My Top 10 Favorite Request Hour Set List Best 100 2011 Performances

OK, so I had the chance to follow the Best 100 2011 results online real time, but it just wasn’t as much fun as watching the results on video for the very first time, so after the first few songs, I stopped following. So as I always had done, I learned the ranking the first time I watched the video. The first time I learned that Heavy Rotation ranked #1 was when I saw the video.

AKB’s fourth annual Request Hour Set List Best 100 was held for four days, from January 20 to 23, 2011, and the official DVD was released a few weeks ago. I wanted to limit myself to a small number so I’m just gonna give my top 10 favorite performances, although a lot more were notable. It was great to see many classics stay in, great to see great new songs make it, and sad to see many favorites drop out. One of the things I love about the Best 100 is bringing back graduates, and this had plenty of graduates. Sure, there were a lot of other graduates I wanted to see back too, but maybe next year. Another great thing about this year’s Best 100 is that this is the first Best 100 after the great Budokan Shuffle took effect, so it was really, really great to see the old teams reunited to perform their old songs. It was great to see NMB48 come out and perform Aitakatta, it was great to see a 9th and 10th Gen version of Bingo! (no, it wasn’t an all Kenkyuusei version since the remaining 9th Gen were technically promoted members by then), it was interesting to see the cute Miniskirt no Yousei, the “Kenkyuusei” (well, actually 9th Gen) song reach all the way up to #40, it was nice to see the subunits alive and kicking with No Sleeves and Watarirouka Hashiritai with new unit French Kiss whose two eligible tracks made it in at #93 and #27, I was very happy that Yuuhi wo Miteiruka?, one of the songs I voted for, stay in at #64, and I was very happy at the solos making it, such as Itoshisa no Accel, Yokaze no Shiwaza, Nakinagara Hohoende, Kareha no Station, Mushi no Ballad and Mayu no Tameni. I was a bit disappointed that another song I voted for, Mayuyu’s solo Yasashiku Sasete, didn’t make it in. Mayu no Tameni is just a very cute song, but I really wanted Mayu to give us at least just one performance of my favorite Mayuyu solo. Interesting also to point out was that none of my oshimen’s stage unit songs made it in; I wasn’t surprised Hatsukoi yo Konnichiwa didn’t make it in, wouldn’t have been too surprised that Pajama Drive wouldn’t make it either, but I would have thought at least Zannen Shoujo would. Mayuyu fans were all over the place, after all, it’s not like we’re voting for a girl, we’re supposed to be voting for a song, so while some fans voted for Team B Oshi, some voted for Shonichi, some voted for Watarirouka Hashiritai songs, while I voted for Yasashiku Sasete, so many of Mayuyu’s songs ended up not get enough votes, considering she has so many. Interestingly, Itoshiki Natasha turns up as the highest ranked stage unit song this year. Not necessarily the definitive Sashihara song, but if you wanted to vote for a Sasshi unit, it seems to be her best unit so far. I’m also a bit disappointed that only Gagaga made it in for SDN48. Then again, it’s hard to vote for stage songs when majority of the fans have never even seen SDN’s stage songs since their stage’s videos are never released. I found it hard to fathom that Heavy Rotation beat Beginner for the number one spot. I guess it does go to show that considering Iiwake Maybe was last year’s #1 that maybe the fans are sending a message that they love the senbatsu elections. I did love the encore version of Heavy Rotation, the one where each of them were wearing whatever last costume they wore before the encore, making it a great, interesting, colorful mixture of AKB goodness! Also, if I could have attended only one day of this series, if I knew the setlists, I would have went at day 1. The day 1 concert is so good, if a non-AKB fan wanted me to show them one concert that would exhibit how good AKB is, without considering how big or grandiose the stage is, I would show them this, as the variety was so good, it was a great showcase of the different kinds of songs AKB performs, plus considering how interesting the fact of how the Best 100 is put together, by fan votes, that is. This was a great sampling; they featured a lot of girls from graduates to Kenkyuuseis. Oh, and with the MC parts, Wota 4 (Mayuyu, Lovetan, Nakayan, Tanamin), the Sato’s (Natsuki, Amina, Sumire) and the Natsu’s (Sato, Hirajima, Mukaida, Matsubara) were a big hit with me. Heavy Rotation ranking #1 also breaks CinDy’s streak as being the only AKB girl to be part of the original performers of all songs that have ranked #1 in the Best 100 (CinDy was in the first three, Sakura no Hanabiratachi, Shonichi, and Iiwake Maybe).

#10 Original members of AKB48 perform Dear My Teacher

That’s First Gen for you, yeah! I love it when the graduates come back, and to have all the graduated original members of AKB48 come back, and to have the original members that are now in SDN and those that have been scattered to various teams all gathered to perform such a classic is a rare treat! Yeah, even if they did do it last year! The fact that they can still be completed is great! Fine, Rina Nakanishi wasn’t there, it would have raised eyebrows if she was, considering her current career choice. Mariko Shinoda was probably her official sub since technically Mariko is Generation 1.5. This song ranked #86, so I have doubts if it will still make the Best 100 next year, but I hope they keep reuniting the original members of AKB48 for whichever of their classics!

