That’s where this post comes in.  Right here, you will hopefully learn enough about AKB48 to understand the concept of the group, their history, and maybe a taste of their music–specifically some of their lesser-known gems.  Keep in mind this isn’t a pimp post. I’m not telling you that you should look into this group; this is just a guide-book to AKB48 for those of you who are willing to take the plunge.

Let’s begin with a trip down memory lane.

Where were you on December 8, 2005? Me? I was probably counting down the days til Christmas on another boring day of 8th grade. As for 20 girls in Tokyo’s Akihabara District, they were nervously waiting for their theater debut. They were the founding members of famous music producer Akimoto Yasushi’s newest group, Akihabara48. Some of the girls may have been wondering about the four who stopped coming to lessons, others might be reviewing the lyrics or choreography to the first set of songs, and most were probably feeling nauseous and definitely nervous, but at 7:00pm the overture started playing and girls filed on stage for their first peformance in the newly built Akihabara48 theater on the 8th floor of the Don Quixote department store. There were 72 people in the audience of the 250 seat theater. Most of them were recognizable to the girls or the staff– family, friends and members of the press served as a large portion of the group’s first audience. On that day, only 7 tickets were sold.

After the groups first performance, they continued performing almost every day. Day after day they performed to very few people. Maeda Atsuko recalls several performances where the girls performing outnumbered the number of people in the audience. Some of the girls were on the verge of quitting, most were in tears after every performance. Soon enough, their producer announced auditions for the 2nd generation of the group. How would they be able to function with that many girls and so few fans? It seemed hopeless. But somehow, Akimoto was going to work his magic.

At the beginning of 2006, the group prepared for their first single, Sakura no Hanabiratachi. The song was a fan favourite from their stage performances and was being released just in time for graduation season, a time when songs with themes like Sakuhana were most popular. They were also fortunate enough that the songs included in the single were insert songs for dramas and variety shows. As they prepared for the release day, they saw an increase in the number of attendants to the theater. The hype created by the 2nd generation auditions had increased the fanbase, ever so slightly. They hadn’t quite reached full capacity yet, but they were getting closer. Then the release day happened. AKB48 had hit it bigger than expected; Sakura no Hanabiratachi charted at 10 on the weekly oricon charts. As it was released on an indies label, this was a big deal and garnered some attention for the group.

Two months later, AKB48′s 2nd generation made its debut as a second team of girls: Team K. Earlier, one of the original members of the group, Usami Yuki, graduated with aspirations to become a model. The group had also admitted another member as an addition to the first group, Shinoda Mariko. She had been popular with AKB’s fans despite only having worked in a cafe, and the fans organized a petition to add her into the group after she had missed the original audition.

At Team K’s first performance, they finally reached their long awaited goal of a full theater. The numbers dropped significantly afterwards, but the having a full theater kept the group going. Team A started its second stage, and the group continued gaining fans. In June, 2006, AKB48 released its 2nd indies single, also a popular song from their first stage: Skirt, Hirari.

This song introduced the concept of selected members for AKB singles, now called senbatsu by fans. The seven members selected to sing the single version of the song were called the ‘SukaHira7′ by fans and were meant to be the central members of the group. Team A’s 2nd stage made a few changes to this formula by replacing Narita Risa with new addition Shinoda Mariko, but the other 6 members maintained a central position in the group.

At the end of 2006, the group announced its 3rd generation audition as well as released its 1st major label single, Aitakatta. This was once again a popular song from a stage show, but instead of using only members of Team A or a few members overall, it used a selection of members from both teams. This single did not chart as well as their first indies single, but remains a fan favourite and is often performed in the theater for milestone performances and at every concert.

Around this time, AKB48 had its first hall concert and they were regularly performing to larger and larger crowds. At the end of their first concert, it was announced that the groups would be shuffled into two permanent groups: Baragumi and Yurigumi, rather than the current Team A and Team K. The announcement was shocking for fans and the girls, but was never realized.

It was also announced around this time that four of the original members from Team A: Hirajima Natsumi, Urano Kazumi, Masuyama Kayano and Watanabe Shiho would be transferred to a new team, Team B. However, just before the end of Team A’s third stage, Orii Ayumi announced she would be leaving the group and Masuyama remained with Team A.

On December 8th, 2006, AKB48′s first anniversary, 18 girls debuted on stage with the three original Team A members as ‘Team B’.

On April 8th, 2007, Team B made its long awaited Theater debut. Of the 21 girls that had stood on stage just 5 months earlier as the members of the new team, only 16 remained. AKB48 had finally reached its goal of 48 members, 16 in each team.

2007 saw single after single being released, all as fan favourites from stage shows. Each single featured a slightly different lineup of girls, and saw some girls enter and leave the selection throughout the year. By the end of the year, however, AKB still hadn’t made any splashes with the public, so for the group’s 4th single for the year (of 5), it was announced that for AKB’s next concert the fans would get to pick the setlist. Every copy contained a ballot on which you could vote for your favourite song, and the top 100 songs were featured in a four day concert event in January, 2008. This practice has become an annual event.

In the summer of 2007, A shocking announcement was made that had not been anticipated after the announcement of Baragumi and Yurigumi at the end of 2006. It was announced that for the newest stage show in the theater, Team A and K would be shuffled into ‘Himawari Gumi,’ and two different casts made up of members of both teams performed the same stage throughout the end of 2007 and into 2008. Himawari-gumi 1st and 2nd stages were also a milestone for the group because they were 16 song shows, rather than the 15 song shows that had been performed previously. Himawari-gumi’s 2nd stage also saw a departure from the classic seifuku in their costumes and took on a more general idol theme.

At the time, the girls were uncertain of the future of the group: were the himawari groups permanent? Nothing was certain until the end of the group’s 2nd stage as Himawari-gumi: It was announced that Team A would be reviving its 4th stage and Team K would be starting their 4th.

In May 2007, another change took place in the lineup of AKB48: AKB48 SEED was announced. Now referred to as Kenkyuusei (Research Students), they acted as trainees for the group and filled in for absent members (rather than members of other teams taking their place). Because their status within the group was unknown, many of the 18 4th generation girls withdrew or graduated from the group before getting a proper theater debut, but after Watanabe Shiho graduated from Team B after Team B’s first stage, it was finally realized what the purpose of the Kenkyuusei was: They were to replace graduated members. Saeki Mika became the first girl added to a team to replace a graduated member after she was promoted to Team B.

When New Years rolled around, AKB48 was on the list for the Kouhaku Utagassen, an important New Years event where the top names in music appear and perform before audiences as big as 40% of TV viewers.

In February 2008, Team B started performing their first original stage at the theater. They also released their last single on DefStar Records: Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008. The reason it was their last single is no dispute, but it is disputed as to what actually happened: The single was supposed to contain one of 48 randomly chosen posters. Anyone who could collect all 48 posts would gain access to a special festival held by the girls. Under one of Japan’s anti-monopoly laws this was illegal and the event was dropped, and soon after AKB48′s contract with DefStar Records was dropped and they were without a record label for a good part of 2008.

Throughout the summer of 2008, AKB48′s future was uncertain. Because they weren’t on a record label, they were unable to release music, but despite all this, Akimoto Yasushi had already set up auditions for a new 48 group: SKE48, based in Sakae in Nagoya. Soon, the light at the end of the tunnel was visible: AKB signed to King Records and had plans to release a new single, Oogoe Diamond, in October. Like the previous year, it would include ballots for a four day 100 song concert event in January 2009.

