48's [Mirai to wa?] which was released a week earlier and sold 397,874 copies in the starting week. In...

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