#akb48 general election | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tottenhamhotsperm · 4 months

Text

as a wrestling and kpop fan I feel obligated to talk about this

the song strong machine j is dancing to is perfect night by le sserafim, a kpop girl group. here's a side by side comparison with a fancam of miyawaki sakura, one of the members. she is legitimately called kami (god) by her japanese fanbase which tells you a lot on what you need to know about her popularity. he was probably paying homage to her as a fellow japanese.

however, the plot thickens. here's another video of a wrestler:

someone look familiar? that's sakura.

sakura, although now an extremely popular kpop idol promoting in korea, has had several side quests in life. she started as a member of hkt48 at just 14, an idol group under the main group akb48 which quite literally has hundreds of members. they run on an "election" system, where the general public gets to vote for their favorite members and the most popular members generally get more opportunities/performances/merch/etc. so to stand out, she had to take some liberties whether it be pretending to be extremely shit at jump roping or have comically bad running form to garner laughs.

it's important to realize that japanese idols are seen more as entertainers rather than performers. rather than focusing their energy on perfecting their singing and dancing, they're more like a jack of all trades working more toward making their audience feel energized.

the clip of sakura wrestling is actually from a drama akb48 broadcasted called tofu pro wrestling where sakura inherits her dad's tofu shop only to find out she could only pay back the debt he left behind if she won a wrestling championship. so not only did sakura, but SEVERAL other members under the akb48 umbrella learn puroresu and perform in front of a live audience. great stuff.

she then goes on to become one of the most popular members of the group and travels to korea in 2018 for an idol competition show called produce 48, which brought together members of akb48 and korean kpop trainees who would be voted into a temporary girl group.

sakura, who was extremely popular before even going on the show, was voted into the final group called iz*one. (there was voting manipulation but sakura would've been in the final group regardless so I won't go into that.)

as an iz*one member she gains a massive korean fanbase while simultaneously maintaining her japanese fans. once iz*one's contract ended in 2021 and disbanded, sakura decided to stay in korea and would later join le sserafim in 2022 where she is now promoting.

all that and she's only 25! I've barely grazed the tip of the iceberg that is sakura's career, but it's honestly a treat whenever i find out about some batshit crazy stuff she's done in her decade-long career.

miyawaki sakura, one of the most popular celebrities in japan, was once a wrestler! something to think about whenever you listen to iz*one/le sserafim.

also here's a photo of her in the audience during kenny vs okada wk 11 LOL

#wrestling #genuinely how tf i do tag this LOL #i didn't see anyone posting about this so i had to write smth #ough... my two worlds colliding #NOT maintagging in kpop bc a lot of kpop fans already know about kkura's wrestling career so like. this will just stay on wrestleblr ig

76 notes · View notes

boysplanetrecaps · 5 months

Text

The Great Produce 48 Rewatch: Ep 2, Signal Song [Part 2]

Hey there, National Producer! (That's you, you cutey-pie!)

When we left off with this ridiculous(ly important) project, we were watching the trainees rehearse for the "signal song," Nekko-ya. In this post, we'll finish off talking about their rehearsal period. It's a comparatively shorter post. Woot woot!

We pick up with the girls in F class, who have noticed that the letter F, in the mirror, looks like a Korean double K (ㅋ) . Used alone, ㅋ can mean “LOL” or “ha ha”, so they jump up and down and laugh seeing the equivalent of “LOLOLOLOL” on their backs.

They’re in the middle of joking around when Dance Bae comes in. Immediately, they quiet down. They’re all scared of her, but here’s the thing about Dance Bae -- she’s not a total psychopath. She just has no patience for untalented girls using the show as a springboard for their acting career. If you try hard, and listen to her, she’ll treat you with basic kindness.

She notes that most of the girls are Japanese and tells them they’ll have to work hard. They try the chorus, working on their synchronized dance, and she says that they’re doing better than the C class, which makes them feel great. She congratulates them on how hard they’re working, saying “I thought you’d be a mess since you’re F-class. But you’re doing a lot better than expected, so, fighting!!”

I love how Ahn Ye Won, the YG KPlus model, looks like an actual giant in this photo. She’s only 5’7!

