AKB48 Tokyo Dome Concert Dates/Manatsu no Sounds Good 2nd Day Sales

The dates for AKB48’s Tokyo Dome concerts has been revealed today – first by TGSK and then by Takamina on the official AKB48 Youtube channel. The dates are August 24th – 26th which means that Acchan will graduate the next day on August 27th at the AKB48 Theater. She wants to end her career with the group where it all began so those 250 people that manage to get tickets to Acchan’s final performance at the theater will be very lucky people indeed.

This is what appeared on Youtube today:

The 2nd day of sales for Manatsu no Sounds Good was naturally down on the record breaking figures sold yesterday and the final figure was 159,623 to bump the grand total up to 1,330,177. I think something around the 1.5m – 1.6m looks like a realistic total for 1st week sales.

Something that’s been annoying me about this election is the unnecessary bashing of certain AKB members on various forums which is completely uncalled for. I never knew that Sasshi had so many haters and to say that she doesn’t deserve to be in the Top 10 of the senbatsu for the next single has angered me. I think Sasshi more than deserves to be in the senbatsu considering the hard work and effort she’s put in over the last 12 months. Let’s have less of the hate and more love to all AKB members please!

AKB48 – Record Breakers Again/1st Day Prelim Results

It’s been quite an exciting day for me especially with the prelim results concerning my oshi but we’ll get to that later. Let’s concentrate on the phenomenal sales for Manatsu no Sounds Good first. I think the majority of us knew that they would crack the million barrier today but by how much? With 2 million copies of the single having been shipped out, fans were thinking perhaps 1.5m would be sold but the actual figure was 1,170,554 – the best ever first day sales yet and breaking another record for them. It easily beats last year’s election single which sold 942,475 on it’s first day. Who knows how much they will sell by this time next week?

So then, onto the Senbatsu Election voting which started yesterday. I got the biggest surprise today seeing Umechan’s name in the senbatsu. I’m deliriously happy for her and hope she’ll maintain this position. For everybody that’s voted for her you have my thanks. I am sure we’ll hear Umechan’s thoughts on this in her blog/Google+ account. There’s nothing that surprising about the Top 10 at all but I do like the tussle that’s going on between W Matsui. Please remember that what you see below represents 10%, yes ONLY 10% of the votes. There’s a lot of people yet to vote. So where does your oshi stand in the list below:

FUTURE GIRLS
64. Miku Tanabe (616 votes)
63. Yuka Nakanishi (618 votes)
62. Sayaka Eto (641 votes)
61. Ayaka Kikuchi (653 votes)
60. Misato Nonaka (701 votes)
59. Miori Ichikawa (702 votes)
57. Yukiko Kinoshita (750 votes)
57. Natsumi Matsubara (750 votes)
56. Mina Oba (786 votes)
55. Ami Maeda (810 votes)
54. Aina Fukumoto (816 votes)
53. Mariya Nagao (818 votes)
52. Aika Ota (912 votes)
51. Haruka Katayama (955 votes)
50. Shizuka Oya (964 votes)
49. Miho Miyazaki (970 votes)

NEXT GIRLS
48. Haruka Ishida (985 votes)
47. Suzuran Yamauchi (988 votes)
46. Kanako Hiramatsu (998 votes)
45. Misaki Iwasa (1023 votes)
44. Kanon Kimoto (1039 votes)
43. Kana Kobayashi (1110 votes)
42. Nana Yamada (1136 votes)
41. Reina Fujie (1166 votes)
40. Chisata Nakata (1188 votes)
39. Kaori Matsumura (1194 votes)
38. Haruka Nakagawa (1244 votes)
37. Miki Yakata (1345 votes)
36. Sayaka Nakaya (1348 votes)
35. Yuria Kizaki (1624 votes)
34. Asuka Kuramochi (1653 votes)
33. Kumi Yagami (1671 votes)

UNDERGIRLS
32. Sayaka Akimoto (1743 votes)
31. Mayu Ogasawara (1746 votes)
30. Tomu Muto (1757 votes)
29. Shiori Ogiso (1788 votes)
28. Masana Oya (1919 votes)
27. Manatsu Mukaida (1948 votes)
26. Akari Suda (2149 votes)
25. Yuka Masuda (2182 votes)
24. Sawako Hata (2312 votes)
22. Airi Furukawa (2340 votes)
22. Haruka Shimazaki (2340 votes)
21. Amina Sato (2392 votes)
20. Akane Takayanagi (2471 votes)
19. Miyuki Watanabe (2976 votes)
18. Sayaka Yamamoto (3218 votes)
17. Tomomi Kasai (3227 votes)

SENBATSU
16. Rie Kitahara (3302 votes)
15. Minami Minegishi (3396 votes)
14. AYAKA UMEDA (3484 votes)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13. Aki Takajo (3661 votes)
12. Yui Yokoyama (4301 votes)
11. Kojima Haruna (5334 votes)
10. Sae Miyazawa (6280 votes)
09. Tomomi Itano (6595 votes)
08. Jurina Matsui (7795 votes)
07. Rena Matsui (8460 votes)
06. Mariko Shinoda (8619 votes)
05. Minami Takahashi (8955 votes)
04. Rino Sashihara (9377 votes)
03. Mayu Watanabe (11329 votes)
02. Yuki Kashiwagi (12654 votes)
01. Yuko Oshima (15093 votes)

PS – Umechan found out about her position from her mother!! She called to tell her the result. Umechan was too scared to look at the results! She’s very surprised about how well she’s doing and even cried on the phone. I’m hoping for more tears on the 6th June – tears of joy!!

