24 days of singles day 3: Aitakatta and Dakedo...

Here we are for day 3, this time focusing on 'the song of AKB48'.

Aitakatta is the first song where we get some changes to the song formula, Team K is now active and so the Senbatsu features a mixture of Team A and Team K, mixes of Teams for the senbatsu will continue for every AKB single after. This single features most notably the debuts of Ono Erena, Akimoto Sayaka, Kasai Tomomi, Miyazawa Sae and of course Oshima Yuko. It's also here where Maeda is first brought to the forefront in AKB48, serving as the centre for this song, it's also here that Takahashi and Yuko first serve as the 2nd and 3rd mains of the single, which we'll probably see again, like in Iiwake, Maybe. Akimoto shows fair knowledge of what the fans want, Maeda will cmmonly be the centre from now on, and Yuko is the only member ever to be officially more popular than her.

The song is mainly about missing someone and fianlly admititng you love them. The senbatsu is: Team A: Itano Tomomi, Ooe Tomomi, Oshima Mai, Kojima Haruna, Shinoda Mariko, Takahashi Minami, Tojima Hana, Nakanishi Rina, Narita Risa, Maeda Atsuko, Minegishi Minami.
Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Umeda Ayaka, Oshima Yuko, Ono Erena, Kasai Tomomi, Kobayashi Kana, Noro Kayo, Matsubara Natsumi, Miyazawa Sae.
Finally the music video: The dancing is there, and they all wear the same uniform, which kinda makes the story confusing. The main stroy is Maeda wants to see either Takahsahi or Yuko again and return a CD she borrowed, and both groups make their way to the train station, and we see the other Senabtsu members doing various things as the girls pass them. The video ends with them both getting to the station.

Dakebo... is the B-Side, and I'm guessing we're gonna be seeing Senbatsu sung B-sides for a while. The song is coincidentally, coming back to your school to see someone you love, using the excuseyou wanted to return a CD, but you can;t get yourself to admit the truth. Why are all the early songs like this?

Anyway, tomorrow we go into the darkness.

Bimyo 10

I would first like to point out that last week’s Momotarou sketch was all SKE members, Jurina was Momotarou.

First scene: Girl’s alarm goes off; she gets out of bed, walks over to the mirror, and sees Itano Tomomi staring back at her. She’s not Tomomi. She’s surprised but Tomomi is mirroring her exactly (well mostly, she’s actually doing it slightly after her but oh well). However it does look like it may just be the fact that there isn’t a mirror there, and Tomomi just has a room that exactly mirrors the other girls, and also wears the same pyjamas, especially about 2 minutes in. Hiowever the mimicry extends to balancing a pillow and leaving the room to get a golf club, but when their swinging, Tommi actually does so, but the girl dismisses it, before both leave the room. Coming back in, Tomomi’s doesn’t close quite right. They then do the dance to Heavy Rotation, and Tomomi momentarily goes the wrong way, correcting herself, the girl dismisses this too, but Tomomi also finishes differently, causing her to cry out.  They leave again, coming in with makeup and smear it all over their faces, before the girl remembers something. This time they have bald heads on. After walking past the mirror, Itano returns and takes off the helmet, saying Bimyo.

Lady DaDa starts with a man with a ridiculous mustache warning another man about something, possibly a deal, when Lady DaDa (Sayaka) comes in with a bit of English, and the two introduce themselves. DaDa’s accompanied by Miori, who seems to be an assistant. DaDa is told who they are, and she’s given a present by the two. It turns out to be a kaleidoscope, which she seems appreciative of, until they mention Pink, causing her to fall on the floor (do they mean the colour or the singer). Something else is said and she picks herself up and apologises. They ask for an interview, and she agrees, however she says the microphone isn’t cute enough (why am I telling you this, you can tell for yourself), I think she wants it coloured like the stuffed tiger. She then halts the interview and refuses to say anything more while going back to the floor, then throwing flowers. She calms a little, and they offer her sushi, which she apparently likes. She starts coughing, gets annoyed, throws away the last flower and head butts Miori, before pulling all the clothes off the hangers, falls crying, and complains about one ingredient of the sushi.

