At Tokyo’s Big Sight on July 8th, AKB48 held a draw to determine the group placements for the janken tournament which will be held on September 18th at the Nippon Budokan. Preliminary rounds for NMB48, HKT48 and SKE48 had already taken place and Sasshi failed to progress so she won’t be showing her face in this year’s tournament. Another surprise withdrawal is Yuka Masuda who will be diverting all of her energies into her role as Dorothy in the Japanese stage version of The Wiz which she won recently. This withdrawal has given Mayuyu a nice bonus as she only has to win 1 round to make it into the senbatsu.
There are some interesting matchups in the first round namely Wasamin vs Miichan, Tomochin vs Komori, Minarun vs Lovetan, Ranran vs Kojima and Sayaka Nakaya vs Yui. Last year’s champion Mariko will square off against Shiichan whilst the runner up Reinyan faces KKS member Natsuki Kojima. My oshi Umechan battles HKT’s Sayaka Eto and I’m hoping some of the luck which propelled her into last year’s janken senbatsu will rub off her again this time round.
So take a look at the chart below to see all the draw placements.
Credits to Everyday48 for the chart.
