AKB48

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AKB48 (short for Akihabara48) is an idol girl group produced by Akimoto Yasushi. The group has their own theatre in Akihabara (a district in Tokyo) where they perform once every weekday, and twice on both Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are 3000yen for men, and 2000yen for women and children.

Contents

History

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. 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.

In December 2005 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.

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

On January 31st, 2007, AKB48's fourth single (second under DefSTAR Records) Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru was released; reaching #7 on Oricon charts. There has been speculation that the PV and lyrics to this song are an allusion to enjo kosai - volountary 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 was the only one of these to appear in the PV to the group's sixth single BINGO!, which was released on July 18th, 2007.

In August 2008, Kikuchi Ayaka was fired after pictures of her with a boy surfaced but fans requested a second chance for her. In the end, she was transfer to kenkyusei.

In October 11, 2008, the final performance of A4 Revival, original members Ohe Tomomi, Komatani Hitomi, Tojima Hana, Nakanishi Rina and Narita Risa graduated.

In August 22-23, 2009, AKB48 and SKE48 will perform the concert at Nihon Budokan. After the Budokan concert on August 23, The new formation of AKB48 was announced which will be effective in 2010, January.

In October 21, 2009, AKB48 released single RIVER which became the first AKB48 single to be No 1 Oricon weekly chart and also the second best selling female single of 2009. AKB48 was a guest for Music Station Superlive on December 25, 2009 and performed RIVER with all members of AKB48 in the show.

In December 31, 2009, AKB48 performed RIVER-Surprise special remix in the 60th NHK Kouhaku uta gassen. 72 members (all AKB48,Kenkyusei and 3 SKE48 members)) were in the performance.

"Majisuka Gakuen" (Majisuka Academy) is the drama featuring several members of AKB48 and SKE48 start from January 8th, 2010 on air by TV Tokyo.

Members

Team A

Team A as of October 2009

Team K

Team K as of October 2009

Team B

Team B as of October 2009

AKB48 Research Students (Formerly AKB48 SEED)

8th Generation

9th Generation

Former Members

Official Members

Research Students

Units

Former Units

Baragumi and Yurigumi

On November 4th, 2006, it was announced that the members of Akihabara48 would be rearranged into two groups: Baragumi ('rose group') and Yurigumi ('lily group'). No more official announcements have been made on this matter since then, and it is widely believed that this idea has been scrapped.

The two groups are as follows (☆ denotes a girl who has changed teams or graduated since the announcement was made):

Team A: Hirajima Natsumi☆, Kojima Haruna, Komatani Hitomi☆, Masuyama Kayano☆, Minegishi Minami, Oshima Mai☆, Takahashi Minami, Urano Kazumi☆, Watanabe Shiho☆.
Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Imai Yu☆, Kasai Tomomi, Kobayashi Kana, Matsubara Natsumi, Noro Kayo☆, Ohori Megumi☆, Ono Erena.
Team A: Hoshino Michiru☆, Itano Tomomi, Kawasaki Nozomi☆, Maeda Atsuko, Nakanishi Rina☆, Narita Risa☆, Ohe Tomomi☆, Sato Yukari☆, Shinoda Mariko, Tojima Hana☆.
Team K: Hayano Kaoru☆, Masuda Yuka, Miyazawa Sae, Oku Manami, Oshima Yuko, Sato Natsuki, Takada Ayana☆, Umeda Ayaka.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Download Exclusive

Stages

Team A

Team K

Team B

Himawari Gumi

Team Kenkyusei

Stage DVDs

Concert DVDs

Photobooks

Filmography

Movies

Dramas

Appearance

TV Shows

Radio

Commercial

See also

External Links


v • d • e
AKB48
Team A
Team K
Team B
Research Students
Former Members
Former Students
Singles
01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07 · 08 · 09 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14· 15· 16
Digital Releases
Albums
Stage DVDs
A1 · A2 · A3 · K1 · K2 · K3 · A4 · B1 · H1 · B2 · H2 · B3 · K4 · A5
Concert DVDs
Official Website
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