As AKB48 revealed the cover photos for their “Green Flash” single, and as SKE48 takes out the big guns at center for their senbatsu lineup, NMB48 is in the news giving one of their marquee members a final sendoff at center. There is also Yamamoto Sayaka’s new photobook out which may give you high blood pressure or nosebleeds just by looking at some of the photos, but that is a story for another day. Yes, Yamada Nana is your center for the next NMB48 single! After her song with Yamamoto Sayaka, “Tomodachi”, made 2nd place during the last Request Hour, she gets one more send off at center, the 5th of NMB48’s history to ever center a single. The other four past centers were Yamamoto Sayaka, Watanabe Miyuki, Shiroma Miru and Yagura Fuuko, all of whom make this senbatsu lineup. Like with every senbatsu, someone new makes the lineup to round out the 23-girl roster. Congratulations to Sutou Ririka and Ota Yuuri for making the senbatsu lineup for the first time! But someone else makes senbatsu for the first time, and this member is pretty popular among some of my friends back at the AKB48 SoCal Fan Club. Kusaka Konomi makes senbatsu for the first time! Let me get some of my friends to explain who Konomin is (shout out to Tenkei and Boy from basugasubakuhatsu!): As for kennin members who did not make it, as expected, Takayanagi Akane does not make senbatsu. This is most likely a response to SKE48 releasing their single the same day as NMB48 (which is why Yamada Nana and Watanabe Miyuki fail to make SKE48’s senbatsu). Unfortunately, for you HKT48 fans, your favorite Russian/Japanese idol fails to make the lineup. No Murashige Anna this time around…this is the 2nd time she gets snubbed from an NMB48 senbatsu. It sucks because she is my HKT48 oshi, but that too is a story for another day. Here are the other members who make senbatsu. You have the kennin members either based from AKB48 (such as Kashiwagi Yuki), members who have a kennin with AKB48 based from NMB48 (such as Shibuya Nagisa and Kotani Riho), members permanently transferred from AKB48 to NMB48 (such as Fujie Reina, Ichikawa Miori and Umeda Ayaka), you have the mainstay members who very likely do not fall out of senbatsu (such as Yoshida Akari and Jonishi Kei), and you have the up and coming members who make senbatsu once and never fall out of it (like Nishimura Aika). In terms of NMB48, there’s a podcast that makes the group more accessible to people outside of Japan, called Takoyaki Party. Shout out to Osaka Joe and DJ Soymilk from the AKB48 SoCal Fan Club who have done an amazing job with NMB48-based podcasts! So there you have it. NMB48’s senbatsu looks like a fantastic way to give one of their most famous members, Yamada Nana, a perfect sendoff. The title of the single is “Don’t Look Back!” Here is a sneak peek: Excited?
-Nathan (L4verra) Let’s start with the bad news first before we get to the good part. We touched earlier on SKE48 graduations and how they seem to be happening in waves. Throw in Kobayashi Ami’s name among those graduating because her graduation announcement came right before we published the article…that’s just really bad timing on our part. With that said, best wishes to Kobayashi Ami, who will graduate in March. You were one of the smartest SKE48 girls we ever knew… Now for the good news: SKE48 has announced their senbatsu for their upcoming single which is to be released the same day as NMB48’s latest single. And look who’s back to lead the lineup: These two are your centers once again. Both of them made the senbatsu lineup for Green Flash, and here they are again leading the lineup for SKE48’s new single. Welcome back WMatsui! Other than Jurina and Rena centering an SKE48 single once again, the other members of this 21-member senbatsu consist of both mainstay members and a few new ones. As for the new members, three of them make the senbatsu lineup for the first time: Ego Yuna, Isohara Kyoka, and Goudo Saki punch their ticket into senbatsu for the first time. Congrats! There were also other surprises as well. Unfortunately, Watanabe Miyuki does not make the senbatsu lineup. There’s still NMB48 for her, which is a guaranteed senbatsu spot if not double center with Yamamoto Sayaka. Besides, NMB48 does release their single the same day as SKE48, so a rivalry has to commence somehow, right? There was yet another surprise senbatsu announcement: your favorite forever-17-year-old kenkyuusei made the lineup. Yes, Matsumura Kaori makes the senbatsu lineup. After nearly making it last year during sousenkyo, Kaotan gets another chance to shine in senbatsu since "Kiss Datte Hidarikiki".
