Kazumi Urano

What made me a fan of AKB48 were their concerts in JCB Hall 2008 and NHK Hall 2009. I didn't know much about them at the time, so in this one particular song at NHK Hall, when I saw this girl pushing this other girl who was seated, I didn't know what it was about. The seated girl didn't seem like she could stand for long, but could walk, but I thought more about the girl that was pushing her. One thought that came to my mind was, "poor girl, she got assigned to be the girl who has to push this other girl. Maybe she's new." Or at least I thought maybe she was less popular than the other dancing girls or something like that. But I also admired her. I thought she was such a trooper. She didn't mind doing this kind of stuff even if it makes her look like less than the other members, she did what needed to be done. Little did I know how true those words are and what this scene actually meant until I got to know AKB48 and Kazumi Urano more.

Formerly nicknamed Miho and Miporin, Kazumi Urano, now nicknamed CinDy, is an original member of AKB48, meaning she qualified on the very first auditions and has been a part of AKB48 since the very first day. Meaning she was with the group when AKB48 was still unknown, when AKB couldn't even fill their small theater, when they had to go out and hand fliers themselves, when they had to undergo many unusual marketing techniques such as fans being able to talk to them via live video streaming on mobile phones. During the hard times when AKB was crawling to make a name for themselves, she was there sweating it with the other originals. One thing, though, when the third team was created one year after, the other members of the original team got to stay in what was then already called Team A, while Kazumi Urano, along with Natsumi Hirajima and Shiho Watanabe, were transferred to this third team, Team B. I haven't read a clear reason as to why exactly they were transferred, I doubt it was any sort of punishment, and I don't think there was trouble between them and the other members (CinDy seems to have a good relationship with Mai Oshima while Nacchan seems to have a good relationship with Minami Minegishi). My best guess is they were transferred to draw fans to the new team. When the second team, Team K, was created, they received harsh and unfair criticisms because they kept getting compared to Team A, which relatively already had a fanbase. Not wanting this to happen to the third team, I guess AKB Management chose a few girls from Team A to transfer to Team B. CinDy, Nacchan and Shiho were not necessarily the least popular members of Team A, but they were certainly not the most popular, so in that sense, they were expendable; Team A could lose them and not lose too many fans, but the three had enough fans that their influx to the new team would be significant to the new team. So, leaving behind working with their friends and working with people they have been with for a year, and no longer being a part of the original team, the three worked with Team B, and although Shiho graduated after Team B's first stage, CinDy and Nacchan stayed. CinDy may have also been transferred possibly because her leadership potential had been seen, but since Minami Takahashi was more popular than her, and Takamina's leadership was recognized and established in Team A, CinDy could be better utilized in a new Team.

Before the Budokan shuffle was even imaginable, CinDy, Nacchan and Shiho were the first to be shuffled to a different team, and if the Budokan shuffle was any indication of the emotions these girls go through, you can imagine what CinDy, Nacchan and Shiho felt being the first and only ones to be shuffled during that time. But they worked, and gave it as much as they could. After three stages with the original Team, when AKB wasn't as popular as they could become, they had to go to the new, unknown team, so there was a chance that as AKB's popularity rose, as it did, they might even be forgotten by the newer fans, being no longer a part of the original team, and perhaps not getting as much respect as the other originals whom they worked hard with to build the AKB name.

All members of Team B were left out of Himawari-gumi, the two stages considered by some fans as the all-star stages; they were left out because Team B debuted just before Himawari-gumi started.