We have a rock, sitting alone and looking sad, as a woman walks by with her dog, before her friend, also with a dog spots her and they greet each other, there’s also another dog. We then go into the dogs perspective, and it seems one has found the other quite attractive, but is rejected. Going back to the main view, the women are talking about the dogs; the other dog is sat next to the rock. In their perspective though, the male dog continues to make his sweet moves. After more of the women talking, the male continues to pursue. The male’s owner notices the time; they have the dogs say bye, the male attempting to perform the traditional dog greeting as they pass.

It’s a birthday party, but Shizuka seems more annoyed than anything, whatever she says to Chiyuu leading her to grab her chest, before Shizuka complains about her sexiness. Mayuyu is apparently writing Oya on the card to much, or maybe just too much detail. She also takes issue with Rabutan’s birthday cake, which has collapsed. She also doesn’t approve of Sumire’s present, a tutu thing with a swan neck coming out the crotch, apparently for a fun run. After she leaves however, they just start laughing about her.

Asuka and Rabutan are hosting some kind of sport event, and welcome on stage some star striker or similar. After talking about her, a woman just comes up with a glass of juice, and she’s asked to drink it. It doesn’t taste good, but she still half-heartedly shows her shooting kick. After her is Moeno, who apparently does a good sliding tackle. Wasabi is brought for her, which she forces into her mouth, but it also seems isn’t up to much, demonstrated by her squealing. But she does her tackle. It looked kind of painful if I’m honest. The next girl is brought something bready, which she can’t seem to chew, but she does her dribbling. The last one is brought up, but they say barely anything before sending her off.

A sumo match is about to begin, the one in the gold (Miori’s the opponent) dominating the first match. He’s brought up with the two watching, and mentions liking Acchan. The man in the suit seems off put by this. He then supports Yukirin instead, he likes her wink. After another comment he goes for Sayaka, and then for Kasai. The man demonstrates what he feels the sumo should be saying.

As an aside I now  have twitter, and I'm fairly certain the Mariko, Kojiharunyan, Myao and Sumire I'm following are the real ones, but the Mayu is a fan page, I'm also following JKT48 because (I'm not convinced they're official though.

24 days of singles day 2: Skirt, Hirari and Aozora no Soba ni Ite

Today we move on to the second of AKB's singles along with it's B-Side. Like Sakura no Hanabiratachi and Dear My Teacher, both of these songs were part of Team A's first stage.

The song itself is basically about young love and wanting to  run away or to pursue the object of desire, causing the titular fluttering. Of course, at this point we still only have Team A, though unlike Sakura no Hanabiratachi, this time we have a Senbatsu of sorts. 7 members were slected to perform the vocals: Itano Tomomi, Oshima Mai, Kojima Haruna, Takahshi Minami, Narita Risa, Maeda Atsuko and Nakanishi Rina. The rest of Team A serves as backup dancers in the video, which is set around a school but is pretty much just dancing.

Aozora no Soba ni Ite on the other hand features all the members on vocals, but obviously for the time there isn't any music video. The song itself however, is pretty much about the feelings you'll have at love's end.

Roll on Day 3, but first, Bimyo.

24 days of singles day 1: Sakura no Hanabiratachi and Dear My Teacher

So guess who decided to do this about 20 seconds before starting it.

I'm today covering the first AKB single and it's B-side.

Sakura no Hanbiratachi was the first single obviously, and as I understand was one of 3 songs from Team A's first stage that fans voted to become the first released single. It features all 21 members of the time, and Akimoto apparently hadn't decided Maeda was all-important yet, but there isn't really a centre. The members are: Itano Tomomi, Usami Yuka, Urano Kazumi, Ooe Tomomi, Oshima Mai, Orii Ayumi, Kawasaki Nozomi, Kojima Haruna, Komatani Hitomi, Sato Yukari, Shinoda Mariko (I actually thought she hadn't joined yet, more on that later), Takahashi Minami, Tojima Hana, Nakanishi Risa, Narita Risa, Hirajami Natsumi, Hoshino Michiru, Maeda Atsuko, Msuyama Kayano, Minegishi Minami and Watanabe Shiho.

The song itself is about ones feelings when graduating from school, and questions how they'll look back on it in later days. The music video features a segment set up like a normal stage performance, while featuring footage of either the auditions and selections, or that and a bit more of how they got to where they are. One thing ai aways notive when watching this video (and those for the following two singles) is how much all of the members there will have changed in appearance by 2008. I can always recognise them, but they don't look the same. Compare with Jurina now, who hasn't aged a day in about 3 years.

