AKB48's Janken Tournament 2012

September 18th was AKB48's annual Janken (Rock-Paper-Scissors) Tournament, where those with the strongest luck and motivation to become center will be part of the Best 16 senbatsu for the 29th single. I'll be writing what I saw from "live" footage on Kayou Kyoku.

Warning: this post will be extremely (low quality) picture heavy!

Note: I'll be referring to the members by their "old" team names, since that's what the announcer in the tournament was doing. 

Highlights from the first 3 rounds (before Best 16)

AKB48 Team K Oshima Yuko (right) sexies it up with her police outfit and wins her first round against ex-team member, Kuramochi Asuka (AKB48 Team A).

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AKB48 Team K Minegishi Minami (right) struck out on her first round after placing 3rd in last year's tournament. 

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AKB48 Team K Akimoto Sayaka (left) dressed super sexy this time around....

...only to strike out on the first round. She placed Best 8 in last year's Janken tournament. 

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AKB48 Team K Miyazawa Sae dressed as a white prince. 

You can see AKB48 Team B Kashiwagi Yuki praying for Sae to win. It's interesting that you see Yukirin praying, since she was one of the main characters with Sae in a musical called "Infinity" (AKB48 Kagekidan). I highly recommend watching it. (They are lovers!)

Despite Sae's dashing appearance (right), she loses right from the start. 

However, Yukirin (right) avenges Sae by winning her first round. This is a surprise since Yukirin has always lost the first round in the Janken tournaments. 

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AKB48 Team A Takahashi Minami (right) yankees it up, and easily wins her first round. 

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Intense stare by AKB48 Team 4 Nakamura Mariko...

An equally intense stare by SKE48 Team S / AKB48 Team K Matsui Jurina...

SKE48 Team S Matsui Rena praying for Jurina to win. 

Despite an intense match with her Oogoe Diamond outfit, Jurina (left) lost the first round after tying twice with Mariko (right). 

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AKB48 Team 4 Ichikawa Miori (aka Fresh Lemon) was going strong with her lemon outfit, but lost the round to get into senbatsu.

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AKB48 Team K Uchida Mayumi (left) dressed up as her role as a rock from the show "Bimyo", and got into senbatsu using rock against AKB48 Team 4 Shimada Haruka (right). 

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Despite AKB48 Team B Watanabe Mayu's (right) elaborate opera-esque outfit for this tournament, she loses to AKB48 Team K Itano Tomomi (left) for a spot in the senbatsu.

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AKB48 Team A Kojima Haruna (left) was going strong in another lucky colour dress. 

However, she loses to AKB48 Team K Umeda Ayaka (right) when she changes her outfit. It looks like Ume-chan's Gingham Check-inspired yukata allowed her to get into the Janken senbatsu as Gingham Check was the single that marked her entrance into the Sousenkyou senbatsu. Kojiharu's streak of being in every A-side single is now over. 

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AKB48 Team A Maeda Ami (right) is going strong with getting into every Janken senbatsu thus far, beating AKB48 Team K Oshima Yuko (left). 

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AKB48 Team B Kashiwagi Yuki's face after she won the round to get into Janken senbatsu. It looks like her lucky colour, pink, was a good choice of colour to wear for this tournament. 

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After an intense stare down between AKB48 Team 4 Nakamura Mariko...

...and AKB48 Team A Takahashi Minami...

...Takamina (left) lost, allowing Mariko (right) to get into senbatsu for the first time. This tournament is really the only ways that girls, who are never picked for senbatsu, get a chance to be part of it. 

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After tying with rock twice, AKB48 Team A Matsubara Natsumi (left) gets into senbatsu with scissors after 4 years of not being part of senbatsu. The last single where she was in senbatsu was for "Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008". AKB48 Team K Fujie Reina (right) placed 2nd in the Janken tournament last year. 

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Best 8

AKB48 Team K Uchida Mayumi (left) gets into Best 8 with another rock, beating AKB48 Team K Itano Tomomi (right).

SKE48 Team E Kimoto Kanon (left) loses to AKB48 Team 4 Takeuchi Miyu (right) for a place in Best 8.

