[GENERAL] The AKB48 Thread

Personally, I haven't had a radio or a CD reader since 2019 when I moved out from my family home, and I've still been buying albums for AKB48, =LOVE, ≠ME, some Kpop groups, Sayanee, and actually loads of western groups as well. I may be part of the minority, but I genuinely enjoy having a full collection of my favourite artists.

I also want to throw in my two cents on the ace discussion, even though it's over But I think Yuiyui, Naachan and Hiichan are still only future ace potential. I think we've only had a few aces in AKB48, and that is Maeda Atsuko, Sashihara Rino, Watanabe Mayu and maybe Shimazaki Haruka. I count Rino even as an HKT member because she repeatedly won AKB's general election. Yes, Jurina also won it once and may have centered even more AKB48 singles, but I'd only count her as an SKE48 ace (alongside Matsui Rena, nobody else in that group) because of how passionate she always was about SKE48 being the #1 idol group in Japan.

Basically, I'd say these are the only aces we've had:

• AKB48: Acchan, Sasshi, Mayuyu (and maybe Paruru)
• SKE48: Jurina, Rena
• NMB48: Sayanee, Milky
• HKT48: Sakura (and maybe Haruppi, Meru??)
• NGT48: Ogino Yuka
• STU48: Yumirin

Being a center doesn't make you an ace, tbh. Naachan could be the next ace, I think, but that depends on whether the amazing feedback from Ne mo Ha mo Rumor continues in the future. She'd need to be the center at least once more, ideally twice, to really cement her position with the group, and at that, the songs will also need to be received well so that she will be recognised immediately as "Okada Nana from AKB48".

And yes, like others said, don't worry! I've always done it on time, and never won a sign, 1-shot or 2-shot lol so your chances may have been low anyway. I also forgot to change my nickname a couple of times, but the members still called me by my first name, which was nice enough

 

Vinyl records are still sold and it seems that cassettes are coming back and are obsolete systems.

 

Some SGO48 songs sound weird because they didn't care about tones when translating the lyrics. Especially Koisuru Fortune Cookie, it is barely intelligible to me.

 

This has made me think about how I use the term ace...which honestly I never gave it much thought. I just use it in whatever way management decides to at the time lol. Curious if the wiki has an article about the history of aces across the group, or if another website has such information?

 

I don't think the wiki does because, as I can see, it's quite subjective. I don't really know what the Japanese equivalent of "ace" is? I feel like I've heard them use エース (literally ace) but apart from that... also, there are probably too many sources where AKB might have called someone of the group an ace just to sound more impressive.

 

Here are some comments on Yuiri and Nana in BNK48's 12th single https://pantip.com/topic/41230007

- Naachan to write lyric, Yuiri to choreograph. Who will compose/arrange music?

- Many of you must be curious too, who will translate the lyric?

- The next question is, who will design the costume? Praying circle.

- No need to worry over choreography. The song may be come out better than expected. This song is made to be turned into Thai song, not just another Japanese song translated into Thai. Someone from this side may collaborate in the process. Highly likely, it will be the same old face translating the song but, they will have a say from the beginning. For sure, it will turn out better than just a translation of an already completed Japanese song.

- Don't worry over something yet to come.

- They won't do the task absolutely by themselves. Certainly, they will have helping profession hands behind them. Rina said she would like to help. Rina has been in Thailand for 5 years. She has a level of understanding in Thai language, Thai culture and Thai music taste. She will be helpful to Naachan and Yuiri to some degree.

- I wanna know why on earth the company make AKB48's girl making music. Do they not care about music anymore? Just release whatever after they got the election money? Do these 2 have any experience? Have they written a hit song? Have they choreographed a viral dance? Do they have any idea what the Thai jams to? Why does the company entrust on to them to produce for BNK48, the group with most nitpicky fans? Besides, they are foreigners so, the lyric must later be translated. Have they asked if our girls want newbie producers?
This is the song fans pay for their faves to be in the MV. So, it is very important.

