! ! ! My poor A K B [E] ! How I have been neglecting you in favor of Blabodu ! I definitely need to update this, and so I shall !

HOMG, how did I not see that I had wonderful commenters on the last few entries?! Thank you so much to Dekiru Onna and Dubbers for taking the time to drop a comment, and help me out! You should definitely check out Dekiru Onna's Musings: An AKB48 (and sometimes H!P) blog!

Dekiru also shared this video with me (click to go to). In a previous entry, I covered 'Oshibe meshibe yoru no chouchou' performed by Ohori Megumi and Oku Manami. But Maachan was only filling in for Kasai Tomomi, who originally sang it with Meetan.

They picked a really good person to fill in for Tomomi, cause both her and Maachan have super cute/sweet voices. And even though I completely adore Maachan, I'm glad I got to hear Tomomi sing, and I think I like this version more. Plus, Meetan's hair is SO awesome!!
The poll is over! It's been over, lol. Between the three leaders, Team B's Yukirin won over Takamina by one vote! Here is a better example of Yukirin's singing!! Before I only had the one little solo line that she had in Tenshi no Shippo to go by. This is a very nice performance. And I think that's Ono Erena singing with her? Am I right?! ;w;



And here is some Takamina! She's awesome in this ! ! ! I like both of the two leaders' different voices, that are so very them. Takamina has a mature/lovely voice, and Yukirin has a sweet/pretty voice. I voted for Takamina, and I think for now I am going to stick with that. This performance confirms it for me. I love her.

Thanks to Raebee for pointing out the new info about Watarirouka Hashiritai. Freaking A, another girl already?! Kikuchi Ayaka was recently added to the group's four person line-up. In the image above, it seems the lineup hasn't really changed; Natsumi, Aika, Mayu, and Haruka, with Ayaka tacked on the end there.

Thanks again to Dubbers! I greatly appreciated your help, and also your thoughts. About how Mayu is "really popular because she has this fragile lolita thing. She's also the 4th most popular member on AKB so that's why she's has all the solos." I agree! Meh, I still don't care for her a ton, but she's cool. *keeps rooting for Natsumi and Aika* heh
And back to Ayaka; I don't know squat about her, LOL. Until I looked her up on j-ongaku.org, that is. It seems that she was a part of Team B, before she was let go from the group, due to a boyfriend scandal (on August 14 2008). But! She was later brought back! As a 4th Generation Kenkyuusei member. And now she is part of Watarirouka Hashiritai.

She is often refered to as Ayarin or Kikuji. I haven't decided which I'll call her yet. She's only been in two A-side singles; 'Romance, Irane' and 'Baby! Baby! Baby!' Some fun facts;

* Kikuji loves seasoned seaweed and shaved ice
* Her phone strap features Minnie Mouse
* Ayarin is a sprinter on her track team at school
* Her bedroom is almost entirely pink



(A link to another vid, in case the one above is removed for whatever reason)

W. T. F ?!! What it is this crap?! It reminds me of the Hone Hone Waltz, but way worse. I'll at least listen to that song. It's like; Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro. I really don't like the instrument music stuff too. It sounds like a polka or something.

This also reminds me of that one dance video that Fudaka Kanon did, where she had like five little kids trying to dance with her while she sang a very kiddy song that was supposed to appeal to them. I love Kanon, but the song was kind of like this one.

This is major ew. Ridiculous. Come on, Watarirouka Hashiritai! Couldn't y'all do better than this? Even a little bit. I can only listen to 'Kanpeki Gu~no ne' so many times in a day, but it still tops this by 100%. I expected more from this quintet.



AKB's next single, following Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru, which I have come to LOVE. I don't exactly like this song very much. It could grow on me, but I don't know. It is a slow-ish song, which I usually find to be very pretty from AKB, but this one doesn't do anything for me. I mean, it's still enjoyable, but not something I'd listen to oodles and oodles.

I say this now, but I'm sure it'll grow on me, LOL. The chorus is kind of catchy. We'll see. But for now I'd give it like, maybe 4 stars, definitely not more. Gotta love Takamina. I was happy to see Miichan (Minegishi Minami)! She's so adorable. I'm not surprised to see Acchan, but I like her.

"16 members from both Team A and Team K were selected to participate in the A-side to this single. They were as follows ~

Team A: Itano Tomomi, Kojima Haruna, Maeda Atsuko, Minegishi Minami, Nakanishi Rina, Oshima Mai, Shinoda Mariko, Takahashi Minami

Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Kasai Tomomi, Kobayashi Kana, Masuda Yuka, Miyazawa Sae,Ono Erena, Oshima Yuko, Sato Natsuki"

And now we shall revisit this performance of 7ji12fun! Now that I've had some help in figuring things out! Acchan is in white, Ooe Tomomi is blue, Komatani Hitomi is pink, Masuyama Kayano is green, Narita Risa is yellow. I still can't get over how good they sound! I love Acchan and Ooie (oh yay)'s voices [lol, I totally get the nickname now]. And they all sound AMAZING together.