Here is the full lineup: Center: Matsui Jurina, Matsui Rena Senbatsu: Azuma Rion, Ego Yuna, Furuhata Nao, Futamura Haruka, Goudo Saki, Isohara Kyoka, Kimoto Kanon, Kitagawa Ryoha, Matsumura Kaori, Miyamae Ami, Miyazawa Sae, Oba Mina, Oya Masana, Sato Sumire, Shibata Aya, Souda Sarina, Suda Akari, Takayanagi Akane, Tani Marika Who do you think got snubbed out? -Nathan (L4verra) Recently, AKB48’s Morikawa Ayaka announced graduation to pursue a career in modeling. Nogizaka46’s Hatanaka Seira announced graduation as well. You can kind of notice that there has been a wave of graduation announcements left, right and center. Perhaps not as frequently with AKB48 and Nogizaka46, but graduation announcements have affected other groups in the 48G family. Let us start with the good news. NMB48 gets rid of all of their kenkyuusei…but in the best way imaginable. NMB48 just revamped their roster by adding in all of the kenkyuusei to teams N, M and BII. The original Team M center, Jo Eriko, after graduating from NMB48 and returning as a kenkyuusei, makes it to Yamamoto Sayaka’s Team N roster. Also, Uno Mizuki, who made an appearance on the AKB48 Janken single, “Kimi wo Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru”, gets promoted to Team M. NMB48, alongside AKB48, are the only two groups in the 48 family (including JKT48, SNH48 and Nogizaka46) who do not have any kenkyuusei. However, two members of NMB48 have already announced graduation a while back: Team M’s Murakami Ayaka and Yamada Nana. The addition of the kenkyuusei to the three NMB teams help aid the upcoming loss of Nana and Ayaka, but the graduation wave affects some groups more than others. The bad news is that graduation announcements have affected one group more so than the others: SKE48. Just look at this list of members who announced graduation: Nakanishi Yuka, Sato Mieko, Abiru Riho, Furukawa Airi, Iwanaga Tsugumi, Ogino Risa, Sasaki Yuka and Yamada Nana (who has a kennin with SKE48). Some graduation announcements affect more of the members and fans than others. Furukawa Airi’s graduation is the hardest hitting so far, given how she is the leader and one of the main forces behind Team KII. But never forget how Nakanishi Yuka and Sato Mieko helped SKE48. Yes, SKE48 is having its 7th generation members named soon, but there is a sense that more members of SKE48 may graduate soon as well. Perhaps during the Sousenkyo election, where we saw Shinoda Mariko announce graduation from AKB48 in 2013, and where we saw Kojima Haruna fake a graduation announcement out in 2014. Someone will probably announce graduation this June. The question is, who? SKE48 is not exactly making things easy for their fans when THIS is the trailer for their upcoming documentary. It is titled “Idol’s Tears”. Given the many graduations and graduation announcements the group has experienced, someone is going to cry their eyes out. I know I might. It also does not help that Kizaki Yuria is there since she, well, got transferred permanently to AKB48… But SKE48 still has a fantastic roster. Of course the W-Matsui duo of Jurina and Rena are still here, and Shibata Aya, Suda Akari, Takayanagi Akane, Oya Masana, and for you kenkyuusei fans, Matsumura Kaori, are all still here. At least 3 of them will probably make Sousenkyo senbatsu, since 4 (almost 5) did last year. Don’t forget some of the other up and coming 6th gen members that may capture your heart such as Kumazaki Haruka and Kitagawa Ryoha, and don’t forget transferred members, such as the dorky Tani Marika! These are some of my favorite SKE48 members, especially Marika.
So there is definitely hope for SKE48 to climb back up again from graduation announcement after graduation announcement. The 7th generation members could be what the 9th generation was to AKB48 and really set the tone for the future of the group. Heck, SKE48 has two members from AKB48’s 9th generation and one of them is co-Team KII captain. But anything can happen, and all we can hope for as fans, is the best. But as we publish this, we just got another one. Kobayashi Ami has announced her graduation as well... -Nathan (L4verra) |
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