In a time when I don't think AKB Management decisively chose who would lead Teams, CinDy became the leader figure of Team B. When I first read this, I wasn't so sure, until I kept seeing CinDy stepping up whenever necessary in many ways in the various shows AKB are in. In one of my favorite AKB surveys published in the AKB48 Complete Book 2005-2008, all members of AKB (then actually 48 members) were polled, and CinDy was voted second as the member who looks after the other members the most. Comments about her were "She's ultra kind", "She observes us, gives us indications, advises us and encourages us", and "She puts Team B in order!!" (Translations from Ange of Saeyaka). Mariko Shinoda ranked #1 with 1 vote more, meaning CinDy even beat Takamina. Again, this is a survey filled in by the members themselves. In the question, "Who's the member you can rely on the most?", comments about CinDy were, "Elder sister" and "She listens to my problems." She ranked 4th under Sayaka, Yuko and Nonti. (Another amusing comment, for the question "If I were male, who's the member I would like to date the most?", CinDy was described as, "Totally fun!! She's got a big repertory of stories and they are fun. I think she's always naturally smiling.") I personally believe she can be kind of strict at times, but I really don't have concrete proof of that.

The first two stages of Team B were revivals of Team K and Team A stages (Seishun Girls, Team K's 2nd stage, 1st original, and Aitakatta, Team A's 2nd stage, meaning CinDy and Nacchan are the first [and so far only] members to perform the same stage twice under different teams, and have different subunits for the original and revival of the stage, Koi no Plan to Namida no Shounan for CinDy, while Nagisa no Cherry to Glass no I Love You for Nacchan.) Team B's first original stage, 3rd overall, "Pajama Drive", is for me the best pre-Budokan-shuffle stage of the whole of AKB. Except for one, all songs in that stage got in the Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2009, on its debut, with their opening song, Shounichi, getting number one, as voted by fans. At a time when Team B was left out of so many things, they proved their value. (You may read more about this here: http://filipinoakbfan.blogspot.com/2010/01/team-b-success-story-shibuya-ax-request.html). With whatever she was able to contribute, CinDy helped lead a new, upstart team to get the number one spot in the Request Hour Setlist Best 100, marking the first (and so far only) time a team song became #1.

But there was one thing CinDy has not accomplished that time. She was never chosen by AKB management to be part of the recording of any of the singles (except for their first, the original Sakura no Hanabiratachi, where all original members recorded), a status they call Senbatsu. By year 2009, CinDy would be the only original member to have never been chosen Senbatsu. So, when AKB Management decided that the girls who would do the recording for their next single then, "Iiwake Maybe", would be chosen by fan votes, CinDy's appeal video was the first to be shown on their NHK Hall concert where this was first announced (not part of the DVD). And for the first time, ranking 17th out of about 100 members that time, CinDy became Senbatsu by fans' votes.

However, three days before the actual release of the single, was the surprise Budokan shuffle, where the members were distributed to different teams, where it was announced that CinDy would be transferred from Team B to SDN48 fulltime, leaving Nacchan at Team B. It is expected that Team B's fourth stage would end February, 2010, marking CinDy's last day with Team B. SDN48 is composed of four former members of AKB, where the other three are Yukarin, Meetan, and Nonti, (they were already part of SDN before the shuffle, the shuffle just announced their complete transfer) where Nonti was assigned team captain at the Budokan shuffle. I was happy to read that in a meeting at the AKB theater involving Aki-P, the theater manager, and the team captains of AKB and SDN, Nonti acknowledged how valuable CinDy's experience in leading a team would be since this would be Nonti's first time to lead a team. Apart from the four, SDN48 is composed of those who passed their auditions, all of which are at least 20 years old, an older group from AKB, who as far as I know only performs at the Akihabara theater every Saturday night. I personally expect that SDN will be used more once the Budokan shuffle takes effect.

Pre-Budokan shuffle, CinDy holds the record for official membership in the most number of teams, with Team A, Team B, and SDN48, without getting fired, and also holds the record for most stages performed in as a member, with eight, Team A's first three stages, Team B's first four stages, and SDN48's first stage (tied with Yukari Sato, Kayo Noro, and Megumi Ohori, counting the two Himawari-gumi stages, and their first SDN48 stage).