A lot of this segment focuses on Chiba Erii, aka Sailor Mercury, second from the left in the photo above, shown in what is apparently some kind of glitch mode. She does not know how to sing, and she doesn’t seem to enjoy learning to dance. A lot of these girls find this process difficult but still seem… I don’t know, interested? But Erii is barely there. I’m not accusing her of laziness. I’m saying that she’s so miserable that she’s checking out. It’s kind of uncomfortable to watch. One really wonders why she came on the show.

She doesn’t normally have such a full upper lip, so maybe she was having some sort of allergic reaction or something here. That might explain why she was so out-of-it.

They dance in a group, and Dance Bae notices how disconnected Erii is. She asks Erii to dance alone, and Erii, fully enmeshed in this nightmare from which awakening isn’t possible, complies. It gives off vibes like someone should have edited in really loud sneaker noises. It only takes a few moments for Dance Bae to stop her, saying that Erii is just as bad as Sohye (from Produce101 -- a girl who obviously just went on the show to launch her acting career and accidentally won). Dance Bae tells her to work harder if she ever wants to get out of F class, and Erii begins to cry, hiding her face in her shirt.

The other girls don’t seem to have much sympathy for Erii.

Left to right: Yabuki Nako; Bibian; and Tanaka Miku. We haven’t really met Nako or Miku before, because they sang the Banana song together that was just too hot for MNET!

Here’s another shot of them from earlier in the scene so you can see what they look like from another angle. Left to right, this is Bibian, Nako, Natsume, and Miku.

Anyway, to go back to what I was saying about the girls not seeming to have much sympathy for Erii as she’s crying. The look on especially Bibian’s face is very much… not… sympathetic. I am not saying anything bad about any of these girls. I have no idea if Bibian and Erii hate each other. I have no idea if Bibian even had this expression on her face at that moment, in reaction to Erii crying. What I do know is that if there is animosity among AKB48 girls -- and there definitely, objectively, factually is -- it is caused by the AKB48 system itself, which is (or at least was) designed in such a way that animosity runs through the whole project like fudge ripples through a fudge ripple. They’re always competing in the General Elections (or at least, they were doing so at the time this aired), and always competing for who will sing on the A side or even a B side of a single. I’ll talk more about this later on with regards to gravely-voiced Noe and some rumors about her, but there are lots of stories about AKB girls physically attacking each other, or hiring other people to do so, and/or starting malicious rumors, really nasty stuff like that. I just have to be glad that the worst of that seems to be in the past, and that for whatever reason, you don’t tend to hear about stuff like that in Kpop these days. I also think it’s sweet that when put in an environment where people tend to help each other and cooperate, the AKB girls very quickly adjust and begin to adapt that perspective. It shows that at heart, most people really want to be friends. At least, I’d like to believe that that’s true.

Ok, back to it. Erii crying kicks off a montage of other F-class girls crying. They know that if they don’t move up from F-class, they won’t even be allowed to stand on stage during the big performance of Naekkoya. Honestly, they get to me, because most of them, I know, are working hard and it has to be so stressful to be so young, so far from home, working so hard on so little sleep. Bibian’s comments might be the saddest: “I can’t even be in Class F. I’m so much worse than that.” As if she’s heard what they said in their interviews, Dance Bae tells them, with unexpected softness, “Let’s all go up to the higher classes. I really want to see you all perform on stage…. Let’s pull the A graders down! Let’s go. Fighting!” See, I told you from the start that she’s not the psychopath around here.

Then there’s a really cute montage of the F-class girls working together and trying to encourage each other. A Japanese girl offers Hyewon a sweatshirt, pantomiming “being cold”, and Hyewon understands and accepts it. Matsuoka Natsumi interviews that the Korean trainees came over to talk to her when she was crying.

I'm pretty sure that that's Ahn Ye Won, the YGK+ model, comforting her.

As the Love Theme from Produce 48 plays, they all say that they’re working the hardest because they know they have the furthest to go. Even Erii is working hard! I’m here sitting on my cat paw cushion shouting at the computer screen. FIGHTING, girls!! FIGHTING!!! Also please get some sleep!!!