#9 SKE48 is living long and prospering!

Not necessarily a whole lot of SKE, but enough to satisfy SKE lovers. Their current stage Seifuku no Me contains a lot of great songs and performances, and although only one team song from that stage made it in, I was glad it was the fun Koi wa Kataru Shijin ni Narenakute that’s really enjoyable to watch that made it. Although the unit songs for that stage were great as well, we would at least be treated to three of them in the Best 100, expectedly the powerful songs Kareha no Station and Omoide Ijou and the very cute Okami to Pride. Since Okami to Pride is becoming really popular and is replacing Wimbledon he Tsureteitte as the Kumi Yagami song, it’s just too bad that we’ll probably never see Wimbledon he Tsureteitte performed again with Sayuki Mori and Tsukina Takai… unless they do it at SKE’s Request Hour. This also wipes out all the songs from their second stage Te wo Tsunaginagara, which is one of the best stages in AKB altogether, from the Best 100. SKE’s single songs did ok though. Another thing that I loved about SKE’s performances from this concert is that this was not just Team S, they were sprinkled with a select bunch of Team KII cuties!

Koi wo Kataru Shijin ni Narenakute. I love SKE, I love this song, and I love this performance!

I’m pleasantly surprised at how well received Okami to Pride is. It is a very cute song.

We can never have too much Kumi.

#8 Tengoku Yarou

This year’s Kurukurupaa, CinDy’s hope from last year’s Best 100 materializes with the first original unit she centers ranking a good #57. I would have ranked this much higher, if CinDy was the one who did the monologue. I don’t understand why it was Korisu who did it when this is the CinDy unit, especially considering she isn’t even really a part of this unit, she took Nakayan’s place. (Nothing against the pretty Korisu though.) CinDy seemed happy that this made an appearance at the Best 100 anyway. This fun song is my favorite unit song from Team B’s fourth stage. Harugon seemed to have a lot of fun going crazy, while Kyururun looked so fine.

#7 Shonichi

Though dethroned as the top team song, the upset #1 song from 2 years ago ranks well at #21. This year also marks the disappearance of all the other team songs from preshuffle Team B. My favorite preshuffle team is Team B, so for them to be able to reunite for only one song was kinda sad, unlike with Team A and Team K which had a lot more preshuffle team songs make it in, giving them more chances to reunite. At least it was nice to see that Team B still be able to reunite with this song. At least their preshuffle unit songs are still ranking and the greatness of old Team B lives on with Shonichi. It kinda miffs me though that they still don’t bring back the Team B graduates for this song. I want the Team B graduates too! Instead, unofficial members Komorin and Ucchi are there (they were Kenkyuuseis for Team B in the past) and Korisu and Kyururun, who actually became members of Team B for their fourth stage (Shonichi is from third stage).

When they started out with new captain Yukirin calling out the Team, my first concern was, “Where is CinDy?! Don’t tell me you’re not bringing out CinDy for this?!” And then someone started the Team B chant. “Wait, is that CinDy’s voice?! That sounds like CinDy?!” And yes, it was still CinDy leading the Team B chant! It would not have been the same otherwise. And check out darling CinDy’s glamorized hair style.

#6 Team Ogi Matsuri!

OK, not really, but it started to seem like it. Not that I’m complaining, since I loved Ogi Matsuri! (I hope they do another one! OgiPro is probably my favorite agency!) #97 featured No Sleeves Kiss No Ryusei, #96 followed with Watarirouka Hashiritai’s Seishun no Flag, #95 went back to No Sleeves with Seishun no Komorebi, and #94 came back to Watarirouka Hashiritai with Shiroi Tulip. For those that don’t understand what I’m talking about, Ogi Matsuri is the concert by talents within Ogi Production, the agency that handles No Sleeves, Watarirouka Hashiritai and all its members.

Lie was the only No Sleeves lead track that didn’t make it to the top 100 (as I would have expected) while Kimi shika’s additional track made it in, the aforementioned Seishun no Komorebi, while although the very simple but very cute Shiroi Tulip stayed in the Top 100 this year, its lead track Yaruki Hanabi was nowhere to be found. Other No Sleeves and Watarirouka Hashiritai songs appeared, better spread out in the Best 100. No Sleeves’ alter ego from Mendol, Persona was back with 3 Seconds too.

I love these serious, no-smile performances. I’m not sure, but this could be the first time Seishun no Komorebi has been performed, and although it is an additional track to Kimi shika, just to make the series of performances continuous, a costume change was eliminated and they performed it wearing the Kiss no Ryusei outfits.

