Akb48 Team Shuffle 2012
Giraldo Allain
The first BNK48 Team Shuffle took place on November 16, 2019 during Pun's birthday stage in Team BIII 1st Stage. This shuffle was done to give way to the formation of Team NV. The new teams became effective on February 14, 2020 during the announcement of BNK48 9th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo first preliminary results.
AKB48 (derived from Akihabara 48) is a female Japanese idol group produced by Akimoto Yasushi. They have their own theater in Akihabara (a district in Tokyo) where they perform regularly. The concept of the group is "idols you can meet". Currently, they hold the record of having the highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts.
In July 2005, renown producer Yasushi Akimoto held an audition for a new theater based idol girl group. Of the 7,924 girls that applied, 45 passed the first round of auditions, detailed screening of the application documents. Finally, only 24 girls were chosen to be in the group. In November, the selected girls went through an extensive one month training program.
A second audition was soon announced, and was held in cooperation with Japanese telecom company NTT DoCoMo. It was the first audition ever where the applicants had to send in their audition video with their mobile phones.
In January 2006, three months before Team K was formed, Akimoto let Shinoda Mariko join the group as part of Team A. Failing the first generation audition, she didn't give up her dreams and worked as a waitress in a cafe in the same building and on the same floor as the the AKB48 theater. Through customer's feedback and Akimoto's challenge, she was able to join the group and is only person to be referred as generation 1.5.
Akimoto Sayaka, Umeda Ayaka, Oshima Yuko, Ohori Megumi, Oku Manami, Ono Erena, Kasai Tomomi, Kobayashi Kana, Sato Natsuki, Noro Kayo, Hayano Kaoru, Masuda Yuka, Matsubara Natsumi, Miyazawa Sae, Imai Yu, Uemura Ayako, and Takada Ayana.
AKB48 released its debut single Sakura no Hanabiratachi in February 2006, which made it to #10 on Oricon charts and sold 22,011 units in its first week - a surprisingly high rank for a group on an indies label.
In August 2006, AKB48 signed a major label contract with DefSTAR Records, a part of Sony Music Entertainment. Their first single under DefSTAR Records, Aitakatta, was released on October 25, 2006 and reached #12 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart.
In December 2006, the first change was made to the three teams, transferring Kazumi Urano, Shiho Watanabe, and Natsumi Hirajima from Team A to Team B as supporting members. Orii Ayumi graduated from the group shortly after this.
In February 2008, AKB48 re-released their first indies single, changing the title to Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008. This would turn out to be their last release under the DefSTAR Records label. A spring concert was initially announced. Fans who bought a copy of Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008 at the theater would be given a random poster featuring one of the girls. If a fan collected all 44 types of the posters, they would be entered in a lottery to win tickets for their spring concert. The concert was later canceled because this violated a Japanese anti-monopoly law.
In August 2008, Team B member Kikuchi Ayaka was fired after pictures of her with a boy surfaced. Fans requested a second chance for her. In the end, she had to audition again and was readmitted as a Research Student.
On October 2008, the group signed with KING RECORDS under the You, Be Cool! sublabel, and released their 10th single titled Oogoe Diamond featuring Matsui Jurina of the just newly formed SKE48 on the CD cover. In that same month, at the final performance of A4 Revival, original members Ohe Tomomi, Komatani Hitomi, Tojima Hana, Nakanishi Rina and Narita Risa announced their graduation simultaneously. Their graduation took place at AKB48's NHK Shuffle Concert on November 23, 2008.
On April 26, 2009, AKB48 introduced a new event, the Senbatsu Election. Fans could make their voices heard by voting for their favorite AKB48 or SKE48 member to participate in the group's upcoming single. The 1st Senbatsu Election was held on July 8th, with the top 21 forming the single Senbatsu and members ranked 22nd-30th forming a new unit, Under Girls. The top three members were Maeda Atsuko, Oshima Yuko, and Shinoda Mariko. The group released their 13th single, "Iiwake Maybe," performed by the ranking members.
From August 22-23, 2009, AKB48 and SKE48 performed a concert at the famous Japanese stadium, the Nippon Budokan. At the end of the concert a new formation of AKB48 was announced, shuffling members from all teams. Each team was also assigned a captain; Takahashi Minami was to lead Team A, Akimoto Sayaka was to lead Team K, and Kashiwagi Yuki would become the leader of Team B. 4 of the group's oldest members, Ohori Megumi, Noro Kayo, Urano Kazumi, and Sato Yukari were transferred into the newly announced mature group named SDN48 (Saturday Night 48).