Before going on to the B-side, I'll explain the Mariko comment. Mariko is the only member of AKB48 to not audition (I think theres an SDN member who was an SKE member who was already some form of celebrity who didn't audition either). She had planned to audioton, but the day of her audition she had to work at the cafe (ironically it was at the theate). She told some visitors about it, and a lot of people appealed to Akimoto-Sensei to let her audition. He gave her 3 days to learn the dances to all 3 of AKB's singles, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The B-Side is Dear My Teacher, and since in those days AKB didn't have enough members to have four tracks on a single and still have girls spare, it's also sung by Original Team A.
Now I imagine the basic story to this song should be fairly obvious, but just let me check. Yeah, pretty much, girl is in love with teacher (Namida Surprise and Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008 flashforward in 3, 2, 1) and basically wants him to kiss her and stuff. I'm not entirely sure if she gets the extra tuition or not, but the last verse sort of implies she does.

I feel it's also worth mentioning here Sakura no Hanabiritachi 2008, as while unlike Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2010 it did get a commercial release, it's not counted as one of the singles when they're lised. It's basically a self cover, the lyrics are all the same.
Performing is: Team A: Itano Tomomi, Kojima Haruna, Oshima Mai, Sato Yukari, Shinoda Mariko, Takahashi Minami, Narita Risa, Maeda Atsuko, Minegishi Minami,
Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Oshima Yuko, Ono Erena, Matsubara Natsumi, Kasai Tomomi, Miyazawa Sae
Team B: Oota Aika, Kashiwagi Yuki, Kikuchi Ayaka, Hirajima Natsumi, Watanabe Mayu.

The PV this time is about graduation as well, and features every member of the time in the hall during the graduaation signignthe song. Focus notably goes to Minegishi, who reads the graduation speech, Kojima looking at the empty hall sadly, Kasai, who is in love with her teacher, and is about to confess when she sees him with another women, causing her to break down in tears when Yuko sees her. Speaking of Yuko, she and Maeda discuss how they'll feel about it years dorm now, and theres a possible hint at Maeda being in love with Yuko, represented by Yuko being made to kiss a bust in a flashback, and Maeda kissing the same bust in the present. The video ends with them and possibly Takamina, it's been a while leaving the school for the last time, when the groundskeeper, who jokes with them at the gates several times during the video, signals them through one last time.

Sakura no Hanabiritachi also has a B-Side, Saigo no Seifuku, which I haven't heard before, but it features the Senbatsu. It's basically about how they're now going to treasure school memories, missi their friends and go their own way.

And so thats day 1.

AKBINGO 111130

So the opening this week is a little different, the stills are from the photo of the AKB girls in SKE uniform from last week. In order: Maeda Ami, Oya Shizuka, Fujie Reina, Matsui Sakiko, Nito Moeno, Satou Sumire, Takeuchi Miyu, Miyazaki Miho, Ichikawa Miori, Shimuda Haruka. Of the three alternate openings I’ve seen, it’s definitely the least odd (The first featured Idolling!!!, and had their own members and played one of their songs, and the title was given as Idolling!!! 0ji 59fun, the second had Miichan’s face on all of the members, and Aitakatta sung with just her vocals, you can find out why on AKB48’s youtube channel.)

This week we’re celebrating the end of 3 weeks of AKB48 vs SKE48 by playing the Time Pressure Battle Burger Shop!!! (Exclamtions added for affect) against SKE. To be fair the SKE girls are wearing a completely new maid outfit 9it’s blue, and continuing against SKE makes sense given how this show is filmed.)  Shimada questions the decoration on Sata’s head,which is to represent SKE’s new burger chain. It seems we’ve gotten rid of Chura for this which I can forgive, he didn’t add much. So we have Shachihoko vs Kiyotaki. One SKE girl delivers an insult to AKB, and Shizuka is forced into responding. It falls flat.

As we get into rule explanations, it seems they couldn’t afford a new logo, as the new one is just Boss Burger’s with Sata’s head gear thrown on. We start with the word association variation.

AKB goes first, in order: Ami, Sakiko, Miori, Moeno, Miyu and guessing the word is Shimuda. The first order is love letter, the hints given: love, heart, Miori barely gets transfer or say in, valentine, and feeling, Shimuda gives chocolate and is sprayed, she says she came to her conclusion from Miori ans Moeno’s hints, but gets it when some of the others say Kaku.