Let The Voting Begin!

Today marks the start of the voting period for AKB48’s 4th Senbatsu Election and I was surprised to see that my Manatsu no Sounds Good CD’s from CD Japan had arrived promptly today allowing myself to vote quickly for my oshi Umechan. Voting will finish at 3pm JST on June 5th before the actual election ceremony takes place on June 6th at the Nippon Budokan.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with the first day sales for Manatsu no Sounds Good. Many are expecting some kind of sales record to be broken  – we’ll see if that really happens. Don’t forget there’ll also be a 1st day voting result announced at 9pm JST so we can see who the front runners for the senbatsu is going to be. Don’t assume that the names you’ll see in the Top 16 is going to be the same when voting finally closes on June 5th as things can change very quickly as was the case last year.

Good luck with your voting and I hope that your oshi does well. As much as I love this time of year I do feel for the girls as many are left hurt and disappointed when they don’t do so well. It always saddens me when I read their blogs afterwards and they bare their souls out. Unfortunately that’s what the election is all about – there has to be winners and losers.

What’s Going On With SKE48?

I checked the ORICON STYLE website at lunchtime to have a look to see the 1st day sales for SKE48’s new single Aishiteraburu! and was astounded by the very low sales they achieved. I did have to look twice if my eyes were deceiving me. They only sold 98,952 which is very odd as usually you expect something over 250k. Even Nogizaka 46′ last single did better on the first day! So what the hell has happened? Is the single not good enough or are fans saving up their money to buy multiple copies of AKB48’s single next week in order to cast many votes in the senbatsu election? It’s possible that the Theater Editions hasn’t been shipped out yet or that’s what many fans are saying but if sales don’t improve in the next couple of days this would be embarassing for SKE48 who have seen their sales steadily building up with their past couple of releases.

Another problem is the stupid amount of releases that are being churned out weekly by not only the main 000 groups but sub-units/solo artists  as well. Management need to look at the dates with single releases and try and space them out better in the calendar year. It’s just been one release after another recently and this isn’t the first time for this to happen. Don’t they realise that the majority of fans aren’t rich and we can’t afford to buy every single that comes out especially with multiple versions. Money doesn’t hang off trees that we can just pluck off like leaves and happily trudge off to the shops to buy the CD’s. I have to choose carefully what I buy and the releases that I do miss out I usually buy when I visit Japan.

Anyway I did go off on a rant there but I really hope that SKE48’s sales will pick up before the weekend.

Not yet vs Watarirouka Hashiritai 7

With the upcoming senbatsu elections coming ever so closer, there seems to be an interesting clash happening on the 30th May and I think this is the first time for 2 AKB48 sub-units to go head to head against each other. Not yet will release ‘Suika BABY’ whilst Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 also release Shounen yo Uso wo Tsuke! It’s possible that management wanted one of the groups’ single to be released on the 6th June but seeing as it’s such an important day for AKB48 fans they had no choice to have these 2 groups releasing their singles on the same day.

There’s no doubt that it’s going to be a difficult choice for fans who aren’t blessed with money which one they’ll support. Buying both sets of singles is going to be really expensive. I think it’s Not yet who will triumph as they have more popular members than WH7. I don’t like to see them go against each other but such is life.

For Not yet’s single, Rie Kitahara has had a go in writing lyrics for a song that will appear as one of the b-sides. Her track is called ‘guilty love’. She did have some support from Aki-P in writing and she now has more respect than ever for him as she found out that it’s not easy to devise lyrics for a song. Overall though, she quietly satisfied with the track and I’m looking forward to hearing it.

AKB48 4th Senbatsu Election Predictions

Next week will see AKB48 release their newest single and with it comes the all important voting slips for you to pick the member you want to see as being the center for the 27th single which will be released in August.

With Acchan out of the election, it is obvious that Yuko will take Acchan’s crown as no.1 but as for the rest, there is no doubt there will be many members jockeying for positions and where they will end up in the Top 10 isn’t that easy to predict. I don’t think anybody will stay in the same position they were last year and I’m sure there will be a surprise or two come the election results on June 6th. As much as I would love to see my beloved oshi Umechan in the senbatsu I don’t think it’s going to happen but I’m staying loyal to her and will cast my 2 votes to her. I think she will improve on the no.22 position she achieved last year, possibly up to no.16.