CinDy doesn't get as much exposure as I believe she deserves too. (For example, on Shuukan's coverage of the Grand Sportsmeet, Kasai and Minegishi's reading of their letters to their captains was much longer than CinDy's reading of her letter, as it was cut too short.) She's a great performer who keeps on pushing herself and supporting those around her, many times, sacrificing herself, I may add, but she herself does not get a lot of push from AKB Management. I believe she is one of the most underappreciated members of AKB. Not that any of these are necessarily accurate representations, but she has pretty much consistently ranked in the top 20-30 in Mixi rankings (Japanese AKB online community), Stage48 and Nihongogo (English AKB online communities) annual rankings. I hope she does get more exposure before she eventually decides to graduate, be it in SDN or any other AKB medium. She certainly has worked hard and has done good work to earn it.

More about CinDy in the following screencaps.

CinDy in the PV (Promotional Video, a.k.a. Music Video) of AKB48's very first single, the original Sakura no Hanabiratachi

Although she was never chosen Senbatsu before, she does appear in a few of the other PV's. Here is Skirt, Hirari, their second single.

One of my favorites, Bingo!

Another of my favorites, Oogoe Diamond

Part of the audience in Oogoe Diamond, you can see CinDy's originality and creativity by not just doing what everyone else is doing

Although she was voted Senbatsu for the first time, it was hard to notice CinDy in Iiwake Maybe's PV. She's actually the one the teacher hands off the vase of flowers to.

She doesn't get close ups on the dance shots of Iiwake Maybe either, shown here with Minami Takahashi

AKB48's first ever stage "Party ga Hajimaru yo"

CinDy's first stage subunit was Kiss wa Dame Yo, one of my favorites, with Shiho Watanabe, who would get transferred to Team B with her, and Mai Oshima, I believe her close friend.

CinDy's second stage subunit, another one of my favorites, Koi no Plan

CinDy performs one of my favorite AKB songs, the very sad song, Dakedo...

I don't believe CinDy was ever a part of Team A's fourth stage, but on AKB's first concert tour (second concert), just before Team B debuted (they were still rehearsing), CinDy, Nacchan and Shiho performed with their Team A teammates; shown here performing one of my favorite Team A team songs, the title to Team A's fourth stage, Tadaima Renaichu

Team B's opening song for their first stage, Seishun Girls, shown here with Shiho, who was transferred with her.

Up front is Team B's future top 3 (based on the Iiwake Maybe elections), CinDy, Mayuyu and Yukirin

I'm not sure, but I believe Sayaka Akimoto is the center of Team K's Blue Rose, and if so, since CinDy takes her place in Team B's revival of Blue Rose, this means CinDy centers her first stage subunit in Team B's first stage.

For the first time, CinDy centers an original subunit, Tengoku Yarou, my favorite performance in Team B's fourth stage.

CinDy gets to perform her Team A third stage subunit, Rider, on the Shibuya AX Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2009, with her old Team A teammates.

Not physically well to perform in Shibuya AX Best 100 2009's second day, former teammates CinDy and Haruna Kojima are kept company by Nacchan. Here, they watch Team A perform Namida Uri no Shoujo, which all three of them originally performed in Team A's third stage.

The surprise announcement that Team B's Shounichi was voted the #1 performance in Shibuya AX Best 100 2009 caught Team B offguard. In her thank you to the audience, CinDy has to keep pausing to stop herself from crying.

The end of the performance pose of Shounichi, where Team B still try hard to hold their tears.

A specially sweet victory for Nacchan and CinDy, who were transferred from the original team, Team A, to the then newly created team, Team B.

At the end of the concert, CinDy again addresses the fans from the backstage.

Nacchan and CinDy, after that concert's final address.

Described by her teammates as one of the most serious, Mikipomu would fall under hard times as she is demoted from Team B to Kenkyuusei, until she finally decided to graduated at the NHK Hall Concert, April 2009; shown here with leader CinDy.

