In these weekly summaries, I go through the latest episodes of AKB48′s various shows. This week was marked by members’ various solo appearances in non-AKB shows. That will continue until the end of the year since there will be many specials dominating the TV in celebration of the year ending. Yuihan appeared on Platinum London Boots and seemed to do well – although I have only seen a lovely video of her singing Koi suru Fortune Cookie. Some fans suggested that she may be better off in shows like her own Kyoto show rather than the fast-paced variety world.
AKBingo (24.12)
Members: Aigasa Moe, Iwata Karen, Iwatate Saho, Okada Nana, Oshima Ryoka, Katayama Haruka, Kitazawa Saki, Kojima Mako, Kodama Haruka, Sato Sumire, Shinozaki Ayana, Takashima Yurina, Takahashi Juri, Tanaka Natsumi, Tano Yuka, Nishino Miki, Minegishi Minami, Murashige Anna
This week’s AKBingo started the traditional year-end run with a fashion show episode that mostly featured first-timers as well as a couple of HKT members making a refreshing comeback. Saki made her AKBingo debut and was even given a chance to leave an impact with her own joke. Out of the other Team 4 members, Yuurin showed admirable development with her capability to join the conversation even when the focus was on HKT. However, Team 4’s presence on variety shows is still mostly marked by Miichan whose influence and importance are undeniable. HKT members were less remarkable with even Natsumikan making an unusual mistake although she more than made up for it with her trademark sharpness in other places. Meanwhile the current “regulars” continued their good stride on the show with Karen coming up with one of the best boke outfits and Tano living up to her recent reaction queen image.
The next episode will continue with the year-end traditions by delivering a new handreading special even though the result last time was a complete fiasco in hindsight. Most likely they will pass that problem by having Bad Boys or one of the members crack a joke about it. Most of the preview was reserved for the weird sight of Takamina crying and it’s certainly a good way to catch attention – although I have a feeling it will end up being quite unremarkable.
Ariyoshi AKB Kyowakoku (23.12)
Members: Kojima Haruna, Takahashi Juri, Yokoyama Yui, Watanabe Mayu
I was surprised to see yet another episode devoted to the guest, Sekine Tsutomu. It also looks like next week will be a radio episode with him. While the episode itself doesn’t have much to offer for AKB fans, it’s an entertaining episode thanks to Sekine’s unique style. His fantasy talk with the members was more successful than I expected although the members were quite passive in the end. Juri’s peculiar choices made her stand out a bit at least.
Nichiyou x Geinin (22.12)
Members: Sashihara Rino
Nichiyou x Geinin is just one of the many programs Sasshi appears in between Christmas and New Years Day – I think she has even more than one program per day for that period of time. It tells a lot about her current status as she is called for so many year-end specials. In this program she took part in a quiz in which she tried to guess the top 25 Christmas songs with comedians. She didn’t end up doing that much apart from a few “explosions”, but it was a fun program to watch in any case.
Sashihara no ran (25.12)
Members: Kojima Haruna, Sashihara Rino, Watanabe Miyuki
This week saw the continuation of last week’s year-end party with Kojiharu. However, she had to leave mid-way through the episode as she had to leave for Umazuki’s shoot. In her place, Fukuda had Mirukii appear on the show again. In other words we got to see further Mirukii-Aokii chemistry. This time the discussion revolved around Mirukii and Sasshi choosing their top 3 news of the year. Sasshi mostly talked about Waratte iitomo and its legendary year-end party in which she drank alcohol for the first time, but she also revealed her real prediction of what she thought her rank would be in this year’s election. Mouri (the AKBingo producer) also had something to say about Sasshi since he was the first TV producer Sasshi ever worked with. It was also decided that the next Sashihara no ran project will be about ramen since Sasshi loves it above all else.
Otoboke Pops (22.12)
Members: Umeda Ayaka, Kitahara Rie, Tano Yuka, Hirata Rina
After noticing that such an exceptional selection of members from Suzukage Nanchara senbatsu appeared on a talk show in which Umechan is a regular, I decided it would be worth checking. It turned out to be the usual small talk show routine: nervous members not being able to do much with mediocre hosts. Kitarie pulled off OK thanks to her experience, but Tano and Hirarii managed to make only little impact despite the two having potential for much more. The only memorable parts of the episode were how Umechan ended up being the butt of all jokes and Jungle Pocket’s Saito remembering Tano from a theater performance he went to see.
AKB48 no anta, dare? (19.12)
Members: Sato Sumire, Suzuki Mariya, Chikano Rina, Maeda Ami
This week’s upload was the first episode since the renewal that was not hosted by Mariko. Instead the staff chose a Thursday episode as Thursdays are still the idolish/moe episodes, like before the renewal. Top Read host the episode to some degree although they are masked as officially they are no longer related to the show. The entire episode felt quite wobbly this week with the episode seeming more like a laidback fan event rather than a variety show. Not only was the show a bit too relaxed some of the 7th generation members who were supposed to appear on the show were replaced by cupboard cutouts for a corner that needed them (a quiz in which the members by what criteria Chikano ranks the 7th generation members). There was also considerable talk about a recent fan by the members who belong to the Hori Pro agency (Suuchan, Harukyan, Myao and Ranran) and inspired by the event, the show had the members perform Andare’s special version of Heart Gata Virus. At least Yannu’s sense of humor has become more and more dependable recently and it was proven yet again.
AKB48 no All Night Nippon (27.12)
Members: Oba Mina, Shimada Haruka, Nagao Mariya
This week’s normal ANN episode featured these members, but there was also a Christmas Eve special for charity in which AKB hosted the whole All Night Nippon slot, beginning with Gold and continuing all the way to very late Zero. In any case, ANN has been Shimada’s show recently, with her making a rare back-to-back appearance thanks to this week’s episode. A great deal of the episode was dedicated to her yet again although in a different way. Mariyagi had a try at leading the talk and the program referred to the funny midnight prank call that was made to Minarun during the Christmas Eve special. It was obvious that the three are used to working together as the program progressed smoothly although the episode did not end up being anything special.
Konya ha kaeranai (23.12)
Members: Iwata Karen, Omori Miyu, Muto Tomu
It looks like Konya ha kaeranai records 3 episodes in one session these days since Miyupon was around for this week as well. Maybe the new regulars have made it possible for the staff to record in a longer session. This week Karen seemed to be a bit out of tune while Tomu’s lead in talking became much better. It also looks like Shingeki no Iwata and the acronym corner are turning into regulars starting from now.
Variety 48 