Oogoe Diamond was a success, reaching 3 on the oricon charts and selling 48,000 copies in its first week. With the budget provided by King Records (a much larger record label than DefStar), it became possible for the group to begin holding nationwide handshake events. In every single, a ticket was provided which would grant you access to an event (one ticket per handshake). These kinds of marketing plans led to higher sales for AKB48.

2008 was also a year of loss for AKB48: During the summer, when releases were uncertain from AKB48, popular Team B member Kikuchi Ayaka suddenly stopped performing, and recently promoted Sashihara Rino began taking her place during stage performances. Suddenly, in the beginning of August, it was revealed that Kikuchi’s contract with AKB48 was terminated. Another member of Team B, Inoue Naru, also graduated suddenly at this time, as well as fellow B member Matsuoka Yuki announcing that she would graduate at the end of Team B’s 3rd stage. It was also announced that 5 original Team A members: Komatani Hitomi, Ohe Tomomi, Tojima Hana and original SukaHira 7 members Narita Risa and Nakanishi Rina, would be graduating at the end of the Team A 4th stage revival.

Another big change for the group was the new center of the group: Until that point, Takahashi Minami, Maeda Atsuko and Kojima Haruna had shared the center position of the group in some way. For Oogoe Diamond, Matsui Jurina, a complete unknown from SKE48 was thrust to the center position of the song and was the only member appearing on the cover.

As 2009 began, AKB48 began to change. The first single release for the year was 10nen Zakura, a graduation song. The major thing that set it apart from past singles was that it was not a song featured in the group’s stage shows. From this point on, all singles by the group were original songs. The single sold over 100,000, becoming the first song from the group to do so.

The second single release from AKB48 in 2009 was Namida Surprise!, a song which ended up becoming a theme for the year to some AKB fans. It was at this point that it was announced that the first ‘AKB48 General Election’ would be taking place. Every first press copy of the single would contain a ballot with which you could vote for your favourite member who, and the winner of this election would be the center of the next single.  It was at this point that ‘senbatsu’ became a term used to describe members selected for AKB48 singles. The 13th single, Iiwake Maybe, was the first to feature Under Girls, a group of girls who were secondary to the Senbatsu elite. They got their own original song and music video as well. Under Girls is now a staple for all AKB48 releases.

At the end of summer, 2009, AKB48 held its biggest concert up to that point: AKB104 at the Nippon Budoukan. After three concerts and just before the end of the last performance, AKB48′s theater manager made an appearance on stage. He announced the captains for the three teams, a form of leadership which had not existed in AKB48 before that point (at AKB48′s first TV appearance they even defiantly told the hosts of Music Fighter that they had no leader). He also announced new teams which would take effect in October 2009. The announcement was devastating for many of the girls. Sato Amina and Kasai Tomomi fainted on stage and Watanabe Mayu was seen crying while holding a photo of Ota Aika, who had missed the concert due to sickness.

The following single was RIVER, and introduced a new concept: Theater Girls. This was the last group of girls in terms of popularity and they covered a theater favourite song, Hikoukigumo. RIVER became AKB48′s first #1 hit on the Oricon charts

2010 welcomed newfound fame for AKB48–they were now a household name in Japan. They capitalized on this by planning release after release and scheduled their 2nd best-of album to be released, Kamikyokutachi. The year was filled with releases, each topping the last, from their graduation choir piece Sakura no Shiori, to their summer single Ponytail to Shushu, which contained the ballots for the 2010 Senbatsu General Election. It was also during this time that AKB48 had a three concert event at Yokohama Arena, the next step up in large venues for AKB to perform in. Their concerts included a theme that relied on their drama, Majisuka Gakuen.

In March 2010, AKB48′s new teams finally made their long awaited debut. Despite being scheduled to premiere in October 2009, the official word about new stages for the new teams wasn’t made until the beginning of 2010. Team K debuted their new stage in March, titled “RESET”, an obvious reference to the new direction AKB48 was taking with new members and new dynamics. Team B followed in May with “Theater no Megami,” of which the title song refers to the importance of the theater to AKB48, and finally Team A premiered their new stage in July, “Mokugekisha,” which included many songs with heavy lyrics, to show that AKB48 was not abandoning its controversial past.

When the results were in for the 2nd senbatsu election, a resounding shock was sent through the AKB48 fandom: Longtime center and ‘face’ of AKB48, Maeda Atsuko, was in 2nd place. Despite a lead in the preliminary results, Oshima Yuko from Team K made her push into the front spot. It was around this time that Akimoto also announced his plans to continue expanding the …48 group franchise, and NMB48 began auditions in Osaka.

At AKB48′s summer concert, it was announced that for AKB48′s 19th single, which was to be released in December, the participating members would be chosen by a janken (rock-paper-scissors) tournament. The event ended in the victory of 5th generation member Uchida Mayumi, who had never been in AKB48′s senbatsu before.

At the end of the event, AKB48′s newest Music video was debuted: Beginner. The video contained the shocking video game deaths of several members and was the buzz of Japanese media in the weeks following and up to the release, when it was announced that the video would be censored and only released on cell phones. Beginner followed to become the best selling single of 2010 and AKB48′s first million seller.

AKB48′s 5th anniversary was met with a surprise announcement. Set in the theater, many of the graduated members made an appearance and they had a special performance. However, at the end of the performance, Takahashi Minami (now considered the Captain of AKB48 by many) was given a letter to read: All 9th generation members who remained in AKB48 were now official members without teams, meaning that they could not be eliminated by Kenkyuusei selection.

2011 began without a hitch: Their first single was another graduation single and sold over 1 million copies in its first week.

They were scheduled to perform at Yokohama Arena for 5 performances over three days at the end of March in a concert called “Takamina ni Tsuiteikimasu” (We follow Takamina). Before this could happen, as you probably know, the devastating earthquake happened in Japan. AKB48′s followup to the disaster was to cancel their concert and begin everything they could to conserve energy and donate to disaster victims. They began the Dareka no Tame ni project, named after the title song of Team A’s 3rd stage and announced that they would sell the goods from the Takamina ni Tsuiteikimasu concerts for charity, with all the profits going to disaster relief. They also announced that their 2nd single for the year as well as first original album, Everyday, Katyusha and Koko ni Ita Koto respectively would have a portion of the profits donated to the Japanese red cross. Stage shows since March have been at half energy and the theater was closed for several weeks after the event.

AKB itself, however, did not stop moving because of the event: Their single Everyday, Katyusha became another million seller and their third senbatsu election was announced: Maeda Atsuko had reclaimed her 1st place position in a single called Flying Get, due to be released August of this year. They also have another concert at the end of July at Seibu Dome, their largest venue yet and first dome concert.

Over the last five and a half years AKB48 went from an idol group bigger than their fanbase to one of the biggest idol groups in history. While they still haven’t quite beat their predecessors, Onyanko Club of Morning Musume from their golden eras, it is clear that AKB48 will continue to ride this wave, with new members and new groups sprouting all over.

Hopefully this will be a good guide for those of you who want to learn more about AKB48′s past. I’m also planning on writing a guide to every official member AKB48 has ever had, as well as a guide to their stages, some quirks about the group as well as a glossary and release guide. Look forward to it!

Don’t get me wrong; I really really love idols.  They are an endless source of entertainment for me and as I get better and better at Japanese I see myself watching things over again and finding them even more entertaining on the fourth or fifth watch.

While the world of idols might seem like the land of milk and honey, especially for fans of AKB48 and it’s sister groups like myself, I’ve actually found that as their popularity has gone up, I find myself more and more bored by their news and new releases.  I want some variety, and AKB just doesn’t seem to have that nowadays.  So, without further ado, here’s my first batch of opinion cookies for how I would fix AKB.