Perhaps the biggest sign of respect given to CinDy by AKB management, CinDy opens the second of three parts of the NHK Hall April 2009 concert series as center of the AKB classic, Nagisa no Cherry, with no less than AKB topstar, the original center of Nagisa no Cherry, Maeda Atsuko as her backup dancer, along with SKE's topstar Jurina Matsui and one of Team K's youngest, most popular members, Erena Ono, as the other two backup dancers, and for the first time, I see CinDy actually nervous, shown here first in the "The Making of..." video before the concert starts.

In what may be the biggest performance of her career, for the first time, CinDy actually looks nervous performing as center of Nagisa no Cherry.

As CinDy performs Nagisa no Cherry, her Team B teammates watch her 'backstage' (from the "The Making of..." video), shown here are Mayuyu, Nacchan and Harugon

After Nagisa no Cherry, Team B humorously joins CinDy on stage to perform their #1 song, Shounichi, where CinDy resumes her leadership tasks in leading Team B in the chant.

She performs Shounichi wearing the Nagisa no Cherry costume.

Sidelined by a recurring leg problem, Mikachi makes a surprise appearance in the NHK Hall concert as Team B performs their new song, Minasan mo go Issho ni, so team leader CinDy pushes her injured teammate for the song's monologue. This is leadership.

After the monologue, CinDy rejoins Team B before the song ends.

CinDy performs my favorite stage subunit song, Tsundere!, with Mayuyu and Tomomichan, at the great Budokan stage, August, 2009.

CinDy performs her very serious Team B 3rd stage subunit song, Kagami no naka no Joan da Arc at the great Budokan stage. Many stage performers forget the importance of facial expressions, something even AKB topstar Maeda Atsuko gets criticism about, something CinDy excels at, which many of her fans appreciate and admire.

Injured Mikachi decides to graduate at Budokan, where Team B surprises her by joining her on stage while she performs

Not one to forget her leadership duties, CinDy was not about to let her injured teammate carry her mic out on her own.

CinDy debuts on AKB 1ji 59fun, the predecessor to AKB's weekly variety show AKBingo!, the same day AKB topstar Maeda Atsuko debuts, on it's fifth episode, Feb. 21, 2008, as they are both assigned to help MC the show for that episode ("day duty").

After Junji immediately gives Maeda two oshipins for showing up, CinDy asserts herself by saying it's her first day too.

Junji denies her request by saying she's not cute.

She insists that she's cute, where this time it's her friend Nonti who blocks her appeal by saying she's not.

CinDy certainly gives her contribution to the show's humor.

CinDy, on the March 6, 2008 episode, where she is nominated for a Chara-demy award. Unfortunately, they never aired her explanation for her tiara gag.

On the same episode, when one of the lizards in the game escaped its box, and the other girls were running away or getting ready to in fear of it, it was CinDy who went all the way from the back row to get the lizard. Sayaka would help her eventually, but Sayaka was already right there. Remember, this might have even been cut and never been aired, had Sata himself not been running away from the lizard.

On the May 5, 2008 episode of AKB 0ji 59fun, CinDy humorously calls Sata out.

The amusing acting skill battle of that episode.

CinDy continues to humorously call out Sata by starting the "Pervert!" chant, where the members happily chant along.

In an old episode of AKB48+10, CinDy plays the teacher for the rest of Team B.

CinDy, playing with the microphone with her younger Team B teammates, on the October 2, 2007 episode of AKB48+10

CinDy pretty much acts like the interviewer to her Team B teammates for this episode too.

When things get slower, CinDy spikes the tempo, to ensure things get interesting, shown here on the Sept. 5 2009 episode of AKB48+10

CinDy's appeal video for the Iiwake Maybe Senbatsu elections

Upon the announcement that she was voted Senbatsu in the Iiwake Maybe elections, one of the most important victories of CinDy's career

CinDy was part of the AKB team that debuted in Paris.

CinDy, trying to ignite some smiles after the announcement of the very tearful Budokan shuffle ends.

CinDy comforts Team B teammate Yonechan at the aftermath of the Budokan shuffle, who will end up in separate teams

CinDy comforts her team's topstar, Mayuyu, crying after the Budokan shuffle.