Same with Watairouka Hashiritai, although we have seen the custom-made costumes specifically for Shiroi Tulip from last year’s Best 100, Watarirouka performed it this time wearing their Seishun no Flag uniforms to eliminate costume changes.

#5 Kioku no Dilemma

This is one of my most favorite AKB songs so to see this performed by its original performers most probably for the last time was kinda sad. It was nice to see graduate Mai Oshima back for this (and nice that this fell on the day where the graduates were on) and it was nice to see Yukari Sato and Kayo Noro, who have already been transferred to SDN, rejoin Yuka Masuda. The original version is just a joy to watch and listen to so to see the original four, though already scattered, reunite to perform this is such a nice treat. Since it ranked #100 this year, it will most likely drop out next year, pushed out by newer songs, and it is highly unlikely that the original four will reunite to perform this on any other concert, but at least we got to enjoy it again even if it may be the last time. This was a great opener for the whole concert series.

#4 Temo Demo no Namida

They actually brought a Team B graduate back! And what’s most interesting about this is that even though French Kiss already has their own version of the song recorded in their first single, with Akicha even already performing this duet last year even before the French Kiss unit was announced, this year Yukirin is rejoined by her original partner Mikachi! Fans really wanted to see the original version, and bringing back Mika Saeki was just a good idea by Management. This song is still ranking well at #30. Now that they finally brought Mikachi back, I wonder how well the song will fare next year. I bet it will be higher, but with new songs in the competition, who knows.

#3 Tonari no Banana

Now that Erena Ono has graduated, and since her graduation was too recent to bring her back, who would take her place as Tomomi Kasai’s partner in a performance of this rather old song? Ichikawa Miori, the very popular 10th Gen Kenkyuusei! I have to say this was a genius decision. This is probably the first time Miorin performed on a big stage with the spotlight on her, and she made a very good impression, pairing off with someone like Kasai, no less. The performance suits her too, although I think Erepyon’s bag wasn’t a perfect fit for her. Her catch phrase “Fresh Lemon ni naritai no!” (I want fresh lemons!) is indeed a winner and is just so adorable no wonder it catches so many hearts. This was such a great idea, having her perform such a fitting song where she can properly do her catch phrase! If you’ve never seen Miorin do her catch her phrase, this is a great watch. Just look out for your heart as you’ll probably soon be going “Awww!” Her voice is so cute! It’s kinda hard to imagine that someone like Kasai would end up as if she was taking a back seat to a Kenkyuusei on her own song. But Kasai is cute too! What am I saying, Kasai is a beauty.

#2 Sakura no Hanabiratachi, graduates version

An all graduate version of Sakura no Hanabiratachi! Now that’s a treat! Sakura no Hanabiratachi is the first single AKB released and they have been performing it since their first stage, so graduates performing this classic is such a great idea. This song was also the #1 song of the first Best 100. Graduates from Team A and Team K who performed earlier in the night in various songs converged for the night’s last song (not counting the encore) as this ranked #76. The interview at the end by some of the remaining original members was pretty funny too.

The graduates are still looking good. I hope we get to see more of them.

Takamina: “Kaorin is really pretty isn’t she?!”

Kaorin: “Really?”

Hana (talking to Takamina): “You sound like an old woman.”

Acchan shows Shiho much love.

Kayano Masuyama is pretty taller than most of the girls now. She was AKB’s original little girl, but now if anyone will have that title among the original members, maybe it will go to beloved Takamina.

Takamina (to Kayano): “Who are you?!”

MaiMai (to Takamina): “You’re wearing your high heels, right?”

Acchan (to Kayano): “You used to be this tall, right?”

#1 Team B Oshi

I haven’t noticed the girls this excited to rank so well since Shonichi ranked #1 two years ago. I guess ranking as the top stage song of the year has that effect. The modern day Wasshoi B! ranked very high at #5, beaten only by singles’ lead tracks. I have to admit, that among corny songs, this would be my favorite. Yes, I think the song is corny, but I would be lying if I denied that I love this! Some people could classify this as a novelty song, but the performance is such a winner, it exemplifies what I’m talking about when I say AKB is more than just a song and dance group, they are a theater group, and in this case, very theatrical indeed! And with the extra excitement of top ranking stage songs, I think this is the best performance of this song that I have ever seen! The girls had a lot fun and it was really fun to watch! No gimmicks on this one, I think new Team B’s joy that this could be a sign that they could be the number one Team just made it extra special. And the theme of Team B Oshi, the same way the theme of Shonichi when it ranked #1, just fits the situation. Too bad only three from original Team B remain with Team B, but I’m glad Mayuyu, Yukirin and Nacchan get to have that again. Team B favorite!

My Top 20 Favorite AKB48 Tokyo Aki Matsuri Karaoke Tournament 2010 Performances

The AKB48 Tokyo Aki Matsuri was held on October 9 and 10, 2010 and the DVD was released weeks ago, and although I haven’t done one of these in a while, even if the past concerts were great as well (Yokohama, Yoyogi, Ogi Matsuri, SKE concerts), I couldn’t help myself from making another one for this.