AKB48 and its sister groups, NMB48, SKE48 and SDN48 seem to have everything going for them. Their releases are consistently selling hundreds of thousands of copies, they’re constantly in the news, it seems like everyone knows about them. With all their success, it seems like everything should be perfect and running smoothy, right?

Wrong.

There are some things that have been consistently bothering me about the way they handle their girls and their promotions, as well as the overall quality of their releases.  I know that there have been a lot of things that I’ve been alone on with what’s been bothering me, but today, while watching a few stage shows, I found myself utterly displeased with what’s been happening in Akihabara.

My most major concern has been a concern of mine since they released Namida Surprise! back in 2009: The SKE48 factor.  Recently it’s moved on to both NMB48 and the inner workings of the group itself, but calling it the SKE48 factor gives it a scapegoat and I like that.

Recently, AKB has taken their in-promotion a little too far.  However, before I go on and on about how the girls from Sakae are a poison that should be eradicated, let me give you, my reader(s?), a little history lesson.

Since the beginning, AKB has been a group of girls working hard to promote themselves.  The group was originally meant to be a stepping stone into the limelight, with most members leaving the group and moving on their own into the entertainment industry, whether they became a musician like Hoshino Michiru or an actress like Masuyama Kayano (or even followed other categories of entertainment like Nakani-er.. Yamaguchi Rico), the point is, everyone in AKB was in it for themselves, not to be a member of AKB48. That said, it is still an idol group, and as an Idol group that is meant to have 48 members, it needed a group of girls to focus on as kind of means to keep yourself from getting too lost in the halls of the 8th floor of the Don Quixote in Akihabara.

That was the “SukaHira7″‘s job. When AKB48 first started performing, they had a unit called Skirt, Hirari, and the members of this stage unit were meant to be the fronts of the group throughout it’s life. While this didn’t completely come to fruition, 4 of the 7 original members are still with the group, and 5 of the 7 led the group throughout their entire career with it. With this SukaHira7, as it came to be called, it became very predictable would would be leading songs and fronting singles as they appeared, and, to some extent, allowed for the lower rankings of the group to have more variety as girls tried to be noticed.  This was why in the time immediately following Skirt, Hirari’s release, AKB48′s senbatsu was the most random it has ever been.  Girls like Sato Natsuki, Kobayashi Kana and Noro Kayo made senbatsu in AKB48′s beginnings, all while the predictable SukaHira 7 (or 6, after Narita Risa became a lost cause) led the songs.

This is no longer the case.

After the first AKB48 General Senbatsu Election in 2009, AKB48′s roster of single a-side singing girls hasn’t changed much, save one or two replacements as girls have lost grace with the management and fans. It’s gotten to the point that they’ve had two singles without any change in the participating members, something that has never happened in AKB48 history.  Their most recent single, Everyday, Katyusha, allowed for more girls to be in senbatsu, but instead of shuffling other girls out or adding only a few girls, they almost doubled the number of girls participating in the a-side from 16 to 26. This is just a ridiculous number(it’s more than half the group), and with this number of girls it’s impossible to effectively promote them the way they could with a 16 or even 18 member roster.

But where is the fault in this? For me, this kind of heavy, non-changing promotion started when AKB48 changed from DefStar Records to King Records and released Oogoe Diamond. This single, which featured SKE48′s Matsui Jurina as center, was a success for the group, but also featured the biggest number of girls on a single since their debut (which featured all 20 members of the original Team A), and was promoting a girl who wasn’t even in the group, and had never performed before, in a big part. Since then, Jurina has been in every management chosen a-side senbatsu, as well as placing in both General Senbatsu Elections. While it seems like a great way to promote a new group, it’s completely skewed priority for the girls in her group and has made things extremely difficult for the girls of SKE48 to properly promote themselves.

That’s why, when the results for Iiwake Maybe‘s senbatsu election were coming back to us, I was excited to see Jurina barely placing in senbatsu.  I was thinking ‘with her ranking this low, maybe management will back off’ I remember being excited because of Jurina ranking so low. However, even after ranking 19th in the first Senbatsu Election, she came back even stronger after, being placed in the subsequent 16 person single River and then continuously being pushed to the front of the group.  I began to dread seeing election results for the next year, and as I expected, she jumped a whole 9 spots ahead and ranked among ‘media senbatsu’ for Heavy Rotation.

At this point I was still content with AKB48 itself. They hadn’t done me any wrongs, and my favourite, Takajo Aki, was constantly rising in popularity.  That is, until this commercial came out.

Sashihara Rino (who, as a gag from her management, was called Sashiko officially for about three days) was given a thirty second commercial to promote herself.  She immediately grew exponentially in mixi rankings and mad her way into senbatsu for subsequent songs. In a comparison of her mixi ranking from December 1, 2010 to May 1, 2011, she grew 142% and has breached the overall top 10 for AKB48, which includes the remaining four members of the SukaHira 7, Itano Tomomi, Maeda Atsuko, Kojima Haruna and Takahashi Minami. This was unacceptable to me (at least in retrospect it is now. At the time I was just worried that her career would take a weird turn. Stage names like that always make me feel uncomfortable). Why was this girl who barely made senbatsu for Heavy Rotation getting her own commercial during one of the most watched events in Japanese TV? Since this event, Sasshi has been the only girl we’ve seen on TV.  She has her own TV show, she’s consistently been single senbatsu (and has been slowly passing up my favourite Akicha) and has been in the front row promoting alongside the past favourites. While I don’t have a problem with promoting new girls to the top to keep the lineup different, sacrificing promoting all other girls for the sake of giving one girl a push above all the rest is a little excessive to me.

Following in Sasshi’s footsteps is the first kenkyuusei to be promoted since the Team Shuffle, Yokoyama Yui.

Yui was promoted to Team K in October 2010 following Ono Erena’s graduation.  Erepyon had always been in the front of the group since her debut, so her graduation shook the fan community pretty hard, and it gave whoever was to take her position some pretty big shoes (and costumes) to fill. As a result, her promotion almost immediately made her the front of Under Girls (a group similar to senbatsu, but not promoted the same way; think of it as the second tier of popularity for AKB48), and she immediately started participating on Music shows, variety, and eventually she was put into a unit (with Sashihara Rino), given a lead role on AKB48′s drama Majisuka Gakuen and appears as senbatsu in Everyday, Katyusha.  While there are plenty of fans here that are completely hating on Yui because of this push, I’m not. I actually enjoy a brand new face, but I’m not a big fan of how they’re pulling it off.  Like I said with Sasshi, pushing one girl over all the others just isn’t right, and the way it’s working isn’t keeping the level of variety that I loved about AKB48 where it should be.

So here’s how to fix it:

First things first, let the sister groups fend for themselves.  NMB48 has performed to a full house over 100 times since just January of this year and SKE48 has released numerous singles, with most of them selling upwards of 150,000 singles, including a number one. Obviously these groups do not need to ride AKB48′s coattails to the extent that they have been.  I understand that this can be a lot to bite off, especially since Matsui Jurina has been an omniscient presence since her debut in 2008, but she lives in Nagoya, not Tokyo, so there is no need for her to be traveling back and forth every day to work for a group that she’s not even in.

NMB48, meanwhile, has done a miraculously good job of promoting their girls at a fairly balanced pace. At last check, the top 8 on mixi were 7 of the management’s top 8, so obviously things are working properly. There isn’t any girl that’s being completely shafted in favour of other girls, and, while the rankings are a little top heavy, things like that make sense because, although it’s a new group, its relation to AKB48 immediately puts it at public attention. I understand that it’s a little harsh to a team that it was expected to have help from AKB48, but I think that leaving them to fend for themselves will make them work a little harder to get famous.

