JAPANESE IDOL >,<
AKB48 (read "A.K.B. Forty-eight") is a Japanese girl group. It has achieved such popularity in Japan
[1] that it has been characterized as a social phenomenon.
[2] The group has 91 members, ranging in age from early teens to mid-20s.
[3] Produced by
Yasushi Akimoto, it is one of the highest-earning musical acts in the world, with 2011 record sales of over US$200 million in Japan alone.
[4]
The group's thirteen latest consecutive
singles topped the
Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. In 2010, "
Beginner" and "
Heavy Rotation" placed, respectively, first and second in the list of Japan's best selling singles for the year.
[5] In 2011, AKB48's singles occupied the top five spots of the Oricon Yearly Singles Chart.
[6] AKB48 has reached a total of 20,300,000 copies (17,597,000 singles sold, 2,703,000 albums sold),
[7][8] and holds the record for most singles sold in Japan by a female group.
[9]
AKB48 is named after
Akihabara (
Akiba for short), the area in
Tokyo where the group's own theater is located. The idea of AKB48's producer
Yasushi Akimoto
was to create a girl group that, unlike a regular pop group, which
gives occasional concerts and that is mostly seen on TV, would have its
own theater and perform there on a daily basis; the fans would always be
able to go and see the girls live. Presently, AKB48 still performs at
the theater every day, although, due to great demand, tickets are now
distributed only via a lottery.
Personnel
AKB48 holds the
Guinness World Record for being the world's "largest pop group".
[11][12]
The group currently consists of a total of 66 girls, divided into three
subgroups: Team A, presently with 21 members; Team K, also with 22
members; And team B, with 23 members .
[13] The group also includes a number of aspiring members, who are called "kenkyūsei" ("trainees").
[14]
The member lineup often changes; when girls get older, they "graduate"
from the group, while new members are cast through regularly held
auditions.
[1]
Having several teams not only allows the group to reduce the load on
its members, since a daily concert at the theater is given by only one
team, but also gives AKB48 opportunity to perform in several places and
even countries simultaneously.
[15]
Yasushi Akimoto is also expanding his theater-based idol group concept to other cities and, since recently, countries. He has formed
SKE48 (based at a theater in the
Sakae area of
Nagoya),
SDN48 (intended to have a more mature image),
NMB48 (
Namba,
Osaka),
[14] HKT48 (
Hakata,
Fukuoka),
JKT48 (
Jakarta,
Indonesia), TPE48 (
Taipei,
Taiwan), SNH48 (
Shanghai,
China). Another of his recent creations,
Nogizaka46, was announced as an official rival for AKB48.
[clarification needed][citation needed]
Given the large number of members in the group, who couldn't appear
on stage at the same time, AKB48 needed some sort of selection method to
determine who will record a single and perform it on TV, for example.
[citation needed]
So far, two big selection events are held annually. One member lineup
is determined by fans who vote for their favorite members in so-called "
general elections"
("sōsenkyo" in Japanese) by purchasing the group's latest single that
includes a ticket that allows the buyer to register a vote for a
particular member. The other is decided in a
rock-paper-scissors
tournament between the members themselves. The popularity of AKB48 had
been so huge that, in the 2011 election, the number of votes cast
exceeded 1 million, and the single "
Everyday, Katyusha", that contained a voting ticket for the election, set a new Japanese all-time record for weekly sales of a CD single.
[16]
Concept
AKB48 Theater in Akihabara, Tokyo
AKB48 members are girls whose age ranges from 14 to 20-plus. They are
recruited through auditions that are held regularly in Japan.
[10] Members of the group are not allowed to have boyfriends, and must be well-behaved.
[17] If they misbehave, they may be expelled from the group.
[18] When members get older, they "graduate" from the group and are replaced by new members.
[1]
AKB48 was founded based on the "idols you can meet" concept.