One of the best things I love about AKB is that they are so innovative. You get to see things they haven’t done before in past concerts. And although the Tokyo Aki Matsuri Evening Performances were good as well, it was the Karaoke Tournaments before them that made this a spectacular event. There were two “Karaoke” Tournaments (even though not all of the entries were karaoke performances), one for each day of Tokyo Aki Matsuri. One of the best things about this was that they performed non-AKB songs, not showing any lack of confidence in performing songs from even their rivals; they are not insecure to acknowledge other artists exists, and that they even like them. The various live performances were impressive.

I’m going to say early that I didn’t list any of Yuka Masuda and Natsuki Sato’s songs. I know Yuttan has one of the most powerful voices in AKB, but I think her song choices were poor. Yes, I think the lyrics of the songs were great, but they didn’t showcase her powerful vocals as much as “Maria” would have, for example. Of course, performing a song she normally centers would have been uninteresting though. Nacchi’s voice is so beautiful, but I thought her song choice was rather boring. And this is interesting considering the duo performed my favorite AKB song as a duet. I guess this wasn’t the best venue for them to do it. Special mention goes out to Sasshi, Myao and Kitarie performing Wimbledon he Tsureteitte. Normally, I wouldn’t give a thumbs down to a performance of my favorite SKE unit song, but this was so funny, the judges immediately raised their X signs and they had to apologize to SKE in the end. And who would have thought Reina Fujie and Rina Chikano’s song for that commercial they did with the cow costumes would ever get performed in an AKB concert. Special mention also to Minegishi’s vocals on Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~. I was also so hoping that someone would sing an Utada Hikaru song.

Here’s my top 20 favorite performances.

#20 Mayu Watanabe, Aika Oota, Sayaka Nakaya and Miku Tanabe Perform Happy Material

Wota 4 materializes and performs an opening theme to the anime “Mahou Sensei Negima”. Wota 4 has been an unofficial group of manga and anime superfans between members of original Team B for years now so to see them come out and perform a song like this was such a treat! Very, very cute! I hope they do more!

#19 Mariya Suzuki and Sakiko Matsui Perform Tonari no Banana

What I loved about this was how much they tried to suck up to the judges and host by placing messages on the bananas they gave out while performing; messages like how much judge Maeda was their #1 favorite member, how much they want to see Hawaii (which was the tournament’s prize), and how handsome host Ijirii is. They got all X marks anyway. Cute and very funny.

#18 Yuki Kashiwagi and Sae Miyazawa Perform Infinity

I wasn’t fond of the idea of Yukirin and Sae entering a song they performed in Infinity in a Karaoke Tournament, but I’m sure a lot of people wanted to see them perform it again. The vocals and performance were still beautiful.

#17 Misaki Iwasa and Aika Ota Perform Oshibe to Meshibe to Yoru no Chouchou

The judges were complaining about how this wasn’t enka, but I was so excited to see Wasamin and Rabutan perform this. I was hoping they would finish the song.

#16 Suzuran Yamauchi, Manami Oku and Haruka Ishida Perform Tenshi no Shippo

I wasn’t quite fond of the idea of AKB songs being performed at this tournament as I thought the selling point was that they got to perform songs from other artists, but this version was just good. Not as great as the original but I loved the vocals. Very cute. I agree with judge Shinoda though, I wanted to see dancing.

Harukyan is getting prettier.

#15 Oya Shizuka and Mayumi Uchida Perform Suirenka

What I liked about this was how much Shiichan, Ucchi and just about everyone else enjoyed the performance. They had a good time.

#14 Minami Takahashi, Haruna Kojima and Minami Minegishi Perform One Night Carnival

Awsum funny! No Sleeves performance of this Kishidan song was so good on so many levels!

#13 Tomomi Itano, Tomomi Kasai and Atsuko Maeda Perform Choo Choo Train

What J-pop fan doesn’t recognize the opening dance to Exile’s Choo Choo Train. The good friends had a lot of fun with this one, especially Acchan, who loved keeping in role. The dancing was great, of course! Such handsome boys!

#12 Tomomi Itano and Tomomi Kasai Perform Go! Go! Heaven

Sang on the second day, this was the second Speed song they performed. It was a bit harder for them to sing than their song choice for the first day but I still enjoyed it.

#11 Tomomi Itano, Tomomi Kasai and Atsuko Maeda Perform Heavenly Days

Heavenly Days was just a hard song for these three good friends to sing, but it was a beautiful song choice regardless, and the concept of this trio, also three of AKB’s top Senbatsus, singing a Yui Aragaki song is just a treat, considering how Yui is one of my favorite J-drama actresses as well. I want this trio to rehearse this song more and perform this for us again.

