AKB48

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AKB48
Origin Flag of Japan Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan
Genre(s) Japanese pop
Years active 2005 - present
Label(s) DefSTAR Records
Website AKB48
Members
Team A Details
Team K Details
Team B Details
Former members
Deguchi Aki
Michiru Hoshino
Yu Imai
Masuyama Kayano
Ayumi Orii
Ayana Takada
Ayako Uemura
Yuki Usami
Shiho Watanabe

AKB48 is an all-female Japanese theater/idol group produced by Akimoto Yasushi. AKB48 currently consists of 48 members divided into three teams: Team A, Team K and Team B. Each team contains 16 members. Unlike other idol groups in Japan, AKB48 is theatre-based and has their own theatre in Akihabara (a district in Tokyo) where they perform once every weekday, and twice on both Saturday and Sunday. The theater is set up in on the 8th floor of Don Quixote. Tickets are 2000 yen for men, and 1000 yen for women and children. The special prices for Himawari-gumi shows are fixed at 3000 yen for men, and 2000 yen for women and children. According to the official site, they will be holding a "AKB48 Theater 10th Anniversary Festival" on December 8, 2015, which allows everyone who buys their limited edition 2nd anniversal special photo album (only 2000 copies) gets invited to that festival.

Oshima Yuko, Kojima Haruna, Ono Erena, Noro Kayo, Minegishi Minami, Maeda Atsuko, and Kasai Tomomi starred in a movie called Densen Uta with actor Ryuhei Matsuda. Recently, 18 new members have been added to the group as AKB48 SEED, with girls taking lessons and appearing in the background for a possible chance to join the main group. While they have been working separately until now, Team A and Team K teamed up (along with four members from AKB48 SEED) in July to perform regularly as Himawari-gumi.

According to the SET LIST -Greatest Songs 2006-2007 booklet, there are currently 15 members in Team A, 15 members in Team K, and 16 members in Team B, getting to the total of 46 members in AKB48.

Contents

[edit] History

AKB48 Theatre in Akihabara, Tokyo.
AKB48 Theatre in Akihabara, Tokyo.

In July 2005, Akimoto Yasushi held an audition for a new theater based idol girl group. Of the 7,924 girls that applied, 45 passed the first round of auditions. Finally, only 24 girls were chosen to be in the group.

In December 2005, the group debuted in the theater with only 20 girls, later known as Team A. A new audition was announced, this audition was held in cooperation with Japanese telecom company NTT DoCoMo. It was the first audition ever where the applicants had to send in their audition video with their mobile phones. 19 of the 11,892 applicants were chosen to join AKB48, but in the end only 18 girls joined the group to become Team K in April 2006.

By far, all title songs released as a single has been made a tie-up song for a tv show, a movie or a commercial.

[edit] 2006

In January 2006, Shinoda Mariko joined the group to become the newest member of Team A to date. Uemura Ayako and Usami Yuki of Team A both graduated during 2006.

AKB48 released its debut single "Sakura no Hanabiratachi" in February 2006, which made it to 10 on Oricon charts and sold 22,011 units in its first week - surprising for a group on an indies label.

In August 2006, they signed a major label contract with DefSTAR Records, a part of Sony Music Entertainment. Their first single under DefSTAR Records, Aitakatta, was released on October 25, 2006 and got to 12 on Oricon.

In October 2006, a new audition was announced to form Team B, resulting in the arrival of 18 new members in December 2006.

In December of 2006, the first change was made to the three teams; taking members Urano Kazumi, Watanabe Shiho, and Hirajima Natsumi from Team A to Team B. Orii Ayumi graduated from the group shortly after this, though appeared in the unit Crayon Friends from AKB48 after her graduation.

[edit] 2007

On January 31, 2007, AKB48's fourth single (second under DefSTAR Records) Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru was released; reaching 7 on Oricon charts (their highest rank to date). There has been speculation that the PV and lyrics to this song are an allusion to Enjo kōsai - voluntary underage prostitution - though this has not been confirmed. Their next single, Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou, featured a theme of bullying throughout the lyrics and PV.