Next, take care of management. The girls are in different agencies, and that’s all well and good. However, those agencies are NOT  a part of AKB48. Therefore, a girl should NOT be favoured in AKB48 because of their agency. Yokoyama Yui’s unit, Not yet, features girls rom Ota Productions, which is a relatively powerful talent agency in Japan.  As a result, these girls from Ota Pro have been pushed to the front of AKB48 over and over since they decided to stick their heads into AKB48. This includes Maeda Atsuko and Oshima Yuko, both of whom have been signed to Ota for quite a while. Basically, it’s all well and good if you want to promote a girl outside of their group with your agency, but who is promoted in the group is not up to you. I would like to see them give their girls in lesser agencies that they’ve taken interest in a chance, but with Sasshi and Yui in the way it seems like that will never happen.

Last, which is probably something that will be handled in a future entry, solve the senbatsu issue. I don’t want to see a 26 girl group ever again (especially not with a PV as campy and poorly produced as Everyday, Katyusha’s is). I want to see some of the variety of the DefStar AKB, both in who is singing and what they’re singing. I won’t go into a lot of detail since that’ll take up another 2000 words, so just look forward to that.

In this post:

• 9th gen members
• Aichan graduation
• AKB48 stuff
• DANCEROiD

The first and most relevant event for the idol world in 2011 so far is the addition of four 9th generation members to Morning Musume.  As I may have stated in earlier posts on this blog, Morning Musume has gotten farther and farther away from my sphere of interest in idols because of a variety of reasons, mostly centered on boring releases/members.  Things have been looking bleak for Morning Musume since they lost more and more media attention, but things have started to turn up for the almost 14 year old idol group since they added four more members to the lineup on January 2nd.  I stayed up on 2ch to see the results and setlist for the first concert, and I was really pleased to see the results (read: i was really happy Mogi wasn’t chosen).

The three members chosen from the auditions were AKB48 fan Ikuta Erina, fan favourite Sayashi Riho, and the wild-card Suzuki Kanon.  I personally am a big fan of Riho myself, and I’m looking forward to seeing her in a lead role in Morning Musume.  Basically overall I’m in support of the new generation of Morning Musume and I’m hoping that they’re at least somewhat successful, seeing as though the 8th generation hasn’t really fared so well.  In fact, Riho has like 600 mixi fans right now, which is more than JunJun and LinLin managed to get in almost four years, which isn’t too shabby as far as i’m concerned.  Tsunku better not mess this up D<

Second is Aichan’s graduation.  Every tour starts and there’s always graduation rumours flying around everywhere.  2ch liked to say that Sayumi and Momoko were graduating before the tour started, and H!O always has I HEAR SOMEONE’S GRADUATING rumours out and about.  This year the rumour of graduation was true, and Aichan is graduating from Morning Musume and Hello! Project at the end of the fall tour.  So soon Gaki will be the leader of Hello! Project :O  not too much to say since the details aren’t too clear, but if Aichan were smart she’d leave UFA and find a better agency like Gocchin. >.>

AKB48 is epic. ’nuff said.  But seriously, I’m looking forward to every release they’ve got planned for 2011 so far (and that’s one every week until the end of March, right now), so I will hopefully have more to say later.  Valentine Kiss is epic, Sakura no Ki ni Narou is beautiful idek what else to say.

DANCEROiD has continued to be relevant! Their two original memers, Aikawa Kozue (of whom I am a big fan) and Itokutora (or Ikura I think >.>) both have CM deals with some computer company or something that has a catchy theme song and a cute catcphrase.

Here’s kozue’s:

I expected to write a lot more but lol i am lazy.

Well today, it seems that her career has taken an interesting turn.

On October 27th, Mitani Nana will be releasing a cover of Luka Luka Night Fever, and Aikawa Kozue will be dancing on the DVD, as well as being the cover model.  If you’ve followed Aikawa at all, you’d know that she’s covered that dance on her youtube channel, and it’s one of her most viewed videos (with nearly 2 million views).

She’s a really energetic dancer, and as such it makes sense that she’s one of the founding members of DANCEROiD.  I’m excited no matter what for the single, even if it’s got the unfortunate date to release on the same day as both AKB48 and Morning Musume.  She’s probably really excited not only for the single release, but also to be releasing on the same day as Morning Musume.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a dance cover of Appare Kaiten Zushi on her youtube or niconico channel sometime soon after the single is released.

Here’s a couple of her other youtube videos, too.  Maybe some familiar dances this time lol.  Here’s Dance de Bakoon!

this one’s newer so you can see her face, since she’s covered by an agency she’s less worried about stalkers or w/e.

And this one is Watashi no Mirai no Danna-sama.  She seems to be a Momoko fan since she usually covers Momoko’s part in her videos.  In this video she actually looks kind of like Masuda Yuka to me, but maybe I’m crazy.

Btw here’s the cover to the single:

And here’s some links if you want to preorder the single Do it! Support Aikawa!

Amazon.jp

And the Tracklist!

1. Luka Luka Night Fever (ルカルカ★ナイトフィーバー)
2. Wagamama Love you (わがままLove you)
3. HOT LIMIT
4. Luka Luka Night Fever (instrumental.)

I’m so excited for her :3 can’t wait to see her career in the future! Maybe eventually she’ll have the CD debut I hope for her :3

However, one thing that was surprising to me about these fans that I’ve met is their lack of knowledge about some of these group’s full discography.  I may follow groups differently, but when I get into a new group I try to listen to as much is available to me as possible, so I try to get their full discography and listen to songs that I think have interesting titles.  Over the years as a Hello! Project fan, I’ve listened to most of Morning Musume’s discography.  I’ve listened to almost all of their albums and picked some of my favourite songs from them.

Here’s a partial rant, but also a guideline about how to approach an idol group– they’re more than just singles and PVs, after all.

Starting with the classics, let’s take a look at Morning Musume’s music.

Morning Musume has had a remarkable 13 years of activity (so far) and are gearing up to release their 11th album in December, right before the surprise 3-person graduation of Kamei Eri, JunJun and LinLin.  One of the disappointing things about this album will be the lack of performances by the original lineup of these songs.  We won’t get to see these songs as they were originally meant to be performed, at least not more than once.  But this isn’t about their graduation, it’s about MM’s music.

When first getting into Morning Musume, I will admit i stuck with songs that were immediately available to me through PVs or concert performances on youtube, especially because i didn’t have any way to listen to their music had i downloaded it, didn’t know it was possible to buy CDs from the United States, and had no idea where I would have been able to download their music anyway.  So I watched PVs and listened through there.

When I discovered ways to download albums and singles, I got as much as possible.  And that was how i found my favourite Hello! Project song of all time, Senkou Hanabi, from Morning Musume’s 2nd album, “Second Morning.”

Unfortunately, the original version of this song is no where on Youtube, so here’s the Best Shot version, featuring Michishige Sayumi

The original song was by Abe Natsumi featuring Ichii Sayaka and Yasuda Kei as harmony.

Isn’t that song nice?  Some people probably wouldn’t have heard it if it weren’t for me posting a link on this post.  Some of Morning Musume’s best music has come from their albums, but for some reason people don’t seem to pay attention to their albums until they really get deep into their fandoms.  Some of my other favourite Morning Musume songs that are album-only are Densha no Futari, Ii koto aru Kinen no Shukan, and Mushoku Toumei na Mama de, from 4th Ikimasshoi and Rainbow 7.  These songs have had concert performances, so look for those too, but the original is definitely where it’s at.

AKB48 is another story.

