AKB48 – Manatsu no Sounds Good Full PV

I’m sorry this PV version of AKB48’s next single is so small but it’s the best one I could find on Youtube but if I manage to get a better version I’ll change it. So what’s the plot all about in this 7 minute PV? I haven’t got a clue as it’s got me all confused. It starts out like there’s an alien invasion on our planet as the camera pans up to the sky. Mayuyu helps out an injured Acchan who seems to be battered and bruised and the rest of AKB48 looks like they’re dead with some flashbacks showing that a demon of some sort is spewing out of their mouths so perhaps that why the story switches midway through to a nice beach in Guam where that part of the PV was shot to represent the afterlife? Perhaps somebody can explain to me what the concept of the PV is all about.

As you well know by now, this is unlikely to stay up for more than 2/3 days so be quick in watching it and tell me what you think about the PV.

AKB48 25th Single Manatsu no Sounds Good! CD Covers & Tracklisting

These are the CD covers and tracklisting for the next AKB48 single.

TYPE A LIMITED EDITION

CD
01. Manatsu no Sounds Good! (All Stars)
02. Mitsu no Namida (Special Girls)
03. Choudai, Darling! (Selection 10)
04. Manatsu no Sounds Good! (Instrumental)
05. Mitsu no Namida (Instrumental)
06. Choudai, Darling! (Instrumental)

DVD
01. Manatsu no Sounds Good! PV
02. Manatsu no Sounds Good! (Dance Version PV)
03. Mitsu no Namida PV
04. Choudai, Darling! PV
05. Senbatsu Sousenkyo Member Profiles (Type A)

TYPE B LIMITED EDITION

CD
01. Manatsu no Sounds Good! (All Stars)
02. Mitsu no Namida (Special Girls)
03. Gugutasu no Sora (Gugutasu Senbatsu)
04. Manatsu no Sounds Good! (Instrumental)
05. Mitsu no Namida (Instrumental)
06. Gugutasu no Sora (Instrumental)

DVD
01. Manatsu no Sounds Good! PV
02. Manatsu no Sounds Good! (Dance Version PV)
03. Mitsu no Namida PV
04. Gugutasu no Sora PV
05. Senbatsu Sousenkyo Member Profiles (Type B)

THEATER VERSION

CD
01. Manatsu no Sounds Good! (All Stars)
02. Mitsu no Namida (Special Girls)
03. Kimi no Tame ni Boku wa… (Stage Fighter Senbatsu)
04. Manatsu no Sounds Good! (Instrumental)
05. Mitsu no Namida (Instrumental)
06. Gugutasu no Sora (Instrumental)

The 2 covers below are for the regular versions of Type A and Type B. The only difference between the Limited Edition versions and these two is there’s no handshake event ticket with either.

Could Yuko Leave AKB48 Next Year?

It what may be a small hint of things to come, Yuko might be following Acchan and graduating from AKB48 next year in an article that was printed recently in the Nikkan Sports. She had already thought about not taking part in this year’s senbatsu election. Acchan’s graduation has weighed heavily on Yuko’s mind as both have battled each other for the center position in each of the last 3 elections. Now that Acchan is leaving and not appearing in this election, Yuko asked the question of whether it was necessary for her to take part or not now that her main rival is going and sent an email to Aki-P. He told Yuko that if she was to leave AKB48, the group would collapse and I would agree with him on this. He promised that Yuko will not carry the burden of  the group after Acchan leaves. To lose Acchan is one thing but to lose Yuko as well would have a catastrophic effect on AKB48 IMO. But there’s nothing to fear yet as Yuko pledged to carry on with her AKB48 career. This statement apparently made Aki-P cry. The question still remains though – how long will it be until Yuko graduates? She did say that this could possibly be her last senbatsu election in the article. With her acting career now on the up and Yuko is definitely in demand at the moment, there is no doubt that come next year she will have to make a decision. Does she carry on as she is now with a heavy workload of being an idol and an actress at the same time or just devoting everything to being an actress only. I would be devastated if Yuko were to leave AKB48. Only time will tell what will happen?

NMB48 4th Single CD Covers/Tracklisting

NMB48’s 4th single called ‘Nagiichi’ will be released on the 9th May in 4 versions. The CD covers and the tracklisting looks like this:

TYPE A

CD
01. Nagiichi
02. Rifujin Ball (Undergirls)
03. Saigo no Catharsis (Shirogumi)
04. Nagiichi (Instrumental)
05. Rifujin Ball (Instrumental)
06. Saigo no Catharsis (Instrumental)

DVD
01. Nagiichi (PV)
02. Saigo no Catharsis (PV)
03. Nagiichi (Dancing Version PV)
04. NMB48 Haru no Gakuryoku Test Part 1

TYPE B

CD
01. Nagiichi
02. Rifujin Ball (Undergirls)
03. Boku ga Mou Sukoshi Daitan nara (Akagumi)
04. Nagiichi (Instrumental)
05. Rifujin Ball (Instrumental)
06. Boku ga Mou Sukoshi Daitan nara (Instrumental)

DVD
01. Nagiichi (PV)
02. Boku ga Mou Sukoshi Daitan nara (PV)
03. Nagiichi (Dancing Version PV)
04. NMB48 Haru no Gakuryoku Test Part 2

TYPE C

CD
01. Nagiichi
02. Rifujin Ball (Undergirls)
03. Hatsukoi no Yukue to Play Ball (NMB Seven)
04. Nagiichi (Instrumental)
05. Rifujin Ball (Instrumental)
06. Hatsukoi no Yukue to Play Ball (Instrumental)