[19] The group's producer
Yasushi Akimoto decided to create an
idol
group that, unlike a regular idol group that gives occasional concerts
and that is mostly seen on TV, would have its own theater and perform
there on a daily basis; the fans would always be able to go and see the
girls live.
[14][19]
Presently, AKB48 still performs at the theater every day, although, due
to great demand, tickets are now distributed only via a lottery.
[10] The AKB48 Theater is located in the
Don Quijote store in
Akihabara,
Tokyo.
[10]
The group consists of four subgroups: Team A, Team K, Team B, and
Team 4. Having several teams not only allows the group to reduce the
load on its members, since a daily concert at the theater is given by
only one team, but also gives AKB48 opportunity to perform in several
places and even countries simultaneously.
[15] Each of the teams also has its own unique image.
[17] According to member
Misaki Iwasa, Team A represents freedom, Team B is very idol-like with cutesy costumes, while Team K has a strong and powerful image.
[17]
There is also a number of aspiring members (so-called trainees or
"Kenkyūsei"), who learn the group's songs and are appointed as stand-ins
for the main members, so that a replacement is always available. In
addition to singing performances, members are heavily promoted
throughout the Japanese mass media.
[10] The group regularly holds "handshake events", where fans get a chance to shake hands with the group's members.
[10]
In 2009, the concept of "senbatsu
general elections" was introduced.
[14]
In these elections, fans vote for their favourite members of AKB48 and
its sister groups. Members who receive most votes get to participate in
the recording of AKB48's next
single,
[14] are more heavily promoted,
[10] and get to sing center stage during the group's performances. To obtain a ballot, voters have to buy the group's singles.
[20] Another new concept, AKB48's
rock-paper-scissors tournaments, was introduced in 2010 for the group's 19th single "
Chance no Junban".
[21] Members of AKB48 and its sister groups compete against each other in the
knockout tournament for being on AKB48's next single.
[22]
History
2005–2006: Creation and independent releases
In July 2005,
Yasushi Akimoto held an audition for a new theater-based idol girl group.
[23] Of the 7,924 girls that applied, 24 girls were chosen to become members of the group.
[23]
On December 8, 2005, the group debuted in the theater with only 20 members, who are later known as Team A.
[24] A new audition which was held in cooperation with
NTT DoCoMo was subsequently announced.
[citation needed] This was the first audition where the applicants had to send in their audition videos with their mobile phones.
[citation needed]
Out of the 11,892 applicants, 19 were chosen to join AKB48, but in the
end only 18 girls joined the group to form Team K in April 2006.
[25]
In January 2006,
Akimoto let
Mariko Shinoda join the group without passing an audition, after she won a popularity vote by AKB48 fans.
[26] She was working as a waitress at the AKB48 Cafe after she had failed to attend the group's first audition.
[27]
AKB48 released its debut single "
Sakura no Hanabiratachi" in February 2006. This single made it to the TOP10
Oricon weekly charts and sold 22,011 units in its debut week, a rarity for a group on an indie label.
[28] On March 1, AKB48 released their first photo book entitled
Micchaku! "AKB48" ~Shashinshuu Vol.1 the DEBUT.
[citation needed] On March 31, member
Yuki Usami graduates, thus becoming the first member to do so.
[citation needed] Team K started performing at the AKB48 theater on April 1.
[25]
AKB48 was preparing to make a major debut, on March 26, 2006
On June 7, the group released their second single, "
Skirt, Hirari".
[29] Two days later, they sang their songs for the first time in a TV program.
[25] Ayako Uemura graduated from the group on June 17.
[25] In August 2006, AKB48 signed a major label contract with
DefStar Records, a part of
Sony Music Entertainment.
[30]
2006–2008: Major debut and the DefStar Records period
Their first single under DefStar Records, "
Aitakatta", was released on October 25, 2006, and it debuted at the 12th position on the Oricon weekly single charts.
[31] In the first 6 weeks of its release, "Aitakatta" sold a total of 25,544 copies.
