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".
HISTORY OF AKB48
Theater Debut and Indies Era
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.
On December 1st, the AKB48 Theater had its grand opening. On
December 8, 2005, the group held its first public show in the theater
with only 20 girls, later known as Team A. The team consisted of:
Itano Tomomi, Kawasaki Nozomi, Kojima Haruna, Komatani Hitomi,
Maeda Atsuko, Masuyama Kayano, Minegishi Minami, Nakanishi Rina,
Narita Risa, Ohe Tomomi, Oshima Mai, Sato Yukari, Takahashi
Minami, Tojima Hana, Usami Yuki, Orii Ayumi, Hoshino Michiru, Urano
Kazumi, Watanabe Shiho, and Hirajima Natsumi 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 Mariko Shinoda join the group as part of Team A without passing the
second audition. Prior to joining the group, Shinoda was actually
working as a waitress in a cafe in the same building and on the same
floor as the the AKB48 theater.. She could not attend the first audition
for the group because she was working at the cafe. Fans petitioned for
Shinoda to be able to join the group.
19 of the 11,892 applicants who participated in the second
audition were chosen to join AKB48, but in the end only 17 girls joined
the group to become Team K in April 2006. They were:
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.
On April 1, 2006, Team K started performing at the AKB48 theater.
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 March of 2006, Usami Yuki of Team A became the first girl to graduate from the group.
On June 7 AKB48 released their second indies single, Skirt, Hirari, and
performed on TV for the first time. Shortly after, on June 17th, Uemura
Ayako of Team K graduates from the group.
Major Label Debut and DefSTAR Records Era
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 October 2006, a third audition was announced, resulting in the
arrival of 13 new members forming Team B in December 2006. The selected
girls were:
Inoue Naru, Oota Aika, Kashiwagi Yuki, Katayama Haruka, Kikuchi
Ayaka, Saotome Miki, Tanabe Miku, Nakagawa Haruka, Nakaya Sayaka,
Noguchi Reina, Matsuoka Yuki, Yonezawa Rumi, and Watanabe Mayu.
On November 3rd & 4th, 2006, AKB48 performed their first
concert AKB48 First Concert "Aitakatta ~Hashira wa Nai ze!~ at Nippon
Seinenkan in Sendagaya, Shinjuku.
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.
On January 31st, 2007, AKB48's fourth single (second under DefSTAR
Records) Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru was released; reaching #7 on Oricon
charts. There has been speculation that the PV and lyrics to this song
are an allusion to enjo kosai - voluntary underage prostitution - though
this has not been confirmed. Their next single, Keibetsu Shiteita
Aijou, featured a theme of bullying and suicide throughout the lyrics
and PV. To promote the singles, AKB48 went on their second concert tour,
AKB48 Haru no Chotto dake Zenkoku Tour ~Madamada daze AKB48!~ which
began on March 10, 2007.
In June 2007, members Imai Yu, Hoshino Michiru and Takada Ayana
graduated at roughly the same time. The group's fifth single BINGO!, was
released on July 18th, 2007.
On New Years Day 2008, AKB48 released their first studio album,
Set List: Greatest Songs 2006–2007. The compilation album included all
of the group's singles up until their sixth, Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka?. Team K
member Ohori Megumi (now in SDN48) became the first member to have a
solo cover on one of AKB48's CD releases. She appeared exclusively on
the cover of the Limited Edition of the album. The album managed to
reach #3 on the Oricon Weekly Album charts.
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 October and November of 2007, Team A members Watanabe Shiho and Masuyama Kayano graduated.
On December 31, 2007, 43 members of AKB48 appeared on the 58th
Annual Kohaku Uta Gassen, the prestigous end of the year music special.
They performed with idols Leah Dizon and Shoko Nakagawa.
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.
KING RECORDS
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.
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).
In October 21, 2009, AKB48 released the single RIVER which became
the first AKB48 single to reach #1 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart.
It became the second best selling female single of 2009.
In December 31, 2009, AKB48 performed RIVER-Surprise special remix at
the 60th NHK Kouhaku uta gassen. 72 members (all AKB48, the Kenkyusei,
and 3 SKE48 members)) were in the performance.
"Majisuka Gakuen" (Majisuka Academy), a drama featuring several members
of AKB48, SKE48 and SDN48 started airing from January 8th, 2010 on TV
Tokyo.
On March 3, 2010, a full 5 months after they announced that all
the teams were to be reshuffled, the first new formation of AKB48's Team
K premiered with their new stage titled "RESET."
On August 2010, AKB48 expanded their official shops outside of Japan
(namely Asia region) with it being in Hong Kong. They then expanded
their locations with it being: Taiwan (April 2011), Singapore (May 2011)
and Shanghai (July 2011).
On December 8, 2010, AKB48 celebrated its 5th anniversary in the
theater with a special performance by all members, as well as returning
graduates. All 9th generation kenkyuusei were also promoted.
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 June 6, 2011, AKB48 made public announcement during this
evening’s Himawari H1 Revival Stage the formation of a brand new AKB48
team, bluntly titled Team 4. The Team will consists of the 10 previously
promoted kenkyuusei.
On June 11th, 2011, It was announced at a handshake event that
Eguchi Aimi, a girl who auditioned for NMB48, would be joining AKB48 as a
trainee, she appeared immediately in Playboy Weekly and in
advertisements. Producer Akimoto Yasushi stated that she will be “the
heroine of the new age”. Eguchi was immediately met with skepticism from
many fans and soon Team K member Kikuchi Ayaka leaked on her blog that
Eguchi was made of parts of other members through photoshop. On June
20th, Weekly Playboy published an article about Eguchi, stating that she
was made up of parts of Takahashi Minami, Maeda Atsuko, Watanabe Mayu,
Shinoda Mariko, Itano Tomomi, Oshima Yuko and 12th generation Kenkyuusei
Sasaki Yukari. There’ll be an official announcement on the June 20,
2011 regarding Aimi.
On July 3rd, AKB48 announced and confirmed that they will be
having their ‘24th Single Senbatsu Janken (Rock, Paper, Scissors)
Tournament‘ in September. This will be the second year in a row that
they will be choosing their ’senbatsu’ members for their new single,
which is due to be released in December. The event will take place on
September 20th at the Nippon Bukoukan once again. Moreover, This event
will be broadcasting in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and
Thailand.
credit to: Ami chan