Just the other day, a girl told me she had heard of AKB’s older stuff.  Being a die-hard AKB fan i started naming songs that i love like Nageki no Figure, Koi no PLAN, Dear my teacher and Yakusoku yo.  Had she heard any of these songs? No.  She’s heard Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru and 10nen Zakura though.  If you’ve read any AKB48 fan defending the quality of AKB48′s music, they’ve said that the stages are where it’s at.  I am a definite supporter of this argument, especially since some of my favourite AKB48 songs have almost no chance to get performed live at bigger concerts and won’t be included in single releases any time soon.

My favourite AKB48 song is from Team A’s 5th stage. It’s called Switch.  Non-AKB fans, have you heard it? Yeah I didn’t think so.

It’s an amazing song that you wouldn’t know about if you can’t find it in yourself to look past the front-girl centric single releases.  It features girls who some people haven’t even heard of, like Nakata Chisato, along side the biggest names in AKB like Kojima Haruna, Maeda Atsuko and Itano Tomomi.  The Stages are where the girls who aren’t so popular shine, and if you listen to just their singles you wouldn’t know anything about these songs.

I think that what I’m mainly trying to say is that if you’re going to get into an idol group, learn about the idol group as a whole, rather than just scratching the surface.  When someone mentions a somewhat obscure song, you it shouldn’t be a matter of not even knowing where the song is from, but whether or not you’ve heard the song in full.  I’m not saying that someone is a bad fan if they’re not learning everything possible, I’m just saying that if you’re going to call yourself a Morning Musume fan or an AKB fan, you should know more than just a handful of members and songs.

END RANT.

I understand that changes were necessary to keep Morning Musume afloat, but I never imagined graduating three members at once would ever happen to Morning Musume.  For Eri, I hope she recovers soon.  I can’t believe that she had an illness like that for 7 years and barely let it affect her job.  For JunJun and LinLin, you came together and now you’re leaving together. It’s disappointing to see that they didn’t really get to develop any kind of idol quirk or anything that made them individuals, but instead were grouped together as “Those Chinese Girls.”

Some things I’m excited to see are that while Morning Musume is getting rid of three members, they are also getting rid of some age.  Eri and JunJun were among the oldest members of the group and now that the 9th generation auditions are starting soon, the average age of the group will drastically drop.  If Tsunku’s only looking for 10-17 year olds, the oldest they can be is about Aika’s age, but chances are (especially if he hasn’t completely lost his mind) the new members will be between 10 and 14, so the content of their songs will change a lot too.  Hell, we might even see a new front girl in the new crop.

It’s a lot to take in in just a few minutes, but I’m sure that once things are set rolling the changes will be a lot easier to take.  I’ll lay low on my thoughts of Hello! Project for a while, since most of my interest has waned especially after this announcement.  I really hope the new girls are worth it, and I’ll see you when auditions start.

Soloists have never been nearly as successful as groups, but some of H!P’s former soloists have been some of their most popular idols, from the likes of Matsuura Aya, who was once Japan’s Number 1 idol, to Abe Natsumi and Goto Maki, the faces of Morning Musume.  Even though her career was short lived, Fujimoto Miki even left her mark as a soloist within H!P, leaving her most popular song Romantic Ukare Mode behind, as well as an entertaining on-screen relationship with Ishibashi Takaaki of Utaban, Tunnels and most recently Yajima Biyoushitsu.  Right now, the only soloist Hello! Project has is Mano Erina, who is, to be quite honest, boring.  Her music is pleasant to listen to and she seems to be getting plenty of work in movies and dramas, but I have yet to see her get a place on a variety show or talk show to promote her newest single (of which she seems to release every two months ._.; ) Sure, she’s gotten a few performances on small-time shows on NHK, but I haven’t seen her perform+talk on Music Fighter or Music Japan yet, and I’m hoping that if she does it’ll prove me wrong about her seemingly lackluster personality.

If Airi and Miyabi were to become Hello! Project’s newest soloists, they could easily fill the gap left behind by Ayaya and Gocchin, respectively.  They’ve both got strong voices and they have more than enough fans to keep their careers afloat (both girls are in the top 10 for Hello! Project on the Japanese social networking site mixi, which is used by lots of wota to gauge the popularity of the girls).  I would love to see Airi in some goofy PVs like Ne~e or Momoiro Kataomoi, and singing beautiful songs like Watarasebashi. Miyabi’s voice would be great for cute songs like (my personal favourite) Hareta Hi no Marine and more sexy type songs like Sayonara “Tomodachi ni wa Naritakunai no”.  Plus, having two more soloists for Hello! Project would give them more freedom to do special units like Gomattou and DEF.DIVA from back in they day.  Maybe we’ll see Mizzukina or something xD Either way, with more active soloists, I think H!P concerts and everything would be way more interesting and less predictable.

As for S/mileage, I like the direction they’re going.  I prefer Yumemiru 15 to Ganbarenakutemo ee nende!!, but both of the songs have got something that gets me hooked when I hear it.  They’re young, which is something that MM doesn’t have, and eventually Berryz won’t either (as hard as that is to believe), and they’re rapidly increasing in popularity among the Hello! Project wota, plus they’re frequently in the media and have plenty of releases and events planned.  I can’t wait for them to get an album, but I think they’re fine as far as being a good idol group goes.  I think if they need anything, it’s a little more variety on costumes for their major releases (white seifuku can be very different, but so far yumemiru and ganbarenakutemo are pretty similar-ish. As an AKB48 fan, I’ve become very discerning of my seifuku costumes. xD), as well as better PVs.  I think that Sukichan and Asu wa DEETO were my favourite PV’s that H!P has had recently, and they were pretty low-budget looking. You can have low budget and have it have somewhat of a storyline or something, or go with yet another dance-shot/closeup PV.  While I like my fair share of closeup/danceshot PVs (W’s Matsu wa PV is one of my favourite of all time), I’d prefer for major label PVs to be a little more high-budget or higher quality or something.  Maybe I’m just being picky.

I think that that’s about all I have to say for S/mileage and the state of H!P’s soloists.

Here’s what’s up:

Berryz could be fine as it is.  Maybe a rehaul in the lead department, keeping Risako, Miyabi and Momo in the leads as the most popular, and using them as leads.  I don’t want to see songs with line distribution like MADAYADE or Dakishimete Dakishimete anymore (although their Inazuma 11 singles have been a little less blatantly structured), instead I would like to see some songs with line distribution like I mentioned in Morning Musume: everyone gets a line, but give most of the lines to the leads.  I think a good example of this is a song like I WISH, which obviously gave the lead part to Gocchin and (to some extent) Aibon. However, everyone gets a line and they’re not blatantly handed out in any particular order to suit all the wota.  In fact, a lot of lines that I originally thought were solo lines are apparently harmony. If all H!P groups were getting songs more like this that showed who the leads were but gave everyone room to shine, I’d be so much happier.

C-ute, as far as I’m concerned, can disband.  The main focus of that group is Airi, obviously, and she’d be better off with a solo career anyway.  The problem I see with disbanding C-ute is where the other four would go.  Mai, Nakki and Chisato are no where near popular enough to have any sort of solo work, and Maimi doesn’t seem the solo type either.  They could shuffle them in with some eggs, but I’ve got a different plan for them, so what I can forsee for them is to either A) let them go from H!P or B) disband Berryz Koubou as well and shuffle members from both groups together, while leaving popular solo-worthy members (Airi, Miyabi) as solo artists, giving them solo releases and solo concerts.

