Shukan AKB – Premiere Episode 090710

Somebody has been kind enough to post the premiere episode of the new AKB TV show which aired earlier on in Japan. I quite enjoyed it and I can see this becoming a good show to watch alongside AKBingo. See the links after the summary below.

The show is set in a mock classroom which is way too pink for my liking. The main MC’s are Acchan and Takamina but I’m not sure if that changes each week. They also have 2 comedians (don’t know who they are) as guests. I thought they were useless.

The first segment is a challenge to Acchan, Kojima and Mariko. They have to stand near a crossing in Omotesando, Harajuku for 15 mins and see if anybody passing will recognise them. They’ll get points if somebody goes up and says hello, ask for an autograph, get a handshake but will lose points if they start trying to get attention to themselves, saying AKB48 out loud or get pestered to do a survey.

Mariko gets no points at all, Acchan gets 4 points and Kojima gets 8 points. I thought Kojima was funny singing a few bars of Namida Surprise to gain attention. Mariko asks for another go due to her failure in the first. She does get some points but loses a lot of them for also blurting AKB48. A wota who spotted Mariko the first time she did the challenge but was too scared to say anything to her finally plucks up the courage to go up to her the second time round. Despite all her efforts, it’s Kojima who wins the challenge.

Next up – Sae gets pranked by a party popper that springs out of a microphone!

The girls have to design a logo for the show as homework.

Some news follows about the national tour that AKB48 is doing in August, the senbatsu result and the position that Namida Surprise achieved in the Oricon charts.

Yuko Oshima also gets pranked when she’s all set to do an interview and sits down on a whoopee cushion!

Finally we end with a preview of next week’s show which is all set in a theme park.

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AKBingo – 090708

Links for last night’s edition of AKBingo now up. A summary will follow over the weekend.

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Namida Surprise 2nd Week Sales/Election Results Are Out!

AKB48 sold an additional 20,281 copies of Namida Surprise during the past week to push the grand total to 124,461. With some more handshake events planned this week it’s possible they could push those figures up to 140 or even 150k.

Finally we have the results of the senbatsu election. I’m surprised by one person that’s missed out on making the cut for the a-side but very happy that Sayaka fans finally pulled through for her. Here’s the final results:

30 – Matsuhara Natsumi
29 – Matsui Rena
28 – Katayama Haruka
27 – Sashihara Rino
26 – Harajima Natsumi
25 – Matsuda Yuka
24 – Ohori Megumi
23 – Takajo Aki
22 – Yonezawa Rumi

21 – Kuramochi Asuka
20 – Ota Aika
19 – Matsui Jurina
18 – Miyazaki Miho
17 – Urano Kazumi
16 – Minegishi Minami
15 – Sato Yukari
14 – Miyazawa Sae
13 – Kitahara Rie
12 – Akimoto Sayaka
11 – Ono Erena
10 – Kasai Tomomi
9 – Kashiwagi Yuki
8 – Sato Amina
7 – Itano Tomomi
6 – Kojima Haruna
5 – Takahashi Minami
4 – Watanabe Mayu
3 – Shinoda Mariko
2 – Oshima Yuko
1 – Maeda Atsuko

I’m shocked that Meetan didn’t make the a-side, I really thought her fans would vote her in but there we go. And as for Jurina from SKE48, although a lot of Western fans dislike her she’s obviously got her fans in Japan as she’s made the cut too.

AKB48 Heading To New York?

There are rumours flying out of the Paris Expo that AKB48 could be making their North American debut in New York in September.  Nothing’s been confirmed yet by the group’s management but the Japanese media are saying that it’s happening and they could be special guests at the New York Anime Festival which takes place between September 25th – 27th.  I’ll try and keep everybody posted on this exciting development.

New AKB48 TV Show Airs Next Week

Not only will we get to see the idol group on AKBingo but from a week today (July 10th) we’ll get an additional TV show to see them. The new show is called Shukan AKB which means Weekly AKB. It will air every Friday in a fantastic early evening slot on TV Tokyo (5.30 – 6pm). Who knows what this show is all about but I’m hoping that it’ll be posted up on Youtube. There is speculation that the lesser known members of the AKB48 will get a chance to shine on the show. A mix of the most popular members with those that rarely participate on singles which I think is a great idea. A chance to get to know the lesser members a bit better. I’ve also seen rumours that it could be similar to H!P’s Berikyuu which was set in a classroom – I hope that’s wrong. Judging from the picture below SKE48 and Research Students will also appear.

AKBingo 090701

Here’s the links to this week’s episode.

With some AKB48 members heading to the Paris Expo, it makes sense that there’s a French theme to this week’s episode. Joining the Bad Boys and Mariko Shinoda as hosts to this French segment is a woman called Jennifer whom I take is a French citizen.

Erepyon, Tomochin, Kojima and Kumi Yagami get chosen to have a French lesson set in a fake restaurant and served by a French waiter.  3 sentences are read out and they have to pick which one they think will give them something to eat or drink.