CinDy performs with SDN48 at Budokan

It doesn't matter what team you're in, us, your fans, will continue to support you! ガンバレ CinDy!

Order Sakura no Shiori!

We were preordering Sakura no Shiori on a website over a week ago when I was surprised to find out that one of the types was already sold out! I didn't even know this was possible! One of the two types of Sakura no Shiori was sold out on a website one month even before it gets released! We moved to another site where they were both available.

The song Sakura no Shiori has gotten bad reception from a lot of AKB fans so far, but personally, I still preordered it, regardless. When I first heard that the 17th single will be another graduation song, I was like, "Another one?" When I found out it had "Sakura" on the title again, I was like, "Again?" I guess Aki-P is quite fond of graduation songs and Sakuras and love to capitalize on graduation seasons. Why not, Sakura no Hanabiratachi was very good to them. Sakura no Shiori is a bit too choir-y, so I guess Aki-P is really targeting a song that graduates can actually sing on an event. Personally, I'm not quite fond of the song Sakura no Shiori either, but there are two other tracks that are better, not to forget to mention the videos on the DVD.

The second track is Majisuka Rock 'n Roll, the theme song for their cool, new, ongoing TV drama, Majisuka Gakuen. I like it so far and would like to hear the full version.

There will also be a third track, and that's where the two types come in. Type A contains Enkyori Poster, while Type B contains Choose Me! as the third track. Enkyori Poster is performed by Team PB (Team Playboy, composed of Yuki Kashiwagi, Sae Miyazawa, Miho Miyazaki, Aika Oota, Moeno Nito, Aki Takajo, and Ami Maeda) while Choose Me! is performed by Team YJ (Team Young Jump, composed of Tomomi Kasai, Rie Kitahara, Haruka Nakagawa, Minami Minegishi, Rino Sashihara, Asuka Kuramochi, and Ayaka Kikuchi). Playboy and Young Jump are weekly magazines in Japan. (I don't know if Japan's Playboy has any relationship with the Playboy of U.S., Japan's Playboy does not contain nudity [that I know of], and is tamer than the Philippines' FHM. It's possible that it's different if that existed before Japan ever heard of US' Playboy, so much like the Philippine brand Polo, it wouldn't be a trademark violation even if Ralph Lauren's Polo was more popular since the Philippines never heard of it before.)

Team YJ and Team PB are already featured in their respective magazines, and would be competing in terms of sales of the new single. Whoever's type sells more will be featured in both magazines. There was a report released by AKB management that stated Team PB's Enkyori Poster is leading, with over 23,000 preorders, while Team YJ's Choose Me! has over 19,000 preorders. This is one month even before the single is released!

Although Sakura no Shiori has had a lot of negative reception, it's interesting to see that it already has over 40,000 preorders; that's twice as many as any of the singles released during their Defstar days, and that's one month before it's even released. It's possible fans just really like the other tracks, or, just like me, they just wanna support the group regardless of the song. But I'm curious to see if it can continue the string of the previous four singles by selling more than 100,000 copies, or if it can match River's sales of 200,000 copies. Well, it has one month more to take in preorders, apart from those who'll buy it after its release. It should be interesting to see if River sold that well because River was such a great single, or, if Sakura no Shiori matches River, then it's proof that AKB's fanbase is increasing, at a good rate too, especially it's purchasing fanbase. Iiwake Maybe sold only about half as much as its successor, River, but since Iiwake Maybe was voted #1 by fans in the Best 100 2010, it's possible that River sold well also because Iiwake Maybe paved the way for it, and so, even if Sakura no Shiori is not the best single they have released, it's possible that it will sell more successfully than better, previously released AKB singles, because of it's precursors.