Before, on pink and blue I was totally BS-ing it, cause I had no clue. I was sorting through images and squinting at the video, trying to figure it out, LOL. There are so many girls, and so many I still don't know. Thanks again to my commenter who helped me to sort this line-up out. I don't know the different A1, A2's and such. Clueless.

Annnnnd, I think that's it for this entry~

Minegishi Minami (Miichan), Takahashi Minami (Takamina), Oshima Yuko (Korisu or Korin), Oota Aika (Lovetan or Aichan) & Kashiwagi Yuki (Yukirin).

Okay, so I did get back on last night, but I ended up blogging on H!PE instead, hehe. So I decided first thing today I needed to work on this. And to start things off, I'm going to take a look at some of Rae's faves (cause she has good taste, lol). It'll help me to learn some more girls a little better, but also; I get to do some covering of subgroups! I'll be doing a video that has each of the above five girls in it.



Here's Miichan & Takamina! (& Haruna!) I am not new to No Sleeves at all~ I first stumbled across this video some odd months ago and totally loved them. I then followed with listening to their other two singles, which I'll get to in a later entry. As for this song; it's just freaking epic. I think the girls sound awesome! Plus the colors, outfits and dancing just rock.

Haruna I am a little familiar with, but not from AKB, just from this group. She is pretty, and seems to take a leader-like role in the group. Miichan (o wo) is sooooo adorable!! I love her. Takamina is good too, more in the mature/lovely voice than the utter cuteness of Miichan. So they are both cool in their own way.

Miichan and Takamina are also both on Team A in AKB48~



EDIT; The video was deleted, so now it's this boring one.

Here's Oshima Yuko (Korisu), along with Ono Erena, Kasai Tomomi, Sato Natsuki, & Imai Yu, to make up ICE for AKB48. This subgroup was created for the purpose of voice-acting for the anime ICE. These girls also sang the opening theme for the anime; ICE Aisareru to iu koto.

I think this song is very very pretty. But here is where I fail at telling them apart, lol. I like how they are wearing their anime character costumes! I couldn't pick out Korisu, cause I'm lame. So if you know which girl she is, let me know :'D

Korisu is also a member of AKB48's Team K~



Annnd, last but not least; Oota Aika & Kashiwagi Yuki! (And Nakaya Sayaka) More fail at faces. I think the girl in the middle with the hat is Aichan (the dimple helped me out). The girl on the starting left with the lacey handband and her hair down is Yukirin (this time it was the bangs that helped). And the last girl, with her hair up is Nakayan (process of elimination? lol).

I am having no luck at all figuring out if this performance is based off an anime (with those adorable costumes), or if it's just some song that was written solely as a trio concert song. If you have any information, please let me know!

Aren't those outfits just so cute?! I love how they have different bow colors, though you don't notice right away. (Aichan = pink, Nakayan = yellow & Yukirin = purple). They make me think loli a little bit. I adore the boots, and I love the little dance moves. Plus all three girls sound awesome!

AHA! I have discovered what the whole YJ and PB team thing means. Rae gave me an idea of what she thought it was; and she was close! When I was just browsing through AKB pages on j-ongaku.org, I happened across this little tidbit of information! ;

"It was announced that some members of AKB48 would split into two groups for the Japanese magazines Weekly Playboy and Young Jump and will compete against each other. . . .The teams will be featured in their respective magazines for the duration of the competition and fans are asked to vote for their favorite member.

Each team was also given a song used to promote their team, which were released on the single Sakura no Shiori as b-sides. (Type A = PB's Enkyorii Poster, Type B = Team YJ's Choose Me!). They will perform these songs in their own concerts at the AKB Theater and end with a joint concert between the two teams, where the winner will be announced."

Interesting, eh? OH AND BTW. I totally bought AKB48's Sakura no Shiori Theater ver CD. I couldn't resist. I got some other things, but they are all H!P (and I'll share my lovely buys with you on H!PE once I recieve them)~

Well that's it for this entry, and I must say, I'm proud of myself! It took me a bit to actually get into AKB, since it was something so new to me, and I felt a little lost. But I made progress today! I typed out all the AKB48 subgroups and their songs in wordpad for easy use, I learned a good handful of nicknames and can match some of them pretty well to faces. I built up my A K B [E] playlist on Youtube some more too!

Starting tomorrow it's 5 days of work until my next day of freedom (x wx) So there'll be updates when I have the time~ But on the bright side, I get paid tomorrow. So I can buy me some more wonderful asian music goodies!

OH, here is my playlist! Songs are listed as to what Subgroup or Team sang them. If it's by the whole 48, or if I'm unsure; I'll just list it as by AKB48.

Choose Me! / Team Youth Jump (YJ)
Sakura no Shiori / AKB48
Enkyorii Poster / Team Playboy (PB)
ICE Aisareru to iu koto / ICE from AKB48
Sakura no Hanabiratachi / Original Team A
Dear My Teacher / AKB48 (Ori Team A ?)
Majisuka Rock'n Roll / AKB48
Tane / No Sleeves
Tenshi no Shippo / Aichan, Yukirin & Nakayan
Aozora no soba' Ni ite / AKB48 (Ori Team A ?)
Skirt Hirari / Sukahira Seven (Team A back-up vocals)