In April 2007, Team B were added to AKB48's official website; albeit with five fewer members than had originally been announced. This brought the group's numbers down from 53 to 48 - the first time since its creation that the member total reflected the group's name. Members Imai Yu, Hoshino Michiru, and Takada Ayana graduated at roughly the same time during June 2007. However, Takada Ayana was the only one of these to appear in the PV to the group's sixth single BINGO!, which is scheduled to be released on July 18, 2007.

On December 31, 2007, 46 members of AKB48 appeared on the 58th Annual Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the first time. They sang as part of the Akihabara performance, with Leah Dizon and Shouko Nakagawa following them. They became the most number of people in a single group to be on stage at one time (Hello! Project performance had 23 members, 45 members including the back dancers, but with a collaboration of 3 groups).

[edit] 2008

AKB48 released their first studio album on the New Year's Day entitled SET LIST -Greatest Songs 2006-2007. On February 27, 2008, AKB48 released their 10th single entitled, Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008. At the time of the release of their debut single Sakura no Hanabiratachi, there was only team A in AKB48. This 10th single features 10 members from team A, along with 6 selected members from team K, and 5 selected members from team B making it the 2008 version.

[edit] Members

[edit] Team A

Itano Tomomi (July 3, 1991 in Kanagawa)

Kawasaki Nozomi (August 23, 1987 in Tokyo)

Kojima Haruna (April 19, 1988 in Saitama)

Komatani Hitomi (December 16, 1988 in Saitama)

Maeda Atsuko (July 10, 1991 in Chiba)

Masuyama Kayano (February 14, 1994 in Tokyo)

Minegishi Minami (November 15, 1992 in Tokyo

Nakanishi Rina (June 26, 1988 in Ooita)

Narita Risa (March 1, 1991 in Toyko)

Ohe Tomomi (June 15, 1989 in Toyko)

Oshima Mai (September 11, 1987 in Chiba)

Sato Yukari (November 22, 1988 in Shizuka)

Shinoda Mariko (March 22, 1986 in Fukuoka)

Takahashi Minami (April 8, 1991 in Tokyo)

Tojima Hana (July 11, 1988 in Saitama)

Hirajima Natsumi (November 15, 1992 in Tokyo)

[edit] Team K

Akimoto Sayaka (July 26, 1988 in Chiba)

Hayano Kaoru (December 12, 1992 in Tokyo)

Kasai Tomomi (November 16, 1991 in Tokyo)

Kobayashi Kana (May 17, 1991 in Saitama)

Masuda Yuka (August 3, 1991 in Osaka

Matsubara Natsumi (June 19, 1990 in Fukuoka)

Miyazawa Sae (August 13, 1990 in Tokyo)

Noro Kayo (October 28, 1983 in Tokyo)

Ohori Megumi (August 25, 1983 in Tokyo)

Oku Manami (November 22, 1995 in Tokyo)

Ono Erena (November 26, 1993 in Tokyo)

Oshima Yuko (October 17, 1988 in Tochigi)

Satou Natsuki (July 1, 1990 in Hokkaido)

Umeda Ayaka (January 3, 1989 in Fukuoka)

[edit] Team B

Hirajima Natsumi (Originally from A) Born: November 15, 1992 in Tokyo)

Inoue Naru (December 18, 1991 in Osaka)

Kashiwagi Yuki (July 15, 1991 in Kagojima)

Kikuchi Ayaka (June 30, 1993 in Tokyo)

Katayama Haruka (May 10, 1990 in Chiba)

Matsuoka Yuki (October 7, 1987 in Kanagawa)

Nakagawa Haruka (February 10, 1992 in Tokyo)

Nakaya Sayaka (October 15, 1991 in Iwate)

Noguchi Reina (April 15, 1993 in Saitama)

Oota Aika (December 8, 1994 in Saitama)

Saotome Miki (June 22, 1991 in Tochigi)

Tanabe Miku (December 2, 1992 in Shiga)

Urano Kazumi (Originally from Team A) Born: October 23, 1985)

Watanabe Mayu (March 26, 1994 in Saitama)

Watanabe Shiho (Originally from A) Born: October 25, 1987 in Hyougo)

Yonezawa Rumi (June 6, 1991 in Saitama)

[edit] Graduated Members

Usami Yuki(December 6, 1984 in Saitama) Graduated on March 31, 2006.

