Fresh Lemon Promoted

Considering the push she’s been receiving lately, it’s no surprise to hear that Miori Ichikawa better known as Fresh Lemon has been promoted from the ranks of the kenkyuusei to a proper AKB48 member. It’s not known which team she’ll be appointed to but the signs are pointing towards Team B under the captaincy of Yukirin. I think she’ll fit in quite nicely there.

BTW, maybe Yukirin should be renamed from Reaction Queen to Rain Queen as her mere presence these days with AKB48 seems to bring about rain!!

EDIT: I failed to mention that some of the other kenkyuusei members including my favorite Mina Oba have been promoted since December 2010. 6 months down the road and their still waiting as to which team they’re going to be assigned so why the delay?

AKB48 – Everyday Kachuusha 6th Day Sales – Another Milestone Reached

In my post yesterday I mentioned that another 46k copies of Everyday Kachuusha sold today would break the 1.3 million barrier and that’s exactly what’s happened. The exact total sold was 46,246 to bring the grand total sold for the 1st week to 1,333,969. Who would have thought last Wednesday when this single was released that AKB48 would not only break the million barrier with ease but smash the best selling singles sold in one week. One thing you’ve got to ask yourself is whether their next single released in August will do even better?

AKB48 Summer Tour Schedule

Announced yesterday at a handshake event at the Yokohama Arena, AKB48 will be going on a national tour throughout August visiting 13 cities but that’s not all. Just before going on tour, AKB48 will be stepping up from venues where they usually perform to actually holding 3 concerts at the Seibu Dome in Saitama from July 22nd to 24th. AKB48 members have always wanted to perform at the Tokyo Dome so I’m taking that the group’s management will see how things go at these 3 concerts first. If they sell out easily then performing at the Tokyo Dome will become a reality sooner rather than later. Performing in front of 15,000 people at venues is the norm for AKB48 so to try a concert where the capacity is 35,655 for a baseball game is a huge step for them. I’ve no doubt that tickets will be sold out for the 3 dates.

Here are the tour dates for the group which will no doubt be an emotional experience for them on the 12th August where they visit Sendai.

August 1st – Fukuoka Palace Hotel & Hall
August 2nd – Kagoshima-shi Minbunka Hall
August 4th – Kouchi Kenritsu Kenmin Bunka Hall
August 8th – Tottori Yonago Convention Center
August 10th – Aomori Bunka Kaikan
August 12th – Sendai Sun Plaza
August 15th – Hiroshima ALSO Hall
August 17th – Niigata Kenminkaikan
August 19th – Hokkaido Nitori Bunka Hall
August 22nd – Toyama Aubade Hall
August 24th and 25th – Nagoya Kokusaikaigi Century Hall
August 29th – Shiga  Kenritsu Geijutsu Theater Biwako Hall
August 30th and 31st – Kobe Kokusai Kaikan Kokusai Hall

SDN48′s 3rd Generation

7 new faces have been added to SDN48 which includes 2 former 1st generation AKB48 members. Hitomi Komatani graduated from Team A on October 11th 2008 whilst Hana Tojima went the same way a month later on November 23rd 2008. According to an August 2010 Bubka issue, producer Aki-P was quoted to say that Hana wanted to return to the fold and join SDN48. News of these two coming back has been met with joy especially from Western fans.

The other 5 new members are models Sayo Hayakawa and Saemi Shinahama plus Avex singers Seara Kojo and miray. Rounding up the newbies is Korean girl Siyeon. It’ll be interesting to see how they fit into the group. I wonder if the 2 former AKB48  members will slot straight away into the senbatsu line-up?