On July 2010, AKB48 announced another new event, the Senbatsu Janken Taikai. Members would participate in a game of Janken (Rock, Paper, Scissors) in a tournament, with the top 16 members forming an upcoming single Senbatsu. The AKB48 19th Single Senbatsu Janken Taikai was held on September 21, 2010, with Team K's Uchida Mayumi winning the tournament. The Senbatsu performed the group's 19th single, "Chance no Junban," released on December 8th. It also marked the group's first Senbatsu without Itano Tomomi and Takahashi Minami.
In March 2011, it was announced on their blog they have temporarily closed the AKB Theater due to the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami. Many upcoming activities were also postponed, including their concerts at Yokohama Arena from March 25th to the 27th, and the release of their first studio album, Koko ni Ita Koto.
On January 27, 2012, it was revealed that Hirajima Natsumi and Yonezawa Rumi resigned from AKB48 due to scandals involving them. Following their departures, AKB48 introduced the concurrent (兼任, kennin) position on March 24, where members would temporarily hold simultaneous positions in two different groups. SKE48's Matsui Jurina and NMB48's Watanabe Miyuki held the first concurrencies, where they were a part of Team K and Team B, respectively.
On January 31, 2013, it was announced that 1st Generation member, Minegishi Minami would be demoted to Kenkyuusei level, due to a scandal involving her. On August 24, Minegishi was promoted when the new Team 4 was formed and was appointed as its captain.
On July 21, 2013, Team A captain and leading member Shinoda Mariko graduated from AKB48, making Yokoyama Yui the new captain of Team A. On August 22, former Team K captain Akimoto Sayaka also graduated. Four days later, leading member Itano Tomomi graduated from the group.
On January 23, 2014, AKB48 announced plans for a fifth team, "Team 8." Auditions began on February 2014, with the team officially debuting on April 3, 2014. Unlike previous teams, this team did not consist of previous members. One member from each prefecture was selected to represent Team 8, totaling 47 members. If a member graduated, they would be replaced with someone from the same prefecture. Team 8 also held of the concept "Idols who go meet you," rather than the group's concept "Idols you can meet."
On May 25, 2014, a handshake event held in Iwate was assaulted by a 24-year old man, later revealed to be Umeta Satoru. Umeta carried a handsaw to the event to attack Iriyama Anna, Kawaei Rina, and a staff member who tried to stop the assault. Both Iriyama and Kawaei underwent surgery for their injuries and were unable to participate in the group's activities for several months.
On September 17, 2014, the group held their 5th Janken Tournament. Unlike past tournaments, the top members did not form a single Senbatsu. The winning member earned a solo single debut, with the remaining 15 members performing the single's B-side. The winning member was Watanabe Miyuki, who released the single "Yasashiku Suru Yori Kiss wo Shite" on December 24th. The opposing finalist, Kojima Haruna, centered the B-side "Harukaze Pianissimo." This format continued into the group's 6th Janken Tournament in 2015, which Fujita Nana won and released the single "Migiashi Evidence."
On December 8, 2014, the group's 9th anniversary, founding member and Team A captain Takahashi Minami announced her graduation, which was scheduled for December 8, 2015, the group's 10th anniversary. This date was pushed back to April 8, 2016, due to difficulty in selecting a venue.
On March 26, 2015, AKB48 held another team shuffle since February 2014. This shuffle marked the first instance where concurrencies were held within the same group. Team 8 members Yamada Nanami, Nakano Ikumi, and Sakaguchi Nagisa held concurrencies with Team A, Team K, and Team B, respectively. Kawaei Rina also announced her graduation from the group, citing a psychological inability to continue handshake events after the assault in Iwate.
On June 9, 2016, AKB48 broke ties with its Shanghai-based group SNH48, after it was revealed that the latter violated their contract by creating sister groups BEJ48 and GNZ48. Following the announcement, Suzuki Mariya's concurrent position with the group was revoked, marking her a fully-fledged AKB48 member.
On June 18, 2016, the group held their 8th Senbatsu Election at HARD OFF ECO Stadium Niigata. Leading member Kojima Haruna, after portraying the fictional idol Nyan Nyan Kamen, also announced her graduation from the group. After holding her graduation ceremony on February 22, 2017, she officially graduated on April 19th.
On October 17, 2016, the group held their 7th Janken Tournament, with slight alterations to the previous format. The top seven members would form a new unit that was centered by the tournament winner, while members ranked 8th-14th performed the single's B-side. The winning members formed Jankenmin, centered by Team B's Tanabe Miku.
On June 17, 2017, the group held their 9th Senbatsu Election. Originally slated to be held at Toyosaki Seaside Park, Toyosaki Villa SUN Beach in Tomigusuku, Okinawa, the concert portion was cancelled due to inclement weather, with the results being held in a nearby community center. Leading member Watanabe Mayu also announced her graduation from the group. After holding her graduation stage on December 26th, she officially graduated on December 31st.
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