Uemura Ayako (February 7, 1986 in Saitama) Left on June 17, 2006.

Orii Ayumi (Originally from A) July 20, 1985 in Nagano) Graduated on January 25, 2007.

Hoshino Michiru (November 19, 1985 in Chiba) Graduated in June 2007.

Imai Yu (April 17, 1985 in Saitama) Graduated in June 2007.

Takada Ayana (July 21, 1988 in Aichi) Graduated in June 2007.

Watanabe Shiho (October 25, 1987 in Hyogo) Graduated in October 2007.

Deguchi Aki (March 14, 1988 in Mie) Graduated in November 2007.

Masuyama Kayano (February 10, 1994 in Saitama) Graduated in November 2007.

[edit] Units

Honegumi from AKB48 (ほね組 from AKB48?)

ICE from AKB48

Crayon Friends from AKB48

Chocolove from AKB48

[edit] SKE48

SKE48 will be an all-female Japanese theater/idol group produced by Akimoto Yasushi. Currently, the project is entitled, "SKB48 Project"; audition will be held during the summer, and is set to debut in autumn 2008. There will be 20 members at the time of debut. SKE48 will perform in the newly built studio in the renewalled Sunshine Sakae in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, every Saturday. By May 2009, they will perform regularly.

Akimoto Yasushi was offered to start a production in Nagoya along with the renewal of the Sunshin Sakae, when he was thinking of making his "48 project" a nationwide project. He had a couple of offers even from outside of Japan, so he decided to use Nagoya as the place to move on with the project. He said the selected members from both AKB48 and SKE48 may release the single, rather than releasing two different singles.[1]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

[edit] 桜の花びらたち (Sakura no Hanabiratachi)

Debut Single

  • Released February 1, 2006
  • Event information: The launching of Sakura no Hanabiratachi was held on February 1, 2006, at the AKB48 theater. During this event, a video presentation of the events that occurred during the formation of Team A was shown. 20 Members of AKB48 Team A then performed Sakura no Hanabiratachi and Dear My Teacher, and later introduced themselves one by one to the public. Notable during this event was the absence of Ohe Tomomi (大江朝美) due to school activities.
  • Single Information:
    • All Produced By: Yasushi Akimoto
    • Executive Producer: Yasushi Kubota/Koutarou Shiba
    • Creative Direction and Photography and Edit: Yasumasa Yonehara
    • Photography: Hirohisa Sako
    • Hair and Make Up: Hiromi Kawano
    • Design: Takumi Matsubara
  • Track Listing:
  1. 桜の花びらたち (Sakura no Hanabiratachi)
  2. Dear my teacher
  3. 桜の花びらたち（カラオケバージョン） (Sakura no Hanabiratachi (Karaoke Version))
  4. Dear my teacher（カラオケバージョン）

[edit] スカート、ひらり (Skirt, Hirari)

  • Released June 7, 2006
  • Event information: The launching of Skirt, Hirari was held on June 4, 2006 at the UDX Akiba Square. 37 Members from both Team A and Team K performed live during the said event. The show started around 2:00PM, and approximately 1000 fans lined up, even starting the previous night, just to attend the said performance.
  • In the performance (and the PV) all member wear extra-short skirts and swing them while dancing.
  • The group made an appearance near the end of Densha Otoko Deluxe - The Final Holy Battle (「電車男 DELUXE - 最後の聖戦」)
  • Track Listing:
  1. スカート、ひらり (Skirt, Hirari)
  2. 青空のそばにいて (Aozora no Soba ni Ite)
  3. スカート、ひらり（カラオケバージョン） (Skirt, Hirari (Karaoke Version)
  4. 青空のそばにいて（カラオケバージョン） (Aozora no Soba ni Ite (Karaoke Version)

[edit] 会いたかった (Aitakatta)

  • Released: October 25, 2006
  • Track Listing:
  1. 会いたかった (Aitakatta)
  2. だけど… (Dakedo...)
  3. 会いたかった (カラオケバージョン) (Aitakatta (Karaoke Version)
  4. だけど… (カラオケバージョン) (Dakedo... (Karaoke Version)