Up first is Kumi Yagami and she gets these sentences:

Jutez de l’eau sur mon visage
Please throw water on my face
Apportez moi de l’eau degoutante s’il vous plait
Bring me the dirty water please
Porrais-je avoir un verre d’eau s’il vous plait
Can I have a glass of water please?

She picks the first sentence and the young waiter comes out with a glass of water and promptly throws the water on her face. The look on Yagami’s face is priceless, she just didn’t expect it at all!!

It’s Kojima’s turn next to pick the right sentence and these are the choices she gets:

Veuillez me tapee avec le menu s’il vous plait
Hit me with the menu please
Regardez mon menu recommande d’imitation s’il vous plait
Watch my menu recomend imation/impression please
Donnez moi le plat du jour s’il vous plait
Give me the plate of the day please

Kojima goes for the second and speaks French quite decently. Finally we have Erepyon who I’ve got to say is really bad at French but she’s cute so I’ll forgive her for that! The sentence she’s faced with are:

Je voudrais manger un plat a base de canard fume
I want to eat a plate of smoked duck
Je vourdrais manger une belle grenouille qu’on a attrape
I want to eat a beautiful frog that was caught
Je voudrais manger beaucoup de plat a base d’insecte
I want to eat a plate with alot of insects

She goes for the second and a plate full of food comes out. The four are all tucking away nicely until they are told it’s frog they’re eating. I found it funny their reactions whilst they’re spitting the food from out of their mouths.

With the main segment over, it’s time for the Top 10 thingy that’s been on the show recently. It’s getting a bit dull this segment now so I hope the producers of AKBingo take note of that. Anyway, the highlights are Yuko Oshima gets to pull some more faces, Jurina barks like a dog (which isn’t funny at all!), Meetan stuffs a lot of Pringles into her mouth and Miho trash talks Mariko which I thought was great.

Another performance of Namida Surprise and a mention of the senbatsu election before a preview of next week’s show.

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Update On AKB48 Election

The elections are now halfway through and nothing significant has changed over the past week except that Jurina has moved to #14, Meetan pushes up to #20 whilst Sayaka dips further down to #23. Come on Sayaka fans, vote for her!! She deserves to sing on the a-side!! One more week to go before the final results are in.

1 Maeda Atsuko
2 Oshima Yuko
3 Takahashi Minami
4 Kojima Haruna
5 Shinoda Mariko
6 Watanabe Mayu
7 Itano Tomomi
8 Ono Erena
9 Kasai Tomomi
10 Miyazawa Sae
11 Miyazaki Miho
12 Minegishi Minami
13 Kashiwagi Yuki
14 Matsui Jurina
15 Kuramochi Asuka
16 Satou Yukari
17 Masuda Yuka
18 Satou Amina
19 Urano Kazumi
20 Ohori Megumi
21 Takajo Aki
22 Oota Aika
23 Akimoto Sayaka
24 Kitahara Rie
25 Nakata Chisato
26 Yonezawa Rumi
27 Sashihara Rino
28 Hirajima Natsumi
29 Matsui Rena
30 Hatayama Haruka

AKB48 Member Mariko Visiting Homes In Nurse’s Outfit!!

It’s times like these I wish I lived in Tokyo especially when I heard about this piece of news about Mariko Shinoda who will shortly be visiting Japanese homes as part of a campaign for internet provider So-Net Hikari. She’ll be telling those lucky enough to get a call from her all about their service and how to use the internet. Take a look at her yellow outfit below. If she came knocking on my house like that I’d get a big nose bleed!!

This Week’s Figures Are In!

Well, this week’s Oricon charts are out and we finally have the complete weekly figures for Namida Surprise. They entered the charts at #2 with 104,180 copies sold so they’ve beaten their total for 10nen Sakura. What an achievement.

Sadly, Kago Ai’s comeback did not go that well and was a complete disaster which is a shame considering her single (both a and b-side) was good. It only sold 1,757 charting at #52.

H!P Fans Gather In LA/AKB48 In Paris

No doubt the majority of those going to Anime Expo will either have arrived or be on their way over now to see the American debut of Morning Musume. It all kicks off tomorrow with a press junket featuring the group, the opening ceremony on the 2nd with a Q&A panel session and the concert scheduled to take place on July 3rd. It’s going to be nothing but a huge success and with the added bonus of Tsunku attending with Yossie as Hangry in tow it’ll be an event to be remembered. I’m sure that this will only be the beginning of H!P’s exposure to the West. I’ve got a hunch that Tsunku might have a special announcement to make at the Expo (maybe their European debut?). Who will win the Morning Musume 3-2-1 Breaking Out PV competition? For all of those attending, have a really good time and enjoy yourselves.

Across the Atlantic Ocean over in France, AKB48 will be the special guests of honour at the Paris Expo this coming weekend. I could have gone there but as I’ve said before I hope to see them in Tokyo when I’ll be going there in 2 weeks time. Though some fans are disappointed that the big guns aren’t coming over (if you don’t count Sayaka, Miichan or Meetan as one of them that is), everybody that is heading to Paris to see them please make some noise during their concert and show your appreciation to them.