It's already late, so this will probably be on the short side. I wanted to get something up though~ I just had to do a mini-profiling of Harunyan now! Or as Rae called her; KojiHaru. She really is a pretty girl, and very talented. Plus she's in No Sleeves with the awesome Miichan & Takamina! (wow, I remembered those nicknames without even looking!)

Name: Kojima Haruna (小嶋陽菜)
Nickname: Harunyan (はるにゃん)
Profession: Actress, singer
Birthdate: April 19, 1988
Hobbies: Shopping
Audition song: Watarasebashi by Matsuura Aya
Height: 164cm (5'4")
(Can you believe that they also list; bust, waist and hips? LOL)



Holy frick! The 'Aitakatta's are so catchy! UWAH, I love this song already. Lovely. I picked out Acchan (Maeda Atsuko) and Takamina right away. I recognize a handful of names, but I still can't put a lot of them to faces. Especially with all the moving that goes on in PVs. And if you read the lyrics, the bikes make sense, lol.

One thing I really love about AKB; all the different uniforms & the dancing! And of course; the awesome girls and their amazing singing! Homigosh!! I spotted Narita Risa! YAY~ & by the way - 20 members from both Team A and Team K were selected to participate in this song. They are;

Team A: Itano Tomomi, Kojima Haruna, Maeda Atsuko, Minegishi Minami, Nakanishi Rina, Narita Risa, Ohe Tomomi, Oshima Mai, Shinoda Mariko, Takahashi Minami, Tojima Hana

Team K: Akimoto Sayaka, Kasai Tomomi, Kobayashi Kana, Matsubara Natsumi, Miyazawa Sae, Noro Kayo, Oshima Yuko, Ono Erena, Umeda Ayaka



The B-side to this single. I don't think it's anything special really. I don't hate it, no no. I think the AKB girls sound beautiful on slow songs, but this one just isn't my thing. (lol, it's on the bottom of my list). Worth a listen though~

Akimoto Sayaka (Team K), Nakanishi Rina / Unoffical Leader / Former Member (Team A - graduated), Miyazawa Sae (Team K)

This group only had two singles and a total of five songs. Their first release was on June 6th of 2007 and their last (their album 'Dessert') was released on November 21st of the same year.



Rinatin, you line whore (;w;) Pfft, it doesn't matter, because Sayaka and Sae's duets sounded way better than all your solo lines!! HA! ~ Rina does have a pretty voice, and it's on the lighter/higher/cuter end. But I think Sayaka & Sae sound beautiful together; they blend so well and their voices really compliments each others.

I like this song :'3 All three of the girls sound great, and I like the melody of the verses and chorus. So pretty. OH I get chills when I listen to Sayaka and Sae sing together. Like right when they hit the first duet, at 0:56. I love those lower notes; gorgeous!

I need sleep! Tata~

Choose Me! / Team Youth Jump (YJ)
Sakura no Shiori / AKB48
Enkyorii Poster / Team Playboy (PB)
Aitakatta / AKB48 (Team A & K)
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 ?)
Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru / Chocolove from AKB48
Skirt Hirari / Sukahira Seven (Team A back-up vocals)
Dakedo / AKB48

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)

The B-side to AKB's Sakura no Hanabiratachi. This vid has all three teams performing live! Homigosh, I love this. I feel like I've heard it once before, but I don't really know. The chorus is so freaking catchy, and I love the melody of the verses. And I like how the girls get to sing in duets or trios, so it's not always all of the girls.

Also, I downloaded this song and Sakura no Hanabiratachi, and I've listened to Sakura a few more times and it's grown on me. Go AKB! So many talented girls, and I just know I am going to love like 90% of their music. OH, if anyone knows the name of some of the main girls in this vid, point them out to me, so I can figure out who's who, lol.



Seven members of Team A were picked as the main performers/singers for this song, but the rest of team sing backup in this video. The seven members were nicknamed Sukahira Seven. The girls are; Itano Tomomi, Kojima Haruna, Maeda Atsuko, Nakanishi Rina, Narita Risa, Oshima Mai, and Takahashi Minami.