[edit] 制服が邪魔をする (Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru)

  • Released: January 31, 2007
  • Track Listing:
  1. 制服が邪魔をする (Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru)
  2. Virgin love
  3. 制服が邪魔をする (Instrumental)
  4. Virgin love (Instrumental)

[edit] 軽蔑していた愛情 (Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou)

  • Released: April 18, 2007
  • Track Listing:
  1. 軽蔑していた愛情 (Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou)
  2. 涙売りの少女 (Namida Uri no Shoujo)
  3. 軽蔑していた愛情 (Instrumental)
  4. 涙売りの少女 (Instrumental)

[edit] BINGO!

  • Released: July 18th, 2007
  • Track listing:
  1. BINGO!
  2. Only today
  3. BINGO! (Instrumental)
  4. Only today (Instrumental)

[edit] 僕の太陽 (Boku no Taiyou)

  • Released: August 2, 2007
  • Track listing:
  1. 僕の太陽 (Boku no Taiyou)
  2. 未来の果実 (Mirai no Kajitsu)
  3. 僕の太陽 (Instrumental)
  4. 未来の果実 (Instrumental)

[edit] 夕陽を見ているか? (Yuuhi wo Miteiruka?)

  • Released: October 31, 2007
  • Track listing:
  1. 夕陽を見ているか? (Yuuhi wo Miteiruka?)
  2. ビバ!ハリケーン (Viva!Hurricane)

[edit] ロマンス、イラネ (Romance Irane)

  • Released: January 23, 2008
  • Track listing:
  1. ロマンス、イラネ (Romance Irane)
  2. 愛の毛布 (Ai no Moufu)
  3. ロマンス、イラネ -Instrumental-
  4. 愛の毛布 -Instrumental-
Himawari 2.0 Mix

Tomomi Itano, Mai Oshima, Megumi Ohori, Manami Oku, Tomomi Kasai, Haruna Kojima, Amina Sato, Natsuki Sato, Yukari Sato, Minami Takahashi, Risa Narita, Risa Naruse, Kaoru Hayano, Reina Fujie, Yuka Masuda, Natsumi Matsubara

Himawari 2.1 Mix

Sayaka Akimoto, Tomomi Ohe, Yuko Oshima, Erena Ono, Nozomi Kawasaki, Asuka Kuramochi, Kana Kobayashi, Hitomi Komatani, Mariko Shinoda, Hana Tojima, Chisato Nakata, Rina Nakanishi, Kayo Noro, Atsuko Maeda, Minami Minegishi, Sae Miyazawa

[edit] 桜の花びらたち 2008 (Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008)

  • Released: February 27, 2008
  • About single: Sakura no Hanabiratachi is actually the debut single of AKB48. Inviting Team K and Team B members to join this song, a new, 2008 version, was created.
  • AKB48 Theater Special: A poster was given for a purchase of any version of this single at the AKB48 Theater Café. Having only one member from AKB48 on each poster, there were a total of 44 different types of posters. These posters were handed out randomly to any purchaser. Anyone who has collected all 44 types were invited to a Spring Festival by AKB48.[2] However, DefSTAR Records later announced that this offer will be cancelled due to the fact that this might be against the law, attracting purchasers by offering a special reward that will cost lots of money to achieve.[3][4]
  • Tracklisting:
  1. 桜の花びらたち 2008 (Original Mix) (Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008)
  2. 最後の制服 (Saigo no Seifuku)
  3. 桜の花びらたち 2008 (Original Mix) -Instrumental-
  4. 最後の制服 -Instrumental-

[edit] Albums

Stage Albums
  1. チームA 1st Stage「PARTYが始まるよ」(Team A Party ga Hajimaruyo)
  2. チームA 2nd Stage「会いたかった」(Team A 2nd Stage Aitakatta)
  3. チームA 3rd Stage「誰かのために」(Team A 3rd Stage Dareka no Tame ni)
  4. チームK 1st Stage「PARTYが始まるよ」(Team K 1st Stage Party ga Hajimaruyo)
  5. チームK 2nd Stage「青春ガールズ」(Team K 2nd Stage Seishun Girls)
  6. チームK 3rd Stage「脳内パラダイス」(Team K 3rd Stage Nounai Paradise)
Studio Albums
  1. AKB48 1st Album「SET LIST～グレイテストソングス 2006-2007～」
    • Released:January 1st, 2008