Personally, I preordered Type A, the one with Team PB's Enkyori Poster. I agree that there are parts that sound like Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara, but I like Kimi no, and I liked Enkyori Poster enough regardless. I liked Choose Me! too, I just liked Enkyori Poster more. Actually, even before I heard the songs, I already chose Team PB over Team YJ, so when I heard a lot of people liked Choose Me!, I thought I might be disappointed with Team PB's song, and when I heard Team PB's song the first time, I automatically assumed it was Choose Me! because I liked it a lot, but I was wrong, and I was actually listening to Enkyori Poster. I originally chose Team PB over Team YJ because of the girls that composed it, for example, my favorite among the 14 girls involved is Yukirin, and I'm quite fond of many of the other girls in PB as well, but that is not to say I don't like Team YJ, I really, really like many of the girls in Team YJ, for example, I'm really glad that Harugon is getting a push with this one. So, although I preordered Enkyori Poster, I encouraged a friend to preorder Choose Me! instead, so it all evens out.

In conclusion, go buy Sakura no Shiori!

Cover for Type A (with Enkyori Poster), Atsuko Maeda solo

Cover for Type B (with Choose Me!), features Minami Takahashi, Atsuko Maeda and Jurina Matsui

Cover for the exclusive theater version (can only be purchased at their theater), which contains both Enkyori Poster and Choose Me!, but no DVD. (Features Tomomi Itano, Haruna Kojima and Sae Miyazawa on the cover.)

A promo picture, featuring Miho Mayazaki, Tomomi Itano, Atsuko Maeda, Mariko Shinoda, Jurina Matsui, Yuki Kashiwagi, Haruna Kojima, Minami Takahashi, Mayu Watanabe, Yuko Oshima, Sae Miyazawa and Rie Kitahara, presumably, the Senbatsus for Sakura no Shiori. I'm not sure if this is all of them as some usual Senbatsus are missing, like Minami Minegishi, Erena Ono, and Tomomi Kasai.

Iiwake Maybe #1 Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2010

Iiwake Maybe is my second favorite AKB song so far (second to Yuuhi wo Miteiruka?), and it has been for quite some time now, so I'm very happy it got #1 in the Request Hour Setlist Best 100 on the year of its release. When I saw that it sold less copies than Namida Surprise, I thought people didn't like it as much, considering it was released after Namida Surprise, but I'm glad that people actually liked it a lot. I agree that it is the best song released in 2009.

Apparently, there were little surprises in this year's Best 100. I'll likely talk about the Best 100 more once the DVD is released and I get a copy of the video, as I have very little to add from what other bloggers have already mentioned, so if you wanna see the list of the top 100, just click on over to a few of the websites linked on my blogroll on my sidebar at the right.

I'm really excited to watch the concert myself on video, so I hope they release it really, really soon!

Majisuka Gakuen Episode 1 English Summary

I thought Majisuka Gakuen (“Are you serious? Academy”) would be a comedy-drama, much like Ikemendol, but there hasn’t been too much humor in the first episode; it was intense! I can’t stop raving about it so I’m giving you the summary of the first episode (episode one: In this World, It’s All About Being Serious, aired January 8, 2010). One interesting point is that we are already made aware of the cast that features many of the AKB girls, but we don’t see many of them on the first episode. I thought some of them would end up like extras, but there were dozens of extras, something I didn’t expect, which means the AKB girls’ roles would actually be important roles, and they would have cool debuts on the show.

The episode starts with very horrid scenes of a school run by yankees, a term used in Japan for delinquents. The all-girl school is beset with gangs, fighting, and bullying, and although I know bullying is a real huge problem in Japan, these scenes are extreme. Complete anarchy.

Next scene is a math class where the teacher has absolutely no control. Here, we get our first glimpse of the first relevant gang to the story, Team Hormone, who often chats while barbecuing, in this case, inside the classroom.

