Hello everybody! Yes, it’s been a while I know but this website will no longer be updated daily but only occasionally when something major happens such as today’s shocking team shuffle announcements on the first day of AKB48’s triumphant 3-day Tokyo Dome concerts. I did not see this coming at all and for some of the members not only are they moving team but also moving to another country to work altogether. Aki-P must think that things need to be shaken up again which is why he’s done this. Team 4 has been disbanded completely so AKB48 will return to being a 3 team group but with more members attached to each team. Let’s see how each team looks like now:
New Team A
New Captain: Mariko Shinoda
Minami Takahashi (no change)
Tomomi Kasai (former member of Team B)
Sumire Sato (former member of Team B)
Natsuki Sato (former member of Team B)
Mayu Watanabe (former member of Team B)
Ayaka Kikuchi (former member of Team K)
Nito Moeno (former member of Team K)
Tomomi Nakatsuka (former member of Team K)
Sakiko Matsui (former member of Team K)
Yui Yokoyama (former member of Team K and now a member of NMB48 too)
Anna Iriyama (former member of Team 4)
Karen Iwata (former member of Team 4)
Rina Kawaei (former member of Team 4)
Shiori Nakamata (former member of Team 4)
Juri Takahashi (former member of Team 4)
Yuka Tano (former member of Team 4)
Rina Izuta (previously wasn’t in a team)
Marina Kobayashi (previously wasn’t in a team)
Ayaka Morikawa (previously wasn’t in a team)
Ryouka Oshima (promoted)
Kotani Riho Kotani (will still be a member of NMB48 as well)
Many will obviously think that Takamina has been demoted but that’s not the case. She’s been given the role of being AKB48’s General Manager, something she’s been doing for ages anyway. It’s just from today she’s been given a fancy title with her duties. Congratulations to Mariko on being handed the captaincy of Team A.
New Team K
New Captain: Yuko Oshima
Sayaka Akimoto (no change)
Tomomi Itano (no change)
Mayumi Uchida (no change)
Jurina Matsui (no change – still a member of SKE48)
Asuka Kuramochi (former member of Team A)
Ami Maeda (former member of Team A)
Natsumi Matsubara (former member of Team A)
Chisato Nakata (former member of Team A)
Sayaka Nakaya (former member of Team A)
Rina Chikano (former member of Team B)
Rie Kitahara (former member of Team B but also becomes a member of SKE48]
Kana Kobayashi (former member of Team B)
Yuka Masuda (former member of Team B)
Miho Miyazaki (former member of Team B)
Amina Sato (former member of Team B)
Shihori Suzuki (former member of Team B)
Maria Abe (former member of Team 4)
Mariya Nagao (former member of Team 4)
Haruka Shimada (former member of Team 4)
Nana Fujita (previously wasn’t in a team)
Kaoru Mitsumune (promoted)
Tomu Muto (promoted)
Many congratulations to Yuko on her promotion to team captain. There are rumours going around that making Yuko the captain is to prepare for Sayaka’s graduation from AKB48. I hope that’s not true.
New Team B
New Captain: Ayaka Umeda (former member of Team K)
Yuki Kashiwagi (no change)
Haruka Ishida (no change)
Mika Komori (no change)
Shizuka Oya (former member of Team A)
Miyuki Watanabe (no change and still a member of NMB48)
Misaki Iwasa (former member of Team A)
Haruka Katayama (former member of Team A)
Kojima Haruna (former member of Team A)
Reina Fujie (former member of Team K)
Minami Minegishi (former member of Team K)
Misato Nonaka (former member of Team K)
Miku Tanabe (former member of Team K)
Miori Ichikawa (former member of Team 4)
Rena Kato (former member of Team 4)
Mariko Nakamura (former member of Team 4)
Mina Oba (former member and captain of Team 4)
Haruka Shimazaki (former member of Team 4)
Miyu Takeuchi (former member of Team 4)
Suzuran Yamauchi (former member of Team 4)
Natsuki Kojima (previously wasn’t in a team)
Wakana Natori (previously wasn’t in a team)
Anna Ishida (will still be a member of SKE48)
Obviously I’m delighted with my oshi Umechan being promoted to being captain of Team B. I’m sure she’ll do a great job but I do feel sorry for Yukirin. I’m not sure if any of the members that have lost their captaincy roles today think this demotion has happened because they did a bad job previously. I’m sure that’s not the case – it’s just a case of freshening up things that’s all.
And now we come to the members that are leaving AKB48 completely and moving to another group and another country. Some will have to learn a new language to get along with their new teammates.
HKT48
Aika Oota (former member of Team A)
SNH48
Sae Miyazawa (former member of Team K)
Mariya Suzuki (former member of Team B)
JKT48
Aki Takajo (former member of Team A)
Haruka Nakagawa (former member of Team A)
Some of the members have personally asked to be moved to an overseas group or down to HKT48 so this isn’t something that’s been forced on them. With the tension happening right now between China and Japan over the disputed Senkaku islands, I say let Sae sort it out now that she’s moving to Shanghai. She’ll have the Chinese eating out of her hands!!
So if this is what happened on Day 1, what are the big announcements that are going to be on the 2nd and 3rd day?
IXA Ready - Fist On! 