#10 Haruna Kojima and Yuko Oshima Perform Melodies

The two lovers, I mean, good friends chose such a good song for their duet! Gam’s Melodies was a great fit! This was such a great performance! This is a must watch for those who love the Yuko-Kojiharu pairing. Yuko going for Kojima in the end was especially funny. This was brilliant!

#9 Mayu Watanabe and Yuki Kashiwagi Perform Wasshoi B!

What is a duet version of Wasshoi B! like? Mayuyu – Yukirin – Mayuyu – Yukirin B! B! B! Wasshoi! Mayuyu – Yukirin – Mayuyu – Yukirin B! B! B! Wasshoi! Only these crazy girls can come up with something as funny as this! This was such a great opener for the second day. It was also funny how even though they are part of the original performers of this, they still forgot some of the lines, considering how long ago they last performed this. This concert was just good times!

#8 Tomomi Kasai Performs River

Tomo~mi played the intro to River on a Taiko, a Japanese drum. She was really good, I wanted her to play more. I wanted to see more of these talents we’d never know about without these kinds of events.

#7 Yuko Oshima, Kayo Noro, Ayaka Umeda and Natsumi Matsubara Perform Nageki no Figure

Original Team K members who perform Endroll and pride themselves as one of the best unofficial dance units treat us to an original tricked up hip-hopish dance version of a remix of an old AKB song, Nageki no Figure. No singing in this one, this original dance that stayed faithful to the theme of the original version was a huge treat. I’m so glad we got the opportunity to see this. Very good.

#6 Tomomi Itano and Tomomi Kasai Perform Wake Me Up!

I love the TomoTomo duo and the style of Speed’s Wake Me Up! just fits them. Nice song choice. I hope they release more Aki-P songs with this style as a duo. Probably not gonna happen again because of Tomochin’s successful solo single but at least we have Love Wars and Summer Lips.

#5 Mayu Watanabe and Yuki Kashiwagi Perform a Dog Show Skit

Cutest thing! Yukirin plays the trainer while Mayuyu plays the dog where she has to perform tricks with her trainer in this adorable and funny skit! Mayuyu’s barks were so cute!

At one point, Yukirin tells Mayuyu to strike a sexy pose, which Mayuyu cutely refuses. A fan shouts out something not very audible, something to the effect of “I wanna see that!”, which causes Mayuyu to cutely, angrily point and bark at the fan.

The second to the last bit where Minegishi asks for a flying kiss was really cute and funny, and so was the ending where Yukirin asks her to do a stunt she keeps saying she can’t do.

#4 Yukari Sato, Minami Minegishi, Oya Shizuka, and Rino Sashihara Perform Imitations of AKB Members

Very funny bits that the members themselves loved.

Yukarin starts off with a Minami Takahashi impersonation.

Miichan continues with Aika Ota singing Kanpeki Gu-no ne. Mii already did this in the Shuukan Pool Games Special though. This is especially funny for Ota since Mii is Rabutan’s oshi.

Shiichan does some of Haruna Kojima’s common gestures.

Sasshi continues with Asuka Kuramochi’s arm fetish, and then quickly walking away as if nothing happened when called.

Although not really forgotten, Yukarin is an original member of AKB who was transferred to SDN, and when Yukarin imitates Kenkyuusei as they meet the very popular Tomomi Itano and herself…

Kenkyuusei (very excitedly, coming up to Tomochin): “Tomochin! Good morning! Please support us!”

Kenkyuusei (turning to Yukarin): “Who are you? Wazzup?”

Kenkyuusei: “No way! We would never do that!”

Miichan impersonates Tomomi Kasai and her chiyuu.

Shiichan impersonates Aki Takajo’s dancing.

Sasshi impersonates Yuki Kashiwagi’s exaggerated reactions.

Yukirin tries to knock Sasshi’s block off for it at the end of the concert.

#3 Yuki Kashiwagi and Haruna Kojima Perform Koi-ing

This normally would be an odd pairing, but Yukirin was cut in her audition for Morning Musume before she auditioned for AKB, while Kojiharu is known for an old AKBingo episode where she acknowledged how much she used to want to be in Momusu, so how fitting is it that at the top of AKB’s career, they would sing a Morning Musume duet. Their vocals were so beautiful, I could listen to this over and over again. I hope they do more duets. This is confidence from AKB.

#2 Mariko Nakamura Performs Tairyo Matsuri

Tairyo Matsuri is a 2008 song originally sung by Maya Sakura, the preteen enka singer Minegishi interviewed on the Feb. 28, 2011 episode of Shuukan AKB (who was already 12 at that time). Enka is a popular Japanese music genre reminiscent of older, traditional Japanese styles, and this was a very impressive performance, especially of such an old-style song. These girls can shut up their critics. Nakamura performed this 2 months before her surprise promotion along with the other remaining 9th Gen Kenkyuusei.

#1 Misaki Iwasa Performs Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyugeshiki

Just when I thought Nakamura was impressive, Wasamin gives us more enka, this time a song by Sayuri Ishikawa. Many fans are aware of how powerful Wasamin’s voice is, and her prowess at enka. This performance deserved the win it got.