This song is alright, it does grow on you (especially after like a dozen listens in a row). The chorus is upbeat, catchy. Not a complete favorite, but I like it. OK! I've been trying to figure out who is who (and failing horribly), but I think I got a start! At 1:14, that's Narita Risa, right? I like her :'3 And 1:27 is Kojima Haruna? I like her too. Some of the others I get mixed up, but they all sounded good too.



This is beautiful. I really like AKB's slower songs, they are always so pretty; really showcasing the girls' lovely voices. I don't have much to say about this song, just that I like it.

Annnnnnnnd, my sister wants on (x wx) But I have all evening & night, so I'm going to get off and I'll do some more blogging later. I want to pick something from an AKB subgroup to cover. Sorry this entry is lame. I find it easier with H!P to find random things to ramble about, with AKB I'm still new to everything, so I'm sticking with the music for now.

Before bed last night, I just laid there listening to Sakura No Shiori on repeat. I can't get over how beautiful it is. Right now I am listening to Enkyori Poster, but today at work I could not get Majisuka Rock en Roll out of my head!! Lol, it's grown on me a lot. I still love Choose Me a ton though. I love all four songs really. I am just beginning into my AKB exploration, and I already love them.

BAH! It's only 7:30 and I could go to sleep now. Swaying in my chair a little, droopy eyes too. Frustrated too. My problem is deciding how I am going to go about learning who is who. Because there is the first Team A, back at the start of AKB, and then the current team A. Same goes for B & K teams. My brain is going to over load. I tend to overanalyze things sometimes, I'm doing it now xD

So I think I am going to just post who is in the single every time, and go from there (?) I probably won't assemble as many visual things, cause it's honestly too time consuming. But I will work on learning who is who for myself. Also, like in the previous entry with Team A, I think I am just going to eventually put up a current group pic of the two other teams.



Hirajima Natsumi, Hoshino Michiru, Itano Tomomi, Kawasaki Nozomi, Kojima Haruna, Komatani Hitomi, Maeda Atsuko, Masuyama Kayano, Minegishi Minami, Nakanishi Rina, Narita Risa, Ohe Tomomi, Oshima Mai, Orii Ayumi, Takahashi Minami, Tojima Hana, Uemura Ayako, Urano Kazumi, Usami Yuki, Watanabe Shiho.

I tried looking up translations for the dialog, but I had no luck. So I don't understand some of what's going on, obviously something about graduating, but yeah. Ths song isn't too bad, not a fave, but not horrible.

Oops, I got sidetracked by blog reading. I could read blogs all day. H!P blogs, I mean. It's so interesting to read what people think of different girls and songs and groups. And my mind is totally not on focus enough to keep blogging. So I'm signing off!! Sorry for the lameness of this entry~

So. Many. Girls. But I shall do my best! From what I've read, I'm starting into this not too long after after a major team re-grouping (yes, no ?) And it was just sprung on the girls!! How mean, grr. But, for starters, Team A! It's very hard to find an accurate listing or picture, since things have changed. So I'm using the current list on Wikipedia. Maybe I'll ask Rae for some info, since she's such a fan~ (ILU RAEBEE)
Team A ; Takahashi Minami (captain), Minegishi Minami, Kojima Haruna, Shinoda Mariko, Iwasa Misaki, Maeda Atsuko, Itano Tomomi, Takajo Aki, Kitahara Rie, Ooya Shizuka, Fujie Reina, Miyazaki Miho, Satou Amina, Nakata Chisato, Suzuki Mariya, Maeda Ami, & Satou Yukari.