Team Hormone, a group of sophomores, is lead by Sasshi (as Wota), with Akicha, Kitarie (as Unagi), Moeno (as Bungee), and Komori (as Mukuchi). Apparently, most of the girls are using their real names (for example, when the teacher calls Sasshi, she is called Sashihara-san), but they have nicknames, most of which actually are related to them in the real world (or at least in the AKB universe). Wota refers to Sasshi’s popular Wotagei dance which came from wotas, or superfans, Kitarie got the name Unagi Inu (Eel Dog) in a mic performance at an episode of AKBegas from Yukirin at AKBingo’s April 22, 2009 episode, Bungee refers to Moeno least hesitating to jump off the bungee challenge at Shukan’s Sept. 25, 2009 episode, while Akicha is just using her regular nickname.

They express concern about a new transferee who will come to the school today, a feared, legendary yankee who can beat the crapola out of anyone, no matter how many they are.

Just to emphasize to the viewers that it’s the yankees that run this school, when the teacher dares to ask Sasshi if she would like to try to answer the math problem, she burns him with the meat and says she’s in the middle of eating, as the teacher apologizes.

Something catches the eye of Team Hormone, as well as the rest of the school.

New transfer student arrives, Nacchu (of SDN48), as Daruma Onizuka.

She makes a statement and catches everyone’s attention by destroying a volleyball with one punch.

The second gang, Rappappa, is introduced, whose freshmen members are Tanamin (as Jumbo), Yonechan (as Rice), Haachan (as Showa), and Nakayan (as Anime).

Nakayan, the only girl I couldn’t recognize because she looks so different, watches the new girl outside.

Rappappa’s great four, all juniors, are introduced, Tomochin (as Shibuya), Yukirin (as Black), Rena (as Gekikara), and Kojiharu (as Torigoya). (Yukirin is humorously referred to as Black Yukirin and Black Marimokori in AKBingo, in the mic performances, to suggest she has an evil side counter to her cute, very appealing image, Gekikara refers to the spicy food Rena conquered in a series of challenges on Shukan, while Shibuya may pertain to the April 8, 2009 AKBingo episode where Tomochin was voted by young men in Shibuya as the girl they would most want to have as a girlfriend among four choices.) Rena is only represented by a picture on the wall, not only because she was absent, but because this is factored in the story on a later episode. Shinoda is also introduced, as Rappappa’s subleader (as Sado).

Rappappa is considered the top gang in the school.

Gold Eyebrow Association (just a bunch of extras, no AKB members), a freshman gang, decides to take on Nacchu first, to show her who’s boss.

Nacchu’s first hit sends the watching girls reeling.

The rest of Gold Eyebrow Association eventually does nothing.

Maeda Atsuko enters the scene, minding her own business. She’s another transfer student.

Nacchu and Maeda are introduced by the math teacher to the class as the new transfer students. Nacchu gives the class the finger, to which they all react angrily to, while Maeda bows respectfully. Nacchu evicts a student from her seat to take it, while Maeda takes the one given by the teacher.

The Principal reveals to the math teacher that one of the two transfer students is a bad, bad, bad girl, but her father was her former lover, and that’s why she’s here.

Annoyed, Team Hormone challenges Nacchu by asking her to pick one of them, but she declines by saying she’s after someone upstairs.

Nacchu heads upstairs to Rappappa’s headquarters, and confidently says she wants to be a member, and when she is told they are full, she confidently says one of them has to leave.

As Maeda tries to enter the library, a sign says it’s in use, to which we are greeted with this horrid scene.

Team Hormone enters the scene, and as Maeda tries to walk away, they block her. They offer her to pick one of them, and when she doesn’t speak, they make fun of her book, which they drop, push her down and then take her money. Maeda just walks away without a word. Team Hormone concludes they have a new subordinate.

As Maeda walks along, she finds a bunch of girls over Nacchu, who was beaten up and thrown down the stairs by Rappappa.

Nacchu says the fight ain’t over, but unable to stand on her own, as Maeda tries to walk on by, Nacchu grabs her ankle.

Maeda helps Nacchu to the clinic while Nacchu keeps blubbering about how she didn’t lose the fight, and that she wants to be the top dog of the school, and that beating Rappappa was the way to do it. Nacchu says only the strong survive. When Nacchu asked why Maeda was even in a school like this, it triggers a memory, and we’re presented with one of the first mysteries of the show, the mysterious bracelet.