[31]
In October 2006, a new audition was announced to form Team B,
[32] resulting in the arrival of 13 new members in December 2006.
[33]
On November 3 and 4, AKB48 performed in their first concert entitled
AKB48 First Concert: Aitakatta ~Hashira wa Nai ze!~" at Nippon Seinenkan
in
Shinjuku.
[25] The first-ever change to the lineup of AKB48's three teams was made in December 2006.
[25] Kazumi Urano,
Shiho Watanabe and Natsumi Hirajima were transferred from Team A to Team B as supporting members.
[25] Ayumi Orii graduated from the group shortly after this, though she appeared in the unit
Crayon Friends from AKB48 after her graduation.
[citation needed]
AKB48's fourth single "
Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru" was released on January 31, 2007.
[34] It debuted at the 7th position on Oricon TOP10 charts.
[34] There has been speculation that the PV and lyrics to this song are an allusion to
enjo kōsai (compensated dating), though this cannot been confirmed.
[citation needed]
On March 2, AKB48's second photo book
AKB48 JUMP&CRY was released.
[35] AKB48's 5th single, "
Keibetsu Shiteita Aijō", was released on March 18.
[36] The title song of this single revolves around the theme of school bullying and suicides.
[citation needed] "Keibetsu Shiteita Aijō" reached the 8th position on the Oricon TOP10 charts.
[36] AKB48's second concert tour, titled "AKB48 Haru no Chotto dake Zenkoku Tour ~Madamada daze AKB48!~", began on March 10.
[37]
In April 2007, Team B's information was added to AKB48's official
website, albeit with five fewer members than the announcement original.
[25]
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
Yū Imai,
Michiru Hoshino, and
Ayana Takada graduated at roughly the same time during June 2007.
[citation needed] The group's sixth single, "
Bingo!", was released on July 18.
[38]
In October and November respectively,
Shiho Watanabe and
Kayano Masuyama graduated.
[citation needed] On December 31, 43 members of AKB48 appeared on the 58th
Kōhaku Uta Gassen television program for the first time as part of the Akihabara performance segment.
[25] They set the record for the largest number of people in a single group to be on stage at one time in this program.
[25]
AKB48 released their first studio album, titled
Set List: Greatest Songs 2006–2007, on
New Year's Day of 2008.
[citation needed] Their seventh single, entitled "
Romance, Irane" is released on January 23, 2008.
[39] It reached number 6 on the
Oricon TOP10 charts.
[40]
On February 27, 2008, AKB48 released their tenth single, titled "
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 ten members from Team A, along with six and five selected
members from Team K and Team B respectively.
[41]
It was planned that people who collected 44 posters of the single CD
would be invited to a special event, but this act was a suspected
violation of the
antitrust law, and it was eventually cancelled by DefStar Records.
[42]
2008–2009: Switch to King Records and the first Oricon number one
In August 2008, they changed their record label from DefStar Records to
King Records.
[citation needed] In the same month,
Ayaka Kikuchi was fired from the group.
[43] She was later rehired after she passed a subsequent audition.
[44]
On October 22, 2008, the single "
Ōgoe Diamond" was released.
[45] This single debuted at the number three position on the
Oricon TOP10 weekly charts, becoming AKB48's first single to achieve a top three position on the chart.
[46] This is the first single to be released under King Record's You Be Cool label.
[45] On November 3, 2008,
Rina Nakanishi,
Hitomi Komatani,
Tomomi Ohe,
Risa Narita, and
Tojima Hana graduated from the group.
[citation needed]
AKB48 at Japan Expo in Paris, 2009
On February 11,
Reina Noguchi,
Yuki Matsuoka and Nozomi Kawasaki graduated.
AKB48 released their 11th single, "
10nen Sakura",
on March 4, 2009. The single reached number three on the Oricon charts
in the first week and eventually became the first single for them to
sell over 100,000 copies on the Oricon charts.