17 girls in all. Just click it for a larger picture~ As you can probably tell, I had to make Yukari's myself, since I couldn't find her in the three similar-looking listings of the different teams. Also, in the image, the names are backwards, but they came like that and I wasn't going to spend the time changing them around, lol. Forgive me if this is in any way inaccurate, all I have to work off is public listings online.



jpopasia.com lists 85 songs for AKB48, so I'll probably be using it as my reference. Though Wikipedia has a good Discography section for the group, so I'll check there too. I mostly use Youtube for videos, & Mediafire and 4shared for when there is no PV. I'll put a A K B [E] playlist on my Youtube profile, same as with H!PE.

j-ongaku.org shows AKB as having 12 subgroups, some no longer active. I will be covering as many as those groups as possible with whatever my handy-dandy computer can find on the internet! I plan to start from the beginning and work my way forward, but I feel I must start with this video.



Sakura no Shiori; This song takes my breath away. It is so beautiful. I only first listened to it a handful of hours ago, and I've been listening to it again and again since then. It makes me feel so calm and peaceful, as lame as that sounds. I also really like the lyrics. The girls (whom I barely even know a thing about yet!) have already blown my mind with this breath-taking song.

And I'll admit, I downloaded the entire zip file, so I've also listened to; Majisuka Rock en Roll, Enkyorii Poster, and Choose Me! I should work some on H!PE, but I guess I'll go ahead and cover the rest of this Single, so it's done. Then I'll start from the beginning.



I love this song to pieces. It's so upbeat, and all the girls sound simply amazing! One thing I am confused about though; it's listed as '(Song by Team PB)' and I even see the girls holding up signs with those letters. What does that mean?

Anyways, this is easily a favorite of mine. I've been listening to 3/4's of these songs all freaking night and morning, and I looooove them. AKB48, I salute you! Lots and lots of props. I still love H!P, but AKB48 is awesome as well.



Crazy fun! Gotta love the wildness, lol. I do like this song, since the girls are so cute being all Rock'n Roll. It's a nice change from their other songs. The PV is fun, gotta love the uniforms too. The song just has a more rockin' sound to it, and not so much their usual pop-style; especially the chorus. This is my least favorite of the four though, so I haven't been listening to it as much. But definitely worth a listen! Good song!



UWAH! When I first heard this, I liked it, but I liked Enkyorii Poster and Sakura no Shiori more. Not any more!! This is my favorite of the four (well, I'm not quiet sure where to put Sakura in the list), it just grew on me as I listened to the songs over and over.

But, again. '(Song by Team YJ)' means what? I am guessing the PB and YJ stand for something, obviously the different teams, I just don't make the connection between those letters. I'll have to look into it more. My internet is being retarded right now (;w;)

So I'm going to sign off on this blog, and try and work on H!PE some. Tata~

I did it! Or should I say, I went ahead and did it, lol. I was already planning on making an AKB48 blog, but today I just had to start it. I was looking up some group and stumbled across j-ongaku.org (see Links). I started browsing through the groups listed and came across many that I was unfamiliar with.

In the end I had my mind set on starting another two blogs, since there was so much I wanted to listen to and learn about! And I'll do it, somehow xD I know it's a lot on my plate, but it'll just mean smaller entiries and perhaps more time between updates, since I have to split my time up. But we'll see. I wanted to at least get things going~

Homigosh, I hope my brain doesn't overload (x wx) H!P and AKB should make flash cards, to help people learn who's who easier. Cute pictures of the girls with their names; I'd buy them!! Nah, once I figure it out (and fail to remember the first few times), it usually sticks. I still know all the Momusu members I've managed to recognize. UWAH

But! To help me learn, I was a smart cookie and googled 'AKB48 blogs' (I love google) and what did I find? An awesome blog which even says 'The place to obsess about AKB48!' It has a wonderfully helpful section that I plan on refering to constantly as I struggle to learn who all 48 members are. I added to my Links list, simply click and go to 'Meet the Girls of AKB48' and TA-DA.

I'm so glad I have tomorrow off! It means I can devote a lot of time to my blogging! Well, I'll spilt off into another entry now! I can't wait to get started!! (It might not get posted until tomorrow)

~ Aya