AKB48

12-31-2010, 05:14 AM

My current addiction. Just checking for AKB48 fans around here! Here's a Dummie's Guide to AKB48, for those who don't know them:

AKB48 is a japanese female idol group produced by Akimoto Yasushi.

They have their own theater in the district of Akihabara, Tokyo, where daily performances take place.

They are divided in 3 Teams - A, K & B, currently of 16 members each, adding up to a total of 48 members. There is also a Team Kenkyuusei (japanese for " research student") which is made out of girls who passed the auditions, but are currently training before they can join the actual group.

AKB48 releases music in two ways:

1) The theater stages. Each team gets a different setlist of inedit songs to perform, and each stage is performed for around a year (though it varies).
The stage setlists are made out of team songs (performed by the whole team) or unit songs (performed by something usually between 2~5 members, with occasional solos for particularly popular or talented members)

Each team kind of has a specific "image". The best comparison I've heard so far is - if AKB were the Powerpuff Girls, A would be Blossom, K would be Buttercup, and B would be Bubbles. (lol!) This is usually reflected on the feel of the stages.

So far, A has 6 original stages, K has 5 (+1 cover of A1) and B has 3 (+1 cover of A2 and a cover of K2)

(the differences are due to the fact that the teams weren't created at the same time. A was originally formed by the 1st generation, while K was 2nd and B was 3rd)

2)The singles. Aside from the theater setlists, AKB releases singles like normal artists, and these are compiled from time to time in "best-of" albums (they haven't released an original album aside from the stages' studio recordings)
The singles aren't divided by team. The girls selected to participate in the single are called senbatsu. Senbatsu usually ranges from 16~21 members.

Usually senbatsu sings the A-side, and a group of around the same size called "Undergirls" sings the B-side. There are other groups formed for the coupling songs sometimes, though.

What members participate in the single, and in which group/song, is usually decided by the Producer Akimoto Yasushi. However, for the past 2 years, there's been an yearly Election single, where the fans vote for their favorite members and the top voted ones make it to senbatsu (it also decides the hierarchy for the song. for an instance, #1 will be center). The mid-ranking ones that didn't make senbatsu form the Undergirls. To vote, you need a voting ticket that usually comes with the limited edition of the previous single.

This year, there was also a janken senbatsu. Sebatsu members were chosen at chance through a tournament of rock-paper-scissors.

Limited edition singles usually come with handshake tickets, which fans can use to attend the nation-wide handshake events.

Graduating/Promoting:

In the style of japanese idol groups, members are not permanent. They "graduate." However, forced graduations are rare, unless the member is very close to "limit-age" (it's not actually defined, but idol group members are hardly older than 25). Many graduate on their on accord, sometimes because they feel like they won't manage to climb in the group (can be hard to stand out when there are so many members), sometimes to follow their dreams (many join AKB as a stepstone into show-business, but actually dream of being actresses or solo singers).

When a member graduates, a kenkyuusei is chosen to be "promoted" and take their place in the team; it's not, however, necessarily immediate.

In their 5th anniversary special performance, it was announced that all the 9th generation kenkyuusei had been promoted. With no graduations in sight, this means the member count for the group will be 56 once the promotion actually takes place. However, which teams they'll join is still unknown. Since the current stages are planned for 16-member teams, it is believed that they might not actually get promoted until a new stage starts. (the group has rarely actually had exactly 48 members. The group name isn't a sure indication of the member count lol)

Sister Groups:

AKB48 has many sister groups. These are, by order of formation:

1)SKE48: The Nagoya version. SKE is short for the district of Sakae, where their theater is. They are composed of Team S, Team KII & the recently formed Team E (+their own kenkyuusei). SKE members are votable in elections for AKB singles.

2)SDN48: short for "saturday night live". They perform at the same theater as usual AKB shows. They are supposed to be the "older sister", "mature version" of AKB, and all members are above the age of 20. Their shows are restricted for 18+ people only. 5 of their members were originally older AKB members that were transfered to this group during the Team Shuffle in late 2009 (where Teams A, K & B were shuffled, and a massive kenkyuusei promotion took place as well). It is belived that, in the future, older members might be transfered here rather than graduated. They are divided in 1st and 2nd generation, both performing the same setlist. They are not votable in elections for AKB singles. They had their own election to decide the senbatsu for their major debut single "GAGAGA".

3)NMB48: The Osaka version. NMB is short for the district of Namba where their theater is. They currently only have a Team Kenkyuusei of 25 members. 16 will be chosen to form Team N, which will star performing on January 1st 2010. Their 'st stage will be a cover of A3.

Live concerts:
1)Stage performances in the AKB48 theater
2)Concerts in large venues, mixing songs from various stages and single songs. Sometimes have unit shuffles (stage units performed by people who weren't originally in that unit, sometimes not even in that team)
3)SET LIST - The AX: a yearly event where AKB along with all sister groups perform the TOP100 most voted songs through the course of 4 days. DVD releases include audio commentary from all members. You need a vote ticket to vote for a song. There are various ways of getting them - you get subscription to AKB websites, cellphone services & fanclubs, they come with limited editions of singles, etc.

Sub-units:

Unlike stage units, which only perform that particular song from that particular stage, these are unity which actually release singles and albums independently from the main group. They usually have to be made up of member who are under the same management. Some of these are permanent, and some were one-time deals. The currently active AKB sub-units are:
-French Kiss (Team A's Takajo Akicha and Kuramochi Asuka, Team B's Kashiwagi Yuki)
-No Sleeves/no3b (Team A's Takahashi Minami and Kojima Haruna, Team K's Minegishi Minami)
-Watarirouka Hashiritai ("Team Running Through Corridors") (Team A's Oota Aika and Nakagawa Haruka, Team K's Kikuchi Ayaka, Team B's Watanabe Mayu and Hirajima Natsumi)

TV Shows:

AKB48 have their own weekly variety TV shows. They are: (did I forget anything??)
-Shukan AKB
-AKBINGO! (most amusing one, the best for learning the members. just a suggestion!)
-Nemousu Terebi
-AKB to XX (monthly)

Sister groups also have some TV shows of their own.

Vocabulary:

Well, most of the "vocabulary" needed here has already been explained xD there's just one more term:
-Oshimen: aglutination of the japanese verb for "pushing", in the sense of "pushing forward", "supporting", and "member". So literally, the member you support. Usually used to determined your favorite member. Also, for an instance, since Takamina (Team A's Takahashi Minami) is my oshimem, that means I'm Takamina-oshi. Some people feel that, if their actual favorite member is really popular, some other less popular member may be more in need of their support (for an instance voting for them in the elections). In this case, some people keep on refering to their favorite member as their oshimen, while others are faithful to the origin of the word, and use it to describe their most supported member rather than their actual favorite.

Links:

Offical Website - Member List (in English)
Wikipedia Page
JPOPSTOP Wiki Page
Official YouTube Channel
Lyrics Translations (Song Index)