[47]
On April 26,
Mai Oshima and
Kaoru Hayano graduated. On May 24, Risa Naruse graduated.
AKB48 Team A became the honour guest for the Japan Expo in Paris between July 2 to 5, 2009,
[48] and featured English-lyric version of "
Ōgoe Diamond" first time.
AKB48's 12th single, "
Namida Surprise!",
was released on June 24, the single include handshaking event ticket
and a voting card (with a serial number) for their next single.
[49] "
Namida Surprise!" sold 104,180 copies in the initial week on the Oricon charts.
The 13th single, "
Iiwake Maybe", released on August 26, 2009,
[50] surprisingly outsold
SMAP on its first day, taking the 1st place in the Oricon Daily Singles Chart,
[51] but eventually ranked 2nd for the week.
[52]
AKB48 had a
US debut concert at
Webster Hall in
New York on September 27, 2009.
[53]
In October 2009, their three singles "
10nen Sakura", "
Namida Surprise!" and "
Iiwake Maybe" were certified Gold by the
Recording Industry Association of Japan at the same time for each shipments of 100,000 copies by September.
[54] Their 14th single, "
River", was released on October 21, 2009.
[55] It debuted at the number 1 position on Oricon TOP10 weekly charts.
[55] This is the first single from the group to achieve the 1st position on the Oricon charts.
[55]
2010: Five number-one singles
AKB48 released their 15th single, "
Sakura no Shiori",
on February 17, 2010. The single topped the Oricon chart and sold over
300,000 copies in its first week, which is the best record in seven
years of Japanese female artists.
[56] Their 16th single, "
Ponytail to Shushu",
released on May 26, 2010, sold over 400,000 copies in its first day,
and over 513,000 copies in its first week, making it AKB48's biggest
selling single in its first week.
[57] On April 27, 2010, it was announced that AKB48 would be attending and performing in the United States at
Anime Expo, the nation's largest anime convention, as official guests of honor. AKB48 performed at a concert on July 1, 2010, at the
Nokia Theatre.
[58]
At AKB48's concert at the
Yoyogi National Gymnasium on a Sunday in July 2010, it was announced that Team K member
Erena Ono would be graduating from AKB48 to study acting abroad.
[59] Erena graduated from AKB48 on September 27, 2010 in a Team K theater performance.
[60]
On 23 October the band represented Japan and performed at the
7th Asia Song Festival, organised by
Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, at the
Seoul Olympic Stadium.
[61] On October 27, 2010 AKB48's new single "
Beginner"
was released. In only the first week, the 18th single sold 826,989
copies making it the highest first week sales for AKB48, as well as
highest first week sales ever for a female idol group single. As of
February 2011 the single has sold over 1,010,000 copies.
[62] At the end of October
Mayu Watanabe appeared on the cover of the December issue of
UP to boy magazine together with
Airi Suzuki from
Cute. That was the first
gravure collaboration between
Hello! Project and AKB48.
[63]
AKB48 performing in the Cool Japan Night in
Singapore as part of the Anime Festival Asia X, in November 2010.
In November 2010, AKB48 performed in
Russia for the first time. A 12-member team gave a concert on November 20 at the Japanese Pop Culture Festival which took place in
Moscow.
[64] Also in November 2010, AKB48 performed in the Cool Japan Night in
Singapore
as part of the Anime Festival Asia X. This is followed by a 2nd
performance also in Singapore at the Singapore Toy Games & Comics
Convention.
[65]
2011: Another five number ones and overseas expansion
The first single of the year, named "
Sakura no Ki ni Narō",
was released on February 16. Upon the first day of release, AKB48 sold
655,000 copies of their single, beating their previous top record
(568,000 copies of "
Beginner").
[66] The single sold 942,479 copies in its first week, AKB48's highest record.
[67]
In February, it was announced that
Yūki Kanazawa and Manami Oku would be graduating from the group.
[68]
Their third studio album, named
Koko ni Ita Koto (ここにいたこと?), was announced on 21 February 2011.