I hate to see anyone let good idols go, and with that many trained and ready idols, the best would be two new groups and two new soloists, which would give us two groups of 5 and two soloists.  The soloists would obviously be who I mentioned earlier, Miyabi and Airi, and the groups would split up the remaining popular members (of which there are only 3) as the two different groups.  Momoko and Maimi could lead one group while Risako could have the other group to herself, or they could start pushing another member of the groups (my choices: chinami, yurina, chisato) to give both two stable leads.  These groups, like MM, could have a revolving door aspect as the kids are getting older and will eventually need replacements if they want to keep the spirit of a group alive, but as I’ve said I already have a plan for the eggs, give them separate auditions. Remember, Morning Musume started with 5 members.

What kind of releases would these groups have?  Both of the current groups have had changes in the feel of their songs, with Berryz going from a feisty image during their younger days (with songs like Anata Nashi de wa Ikite Yukenai and Nanchuu Koi wo Yatteru YOU KNOW?), then moving to a goofy image after Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi, while C-ute started with spunky songs during their indies days and moved to a cool image after Tokaikko Junjou.  While these have had lapses (Dakishimete Dakishimete for Berryz and LALALA Shiawase no Uta for C-ute), their releases have been relatively predictable, to say the least, since they’ve assumed a standard image.  In these two new groups, I’d like them to assume an image for the public and then do an opposite type song for b-sides, and then their albums can have standard idol fare.  Here’s the two groups that I can imagine right now:

Group 1: Risako, Yurina, Chinami, Chisato, Mai

These girls could maintain a cute image, releasing songs like Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi and Darling I LOVE YOU.  Yurina and Risako would be the main leads.  H!P has never been one for themed units, other than tie-in units, but I could see these girls wearing fashionable clothes while singing cute songs.

Group 2: Momoko, Maimi, Nakki, Captain, Maasa

This is where four of H!P’s best dancers have fallen, so it makes sense for these to get more dance-heavy singles similar to songs like C\C and Iku ZYX! FLY HIGH.  Their image would have to be a cool image, like what Buono! has, but maybe with a more urban feel.  So cool fashionable clothes instead of cute fashionable clothes, I guess.  The leads would obviously be Momoko and Maimi.

These units are definitely not official, just two that I’d like to see because of the roles that each of these members has in their own groups.  It’d be nice to spread the attention of the H!P kids so the ones that are being pushed to shine will and the ones that aren’t will get a better chance.

It’s kind of scary to imagine groups like Berryz Koubou and C-ute going away, but no idol group is permanent (the fact that Morning Musume has been around for almost 13 years is kind of scary, seeing as though some of Japan’s past top idols were only active for 2 years, including original GIANT ASS GROUP OF GIRLS Onyanko Club.)  Next up is Manoeri and S/mileage, as well as a little more focus on Miyabi and Airi’s imaginary solo careers.

So how would I change Hello! Project?

Let’s take care of Morning Musume, the FLAGSHIP group, first.  They’re still the most well-known H!P group, so it’d make the most sense to try and give them some public eye.

First things first, make standard leads.  Today I saw something for the 6th gen dinner show thing, and I was getting mixed signals.  Reina is pretty much the most popular member of H!P, but for some godforsaken reason she was off to the side.  She’s not an ‘off to the side’ type of girl.  Reina is the most popular, she gets the middle.  That’s just how it is. Now I’m sure that Eri fans out there hate me now, but it’s the truth.  If you’re popular you get the center/most focus, if you’re unpopular you’re pushed to the side where you won’t get as much attention.  And I’ve been a fan of underdogs almost my entire time as a fan of idols.

Now, Usually H!P sticks to their guns with this.  Leads go to the same people every single, so on and so forth, but make it more IN YOUR FACE, you know?  Give everyone a close up, but give MOST of the closeups to the lead.

Last time, I said that MM should pick one face and have them and a different member lead every single.  That was wrong.  Scratch that.  Keep your leads, give everyone a line, maybe, or some sort of focus, but give most of the lines to the lead, most of the screen time to the leads, etc.  That way people know who to like, so they’ll know who to support, and the people who like people who aren’t given attention will work harder so their girl will get attention.

Now for members.  Morning Musume needs to do something.  They’ve always been known for their ‘revolving door’ style for members, and that’s been a trend for every other idol group to come out since then, from AKB48 to Idoling!!!  Where is our 9th generation? Where is our age gap?  The age gap and the freshness of the new members are what made MM interesting to begin with.  Now our lead is the 3rd youngest in the group but she’s still turning 21 this year.  That just doesn’t cut it in the idol world.  I was watching the Music Japan idol extravaganza from May, and realized that MM was the oldest group there, both historically and the age of the members.  There were at least two idol groups out there where every member who has ever been a part was born after 1992.  Catch up to the program, MM!  Add your 9th gen, but make it all 12-14 year olds. I don’t care where they’re from, just make sure they’re young and that your releases after their debut reflect the new youth in the group.

Speaking of releases, add some variety! I understand that people do like Shouganai Yume Oibito and Nanchatte Renai (I like them too), but when I keep hearing the same rhythm single after single, it gets really old.  One of my favourite things about learning about H!P and Morning Musume in general was that every song had a different feeling to it, and while some of them had similar themes, the overall feel of the single and the dances and everything was different.  They’re idols, so you expect them to do ridiculous songs like Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance, but instead we’ve been getting a bunch of violin driven ‘BAWWW MY BOYFRIEND IS A DOUCHEBAG’ songs. Or violin driven “BAWWW I’M A SLUTTY PRINCESS”.  Or violin driven “BAWWW I’M HAPPY ABOUT MY YOUTH.” I listen to these recent singles and hear the violins and go “oh shit who’s crying this time”, not “YEAH THIS SONG IS ENERGETIC AS HELL!”  I want some ridiculous stuff happening in my H!P. Like, I would definitely enjoy an MM single about like, cooking something. Rather than BAWWW stuff.

MM has done some recent stuff I do like, though. The most major thing I can think of is some of their covers.  My favourite H!P cover since I have become an H!P fan (since Dec. 2006) has got to be the Limited Edition B cover for Seishun Collection:

This cover is just awesome.  There’s a lot more artistic… stuff going on, from the diffferent poses from every member, to the altered colors and everything.  Plus, it covers up the ghastly costumes from this single.  Usually H!P covers tend to be hit or miss, but I really hope that they continue this trend of artistic… stuff.

Otherwise, a lot needs to be changed if MM or H!P in general wants to stay around much longer.  I think they can manage to stay around, since their sales haven’t been too too horrible and a lot of things have turned up since the graduation of the Elder Club, like sales and the quality of things like concerts and event goods. I hope that if they do make a change, it works, cause I definitely don’t want the group that got me started on idols to go away.

Now this is all my opinion, and what I say isn’t necessarily going to happen (Although I would love it a lot~!!).  A lot of what I’m saying is mostly to suit me, and I know there are people who are fans of Morning Musume’s current style, but I feel like to remain active in the idol world they’re going to need to remain fresh the way that other idol groups like Momoiro Clover, AKB48, Idoling!!! and even fellow H!P group S/mileage have been. There’s a lot more where this came from, so stay tuned.

When they shuffled the Teams at the Budoukan last year, they put a mix of popular and less popular members into each team to keep them more balanced, and the pushed members of each team have been spread equally between the teams in recent stages and singles (Ponytail to ShuShu, for example, has 5 members from each team plus Jurina)

However, because Team B was so hidden from the public eye for so long, they were the most butchered.

Of the 14 members remaining in Team B at the time of the shuffle. only 3 stayed with Team B.  But now that 2 of the three teams have started their new stages with the new teams, there’s no turning back, so without further ado, here’s the new Team B!