SKE’s first turn: with Rena, Sawako, Shiori, Yuria, Mizuki and guessing the order is Akane (I may have gotten a few of these ones wrong). The word is: Chunichi Dragons, the baseball team for Aichi prefecture, and the hints are: blue, ???, Koala,??? , Nagoya, and the answer guessed is ??? and she’s sprayed. An additional hint of Matsunami is given, and she gets it.

AKB again, the order is: ???, the hints, ???, showdown, red, Moeno doesn’t make it, hall, the guess from Shimuda is correct this time

Another attempt from SKE, The order is christmas. The hints, in order are: tree, present, snow, white and tree again, leading to a correct guess (I mean I got this once I’d translated the 3^rd one). Mizuki tries to make an excuse that she thought Rena was referring to something else, but is subjugated to the spray along with (said white).

And so we move to the second stage with the scores 1 all. This time they have to make a model out of play dough to show what the word is. For this stage I’m going to say after all 5 have done it what I think it is, what they say, and what it is.

AKB first again: Miori, Miyu, Fujie, Myao, Shizuka and guessing is Ami. Ichikawa’s idea is noted as being NICE, and in the end I have no idea, something to do with sushi, and it sounds like Ami thinks so too, but judging by the spraying and the fact it uses the wrong characters, I’m guessing it was wrong, turns out it wasn’t ‘O sushi’ (Sushi) but kaiten sushi (with the conveyor belts).

SKE’s first turn: Akane, Masana, Rena, Kanon, Akari, guessing is Kanako. I have no idea; initially I thought it was a snowman, now it looks like some kind of alien. Kanako suggests what seems to translate as lion dance, immediately cowers in fear, and rightly so. After some hints she’s able to guess though. Actually from one angle they show it looks like an elephant.

AKB again. Looks to me like the sky. Ami thinks it’s Mt. Fuji. She’s wrong. It’s Cinderella, but so much more noticeable after Shizuka’s modification.

SKE’s turn. Looks like a giant worm near a sand dune really. The guess is correct, and hopefully by the time this is up I’ll have found out what it was. Apparently what Rena did got her sprayed.

And now we finally return to a live performance, here of Ue Kara Mariko. Fortunately featuring Mariko.

We end with Rena’s spraying again (she is the highest profile member there, she was 10^th in the AKB election I believe) and Sakiko declaring victory. In English. 

With thanks to Smilodon of HJU for filling in some of the blanks

SKE48 Magical Radio 11/11/19

This is an SKE show; I may only do this episode though.

It has Rena, Jurina and some other girl, who seem to be working with these two men (on the titular radio show?). One, seemingly the producer comes in either mentioning something to do with costs or something being stolen, or both, prompting Rena to hide her magazine, another girl to hide a tiara she’s got, and Jurina to make a feeble attempt to hide the two large teddy bears she has. Rena gives some monologue, possibly as an alibi, which I think involved someone dying or being in serious danger, before the other man interrupts. The same guy finds a box somewhere, and has Akane open it; she gets all panicky before opening it to reveal … absolutely nothing. He then has Rena pen the fridge, finding what I guess is a photo of the producer in school (I think the other guys the DJ), so he just leaves. The DJ then finds a large brown urn, which he volunteers Jurina to open. There’s a button with a ‘?’ on it and Jurina has to press it. Pressing it twice causes a monster to just burst out of boxes behind them, they all just run in terror but it simply leaves out the door.

A bit later, they talk when Akane says something I think was meant to sound suspicious. The producer accuses her and she leaves. Rena and Jurina argue for her, the producer says they should wait and see.

A bit later the other 4 are talking, when a young girl comes in, and introduces herself as Akane’s sister, Shironee. She has something for Akane, but the producer says Akane stole from them, Akane walks in, and her sister gives her the envelope and says something about pinball. The sister then tells some story, and then Rena and Jurina ask Akane for the truth. Just then another girl walks in, apparently another sister, Kuronee. Akanee is starting to lead them away when Aoinee shows up, the DJ pointing out how unlikely this is, and then all 3 of them try to hug Akane. The sisters then try to stand up for Akane. The sad story begins to bring the DJ to tears, and then Jurina all of a sudden begins spouting wisdoms, before turning into Sherlock Holmes to give some deduction, talking about the producer, then the DJ, and then Kanon just shows up behind the mixing desk, and I think he winds up with the producer being responsible. He then gives some form of explanation, runs off, and Holmes turns back into Jurina and falls unconscious.