AKB48 2010 Super Summary, and Let's Speculate: AKB 2011

AKB48 dominated in 2010. Here's a quick look.

Continuing from the previous year's River, AKB's first #1 single, all five of their singles released 2010 hit #1 on the weekly Oricon charts, the second of which, Ponytail to Shushu, had first week sales that went over half a million copies, followed by Heavy Rotation performing the same feat, placing AKB with the ranks of jpop legends Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru as the only three female artists to have two consecutive singles sell over half a million copies on the first week of its release (and the first female group to do so). Beginner would also sell half a million copies... on the first DAY of its release, which would eventually become AKB's first single to sell over one million copies. Beginner was also the highest selling single in Japan of that year. With Beginner, AKB48 moves ahead of Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru by being the first to sell over half a million copies each of three consecutive singles (very impressive in this age of piracy). Beginner also holds the record for the highest first week sales for a single for a female group, selling over 827,000 copies its first week, and the third highest first week sales for a single for a female artist, just 1,000 copies below second placer Amuro Namie's "Can You Celebrate?" (released February, 1997) and first placer Utada Hikaru's "Addicted to You", released November, 1999, which sold over 1,068,000 on its first week. AKB continued its half a million first week sales with its next single Chance no Juban, making their record four consecutive singles. AKB also became the first artist in the past 32 years since Pink Ladies to have five singles hit #1 on the Oricon charts on the same year. All five singles were in the top 12 of the Oricon yearly singles rankings with Beginner at #1 and Heavy Rotation at #2.

AKB48 released their second compilation album, Kamikyoku Tachi, which ranked #1 in the Oricon charts, selling almost 300,000 copies during the first week of its release, despite containing only two new tracks, while relations with former record label Defstar start to look up with the rerelease of Kanzen Ban, their first compilation album, rereleased with two new tracks. Nogashita Sakanatachi, released along with Kanzen Ban, also broke the DVD opening sales record for a female group by selling 81,000 copies on its first week.

The shuffled teams' stages finally debuted 2010 after much delays. First came Team K's Reset, then Team B's Theater no Megami, and then Team A's Mokugekisha.

AKB performed at various countries including the U.S., Russia, and Singapore, and they had numerous successful concerts including the ones in Shibuya AX, Yoyogi, Yokohama and the Zenkoku tour. The biggest concerts did not disappoint as we were treated to a lot of new things as AKB continued to innovate and be creative. I would love to show videos of these concerts even to non-AKB fans.

TV shows were successful and increasing! The year started with the much anticipated drama Majisuka Gakuen, which did not disappoint! Long running shows continued on, such as AKBingo!, Shuukan AKB and Nemousu TV, while new shows came such as AKB Ariyoshi Kyowaku (prominently featuring AKB Kenkyuuseis), SDN48's Suppon no Onnatachi, SKE48's Dera SKE, AKB 600 Seconds, SDN48+10, and so many others.

Even the subunits were very successful. Watarirouka Hashiritai became the first AKB subunit to place a #1 single within the Oricon charts with Akkanbe Bashi. A special unit, Team Dragon from AKB48, featuring seven of the top eight Senbatsus, also ranked #1 on the Oricon charts with their single Kokoro no Hane. Watarirouka Hashiritai also released their first album, Rouka wa Hashiruna! AKB's two active units, Watariouka and No Sleeves, were joined by new unit French Kiss, featuring Yuki Kashiwagi, Aki Takajo and Asuka Kuramochi. Watarirouka also became a five-girl group with the addition of Ayaka Kikuchi. Various temporary units were also much anticipated, such as Team Mint.

SDN48 also released its much awaited debut single, Gagaga. The first (and hopefully only) male 48 group debuted, OJS48, consisting of men whose average age was 61.

We were treated to the second Senbatsu election, shaking the AKB world when Yuko Oshima beat Atsuko Maeda by a narrow margin. SKE48 now has its own Request Hour, the first one having the Best 30. We were also treated to the first Janken Senbatsu Tournament, which gave all members of AKB the chance to become Senbatsu for a single, the champion of the tournament who became center of Chance no Juban was Mayumi Uchida.

This year we were fortunately treated to very few graduations! AKB bid farewell only to beloved Erena Ono, who plans to pursue more acting and studying english, while SKE saw the departure of beloved Rina Shinkai and Sayuki Mori. SDN48 also saw the departure of Sakura Fukuyama, due to poor health.

Promotions included Yui Yokoyama, promoted to Team K to replace Erena Ono, and Yuria Kizaki and Rumi Katou, promoted to SKE's Team S. The December anniversary show at the Akihabara Theater gave the surprise announcement of the promotion of eight Kenkyuuseis to AKB, although their teams are still to be decided. The eight new members are Haruka Shimazaki, Mina Oba, Haruka Shimada, Miyu Takeuchi, Mariya Nagao, Mariko Nakamura, Anna Mori, and Suzuran Yamauchi. The year also saw the creation of NMB48, based on Namba, Osaka, and the surprise creation of SKE48's new Team E, which produced a minor shuffle with a few members of SKE's Team KII.

