The Graduation of AKB48's Center and the Unexpected Shuffle

If you've heard of AKB48, then you must have heard about Maeda Atsuko, nicknamed Acchan, who has graduated from AKB48 on August 27 to pursue her solo career.

Maeda Atsuko / Acchan

In the beginning, Acchan never wanted to be AKB's center, but Aki-P (Akimoto Yasushi) wanted someone to be the face of AKB48, and chose her. Her center position status became apparent when Acchan had all the singing lines in A2 (Team A 2nd Stage)'s "Nagisa no Cherry". Although, when I first got into AKB48 and saw "Skirt Hirari", I thought for sure that Takamina (Takahashi Minami) was the center as she had the most lines. As I saw more of their performances, the center of AKB48 was definitely Acchan and Takamina for me. For more details on AKB48's history --> http://vid48.com/watch_video.php?v=DWB6YX3KOY2D

Takahashi Minami / Takamina

With the immovable center now out of the picture, it seems that Aki-P wants to change things up a lot. There was a shuffle in 2009 during the "Soukaku Matsuri" where all the performances were done by different members than the original stage performances. No one knew that this was a big hint that AKB48 would be shuffled. Even though the shuffle was shocking, the placement of members made sense. Kasai Tomomi definitely had the cuteness that fit Team B. Itano Tomomi definitely had a coolness about her that fit Team K. Even though it took some time to get used to who used to be in what team and what team they were in now, it all made sense in the end in terms of the fit and the balance within the teams. For those who aren't sure how the teams are classified, you can think of it in these terms: Team A is the idol team; Team K is the cool team, and Team B is the cute team. 

Kasai Tomomi / Tomo~mi / Chiyu

Itano Tomomi / Tomochin

However, the shuffle that happened during Tokyo Dome is completely out of left field. Many fans are shocked about it, as well as myself, because no one can seem to make any sense of why certain members are being shuffled around. For example, Kojiharu (Kojima Haruna) was a first generation member, and has always been in Team A, even through the 2009 shuffle. But now, she's in Team B. She is cute, but Team A just seems more fitting for her. 

Kojima Haruna / Kojiharu / Nyan Nyan

There has also been a buzz about Miyazawa Sae going to SHN48 (Shanghai 48), and Takajo Aki going to JKT48 (Jakarta 48). Many thought it was management's decision to move these senbatsu girls to overseas teams, but after reading their blogs (http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/08/miyazawa-sae-takajo-aki-explain-about-their-transfer/), it was clear that it was their own decision as they wanted to challenge themselves. New info from Togasaki states that the transferred members will only be there from 6 months to one year (http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/09/akb48-theater-manager-togasaki-tomonobu-comments-on-miyazawa-sae-takajo-akis-transfers-overseas/). So, it's not a permanent transfer, but I'm just wondering what they plan on accomplishing with these members during that time period. Get these overseas groups on their feet and further using already popular AKB members?

Miyazawa Sae / Sae / Genking

Takajo Aki / Akicha

The reason why there is such a big fuss about sending AKB members to other sister groups is that within a month after the 2012 elections, Sashihara Rino was sent to HKT48 as "punishment" (or "reset" as Aki-P calls it) over a scandal concerning a past relationship that may have occurred during her time in AKB. (If there is one thing to remember about the idol world in Japan, it is that idols are not allowed to date.) This probably started because Sasshi ranked 4th in the elections, and was the highest ranking Team A member, outranking Shinoda Mariko. Either Sasshi's past "lover" was a Mariko supporter or he wanted to crush Sasshi's popularity. Some fans think that it was a strategic move on Aki-P's part to send Sasshi to HKT48 in order to boost said group's popularity. More about the scandal -->  http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/06/akb48s-sashihara-rino-moved-to-hkt48-because-of-the-scandal/

Sashihara Rino / Sasshi (when she was still in AKB)

Sasshi in HKT48. They made her look a lot younger to fit with the rest of the HKT members

A similar situation happened with Akimoto Sayaka where there were rumours that she was having a relationship with the director of a stage play she was starring in as the director had spent one night at her place. This led to the possibility that Sayaka may not have gotten her starring role through honest means. Despite the rumours being untrue, Sayaka decided to step down as captain of Team K, and many Team K members, old and new, were upset by this news because only Sayaka could fill the role of Team K captain in their eyes. Sayaka was able to redeem herself by completing the Tokyo Marathon, and Aki-P reinstated her position as captain almost immediately.

Akimoto Sayaka / Sayaka

Probably one of the most important announcements made at Tokyo Dome was the dissolution of Team 4. This team signalled the possibility of a Team 8, but that won't happen now that Team 4 has dissolved and split amongst Team A, K, and B. The only problem with this is that many fans came to like Team 4, such as myself, and they were even slowly creating their own persona, and were pushed in various AKBINGO episodes, such as in AKBeginner. Even though they are now in the main teams, the youthfulness and energy of Team 4 will never be forgotten.

Now that Team 4 has been split into the 3 main teams, this means that each team has over 16 members, and stages are  known to be 16-member performances. Usually, when one of the members cannot make it to a stage performance, a kenkyuusei (research student) would replace them (as they have been practicing to fill those spots if they ever appear). Togasaki, AKB48's manager, explained that the 20+ members will be rotated to fill the 16 spots. Many fans say that it makes the kenkyuusei position useless, since 5+ members would need to be sick or too busy to perform in order for even one of the kenkyuusei to be on stage as a replacement. It's going to be a much more difficult road for the kenkyuuseis to get some spotlight time with this new rotation system. I'm also not sure how promotions will work with this system. 

Another announcement was the change in the captaincy positions. Takamina, former Team A captain, is now general manager of AKB48. This suits Takamina as she is the one that always gathers the members before a concert, and is definitely seen as the leader of AKB48 by all members. She also recently became a soloist under Universal Music, so I'm looking forward to that. Shinoda Mariko from Team A is now captain of Team A. Many think that this means that Mariko won't be graduating for awhile, despite being one of the oldest members. Team K captain Akimoto Sayaka is replaced by Team K's Oshima Yuko. Once again, many fans think that this will force Yuko to stay in AKB longer because of this position. Yuko had contemplated about not participating in the 2012 elections because she knew that she would get the center position easily with Acchan not there. But, she wanted to be center at least one more time, so she stayed in the election. Team B captain Kashiwagi Yuki is replaced by Umeda Ayaka, originally from Team K. This was a surprise to most fans, but this position is most likely recognizing all the work Ume-chan has put in all these years as she was finally able to become a top-tier senbatsu member during the 2012 elections. 

Shinoda Mariko / Mariko-sama - Team A Captain

Oshima Yuko / Yuuko - Team K Captain

Umeda Ayaka / Ume-chan - Team B Captain

Kashiwagi Yuki / Yukirin - ex Team B Captain

I'm pretty sure I'll get used to all these changes once I see the new stages (A7, K7, B6). Other than that, we'll just have to see what the AKB48 family has in store for the rest of this year. Also, the Janken (Rock Paper Scissors) tournament is coming up in about 2 weeks (Sept 18), so look forward to details on that. If you're curious, you can check out the match-ups here --> http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/07/akb48-reveals-pairings-for-3rd-senbatsu-janken-tournament/