Heading Into the Final Eval - 1:36:53

It’s the night before they will record their individual performances of Naekkoya for their final evaluation. Some of the girls are lying in bed, practicing the lyrics and hand movements. Others, like Takeuchi Miyu’s Korean roommates, are still practicing, leading her to wonder out loud, in slow Korean, “Don’t the Korean trainees sleep?” Sakura notes the same thing, that they seem to just keep practicing instead of sleeping, so she’s doing the same. She’s embarrassed that seven years after her own debut, she’s not nearly as good as the other girls. But it’s obvious that part of the problem is that she’s completely exhausted. Girls! Listen to your unnie! You need to sleep or you’re going to have a complete brain collapse tomorrow!

Choi Yeonsoo, one of the YGK+ models, tries to help Minami, aka Sailor Mars/Lemon-chan’s mom, who looks like she’s about to drop. She’s only 14, for heaven’s sake.

Yeonsoo uses little drawings to try to communicate.

Side note: to any of my lovies who are studying for something, remember that your brain is part of your body and if you don’t take care of your body with enough sleep and stuff, your brain also won’t work well and it’ll be hard to learn. Please try to get some sleep! Your health is important.

They are all working together and trying to help each other. Most of them want to make it to A class (or stay in A class) so that they could be in the center. As if it isn’t obviously going to be Sakura.

Ok, that’s it for this post! In the next one, we’ll begin talking about the grade reassignments. See you then!

#BPR recaps p48 #produce48 #produce 48 #le sserafim #ive #sakura #chiba erii #Murakawa bibian

1 note · View note

ayaelectro · 6 years

Video

[ENG SUB] AKB48 TEAM K MUTO TOMU GENERAL ELECTION (SOUSENKYO) APPEAL VIDEO

#AKB48 #MUTO TOMU #TOMU MUTO #MUTOU TOMU #TOMU MUTOU #武藤十夢 #TOMU #十夢 #とむ #チームK #TEAM K #AKB48 Senbatsu Sousenkyo #AKB48 Sousenkyo #Sousenkyo #AKB48 Election #AKB48 General Election #AKB48世界選抜総選挙 #世界選抜総選挙

6 notes · View notes

nagatsukinura119 · 7 years

Text

AKB48 49th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo report

Well… I couldn’t write this report as soon as after I was done watching with this year’s SSK, because I had a total headache as I watched the whole thing and suffered internally. Even right now I can’t think straight due to lack of sleep and I need to catch a flight in an hour. Sorry for lack of pictures because this year I spent most of the time chatting with other fans. Also, I don’t think I’m that fully invested in this year’s SSK, I’m so sorry with my lacking passion but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t spend some money on votes this year. But, enough about me and let’s start with this year’s SSK report.

Aside from the fact that the morning event was cancelled thanks to the staff’s wise decision to choose Okinawa as the venue during TYPHOON SEASON. One word for this year’s event: crazy. It was simply CRAZY. Lots of changes in members ranking in as well as the ranks of regular participants. It feels like this was some kind of bingo game and members were just randomly selected into their ranks. No, that was not right, I actually considered to think that this year the rankings were rigged, I’m not gonna lie that this was how I felt. Honestly, I don’t know about 70-75% of the members who ranked in because there were some Kenkyuusei members who managed to get in and NGT members are starting to grab some ranks from other members. This isn’t actually a big deal and it’s great that these members were able to rank in for the first time and they deserved it and kudos for them. But on the other hand, because I didn’t know most of these girls it was hard for me to enjoy and focus fully on the event. Sure, later on some recognized names were mentioned like Sato Yukari (AKB48), Sato Sumire (NMB48), Ichikawa Miori (NMB48) and so on.

Nevertheless, there were really great rises and first appearances from members that I support like. First, I’m gonna mention some names that I recognize and pleased to see rising up.

Kato Minami #71

Girl has rose with 5 ranks from last year. Not really a huge gap considering that she was deemed the face of NGT initially, only to have another member as the group’s Center (I smell AtsuMina kind of relationship). Nevertheless, I believe she still has more to show to us and she’ll rise more and more as time goes on.

Oguri Yui #51

I’m still not a fan of Team 8 but something about Yuiyui keeps on calling for my attention. Perhaps it’s because of AKBingo when she was often called. So, when she was ranked from unranked to 51th place it was really pleasing to hear. I really hope she’ll grow more and catch more hearts at the same time show more of her talent.