A bit later Akane gives Shironee back the money envelope, and Akane, Jurina and Rena reconcile while Okey Dokey starts playing. The DJ tries to get in on the celebration, but only gets knocked over as the other girls are allowed to join in.

In a dark corridor, the producer makes some kind of plea to someone via phone, but they hang up.

16 things awesome about AKB48 Best 100 2011 Day 4

So we come to the last day, and we come to what should, in theory be the most awesome day of all, (Checks List) looks alright I guess. I do plan on doing the 2012 listing, but when I will is a bit unclear, as I have no idea when the raws will be available, as it will have to be the official DVD.

1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku!: It was certainly interesting, plus it lets me get SKE into the list.

Minegishi x Yui: This was only the impression I got, but it seemed like Miichan was commenting on Yui’s appearance until Sae got in the way.

Namida Surprise: I like the song, and it will be played on my next birthday, even if it’s just me sitting alone listening on my laptop. Also, while you-know-who is obviously not present, it’s not Yui this time. Fair enough though, Yui’s filled in for her on 7 songs, though I know she is permanently in Seifuku Resistance now.

Mariko cries: during the 4^th MC, Ooya Shizuka does what she claims is a Mariko impersonation, which consists of exaggerated crying. This causes fair amounts of shock, and Mariko appears on stage looking all serious (well duh, it’s Mariko) Shizuka apologises and Mariko just does the same mock crying.

Uhoo Uhoho: I missed a fair bit of this due to typing the previous summary, but it sounded nice, and Akimoto was holding a banana for the majority of the song. Just because.

The 4 Satou’s: They all have the same family name, so they obviously joke about it, kind of an interesting MC. Fun fact, until literally a few minutes before this my remembering who Amina and Sumire were wasn’t helped by the fact I thought both of them were the same girl.

RIVER: I always enjoy a bit of RIVER, the fact the style changes a bit throughout helps keep it interesting

10nen no Zakura: immediately following RIVER, same members on stage (well Yui appeared and I think Sashi left, but that’s all.) BTW I love Yui’s hat here.

Oogoe Diamond: I love this song, but as a twist rather than it’s Senbatsu it was instead performed by Old Team A, so some fair differences from the normal version.

Enkyori Poster: So I’m guessing Team YJ (mentioned last post) lost the competition to promote photospreads, as Team PB was evidently more popular, initially promoting a spread in Weekly Playboy (no not that Playboy you pervs).

Iiwake Maybe: It’s certainly my least favourite of the election single right now, but still enjoyable, and of course we have Aki in someone’s place

Ponytail to Shushu: We start the top 3 with a bang, as balloons fall from the ceiling before the singing even starts. You’d think they’d leave something like that for no.1, oh well. Also in the week or so since I started this series, it’s actually grown on me a bit. Also we have Sashihara on substitute duty.

Beginner: You know what my greatest regret about Beginner is? I only saw the original PV once. Also for the first time in the event, the cry out seems to be of disappointment, I’m guessing of a desire for it to be no. 1

Heavy Rotation: 1: I don’t think I need to explain this, 2: Yui, because you know, 3: Because ½ these girls have been in 4 songs in a row now, 4: Heavy Rotation and 5: everyone else who wasn’t Senbetsu (or filling in for Erena) dancing at the back.

Before I look at the last points I feel I should probably mention my treatment of Ono Erena during this summary. I have no idea why I kept on pointing out everytime she was replaced, the first time was probably enough. I have nothing by respect for her, and she’s a beautiful young lady who’s only slightly younger than me. I hope next year, given her recent announcement of returning to the public eye, she might appear at the best 100 as a graduate member, I could use someone beside Mai to recognise.

Guuzen no Juujiro: I’ll be honest, when I went into the encores, looking at the list I thought, this’ll be a short list, but the DIVA song was fun, but not worth putting here. This however was, it’s the Under single for the then not yet released Sakura no Ki ni Narou, and from what I remember of that song (I’ll be refreshed in a minute) this is better, plus it features such notables as Yui, Myao, and Yagami Kumi, who plays dance in Majijo (I felt sorry for the girl, I really did).

Majisuka Rock n Roll: naturally, it’s a MajiJo song. Also, even if just dancing, we did have every named in the show character portrayed by an AKB family member save for Daruma and, well, Ono Erena.