[69]
This is their first original album (as opposed to collections of
previously released singles), and it contains 11 new songs that were
never released before, including the title track "Koko ni Ita Koto".
[69] It was scheduled to be released in
Japan on 6 April 2011.
[69]
On March 12, 2011 it was also announced on their blog that the AKB Theater would close due to the
2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami,
and all public events were cancelled until further notice. Two days
later, it was announced on their official blog that their concert
Takamina ni tsuite ikimasu (たかみなについて行きます?, lit. "(We) will follow Takamina"), scheduled to be held on March 25–27 at
Yokohama Arena,
would be cancelled. Bank accounts had been opened to raise donations
for earthquake and tsunami relief, as part of their project named
"Dareka no Tame ni"
(誰かのために lit. "For someone's sake"?).
Under this project, they used the Yokohama Arena for their 2-day
charity events starting on 26 March 2011 instead. 12 of their main
members attended
Okinawa International Movie Festival on the same day for the same purpose. Three days later, it was announced that
¥500 million will be donated by
AKB48 and their sister groups:
SKE48,
SDN48 and
NMB48, and their producer
Yasushi Akimoto to these bank accounts. On the same day, the postponement of the release of their new album,
Koko ni Ita Koto (ここにいたこと?) was announced.
[70] Part of the proceeds from the sales of the album will be donated to the victims of this disaster.
[70] It was also announced that the group will hold a
senbatsu election to determine the participating members for their 22nd single.
[70] On April 1, they also released a single, "Dareka no Tame ni (What can I do for someone?)"
(誰かのために -What can I do for someone?-?) through the Recochoku website as a digital download, and will donate all profits for earthquake and tsunami relief.
Dareka no Tame ni was originally recorded on a live album released in 2007.
On April 8, Manami Oku graduated after performing at a Team B stage on the same day.
On May 1, a new AKB48 unit named
HKT48 was announced.
[71] It will be based in
Fukuoka in
Kyushu, and their theater will be established in the Hawks Town Mall of Fukuoka’s Chuo ward.
[71]
AKB48 Official Shop in Singapore, 2011
On May 3,
The Straits Times reported that AKB48's first overseas theater will be opened in
Singapore.
[72]
It will be based in *scape Youth Park, and 16 members of AKB48 and
sister groups will be performing concerts there for two days in a month,
with two performances each day.
[72]
Apart from the theater, there will also be an AKB48 Official Shop where
fans can purchase official AKB48 merchandise, and the world's first
AKB48 cafe where Japanese fusion food and dessert will be served.
[72]
The AKB48 staff blog announced that the trainees Nau Yamaguchi and Sara Ushikobu will leave the group for undisclosed reasons.
[73] They will perform their last event as members on June 19.
[73]
AKB48 released their 21st singles album entitled "
Everyday, Kachūsha" on 25 May 2011.
[74] On its release day 942,475 copies were sold
[74] and 1,333,969 copies in the first week making it the highest first-week single sales record in Japan to that date.
[75] Later, on June 7, AKB48 announced a new team titled "Team 4" ahead of their nationwide tour concerts in Japan.
[76] The team was formed of ten members, with six more members to be added later to complete the 16-member team.
[76] This also marked 'Team Kenkyuusei' losing the 'Team' from their name.
On June 11, 2011, It was announced at a handshake event that
Aimi Eguchi,
a girl who had supposedly auditioned for NMB48, would be joining AKB48
as a trainee. It was later revealed that Aimi Eguchi was not a real
person, and had been created to promote the
Glico product Ice no Mi.
[77] Oricon announced on 22 June 2011 that AKB48 had the strongest album sales showing for the first half of 2011 in their sales ranking.
[78] They had the only two million-selling singles
Everyday, Kachūsha and "
Sakura no Ki ni Narō", which ranked as the best and second-best selling singles respectively.
[78] For the survey period between 27 December 2010 and 20 June 2011, AKB48 garnered
¥6.66 billion in total sales of all their merchandise.