Merchandise was abundant, a few encountered changes, a few got postponed, while others were still unreleased, such as the anticipated Jurina Matsui photobook which was postponed indefinitely. AKB also released its first video game, for the PSP, Idol to Koi Shitara. Solo endeavors outside AKB by the girls were also immensely numerous.

AKB was also formally recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest pop group. Of course, they performed at Kouhaku for the third time.

Unfortunately, we weren't treated to another Grand Sportsmeet, but instead we did get special sports competitions thanks to Shuukan AKB with their pool competition, jumprope festival, and the ball competitions. Some results made fans less than enthusiastic, such as the predictably top songs in the 2010 Request Hour Setlist Best 100, although the tradition of surprise announcements at the end of big concerts has continued, this time with much happier announcements, making the sight of Togasaki, AKB's theater manager, a sight for sore eyes.

My favorite single released during 2010 is Gyu! Seriously! I'm not talking about just the lead track, but all the tracks in the single, so I'm taking the single as a whole. Gyu in itself is a great track, but the accompanying track Tenohira, which featured other AKB girls within Watarirouka Hashiritai's agency, made the single a winner. And this is even considering I compare it with AKB's monster single Beginner. OK, so you might say, Gyu is Watarirouka Hashiritai, how about I limit myself to just AKB, in that case, my favorite single is of course Beginner. The lead track is itself a winner, but all the tracks were too; Kimi ni Tsuite is a great track, so is Nakeru Bashou, and Boku Dake no Value, though is already the least popular track in the single, is still an excellent track with superb lyrics.

My favorite album released 2010 is Rouka wa Hashiruna! OK, so there were only three non-stage albums released by the AKB family, but what made Rouka wa Hashiruna! so great was that it had so many new tracks! And the five new tracks aren't just tracks that aren't even worth listening to, they could have been released on their own! Especially Doji!

My favorite song released in 2010 is Tenohira! OK, we went through this two paragraphs ago, Gyu's accompanying track is just so awsum, but again you'll say that's Watarirouka Hashiritai, so if you ask me to limit myself to AKB only, then I will again say Beginner, although there were so many great songs released in 2010, especially when you count the accompanying tracks in the singles.

My favorite PV released in 2010 is Gyu! Even when compared with the original version of Beginner. Gyu is Watarirouka, so if I limit myself to AKB only, again it will be the original version of Beginner, although Boku no Yell's PV is a top contender.

Let's go to stage songs, my favorite team stage song that was still being performed on a regular stage until the end of 2010 is actually Goukaku Kiss! OK, that's SKE48, if you want me to limit myself to AKB stages only, my favorite would have to be White Day ni wa... from Team K's 6th Stage, Reset.  For stage unit song, my favorite is Kokoro no Hashi no Sofa, also from Team K's Reset. My favorite stage that was still being performed until the end of 2010 is Team K's 6th Stage, Reset, as it had the best performances, although SKE's 3rd Stage, Seifuku no Me, had excellent songs.

I think AKB's breakout star of 2010 is none other than Rena Matsui. From being elected as Undergirl in the 2009 Senbatsu elections, her popularity rocketed in 2010, starting off with her excellent portrayal of Gekikara in Majisuka Gakuen, then being elected as high as #11 in the 2010 Senbatsu elections, plus her solo Kareha no Station being elected the #1 SKE song from SKE's Request Hour Setlist Best 30 2010. From being Undergirl to Media Senbatsu in just one year, Rena was the biggest breakout star this year. You might argue that it should be Yuko Oshima, since she went from #2 in the 2009 Senbatsu elections to taking the top spot away from Maeda Atsuko in the 2010 Senbatsu elections, but a leap from #2 to #1 is not really as high or as unexpected. Third would probably be Haruka Nakagawa, who became center of a track from an AKB single this year for the first time in her career, with Boku no Yell, and then being elected as Senbatsu in the 2010 elections when she didn't even reach the top 30 in the 2009 Senbatsu elections. Harugon has been getting a lot of push and opportunites this year, and deservingly so. Fourth and fifth would have to be Akane Takayanagi, for beating no less than Manatsu Mukaida in the 2010 Senbatsu elections by being elected Undergirl, and Oya Masana, for outranking Kumi Yagami in the same election, both of which SKE girls. Oya ranked as high as #24, while Kuumin, one of my top favorites, only got #38. Akane became the first and so far only Team KII girl to be elected in the Senbatsu election, ranking at #35, while considered center of Team KII, Manatsu, was unable to make it.  Both Kuumin and Manatsu had been receiving more push than Oya and Akane, but thanks to this, Oya and Akane have also noticeably been receiving more push.

