Yuka Masuda Wins The Wiz Audition

As I mentioned very briefly in my previous post, Yuka Masuda won the role of Dorothy against other AKB48, HKT48 and SKE48 members in the musical stage play The Wiz. A total of 186 members from all of the groups tried out for the part of Dorothy but in the end it came down to 6 members in the final audition (Umechan, Yuttan, Nakaya, Mariko Nakamura, SKE48’s Makiko Saito and NMB48’s Sayanee). You may have seen the preliminary part of the audition on an edition of AKBingo.

I really wanted Umechan to win and although her dancing skills was second to none against the other girls, I believe that the director of The Wiz play Amon Miyamoto made the right decision in picking Yuttan. I’m not saying that Umechan has a bad voice at all but it just wasn’t as strong as Yuttan. She has such a great voice, one of the best in AKB48 and she had made a big effort in order to win the part so I congratulate her on her victory.

Wiz ~Oz no Mahoutsukai~ to give the play it’s full name is scheduled to start on September 29th and will run through to November 6th. It will tour the country with Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama as well as Tokyo venues being used. Good luck Yuttan. I’m sure you’ll wow the audiences.

AKB48 29th Single Janken Tournament 2012 Draw

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.