AKB48 Team K Nito Moeno (left) beats fellow team member Umeda Ayaka (right) to get into Best 8.

AKB48 Team A Shinoda Mariko (left), last year's Janken Queen, beats fellow team member Maeda Ami (right).

AKB48 Team K Yokoyama Yui (left) beats AKB48 Team A Nakata Chisato (right).

SKE48 Team E Ueno Kasumi (left) loses against AKB48 Team 4 Abe Maria (right). 

AKB48 Team 4 Shimazaki Haruka (left) beats AKB48 Team B Kashiwagi Yuki (right). 

AKB48 Team 4 Nakamura Mariko (left) beats AKB48 Team A Matsubara Natsumi (right) with paper. It looks like it's her favourite move, since she's always using it.

Best 4

AKB48 Team K Uchida Mayumi (left) beats AKB48 Team 4 Takeuchi Miyu (right). It looks like the original Janken Queen is getting closer to the top. It also appears that Uchida's lucky colour is grey.

AKB48 Team K Nito Moeno (left) beats AKB48 Team A Shinoda Mariko (right) with her favourite paper. Last year's Janken Queen is out of the running for Best 4. 

AKB48 Team K Yokoyama Yui (left) beats AKB48 Team 4 Abe Maria (right) for a spot in Best 4. Will Yui be the next center?

AKB48 Team 4 Shimazaki Haruka (left) beats fellow team member Nakamura Mariko (right) for Best 4. 

Best 2

AKB48 Team K Uchida Mayumi (left) is beaten by fellow team member Nito Moeno (right). It looks like paper is the strongest move so far. The original Janken Queen is out of the running for Best 2. 

AKB48 Team K Yokoyama Yui (left) is beaten by AKB48 Team 4 Shimazaki Haruka (right) for Best 2.

Center Position

AKB48 Team 4 Shimazaki Haruka (right) takes center position with scissors. It was pretty obvious she would win, since AKB48 Team K Nito Moeno (left) has been using paper throughout the entire tournament, while Haruka has been using scissors the entire time. The rumoured rookie ace is now this year's Janken queen.

Congrats to AKB48 Team 4 Shimazaki Haruka (aka Paruru / Ponkotsu)!

Let's look at the 29th single's senbatsu members:
1. Shimazaki Haruka (Team 4)
2. Nito Moeno (Team K)
3. Uchida Mayumi (Team K), Yokoyama Yui (Team K)
5. Takeuchi Miyu (Team 4), Shinoda Mariko (Team A), Abe Maria (Team 4), Nakamura Mariko (Team 4)
9. Itano Tomomi (Team K), Kimoto Kanon (Team E), Umeda Ayaka (Team K), Maeda Ami (Team A), Nakata Chisato (Team A), Ueno Kasumi (Team E), Kashiwagi Yuki (Team B), Matsubara Natsumi (Team A)

(Bolded members are those that have been in previous Janken senbatsu singles.)

Team K - 5 spots / Team 4 - 4 spots (Best 8) / Team A - 4 spots / Team E - 2 spots (Best 16) / Team B - 1 spot (Best 16)

Overall, this senbatsu is definitely Team 4 centered, since half of the Best 8 spots are held by Team 4 members. Team E brought 2 spots home for SKE48, while the other sisters groups (NMB48, HKT48) weren't able to get a single spot. Team K has the most spots, with Team B only having 1. Team A goes home with 1/4 of the senbatsu spots, just like Team 4.  

At the end of the Janken Tournmament, AKB48 performed their newest single (28th) called "Uza". The previous double center for singles was Takamina/Acchan. This time, it's....

SKE48 Team S / AKB48 Team K Matsui Jurina

AKB48 Team K Oshima Yuko

It was obvious that Yuko was going to be center now that Acchan has graduated, and I'm pleasantly surprised that Jurina is back as center, since the last time she was center was in Oogoe Diamond with Takamina. "Uza" seems like a very badass song, which is completely different from the previous single's "Gingham Check". I wonder what kind of songs this new generation of AKB will perform, especially with the upcoming single having Paruru as center. It'll probably be something cutesy, but we'll have to wait and see what Aki-P comes up with.