Possible Solo debut for Yukirin!!

HELL YES!!!

Credit goes to Jasey from Stage48 for posting this there in the News and Releases thread:
“Heading towards a solo debut, with competition between record companies unfolding, Kashiwagi said that she’ll try her best at everything she has to do.”

So Yukirin is going to to have a solo debut in the near future (hopefully). I am so freaking stoked about this. Its no secret that Yukirin is one of AKB’s best singers, so she really deserves this. I just think its awesome how out of all the possible candidates for a solo debut in AKB48, Yukirin was chosen to be the next to have a shot at it. Now, I know its likely more to do with her agency, but other girls in AKB48 have good agencies, and none of them have been chosen for a solo debut, so that speaks volumes about Yukirin’s amazing talent. I also like that it says there’s competition between record companies in regards to her debut 🙂

Congrats Yukirin, you deserve this so much!

AKB48’s Next Single – Sakura no Shiori

So finally, after much waiting, the A-Side track for AKB48’s next single has been revealed; Sakura no Shiori. That’s right, ANOTHER graduation themed song. We finally got to hear the song via a performance from the latest AKBingo;

Regardless, I do not like it one bit. Its not bad, (as in if you look at it musically its technically quite good, but just not my kind of song at all) but I don’t think this is the kind of song a J-Pop Idol group should be doing. It is likely one of the most boring songs I have ever heard. This is defenitly not the kind of song I would have chosen as the title track. Its B-side material at best.

It also doesn’t help that the songs accompanying it (Enkyorii Poster and Choose Me) are FAR superior, and the other track, Majisuka Rock ‘n’ Roll, is likely to be a pretty kick ass song as well. This means that this single is not a total loss, and I’m still actually looking forward to it, its just a shame the A-side had to be so damn boring.

But here’s hoping the single still sells well when it is released.

The BIG AKB48 Ranking List

When I refer to the BIG list, I am of course referring to the AKB48 Mixi Rankings. From what I understand, Mixi is some AKB fan site or whatever for fans in Japan. Now, every once in awhile, we get a huge ranking list of where girls place on this Mixi site. Essentially, this is THE list which shows who is popular and who is not. Kind of a cruel thing if you ask me, but hey, I guess that’s just the way things work in the idol world. I won’t pretend to understand it.

For Reference, here’s the list:
01. Shinoda Mariko
02. Maeda Atsuko
03. Oshima Yuko
04. Kojma Haruna
05. Itano Tomomi
06. Watanabe Mayu
07. Takahashi Minami
08. Kasai Tomomi
09. Ono Erena
10. Miyazawa Sae
11. Kashiwagi Yuki
12. Minegishi Minami
13. Akimoto Sayaka
14. Sato Amina
15. Takajo Aki
16. Miyazaki Miho
17. Kitahara Rie
18. Kuramochi Asuka
19. Oota Aika
20. Sashihara Rino
21. Nito Moeno
22. Masuda Yuka
23. Nakagawa Haruka
24. Hirajima Natsumi
25. Sato Sumire
26. Ishida Haruka
27. Oku Manami
28. Katayama Haruka
29. Umeda Ayaka
30. Komori Mika
31. Matsubara Natsumi
32. Kobayashi Kana
33. Kikuchi Ayaka
34. Yonezawa Rumi
35. Fujie Reina
36. Sato Natsuki
37. Matsui Sakiko
38. Nakata Chisato
39. Tanabe Miku
40. Nakatsuka Tomomi
41. Oya Shizuka
42. Maeda Ami
43. Uchida Mayumi
44. Iwasa Misaki
45. Nonaka Misato
46. Nakaya Sayaka
47. Suzuki Mariya
48. Chikano Rina

I hate looking at these rankings, fearing that my fav girls will place low, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Yukirin at number of 11. Its great to see here getting more popular, and she really deserves it. But I was shocked, and somewhat appalled to see one of my other top favs, Chikano Rina, all the way at the very bottom. She is essentially the least popular member of AKB48 at the moment. WTF? How could she be last? Chikarina is a fantastic performer, and from what I have seen of her, a joy to watch. She always looks so enthusiastic to be performing, and for me, that’s what I like to see. And she’s a decent singer to boot, so why is she last? Now, perhaps it could be due to the fact that she still is a relatively new member, so she might not have THAT many fans yet, but still…to see her last on the list breaks my heart 😦

The top 10 members aren’t really a surprise ,I guess, but can someone explain to me why Mariko is so god damn popular? I know for me, it’s her extremely deep voice that puts me off. It’s TOO deep.

These rankings always bug me, as they show that to the Japanese fans, talent doesn’t matter one bit. If you look at the girls lowest on the rankings, there are quite a few of AKB’s top talents there; Tanabe Miku, Iwasa Misaki, and Fujie Reina…just to name a few. It saddens me to see these girls so low on the rankings, when they can outperform practically half the top ten girls from this ranking.

Ah well, what can you do eh? I guess talent does not translate into popularity.