Name: Ishida Haruka
Nickname: Harukyan
Birthdate: December 2, 1993
Generation: 5th (2nd gen Kenkyuusei)

Harukyan is really cute and she’s often compared to Ono Erena from Team K for looks–for a while people were calling her Erepyon’s younger sister.  She spent a lot of time performing with Team K during K5 when Naruse Risa was out for her herniated disc and after she graduated.  She’s got a sugar-sweet voice to match her looks, and even though she doesn’t have any lines in B5 she does luck out in that she is the under for Mayuyu, who is frequently absent.  Mayuyu’s unit is basically all Mayu with some background girls. so Harukyan gets a little bit of a push from that.  Her unit in B5 is Locker Room Boy, which is basically the ‘leftover unit.’  All the girls in it have no solo lines except for Kitarie, who leads the unit.  It’s kind of disappointing ):

Name: Oku Manami
Nickname: Maachan, ManaMana
Birthdate: November 11, 1995
Generation: 2nd (Original Team K member)

It’s hard to believe that Maachan has been and idol for as long as she has, but it’s true–this girl who is not even 15 yet has been an idol for about 4 years.  Maachan has never been given a huge push in her time as a part of AKB, but she is really noticeable because of her looks–it’s quite obvious that she isn’t 100% Japanese;  Apparently she’s half Japanese and half Italian.  Recently, AkiP has stated that Maachan is one of his future aces, which I haven’t seen yet, but she has been pushed into Under Girls recently, even though she hasn’t ranked in either of the Senbatsu Elections.  In Team K, she was frequently put into the same unit as Ono Erena, from Classmate, which they both led to HoneHone Waltz and Hatsukoi Dorobou.  In B5, she’s in Hatsukoi yo, Konnichiwa, which she doesn’t lead but she’s got a better part in the stage than, say, Harukyan or Nacchan (Baww) in that she does have a solo line in her unit. And she also covers for Yukirin’s solo unit when Yukirin is absent, so she gets plenty of attention there as well.  It’s too early to know whether AkiP will keep his word and push her or whether just said that.

Name: Kasai Tomomi
Nickname: Tomo~michan, Chiyuu
Birthdate: November 16, 1991
Generation: 2nd (Original Team K member)

Chiyuu has always been a frontgirl, and has been pushed since Team K started back in 2006.  She’s frequently put into smaller units like Kinjirareta Futari and Oshibe to Meshibe to Yoru no Chouchou, and is often favoured by the fans because of her droopy eyes–she even says that her eyes are her charm point before stages as her catchphrase.  I’m a fan of Chiyuu because of how cute she is.  She’s got a sugar sweet voice too, but she also adds kind of a sexy flavour to what she sings when it’s required.  In B5, she leads CANDY~, which is kind of a cute and sexy unit at the same time, so it’s perfect for her.

Name: Kashiwagi Yuki
Nickname: Yukirin
Birthdate: July 15, 1991
Generation: 3rd (Original Team B member)

Yukirin is often remembered from her audition for Morning Musume’s 8th generation, where she made it to the third round before getting cut.  She’s kind of fortunate that she was pushed as a part of AKB, because now she’s the Captain of Team B and leads units and gets a lot of attention in singles, as well as leading Team PB and getting attention from outside activities–she’s even a weather girl!  She’s a really good singer and her voice has an angelic quality that kind of balances Team B’s abundance of sugar-sweet vocals.  In B5 she sings Yokaze no Shiwaza, a solo song.  The positive thing about a solo is that she gets a LOT of attention from it, but the bad thing is that solo songs are usually ballads and kind of boring ballads at that.  It’s a trade-off, but she won’t lose any attention for it.

btw, for those of you who are curious, here’s her audition video for Morning Musume!

Name: Kitahara Rie
Nickname: KitaRie
Birthdate: June 24, 1991
Generation: 5th (2nd gen Kenkyuusei)

KitaRie is one of the three kenkyuusei from the 5th generation who frequently appeared together in big concerts: She, Sasshii and Moeno frequently shuffled units together and Sasshii and Moeno were even added to the original Team B within a few months of each other.  KitaRie is prettty and she has really long hair which looks better when it’s straight, but to me she has no real defining features as an idol.  Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen many performances with her, but it feels like she’s kind of generic. It’s not a bad thing, necessarily, it’s just going to take me a little longer before I know her completely.  She was on Team A before the shuffle and now she’s a Team B front girl.  She leads Locker Room Boy and thus gets the only solo lines in that unit.  She’s also been getting a push from singles and stuff, since she appeared as senbatsu in Iiwake Maybe, RIVER and Ponytail to Shushu.  KitaRie is another one of AkiP’s “New Aces” so let’s see where that takes her spot in AKB.

Name: Kobayashi Kana
Nickname: Kana
Birthdate: May 17, 1991
Generation: 2nd (Original Team K member)

Kana is another one of the failed frontgirls, along with Narita Risa and, to some extent, Nakaya Sayaka.  She was given Acchan’s part in K1 (a revival of A1), so she was featured in Skirt Hirari, and then in K2 and K4 she led her units, but she never really caught on as a popular member and as such has never been featured heavily within AKB.  I have always been a Kana fan because she’s so goofy.  She’s kind of dimwitted the same way that Tsuji Nozomi was and can never read the feeling of a conversation during MCs and stuff.  In 16nin Shimai no Uta, they poke fun at her lack of skill in English and kanji reading.  I think she’s really pretty and could’ve had a lot of potential but she never caught on the way they had hoped she would, so now she’s stuck in Locker Room Boy and doesn’t have solo lines.

Name: Komori Mika
Nickname: Mikapon, Komorin
Birthdate: July 19th, 1994
Generation: 7th (3rd Gen Kenkyuusei)

Komorin was the first of the 7th gen to get a big push in AKB48–she participated in Namida Surprise! last year and has received quite a bit of attention from TV shows like Shukan AKB and AKBingo!  She’s moderately popular, but probably nowhere near the level that AkiP would like her to be.  Personally, I don’t have a problem with her.  She’s not the best performer, but her kind of detached personality and sometimes blank expression make her really funny on TV shows and MCs.  In B5, she basically co-leads Arashi no Yoru ni wa, the full-sexy unit.  She has the best move in the entire stage: a high kick over Myao’s head.  She’s got a really unique voice and I like her.

Name: Sato Amina
Nickname: Amina
Birthdate: October 16, 1990
Generation: 4th (1st gen Kenkyuusei)

Amina is adorable.  She’s like a ball of helium and she works probably the hardest of any of the background girls in AKB48.  There was a period of time where she learned the choreography of every song from every stage that was being performed so if they needed her she could perform, and hearing that story about all the work she put into her job made me really like her a lot more than I already did.  She’s fortunate in being one of the Kenkyuusei who was featured in the Himawari-gumi stages before she even debuted as a member of Team A, so She’s got a track record almost as long as the original Team B!  She’s one of the really popular members who isn’t pushed at all, so it’s nice to see her place in the senbatsu range for the recent senbatsu elections.  In B5, she’s in CANDY~ and has a helium voice like Chiyuu, but not nearly as sexy.  She’s really recognizable, so look out for her!