[78]
In an announcement made on 28 June 2011, AKB48's producer
Yasushi Akimoto revealed that he will be creating a group to become AKB48's "official rival". The group will be called
Nogizaka46 (乃木坂46?) and will debut with approximately 20 members.
Yasushi Akimoto revealed that he teamed up with
Sony Music Japan to produce this new group, whose auditions for members will start later this year.
[79]
AKB48 released their 22nd single, entitled
Flying Get (フライングゲット Furaingugetto?), on 24 August 2011.
[80] Flying Get sold a total of 1,025,952 copies on its debut day,
[81] and sold 1.354 million copies in the first week.
[80] Flying Get is the group's 4th single album to sell over a million copies in its debut week.
[80]
Two trainees,
Maria Abe and
Anna Iriyama, were added to Team 4 as official members on 23 July 2011
[82] At the same time, the captain of Team 4 was also revealed to be member
Mina Oba.
[82]
On September 20, 2011, the 2nd AKB48
rock-paper-scissors CD single lineup selection tournament was held.
[83]
AKB48 released their 23rd major single(25th overall),
Kaze wa Fuiteiru on 26 October 2011.
[84] The single sold 1,045,937 copies on the first day of release and set a new record for the first day sales of AKB48 singles.
[84] They subsequently released their 24th major single
Ue kara Mariko on 7 December 2011.
[85] This single sold 1.199 million copies in the first week after its release.
[85]
For the year of 2011,
AKB48 topped 7 of the 16 Oricon's rankings.
[6]
These rankings includes: Total sales by an artist, Copies sold for a
single, Total sales for a single, Total sales by an artist (for
singles), Copies sold for a music Blu-ray disc, Total sales for a music
Blu-ray disc and Total sales by an artist (for Blu-rays discs).
[6]
In addition, it was also announced that the group broke the all-time
records for the most singles selling over 1 million copies in a year,
the best-selling single by a female group and the highest-earning female
group.
[6] AKB48 won the 53rd
Japan Record Award for their song
Flying Get.
[86]
2012: Atsuko Maeda's graduation, Team reshuffling and transfers
By January 6, 2012 AKB48 had sold 11,787,000 CD singles according to
Oricon, surpassing
Morning Musume and becoming a new record for most singles sold in Japan by a female group holder.
[9]
AKB48 received their first
anime television series entitled
AKB0048.
[87] This anime series is directed by
Yoshimasa Hiraike, and is planned and supervised by
AKB48 producer
Yasushi Akimoto[87] 9 members of AKB48 and its sister groups were selected to voice the main anime characters after a public audition.
[88]
These voice cast members later formed a sub-group named "NO NAME", and
they sang the opening and ending theme song of the anime.
[89]
Following scandals where they were photographed with their boyfriends, Natsumi Hirajima and
Rumi Yonezawa resigned from AKB48.
[18] They made their last appearance at a handshake event on February 5, 2012.
[18]
The group released their 25th single, "
Give Me Five!", on 15 February 2012.
[6] For this single, the 18 selected members spend six months learning how to play
instruments so they could perform this song live as the band "Baby Blossom".
[6] The song officially debuted on the final day of their Setlist Top 100 concerts at
Tokyo Dome City Hall.
[6]
On March 24, it was announced that 5 trainee members will be promoted
to become official members of Team 4, thus filling up the team's 16
member slot.
[90] Jurina Matsui of
SKE48 Team S and
Miyuki Watanabe of
NMB48 Team N will also be temporarily transferred into Team K and Team B respectively to replace Natsumi Hirajima and
Rumi Yonezawa, who left the group previously due to scandals.
[18][90] They will remain as members of their teams of origin.
[90] In the same announcement, it was revealed that AKB48 will be performing at the
Tokyo Dome for the first time.
[91] Performing at the Tokyo Dome has been one of the main goals of the group since its founding.