So here’s who I think will be in the Top 10:

1. Yuko Oshima
2. Rino Sashihara
3. Mayu Watanabe
4. Yuki Kashiwagi
5. Mariko Shinoda
6. Minami Takahashi
7. Rena Matsui
8. Kojima Haruna
9. Minami Minegishi
10. Tomomi Itano

Sasshi has had a phenomenal 12 months and I think this will show and she will make a major move up from no.9 last year to possibly no.2 but it’s going to be a close run thing with Mayuyu. I know that Mariko usually does well in the elections but I can see her dropping a place or two this year. Another surprise which I’m predicting is finally Miichan hitting the Top 10. I can’t see Jurina or even Sayanee/Milky denting the Top 10 but I’m guessing they will make the Top 16.

Who do you see in your Top 10 for the election?

NMB48’s Titanic Task

Last week saw the mighty Arashi have their first chart battle with an 00048 group and it was Kansai’s NMB48 that was given the task of trying to derail Arashi from having another no.1 hit with their 4th single Nagiichi. First day sales went well for NMB48 although they had to contend with being no.2 but they sold 231k, a drop of 50k from their previous single Junjou U-19. Arashi sold 250k during the same day. The problem that NMB48 had to contend with as well is idol single sales tend to have a considerable drop after the first day and that was what happened to NMB48. Arashi’s sales are usually steady for the whole week. By the 2nd and 3rd day, Arashi had gotten themselves a healthy and sizeable lead over the young idols but yesterday saw an unprecedented huge hike in sales which saw NMB48 sell 91k. Theater versions of their single had finally gone out to customers so this is why there was such a boost to their sales. Unfortunately it won’t be enough for NMB48 to overtake Arashi’s sales for the week but they’ve accounted themselves very well against them and have even beaten Junjou U-19’s sales for the 1st week. Had AKB48 or SKE48 gone head to head against Arashi I think we would be seeing a different picture.

Takamina’s Hair Raising Experience!

Although this goes back nearly 2 weeks now, it wasn’t until last week that Takamina revealed during one of the revival concert at the TDC Hall that she had an accident the previous week which had made her hair catch fire. It was lucky that she spotted her hair burning quickly or this incident could have been serious.

The drama started apparently on May 4th during the afternoon and Takamina had gone shopping to a clothes shop in Saragakucho, Shibuya on her way to work. This shop was decorated with some aromatic candles and Takamina was carrying a paper bag as she had purchased something from another shop. The paper bag somehow must have been too close to a candle as the next thing she knew her paper bag was on fire which quickly spread and it must have caught her hair as well. The fire was spotted immediately by staff and it was out quickly.

Takamina knew that something was amiss as she smelt something burning but she didn’t realise that it was her that was on fire! Due to her hair being burnt she had to have a haircut straight away as she had a performance in a couple of hours. She showed off her new shorter haircut later on that day but it wasn’t until last week that fans put two and two together and realised why Takamina cut her hair. The shop took down all of the aromatic candles after the incident. It’s not good publicity for them if a national idol burns her hair in their shop!

Thank God no permanent damage was done to Takamina.

Sasshi Strikes Back!

There’s still a long way to go for Sasshi to overtake Nogizaka46 and top the Oricon Charts come next week but her fans are giving a good account of themselves in not letting the idol group have it all their own way. In the 2nd day of sales, Sasshi managed to beat Nogizaka46 (Sasshi – 29,528 to N46 – 21,552). That’s nearly an 8k clawback over the big lead they had yesterday so it seems it’s game on in this battle.

Did anybody manage to catch the live AKBingo (Sashi Bingo) episode last night? What a riot it was and not even showing the sales figures for the first day put a dampener on Sasshi’s enthusiastic energy. It was probably one of the funniest AKBingo episodes for a while from Yuko being woken by Sasshi on the phone and realising when she turned the TV on that the episode was live to the messages by the idol groups taking part in Sasshi’s festival to Sata slipping and falling more than once on the studio floor during Sasshi’s punishment! Definitely an episode to check out.

Sasshi vs Nogizaka46 – The 1st Day Sales Are In

So today was the day when we’d find out who would come out on top in the much publicised and hyped-up battle between everyone’s favorite wota girl Sasshi and the new kids on the block and AKB48’s official rival Nogizaka46.  To be honest I’m kinda surprised how the sales results have come out. I expected the figures to be much closer than what they are but congratulations are in order to Nogizaka46 who triumphed with sales of 111,222 compared to Sasshi’s 56,879. One thing in Sasshi’s  favor is she did even better than Mayuyu’s debut and sold 6k more than her so congratulations are in order to her.

I would have thought that all AKB48 fans regardless of whether Sasshi is their oshi or not would have bought her single in order to beat their upstart rivals.  Perhaps there will be a counterattack by AKB48 fans tomorrow who will go out and buy Sasshi’s single? This battle isn’t over yet.

COME ON SASSHI, I’M PRAYING FOR YOU TO WIN THIS FIGHT!