Name: Sato Sumire
Nickname: Suuchan
Birthdate: November 20, 1993
Generation: 7th (3rd gen Kenkyuusei)

Suuchan is another member of AKB who it is known has auditioned for Morning Musume–she was, along with H!P Egg Kikkawa Yuu and Mitsui Aika herself, a finalist in the 8th Generation auditions, and was, as far as I’m aware, favourited to win but in the end was cut.  She’s freakin’ adorable and she’s a really good performer too.  She’s almost always smiling and as a Kenkyuusei was pushed heavily on stage–when Oshima Mai was absent and after she graduated from Team A last spring, Suuchan filled in for her spot, so Suuchan is in almost every A5 performance.  She led Heart Gata Virus because of MaiMai’s graduation and got plenty of solo lines in team songs as well.  Now in B5, she’s not nearly as pushed, but she’s still got a better position than some members.  She’s in Hatsukoi yo, Konnichiwa and gets the second solo line.

here’s a video of some of her performances from the Morning Musume 8th generation auditions:

Name: Sato Natsuki
Nickname: Nacchi, N Nacchi
Birthdate: July 1, 1990
Generation: 2nd (Original Team K member)

Nacchi is, believe it or not, the oldest member of Team B.  It’s kind of crazy to think that every member of Team B was born in the ’90s, especially since CinDy was born in 1985 before the original Team B was split up.  Nacchi kind of lives up to her ‘oldest member’ role though, and she’s been called Oneechan by the other Team B members since they got together.  She’s a great singer and performer, and she’s very entertaining in MC segments.  Her catchphrase is infectious (ichi tasu ni wa N nacchi~!) and she was one of the members of my favourite AKB unit of all time: Dakishimeraretara, where she got a ‘special chorus’ since she was the only one who sang it on stage.  She’s my 3rd favorite member of AKB48, after Akicha and Nacchan, and with good reason.  In B5, she participates in Arashi no Yoru ni wa, where she blows everyone else in the unit away.  She’s probably got the 2nd best voice in Team B nowadays (after Yuka) and she puts it to great use in her unit.

Name: Suzuki Mariya
Nickname: Mariyannu
Birthdate: April 29th, 1991
Generation: 7th (3rd gen Kenkyuusei)

Mariyannu was originally supposed to be moved to Team A, but Suzuki Shihori went and graduated and left the would-be Team B with only 15 members, and Team A was going to have 17 so she was moved to Team B and AKB48 once again had 48 active members.  Personally, I know next to nothing about Mariyannu.  She’s a very generic idol and easily blends into the crowd, but I’m sure she has her fans out there.  If you know anything about her post in the comments! She’s pretty and from what I’ve seen her do she’s a good dancer, so I give her a thumbs up.  In B5 she is in Arashi no Yoru ni wa, where she has the unfortunate position of singing after Nacchi.  Her solo is still good and I like watching her perform, plus she has a really catchy catchphrase.

Name: Chikano Rina
Nickname: Chikariina
Birthdate: April 23rd, 1993
Generation: 5th (2nd gen Kenkyuusei)

This girl used to be a Dinosaur.  She used to introduce herself saying “AKB48 no Kyouryuu jan~!” which means ‘AKB48′s Dinosaur’ but now she says “Miracle Miracle” and the audience says “kitto kuru!” which means ‘A miracle will surely come”  She was a member of Team K before and before she was promoted, frequently performed with Team B in what became Komori Mika’s spot in B4 (Kataomoi no Taikakusen).  She’s kind of a background girl but was picked up by an agency almost immediately after being promoted and she and Fujie Reina have released a couple of coinciding DVD’s and Photobooks.  In B5, Rina is another background girl in Locker Room Boy, but has the privilege of having Myao’s spot in Arashi no Yoru ni wa when Myao is absent.  I hope to see more from her in the future

Name: Hirajima Natsumi
Nickname: Nacchan
Birthdate: May 28, 1992
Generation: 1st (Original Team A member)

Nacchan was my first Oshimen!  She’s always been in AKB48 and unfortunately has always been at least a semi-background girl.  She originally debuted with Team A back in 2005 and then in 2007 was moved to Team B, along with Urano Kazumi (who has since been moved to SDN48) and Watanabe Shiho (who ended up graduating after B1).  She was background girl extraordinaire in Team A, and in Team B she initially showed promise, getting a spot in Team B’s SukaHira 7, but then in B3 and B4 she was given lesser roles. Now in B5, she’s in Locker Room Boy and unfortunately doesn’t get any solo lines in the entire stage ): I’m a huge Nacchan fan and I love everything she does!  She’s a part of Watarirouka Hashiritai and always gets a part in there and she’s always a killer on stage for MC segments.  She’s basically the Soul of Team B and she’s relatively popular despite her background girl status.  She’s also one of the three members to remain in Team B after it was split last year.

Name: Masuda Yuka
Nickname: Yuka, Takoyaki
Birthdate: August 3, 1991
Generation: 2nd (Original Team K member)

This girl is the best singer in AKB48.  While watching some early performances and listening to singles would lead you to believe that Takamina is the best singer, you hear this girl sing you will be blown away.  She’s got a really soulful voice and she has amazing control, and in stage units, she was frequently given lead parts.  She led Blue Rose with Sayaka back in K2 and in K3 led MARIA over Kasai Tomomi.  In K4 she got the relatively even Gomen ne, Jewel and in K5 she was a pseudo-lead for Ai no Iro.  Now in B5 she has the balancing voice for CANDY~, and while she seems like a fish out of water in that unit she fits it well and keeps us from getting a sugar overload.  She’s also got a solo single out, called Stargazer.  Here it is so you can get a sample of her voice:

(The video may be kind of NSFW-ish, so watch out! lots of pantyshots and big boobs =/ the song is good but the anime is bad)

Name: Miyazaki Miho
Nickname: Myao
Birthdate: July 30, 1993
Generation: 5th (2nd gen Kenkyuusei)

Myao was a new Ace from Team A before the shuffle. She’s been featured in every single since AKB48 switched to KING Records, and has maintained a senbatsu spot in both Senbatsu Elections.  She’s not the best singer or dancer, but her personality is a breath of fresh air in a world of polite and easily excited sweethearts.  She’s a bitch and it’s one of the most entertaining things about her.  She’s often featured on TV shows like AKBingo! and Shukan AKB for her sharp tongue and it’s one of the reasons I initially liked her.  She has a Photobook out.  In B5 she’s the lead singer for Arashi no Yoru ni wa, and she fits the role.

Name: Watanabe Mayu
Nickname: Mayuyu
Birthdate: March 26, 1994
Generation: 3rd (Original Team B member)

This girl is Team B.  She’s the only original member of Team B to be featured in every single since Team B debuted, and she’s still given a central position in every release that comes out.  She’s the center for stage units and team songs and she is the lead singer for Watarirouka Hashiritai, where she’ll be getting her third solo song after the next release, giving her the most solo songs in AKB48.  Her title on TV shows is ‘Cyborg Idol’ because of her deathstare she can give on stage and how much energy she has without seeming like she’s tired at all.  She’s got a helium-powered voice and she’s cute as can be.  She’s like the perfect idol, and she’s popular because of it.  In B5 she leads Hatsukoi yo, Konnichiwa, where she gets the most solo lines in a unit (excluding Yukirin’s).  Get used to this girl cause you’ll see her a lot.

Here’s one of her solo songs:

There you have it, Team B and with that I’ve completed AKB48.  I would attempt to do SKE48, but I don’t know any of those girls.  The Kenkyuusei seem like the obvious next choice but there’s never a chance that they’ll be around for long (at the time this was written, It’s only days before the 9th gen is going to be destroyed by AKS).  I think I’ll leave stuffing idols down your throats alone for a while, but next will probably be a stage review.  Here’s hoping that the A6 shonichi is soon!

]]> http://menomaenokakumei.wordpress.com/2010/06/19/new-team-b/feed/ 4 Max Ishida Haruka Oku Manami Kasai Tomomi Kashiwagi Yuki Kitahara Rie Kobayashi Kana Komori Mika Sato Amina Sato Sumire Sato Natsuki Suzuki Mariya Chikano Rina Hirajima Natsumi Masuda Yuka Miyazaki Miho Watanabe Mayu