[edit] DVDs

  1. SPECIAL EDITION AKB48 「Memories」
  2. チームA 1st Stage「PARTYが始まるよ」(Team A Party ga Hajimaruyo)
  3. チームA 2nd Stage「会いたかった」(Team A 2nd Stage Aitakatta)
  4. チームA 3rd Stage「誰かのために」(Team A 3rd Stage Dareka no Tame ni)
  5. チームK 1st Stage「PARTYが始まるよ」(Team K 1st Stage Party ga Hajimaruyo)
  6. チームK 2nd Stage「青春ガールズ」(Team K 2nd Stage Seishun Girls)
  7. First Concert「会いたかった~柱はないぜ!~」in 日本青年館 Normal Version
  8. First Concert「会いたかった~柱はないぜ!~」in 日本青年館 Shuffle Version

[edit] Filmography

For individual member's filmography, see their articles.

[edit] Movies

The main casts were Yuko Oshima, Sayaka Akimoto, Haruna Kojima, and Atsuko Maeda. The AKB48 group themselves were shown at a scene containing a live concert.

[edit] TV/Dramas

First time on Music station; performed Skirt, Hirari.
AKB48 (members back then) appeared as a group, as themselves.
  • Karada de Asobo
All 4 members of "Honegumi from AKB48" (Tomomi Itano, Manami Oku, Erena Ono, and Kayano Masuyama) appeared.
  • AKB48+10! (2007.10-)
  • AKB1ji59fun! (2008.01-)

[edit] Radio

  • Countdown Japan (2006.04-2007.03)
Few members appeared on the radio, differing every week.
  • AKB48 no Yonpachi After (2006.04-2006.09)
  • ON8 (2006.11-)
Section of the show called "HashiraNIGHT with AKB48"
  • AKB48 Konya wa Kaeranai... (2007.04-)
  • AKB48 Ashita made Mou chotto. (2007.10-)

[edit] Web Drama

All AKB48 Team K members appear; former member Ayumi Orii as a star.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ SUNSHINE SAKAEプレス発表会およびSKE48プロジェクト発表 (Japanese). Scramble Egg (2008-06-07). Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
  2. ^ AKB48劇場「桜の花びらたち2008」購入者特別プレゼント！ (Japanese) (2008-02-25). Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
  3. ^ 「春の祭典」ご招待施策中止のご案内 (2008-02-28). Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
  4. ^ 「独禁法抵触の恐れ」AKB48ポスターコンプリート企画中止 (Japanese) (2008-02-28). Retrieved on 2008-02-29.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
AKB48
Team A Members
Tomomi Itano | Nozomi Kawasaki | Haruna Kojima | Hitomi Komatani | Atsuko Maeda | Minami Minegishi | Rina Nakanishi | Risa Narita | Tomomi Ohe | Mai Oshima | Yukari Sato | Mariko Shinoda | Minami Takahashi | Hana Tojima
Team K Members
Sayaka Akimoto | Kaoru Hayano | Tomomi Kasai | Kana Kobayashi | Yuka Masuda | Natsumi Matsubara | Sae Miyazawa | Kayo Noro | Megumi Ohori | Manami Oku | Erena Ono | Yuko Oshima | Natsuki Sato | Ayaka Umeda
Team B Members
Natsumi Hirajima | Naru Inoue | Yuki Kashiwagi | Ayaka Kikuchi | Haruka Katayama | Yuki Matsuoka | Haruka Nakagawa | Sayaka Nakaya | Reina Noguchi | Aika Oota | Miki Saotome | Miku Tanabe | Kazumi Urano | Mayu Watanabe | Rumi Yonezawa
Graduated
Michiru Hoshino | Yu Imai | Ayumi Orii | Ayana Takada | Ayako Uemura | Yuki Usami | Shiho Watanabe | Kayano Masuyama
Sub-groups
Album
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