[91] The performance will take place from August 24 to 26.
[18]
In a shock announcement, Atsuko Maeda revealed that she would graduate from AKB48 on March 25.
[92] This announcement was widely reported in the Japanese media, including the major Japanese newspapers.
[93] A rumor also ran around that a student from
University of Tokyo had committed suicide because of this news, though this later proved false.
[93] Later, it was revealed that Maeda will officially step down after the AKB48's Tokyo Dome concert on 27 August 2012.
[87]
The next day, it was announced that AKB48's fourth senbatsu election,
which will feature 243 members from AKB48, SKE48, NMB48, and HKT48,
would take place on 6 June 2012.
[94]
On April 23, the third overseas AKB48 sister group was announced.
[95] This group, named
SNH48, is based in the
Chinese city of
Shanghai.
[95]
In the 27th single senbatsu elections, held on June 6 at
Nippon Budokan and broadcast live on TV for the first time,
[96] Yuko Oshima came first, ahead of
Mayu Watanabe and
Yuki Kashiwagi.
[97]
On June 17, 2012, it was announced that
Rino Sashihara will be transferred to
HKT48 as a "restart" due to an alleged scandal involving her ex-boyfriend.
[98] Her last performance in AKB48 will be on July 2012.
[98] On June 24, it was announced that the 6 remaining members of the 10th and 11th generations of trainees will be promoted.
[99] Their assigned teams is yet to be announced.
[99] Additionally, it was announced that the 3rd
rock-paper-scissors tournament will take place on September 18, 2012.
[99]
On August 15, 2012, the group released their 4th album entitled
1830m. On August 27, 2012, Atsuko Maeda graduated a day after AKB48's
Tokyo Dome three-day concert ends
On August 24, 2012, the first day of the long-awaited Tokyo Dome
concert series, a teams' reshuffle was announced. Team 4 is being
dissolved and its members are transferred to Teams A, K, and B. Also,
Aika Ōta is being transferred to HKT48,
Aki Takajō and Haruka Nakagawa to Jakarta based JKT48,
Sae Miyazawa and Mariya Suzuki to Shanghai based
SNH48.
Minami Takahashi will perform the functions of leader or "General Manager" of the entire group AKB48, while
Mariko Shinoda will replace her as captain of Team A. New Team K's captain will be
Yuko Oshima. Team B will be lead by
Ayaka Umeda, who is being transferred from Team K.
[100]
In autumn 2012,
[citation needed] it was announced that AKB48 will be singing the ending theme "
Sugar Rush" for the upcoming Disney movie
Wreck-It Ralph.
[101]
Musical style
Overall, the band's style can be loosely characterized as bubblegum pop.
[3] All songs are choreographed, therefore the group's performances turn into a synchronized dancing show.
Reception
The pop group has achieved enormous popularity in Japan.
[1] The group is popular to the point of being characterized as a social phenomenon.
[2] It is also one of the highest-earning musical acts in the world, with 2011 record sales of over $200 million in Japan alone.
[4] According to
Oricon,
AKB48 had sold a total of 11,787,000 singles as of 6 January 2012,
breaking the record of "the most singles sold in Japan by a female
group".
[9] Its twelve of its latest
singles topped the Oricon TOP10 Weekly Singles Chart. In 2010, "
Beginner" and "
Heavy Rotation" placed, respectively, 1st and 2nd in the list of Japan's best selling singles for the year,
[5] while in 2011 AKB48 occupied the top 5 positions on the Oricon Yearly Singles Chart.
[6]
AKB48 holds several
Guinness World Records, including for being the world's "largest pop group".
[12] AKB48 received the title in 2010, when it was still a 48-member group.
[11][12]
It also holds the record of "Most Number of Same Product Television
Endorsement within 24 Hours", which it set on 28 February 2012 after 90
of the group members appeared in 90 different commercials that were
aired in the
Kanto,
Kansai and
Tokai regions of Japan.