DVD
01. Nagiichi (PV)
02. Nagiichi (Dancing Version PV)
03. NMB featuring Yoshimoto Shin Kigeki Vol.3

REGULAR VERSION

CD
01. Nagiichi
02. Saigo no Catharsis (Shirogumi)
03. Boku ga Mou Sukoshi Daitan nara (Akagumi)
04. Warukii (Miyuki Watanabe)
05. Nagiichi (Instrumental)
06. Saigo no Catharsis (Instrumental)
07. Boku ga Mou Sukoshi Daitan nara (Instrumental)
08. Warukii (Instrumental)

AKB48 Horse Racing Competition Betting Challenge

The world famous Grand National steeplechase took place here in the UK yesterday and funnily enough on that theme the JRA (Japan Racing Association) have announced that all AKB48 members over the age of 20 years old (there’s 28 in all) will take in a special betting challenge for the honour of taking part in a CM which will air in the Autumn.

The members will get to bet on 5 big races that take place between April 29th to May 27th (the day of the Japan Derby). The competition rules is very simple – it will be based on a point system in that each time one of their bet wins they’ll be awarded a point. The member with the most points will get to star in JRA’s CM.You’ll be able to see the progress of the members after each race on their ‘Gachi Uma’ website.

2 members (Mariko and Sae) will have an advantage over the rest as they’ve been on TV programmes in the past betting on horse races. It depends how serious the rest will take this challenge. Will they look at the form of the horses etc or just pick a horse with a name they fancy? I’m hoping that Umechan will win this challenge!

These are the participants taking part:

Team A: Aki Takajo, Sayaka Nakaya, Minami Takahashi, Natsumi Matsubara, Mariko Shinoda, Atsuko Maeda, Haruka Nakagawa, Asuka Kuramochi, Haruna Kojima, Shizuka Oya, Chisato Nakata, Haruka Katayama

Team K: Sakiko Matsui, Tomomi Itano, Yuko Oshima, Sayaka Akimoto, Ayaka Umeda, Sae Miyazawa, Misato Nonaka

Team B: Yuka Masuda, Tomomi Kasai, Yuki Kashiwagi, Rie Kitahara, Amina Sato, Natsuki Sato, Kana Kobayashi, Mariya Suzuki

Team 4: Mina Oba

Tomomi Itano – 10nen go no Kimi e PV

The PV for Tomochin’s main track from her upcoming 3rd single has been uploaded today on Youtube. I really like this track a lot and the great looking PV which sees her in a variety of locations such as walking around a rain sodden Shibuya or in an art gallery. What do you guys think of it?

Mayuyu To Miss A Portion Of AKB48’s Nationwide Tour

Mayu Watanabe has been hit by a bout of acute gastroenteritis and an inflammation around the pharynx therefore she’s been ordered by doctors not to take part in AKB48’s nationwide tour which kicked off recently. Team B is due to have concerts in Hiroshima today and at Kobe tomorrow but Mayuyu will be absent from both. It’s hoped she’ll take part in Team B’s future concerts on the tour.

Mayuyu isn’t the only member suffering lately. Tomochin was absent from last weekend’s handshake events at Tokyo Big Sight due to swollen tonsils and a possible mouth ulcer. She’s also had a fever which resulted in her having to have an injection but that didn’t help things at all. However after 3 days of rest at home the fever came down but she’s still not feeling too good. She apologised to fans on her official blog. Sayaka also fell ill during the handshake events and missed some sessions.

I hope all 3 get well pretty soon.

Bimyo Renewed For 2nd Season

Good news for all AKB48 fans that loved their comedy series Bimyo which ended it’s first season last month. It’s now been renewed for a 2nd season due to healthy viewing figures. It doesn’t surprise me at all with this news. It’s such a funny series and I hope we’ll see more of Yui Yokoyama as Honmayan! There’s no information about how long the 2nd series will last for – perhaps 20 episodes (the same as the first?) or when it’ll start airing but I hope it’s soon.

Yesterday saw the trio of Yui, Miichan and Umechan attend the Hikari TV announcement event for the 2nd season.  In a testament to AKB48’s popularity, Hikari TV revealed that 2 million new subscribers have joined their video distribution service thanks to the group. A special cake was baked and presented in front of the three girls to celebrate this news.

I can’t wait until Bimyo returns.

AKB48 Automobile Club Established

Aki-P commented on G+ that an automobile club will soon begin it’s activities. There are various clubs that have been established lately by AKB48 such as an art club and cookery club for instance. The automobile club will have it’s own documentary TV show  sponsored by Toyota that’ll be broadcasted on Fuji TV (no airdate has yet to be scheduled).  The show will follow members as they have driving lessons until they pass their driving test so it should be an interesting programme to watch. Miichan has been asked to be the club president. So far only Sayaka and Natsumi Matsubara have shown an interest in joining the club but there will be others.

AKB48 Handshake Event Robbery Incident

At today’s AKB48 handshake event, a 19 year technical college student was robbed of 500 AKB48 photos by a man in a toilet. The student was apparently approached to trade some of his photos with the man whom he did not know. For some reason or the other the man turned violent and tried to strangle the student but somehow he managed to escape and report the incident to the police.

Security will be heightened for tomorrow’s handshake event and they will make their presence felt so that a repeat incident does not happen.