Still, she is not a good dancer. And, what iconic choreography those dance training staff created?

And, where did you get that the idea of K-pop fansign was borrowed from handshake event? I think it might be borrowed from Johnny's. If I remember correctly, I read somewhere about Tokio using random fan party ticket gimmick for album sale.

 

Doesn't matter

Doesn't matter either.
It only means the two aren't working alone.

 

Very bad news
Michieda Saki is close contact with someone infected with corona.
As a consequence all the concerts scheduled on 02/05 and 02/06 are canceled
Which means: the current teams final, the new Teams start and the coupling RH
https://ameblo.jp/akihabara48/entry-12724047944.html

 

Only Sakipon (and now Yuiyui)'s participation in those concerts has been cancelled, currently. They will most likely cancel all concerts, but have not yet done so.

Sakipon is a confirmed close contact, and Yuiyui is confirmed to have covid. As a result neither will be participating in upcoming events until they are well and done with quarantine. Ayanan, Naachan, and Miu (and yesterday Hiichan) had to cancel their ohanashi-kai for the day due to feeling unwell, but there's no word yet whether they have covid yet (probably test results aren't back yet). Yuiri, Erii, and Mahopyon also cancelled their talks today due to being "suspected close contacts", probably meaning they are close contacts of someone suspected but not yet confirmed to have the virus (i.e. Naachan and Ayanan).


edit: Incorrectly claimed Sakipon had covid.

 

Thanks for clarifications

 

Interesting. They're precisely the group of people that escaped the last wave because they got their jabs first.

 

Meanwhile, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK have lifted all the restrictions despite having a huge number of infections.

 

That's because infection numbers in those countries are dropping and hospitilisations and deaths did not spike nearly as high as the same time last year. Japan's method of dealing with covid is just prolonging the emergency.

 

Japan seems to have less cases and less deaths than the UK despite having a much larger population.

The UK's previous peak (December 2020):

• 59k cases per day
• 1.3k deaths per day (2.45%)

Japan's previous peak (August 2021):

• 23k cases per day
• 52 deaths per day (0.27%)

The UK's current situation:

• 195k cases per day (unclear if rising or falling)
• 382 deaths per day (0.20%)

Japan's current situation:

• 80k cases per day (rising)
• 52 deaths per day (0.07%)

In any case, technically, if Japan had the UK's politicians running the country, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have any regulations in place. Their numbers are technically still better than the UK's, although of course every death is tragic.

Also, I'm not trying to say I'm against the rules, I just don't think saying the situation in the UK is better is really true.

I personally think it's hard to say which country is gonna come out of this spike with the better results... in the end, everyone's losing many lives every day.

 

I'm fully aware of that, it's happening in most countries, especially where vaccination rates are higher. But that's true because omicron is more contagious but also milder than the other variants. And it attacks both vaccinated and 'unvaxxed'. Usually, the variant that wins is the one that spreads quicker but doesn't kill (as much) their host, which makes sense. Although the immunity it offers isn't as strong as delta's.
Yes, there are people dying, but they're also dying from other viruses and diseases, especially in the Winter. If people had any idea how many die every year from the flu, if the media haunted us with its numbers the same way they do with COVID, nobody would leave their houses. But no one ever cared, did they? How many got the flu jab?

Not to mention that the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths are questionable. If you go to the hospital because you broke a leg, they test you there and it's positive, you're considered a hospitalization due to COVID. It's insane. A huge percentage are "with COVID" and not "from COVID".

How many people of their age died in Japan? Of those infected recently which ones had symptoms worse than a cold? I'm just wondering if it was really necessary the whole thing. In sports, when a player or group of people test positive they simply isolate those and the rest keeps training and playing against other humans.

 

Whadda actual fuck is this. I saw this from Queendom thread
AKB48 is rumored to send a 7-member unit to participate in Queendom Season 2.

 

I hope not. Don't want to deal anymore with fandoms of that side of the pond.