I'm not going to speculate as much as I did last year since, for example, none of those I thought would graduate actually graduated, VERY THANKFULLY SO! We can kinda expect that there'd be more graduations this 2011 than there were in 2010, considering there were so few graduations in 2010 to begin with. Who they will be may be interesting to see; who would have guessed that Erepyon would graduate in 2010 anyway.

Of course, I'm hoping for more record breaking sales, more smash hits with merchandise and TV shows, and just a whole lot more of AKB! I'm hoping and kinda expect the second installment of SKE's Request Hour Setlist Best 30. I expect all active subunits during 2010 to continue releasing singles and fluorish, while at the same time it seems more subunits will be formed. I would like to hope that some old teams get new stages, like SDN48 and Team KII. I really doubt that Teams A, K and B will get new stages this year, and I don't think they should yet though, as the new stages aren't that worn out yet. I also wonder if a new 48 group will greet us this year, after NMB48. Of course, I expect more innovative concerts, activities and TV shows, and a whole lot more of Togasaki and his surprise announcements. AKB expectedly will perform in various countries and the largest concert venues in Japan. I hope that their streak of #1 singles and half a million first week single sales continue for all their singles in 2011. I hope that the subunits become wildly successful, as well as each girl's individual endeavors. Fans are also hoping that Defstar will finally release the missing stage albums, A4, K4 and B3, along with the two Himawari-gumi stages. We can easily expect the 3rd Senbatsu elections this year, as fans will be curious if Acchan can retake her crown, or will somebody else take the throne, and I'm hoping for another pure random-chance tournament this year to select Senbatsus for a single again, whether it be Janken again or something else, as long as it is still pure random-chance. And more Team competitions, whether it be on Shuukan or anywhere else.

Here's to another great year for AKB48 and the whole 48 family!

The biggest breakout star for AKB during 2010... is from SKE! I wonder when Aki-P looked at Rena Matsui and thought, "Yeah, she can do crazy." Cheers to your success, Renachan!

My Favorite Ending Videos from AKB's First Video Game, AKB 1/48 Idol to Koi Shitara

AKB48's first ever video game, AKB 1/48 Idol to Koi Shitara, for the PSP, was released just a few days ago, and although I'm not going to talk about the game itself, I just loved the in-game videos! So if you wanna talk about them and don't mind reading spoilers, or you wanna look at a few nice pics, here you go!

Each of the 48 members of AKB has 3 ending videos each, one where they confess their love, another where they react after their love is accepted, and one where they react after their love is rejected. I loved how varied and nicely thought out the scenes were.

Apparently, I loved the rejection-reactions most, not that I want the girls to be rejected, but the reactions were just more enjoyable to watch. It was more interesting and had more depth! I wanted to shout, "Sayaka, don't run away from me!"

I think my favorite pout is from Reinyan!

Kojiharu, AKB's queen of pouting

Awkward Yuttan

Crushed Natsumi

Nakayan was ridiculous with the puppets... but bitter Nakayan was absolutely adorable!

Of course, there were a lot of what the heck moments.

Umechan... Tokyo Tower... OH MY GOSH!!!

Of course, Yuko with the paparazzi and Mayuyu's rejection were what the heck moments, but nothing beats Acchan's!

Seriously, I was... what the heck?! You gotta watch it yourself!

Sakippe on piano is a definite must watch, but her partner Micha was absolutely beautiful!

Wow

Mariko in a playful and slightly naughty scene.

Oh, and this isn't Lovetan's rejection scene...

...This is!

Nacchi, nervous in her confession scene... and her rejection scene looks like something she would do in real life!

Myao, rambling to get the words out.

 Miichan's was one of the funniest! After arguing with herself about how idols shouldn't fall in love, after she gets rejected, she basically says, "But I'm AKB!" 

Tomochin's was the funniest. After she and the meal that she made was rejected, she takes a bite on one of her food items, and she says, "Tastes terrible!" with a smile. This is especially funny considering how, thanks to AKBingo, she is considered the tasteless girl in AKB, and that no matter how bad food tastes to the other girls, she still ends up liking it, so for her to say it tastes terrible... haha!

I thought the one with Kitarie was the worst. Why? Because there was hardly any Kitarie in them! When I watch a video with Kitarie, I want to see a lot of Kitarie! Her fans must be disappointed. And I was hoping Moeno would give the finger on her rejection video.

In terms of totality of the three video set, my third favorite set would be the one with Suuchan. All three of the confession, acceptance and rejection were interesting and very different. This is from the acceptance.

My second favorite set is the one with Ayarin. When she said those three magical words, I got goosebumps.

My favorite set is the one with Sasshi. Her execution is what made it a winner.

Sasshi, get up from there! You don't need to kneel before me!

Sasshi's unbelief that her love was accepted.

And her rejection video was just... wow.

The Idol to Koi Shitara videos was great work for AKB! Watch them if you have the chance!