AKB48 Question & Answer

I would assume only the Soukantoku would know. Before, I used to think members who are transferred to an international group would have been given advance notice, but the reactions of those members (in the team shuffle) are too genuine for that to be the case.
The only exception is during the 2015 Team Shuffle where Kawaei Rina is the last one to be called and Shinobu announces her graduation instead:

if the video does not show watch the video here
Go to 21:40​

My guess would be that all the graduation paperwork was filed, and Rina was given the opportunity to have graduation announced during the team shuffle instead of being assigned to a new team only to leave it a few months later.

 

It's been said by members that international transfers and kennins are talked about beforehand, you can't just send someone to another country without consent.

Also, Lovetan asked for a transfter to HKT before Tokyo Dome 2012 because she felt stagnated in AKB and needed to change her situation. So that was absolutely a pre-planned deal.

 

About the international transfers they have been told beforehand, at least Akicha said so regarding her transfer to JKT48. She may have looked surpriced but she's a good actor. Regarding her concurrence transfer back to AKB48 and Team B I don't know. But my question was mostly regarding inside AKB48.

 

I remember some girl (maybe it was Aki) saying somewhere her surprised face came from the reaction of the crowd, rather than the announcement itself. I don't know if that's true, but I don't see a reason to act when other girls clearly aren't afraid to show they knew. Unless she's scared that some crazy obsessive fans will feel betrayed and abandoned.

I'm not sure what you mean by "gamble" with captains. I think those positions are given to people who already naturally kind of took on the role of leaders or are maybe seen that way due to their experience/popularity compared to the rest, so it shouldn't come as a surprise in most cases.

 

Gamble is maybe not the right word but I might think there is a risk that the selected member don't want the title or maybe is thinking of graduating soon. But so far it seems to have worked.

 

I have been wondering are sakamichi popularity bigger than Kami7 Akb48 Era ? Or they havent reach their peak and will surpass the popularity in the future ?

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Might be biased, so take it with a grain of salt. So regarding general public popularity, here goes my take.

Comparing sakamichi now when I live in Tokyo and already know who they are and how their songs sounds like, I think it is still pretty far from original AKB kami7 era. When i went to Tokyo in 2010, I barely know AKB but saw their face or listen to their song virtually everywhere, so you can't help to eventually know/recognize them in some way. From 2015, I come to Japan basically 2-3 times a year before staying from 2018. In that period of increasing sakamichi popularity, I am yet to see they reach AKB's level back then. I am not talking about sales or their events, but the frequency of their faces in public area. Assuming, the more their face were used as promotional tools, the more the public actually recognize and might be influenced by it.

Will it surpass? to be honest I don't think so. Objectively no Nogi song became as iconic as Heavy Rotation or KFC, heck people still do KFC dance for an impromptu performance. Personally I think Nogi and Keyaki are plateauing already with slow downturn and sometimes a spike of popularity here and there, Hinata might be on the rise but to what extent we will see. The problem is, I do think idol music genre is more saturated now compared to when AKB and MM at their peak.
We will see if Sony's money and support enough to bring Sakamichi surpass AKB in their peak. My verdict, not likely.

 

A question about the average 48G member, what are their weight? A lot of other statics are shown but not this. I wonder when I see NMB48 falls down in a heap in Oh my God. 45-50 kg?

 

It would be disrespectfull to show such data IMO, and can lead to some nasty behaviors, which allready happen about some girls apparence.

 

I'm not sure if I missed something or what as Ive been busy lately. There is no Janken tournament this year?

 

I don't remember if the management said anything about cancelling.
But it is now very late in the year to announce it.
The next CD announcement should be the 57th single which comes whith RH voting ballots.

 

Maybe in some cases but in average?

 

Weight in japan is more 'not mentioned' then in western countries, just check some of the AKBINGO shows where they always hide the numbers on the scale.

 

Well, they already share their bust, waist and hip size, which I find rather bizar. And I think weight is actually even more of a touchy subject in the West, since making remarks about someone's weight is much more acceptable in Japan (and Asia in general, I've heard), judging from a lot of shows I've seen. I even remember an anime where a guy was telling his girlfriend not to eat so much or she would get fat (or something like that) and they had to change the line in the English dub.

But speaking of cancelation, I was wondering if the cancelation of this year's sousenkyo has been discussed here. I've been out of the fandom for a couple of years and after slowly starting to become interested again, I went looking for it only to shockingly discover it was canceled (which still sounds like a bad April Fools' joke that no one falls for). So I came here for the tea, but couldn't even find a thread about it. Was there any discussion/information other than the few posts in the predictions thread?

 

I am unsure for how long you have been away from the fandom, but it is pretty much due to the whole NGT48 incident.
It's a long read to catch up: http://stage48.net/forum/index.php?threads/ngt48-assault-case.22622/
I am going to use allegedly a lot because even I am not up-to-date on the case, but I'll try to summarize:

• Maho Yamaguchi (formerly of kuso idol group NGT48) was assaulted in her dorm.
• Allegedly other members leaked her schedule and they followed her home.
• She revealed on her showroom that she was assaulted, and publicly apologized for getting assaulted, now not only did this outraged Japanese citizens, but was also covered worldwide, including Canada and America, and when AKB48 makes worldwide news, you know it isn't good (Minegishi Minami scandal)
• AKS tried to cover it up, this further enraged Japanese citizens and fans, so now any of the 48 groups are not seen in a good light
• Allegedly, it is suspected that NGT48 management has ties to the attackers, and some of the members who leaked her schedule may have ties as well
• Because of all the negative press and sentiment associated with AKB48, management decided to cancel this year's Senbatsu Election
  • It is unsure if there will be one next year, as it would be hard to compete with the Olympics
• But right now the 48 groups allegedly aren't doing so well, loss of many shows including AKBINGO, a lot more graduations than usual (62, reference: http://stage48.net/forum/index.php?threads/graduation-announcements-thread.6878/page-95#post-1625463)

That's the best I can summarize, I'm not including things like Maho's graduation stage, baka Katomina, Yahagi Moeka & Yokoyama Yui (Team 8) scandals, SNS ban, cancellation of PR contracts, but you can read up on those.

 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to summerize everything! I saw some mention about that scandal, but I didn't realize how serious it was and that it was directly connected to the cancelation and not just some small speculation. I think I started to lose interest around the beginning of 2017, but I wish I had kept up with the drama at least. Well, I'll try to read up on everything, thank you for the links and leads!

 

Does AKB48 ever performed "Hikari to Kage no Hibi"?
It's such a good song yet I've never see them sing it

 

Yeah, a few times during the LOVE TRIP promo period:




if the video does not show watch the video here