Taniguchi Megu #69

YES! Naachan’s waifu rose 24 ranks and didn’t disappoint me. I knew that this year was gonna be Megutan’s year for SSK. I think she’s one of those members who gradually and slowly rise up through the ranks as well the hearts of the fans. I have a feeling that she’s not really there yet but she’s still young and I believe she still has chances to raise her popularity. Considering AKB’s current condition I really hope she will be one of the members along with the 16th generation girls to bring AKB to the top again.

Fukuoka Seina #32

Just like Megutan, Seichan’s rose of 65 ranks is utterly AMAZING! I seriously didn’t expect she’d rose so high and frankly speaking I didn’t have that much hope with her. I’m just really glad that she’s there and she’s one of the few members whom I lay my eyes on.

Honorable mentions for this category are Yokoyama Yui Team A #7 (rise 4 ranks) and Takahashi Juri #11 (rise 4 ranks) and Iwatate Saho #42 (rise 9 ranks).

So those are the members whose ranks I’m satisfied with. Now onto the WTF moments that almost made me feel infuriated. These members whose ranks that I didn’t expect coming from them and really, really dropped my jaw.

Kitagawa Ryoha #64 (same rank), Shibuya Nagisa #60 (drop 4 ranks), Tomonaga Mio #35 (drop 12 ranks)

Take note that these three names are Tentoumuchu members and for me, they were ranked quite low and this was a shock. I’m upset that Uha and Nagisa have lost their momentum and ranked low for their standard. It’s saddening enough that Miki’s no longer around but seeing members of Tentoumuchu fell this low is just heartbreaking. As for Mio, I’m not sure if she’s lost her momentum or this just wasn’t her year. Regardless, during her speech she looked like she was about to collapse which was really heartbreaking to look at. I can’t say for sure what to expect from Uha and Nagisa next year, but I believe Mio’s fans will try to avenge her next year and bring her to senbatsu or at least Undergirls because I believe she belongs there.

Mukaichi Mion #17 (drop 4 ranks)

This was a major shock. I think this was one of the biggest shock for me coming from this SSK. This is like, FUCKING MION, man. How on earth did she drop out of senbatsu? As much as I’m pleased that Naachan surpassed her but her drop is INSANE. It almost felt like somebody rigged her votes to drop her rank purposely. I can’t even say much about this expect that this is just too mind-blowing.

Komiyama Haruka #52

Biggest shock of the night for me. I can’t- I mean- WHAT!? When I heard her name, I was appalled that I thought the announcers read the card wrong or something. I remember her face being so appalled as she got up the stage to get her trophy. Frankly speaking her face was literally saying, “What the fuck am I doing here? Is this seriously what I’m getting?” and she looked like she was ready to kill someone. Ironically, I wished that when she received the mic, she’d go apeshit and just blow her mind out, or simply drop the mic out of discontent (lol). Surprisingly she did really well in her speech and retained her smile and remained professional and mature which made me clap my hands and feel proud for her. I really thought that Komiharu’s gonna fly this year since she had a promising year and so did many fans. In fact, most of us expected she’d be in senbatsu, so what gives!? I haven’t discovered what caused this huge drop from 21st place but I really hope that next year she’s gonna make a huge comeback and not disappoint the fans because I believe she has the ability to do better.

Kojima Mako #24 (drop 5 ranks)

This is definitely the next huge shocking moment next to Komiharu’s ranking. The moment Kojimako’s name was called, it immediately made me say the words: blasphemy, lies, sabotage and treason, because I really thought she’d make it to senbatsu this year, I mean, if not this year, when?! I’m still at a loss of words over this utter bullshit. I guess to put it simply, my thoughts for Kojimako’s ranking is the same as Komiharu’s.