[102]
On February 1, 2012,
Japan Post issued a
postage stamp in honor of the group.
[103]
Other media work
AKB48 hosts several of its own TV shows, including
AKBingo!,
Shūkan AKB, and
Nemōsu TV. It even has its own TV series
Majisuka Gakuen, and
Sakura Karano Tegami starring AKB48 members in practically all the roles.
The manga
AKB49: Ren'ai Kinshi Jōrei revolves around AKB48, and it features real-life AKB48 members in the story as supporting characters.
[104] The 2012
anime series
AKB0048 is also inspired by the group, and is produced by AKB48 producer Yasushi Akimoto.
[105] Nine of the characters in this anime are voiced by members of AKB48 and its sister groups.
[105] The anime began airing in Japan on April 29, 2012.
[105]
Controversies
Over the years, AKB48 has received criticism for the sexually
suggestive texts of many of their songs, which some felt were unsuitable
for AKB48's young members. When asked about it by
CNN's
Anna Coren,
Yasushi Akimoto,
who is the author of all the AKB48's song lyrics, rebutted that his
works were a way of "depicting reality" and were meant to provoke in
listeners thought about difficult issues.
[93][106][107]
The band's risqué music videos also have been a focal point for controversy. Underwear shots, teenage members hugging,
[3] kissing, and taking a bath together were complained about. The director of the music video
Mika Ninagawa
explained she wanted to appeal to both men and women by creating a
creative and fun video, due to the group's rising popularity among
girls.
[108][109]
A TV commercial for the candy brand
Puccho,
airing from March 15, 2012, featured several members of AKB48 in
schoolgirl uniforms passing a candy from mouth to mouth. Although the
girls held the candy between their teeth some viewers were offended,
finding it encouraging homosexuality, apart from being simply unhygienic
and giving a bad example to children.
[3][110][111][112]
Philanthropy
A few days after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, it was
announced that AKB48, its sisters groups and producer Yasushi Akimoto
would donate 500 million yen to a 2011 earthquake and tsunami relief
fund. A part of the revenue from AKB48's forthcoming album also would go
to the relief. The group also asked fans to donate money to a special
account.
[citation needed]
On March 25, AKB48's official blog reported that that a sum of more than 617 million yen had been donated to the
Japanese Red Cross Society.
[113]
On April 1, the group issued a digital charity single titled "
Dareka no Tame ni (What Can I Do for Someone?)", all profit from which was donated to a
2011 earthquake and tsunami relief fund.
[citation needed]
AKB48's 23rd single "
Kaze wa Fuiteiru" was also dedicated to the
2011 tsunami
victims, its title song's lyrics having been written with the intention
of cheering up the Japanese people who were affected by the March 11
disaster.
[citation needed]
In February 2012, the group announced another donation to the
Japanese Red Cross, of over 580 million yen. It was reported that to
date AKB48 had raised a total of over 1.25 billion yen for the
earthquake and tsunami relief.
[114]
Performances outside of Japan
AKB48 Team A became the honour guest for the Japan Expo in Paris between July 2 to 5, 2009,
[48] and featured English-lyric version of "
Ōgoe Diamond" first time.
AKB48 had their
US debut concert at
Webster Hall in
New York on September 27, 2009.
[53]
On 23 October 2010, the band represented Japan and performed at the
7th Asia Song Festival, organised by
Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, at the
Seoul Olympic Stadium.
[61]
In November 2010, AKB48 performed in
Russia for the first time. A 12-member team gave a concert on November 20 at the Japanese Pop Culture Festival which took place in
Moscow.
[64] Also in November 2010, AKB48 performed in the Cool Japan Night in
Singapore
as part of the Anime Festival Asia X. This is followed by a 2nd
performance also in Singapore at the Singapore Toy Games & Comics
Convention.
[65]
In February 2012, AKB48 performed with JKT48 in Jakarta for the first time as part of "Jakarta Japan Pop Culture Festival 2012"