Without saying a word, as soon as Maeda recalls the bracelet, she drops Nacchu to the entrance of the clinic, literally, where we are introduced to the pervert doctor who has his eyes set on the new girl, Maeda. He also has a hidden camera setup in the clinic’s dressing room. I already hate the guy.

In the next scene, Maeda has dinner with who is apparently her father. She is quiet for the most part as it is revealed to us that Maeda’s mother is also a yankee and so far has not been in a fight in her new job, as a trucker. We are also shown that her father has quite the opposite personality, as he is the nice, cheerful fellow, who tries to make a serious Maeda happy.

As her father talks about her mother and asks about her new school, Maeda removes and wipes her fogged up glasses, showing also that she is wearing the mysterious bracelet. She wears two, one pink, one blue.

Up on the school’s roof, Team Hormone talks about the beating Nacchu got, and how apparently the legend was an urban myth, and they decide to finish her off.

Maeda sits on a terrace-like part of the school to read, when Team Hormone enters the scene, dragging a beaten up Nacchu.

As Maeda tries to leave the scene, as they continue to beat on Nacchu, Team Hormone tells Nacchu to admit defeat, otherwise they’ll beat her to death, to which Nacchu says she’d rather risk her life than admit defeat. Nacchu emphasizes she’s serious. Team Hormone makes it clearer that they will beat her to death.

Continuing the insults and the beating, Sasshi asks, “Majisuka?” (Are you serious?)

It is Maeda who replies, “I assure you, I’m serious.”

Sasshi asks, “What did you say?”

Maeda turns to face them and says, “In this world, it’s all about being serious.”

After a flurry of blurred shots, Maeda comes back inside the school, where she walks past Shinoda. Shinoda notices Maeda.

The door opens where one of the members of Team Hormone stumbles in. There was no else in sight.

Shinoda decides to inspect the outside, where she finds all the members of Team Hormone on the ground, writhing in pain.

Shinoda also finds Nacchu, sitting on a corner, in disbelief. Apparently, the legend was true. They just had the wrong transfer student in mind.

As if to tease us for the upcoming episodes, Maeda walks past two girls who are not yet introduced, Kuramochi and Kasai.

Shinoda reports the carnage that occurred to Team Hormone to Rappappa’s big boss, who is none other than…

Yuko Oshima.

----------------------

Majisuka Gakuen is better than I expected, and I’m very excited to see all the episodes, but since the weekly show just started January 8, I’d have to wait for the weekly airing just like the rest of the fans, but I would so love to watch all 12 episodes in just one sitting. The girls did great acting, especially Maeda Atsuko. The girls’ portray characters very different from what we normally see them in, very little cheery personalities, as we’re shown much more serious scenes. Some of the fight scenes are a little more violent than what I had thought, not necessarily because of the girls, but because the shots were great and postproduction also did a great job, so the casual fan might squirm a little (but they’re not very gruesome).

We can expect the Nacchu-Maeda friendship to last the whole story, as I guess Nacchu would become Maeda’s sidekick, and it’s interesting to see if the school gets cleaned up at the end of the show by Maeda, or will we have a more gripping, surprise ending. Maeda's father seems to be an interesting character, especially since as it turns out that he is the one who had the steamy romance with the principal before Maeda was born, so how does a bright and nice fellow end up with such unusually headstrong female partners? And remember, we still have dozens of AKB girls who will still debut on the show, so each episode should be an interesting one! Now, I kinda hoped they didn’t release a list of who would play what, just to keep us fans guessing. But either way, I’m loving this show! Now that you know what the first episode is about, go watch the rest of the series!

(ADDENDUM: If you would like to see my discussion on the first half of the series [episode 2-6], see here: http://filipinoakbfan.blogspot.com/2010/02/look-at-some-interesting-and-amusing.html )