Watanabe Mayu #2

Nothing much to say about Mayuyu’s rank expect for the fact that most of us have expected it but wished we were wrong. So, she secured the second place for the third time and some of us were delighted and I believe most of us were just “eh” about it. Comparing her number of votes from this year and last year, she actually dropped a lot of votes so I guess it’s no shocker that she didn’t get the first place but no one can blame her because Sasshi’s a monster. Anyway, the bigger reason why I decided to write about Mayuyu is her graduation announcement. I didn’t watch her announcement live because I was too disappointed that she didn’t win but I heard the news from live chats and despite that I expected it coming, I did NOT expect that she would announce it during SSK which was almost mindblowing as Riripon’s marriage announcement (which was a major WTF moment)

Okada Nana #9

I can’t say that I’m 100% upset and saddened that we failed to bring Naachan to her dream to reach Kami 7 this year. But her rose of ranks from 14th place and about 5000 votes is enough to show us that she has rose in popularity and likely will do much more in the future once her activities in STU48 are more prominent and she gains more fans throughout Setouchi. I think Naachan’s speech was the only moment when I shed tears throughout this SSK especially because of how she talked about wanting to be a great role model for the members of STU48. Remember that the members are young and they need a right role model to guide them, and what could be better than Naachan? She’s a promising member as well as a great leader (she may not be the best but she IS trying). Once again, Naachan mentioned that she wants to bring AKB48 on top again and I really want this to happen. This is why I shed tears along with the ‘daughters’ as they were so touched by her speech. While I’m somewhat satisfied with her improvement, I am still a bit salty that a new member managed to overthrow her and other regular members of senbatsu from Kami 7 so next year I’ll try to invest more votes for her.

Alright now that’s that, time for the same confession I did since the past 2 SSKs. Just like last year, the moment I heard Mayuyu’s name being mentioned in the second place I immediately turned the stream off because frankly I didn’t want to see the smug in Sasshi’s face, at the same time I had a feeling that her victory wasn’t gonna be that passionate, and judging from some comments I read in Stage48 and Tumblr, boy was I right. I guess the regret I had for my actions this year is that I didn’t at least stop to listen to Mayuyu’s graduation announcement. Anyway, for God’s sake I’m sick of seeing Sasshi standing at the top stage, sitting on the queen’s chair, and wearing that cape. Here’s why I don’t like Sasshi getting the first place:

1. Everyone knows that it’s a no-brainer that she was gonna win again for the FOURTH time and THIRD time consecutively (but I still held hopes that Mayuyu was gonna beat her but NOOOOOO she got almost 100k votes higher than Mayuyu so Mayuyu didn’t stand a chance AT ALL). SASSHI, ENOUGH! STAHPPPPPPPPP! We get it; you’re the indisputable GIANT WITH A HUGEASS FANDOM THAT RANGES FROM IDOL FANS TO NON-IDOL FANS, NOW CAN YOU JUST GO AWAY!? *pant pant*

2. I don’t think it’s necessary for her to participate since last year because I don’t see why she has to (even though she has all the rights to participate). Unless she’s being forced by her agency or manager to keep on participating and become a wall for new winners, I don’t see what’s the point for her to be there. She’s very popular and her influence has widened all the way from the idol world already. At this point I’m even considering that she’s doing this for personal gain. I think I’m just used to most members doing things NOT for themselves, but for the sake of others, so when this thought came in I just can’t help but feel like Sasshi is being selfish. Although she can enjoy the glory, fans are starting to not even bother her win anymore. I have a feeling (and REALLY hope) that she won’t be participating next year because she herself said that she won’t be in anyone’s way next year (amen to that).

I think there were more things I had in mind about Sasshi but I forgot about them as I write this down.

Another crazy thing that happened was obviously the speech of Sutou Ririka who announced her marriage. Frankly this announcement was super surprise because dating itself was already a huge deal for these girls, but MARRIAGE? What. The. Actual. Fuck? To be clear, I’m not her fan and I’m not that interested in her. But I know that she’s a sensible girl so when she announced this I just felt like this was forced and planned. And then not long after the event was over, Bunshun released the article of her apparently having a scandal. I don’t know how to react about this, because again, I’m not a fan of hers. But I saw how fans react to this in both ways so we’ll just see how it goes for her from here on.

To finish this report, I just want to confess that I was sadly not so into it as I did during the past SSKs I’ve joined. Maybe it was because of my decreased passion due to my busy college life and at the same time there were too many members that I don’t recognize that I felt at a lost. But I guess these reasons are my fault since I needed to try and learn these members and know their charms. Well, regardless how crazy and full of BS this SSK was, it is undeniable that this was more fun and livelier because I got to chat and laugh with other fans who I befriended during our live chatroom. I will come back again for next SSK so see you guys next year!

#akb48 49th single senbatsu sousenkyo #2017 akb48 general election #akb48 general election

20 notes · View notes