Week 8 (2014)

In these weekly posts, I gather all the variety appearances of AKB members and briefly summarize what happened. AKBingo was on a break this week due to the Sochi Olympics.

Ariyoshi AKB Kyowakoku (17.2)

Members: Uchida Mayumi, Owada Nana, Kojima Haruna, Kobayashi Kana, Komiyama Haruka, Sato Sumire, Chikano Rina, Tsuchiyasu Mizuki, Mukaichi Mion

Summary: This week’s Kyowakoku was a radio episode with non-senbatsu members and the 15th generation members. The episode started awkwardly as the non-senbatsu failed to do what they were supposed to do: introduce their talk subjects by singing them to the tune of Tetsu and Tomo’s Nande darou gag. The girls shared episodes which clearly mark them as non-senbatsu: other members not eating Ucchi’s souvenir, Chikarina’s handshake time being shorter than kenkyuuseis’ and Suuchan being compared to a potato on the Internet. In another corner, the four brought up things in which they are better than Kojiharu: Chikarina had sung a popular CM song before joining AKB, Suuchan has Teruyuki Kagawa’s phone number (+ Chikarina is friends with Nounen Rena and Takei Emi) and Kana is more often mistaken for a hostess. The climax of the episode was an insect eating competition between the non-senbatsu members and the 15th generation members.

Analysis: This week’s episode will be remembered for a long time: it created a legend for AKB fans. It was much easier for Ariyoshi to tease the girls as they were more willing to do anything to leave a lasting impact and Kojiharu was also more eager to tease them. The seriousness and hunger of the members were also obvious so it was entertaining to watch the episode. However, the end of the episode is what will be remembered: 15th generation members eating even more insects than comedians can take usually and then Ucchi pulling off a move I don’t remember ever even seeing. The eating competition has guaranteed future appearances for Ucchi and the kenkyuusei since they have a character on the show now.

Week 5 (2014)

In these weekly posts, I gather all the variety appearances of AKB members and briefly summarize what happened.

AKBingo (28.1)

Members: Aigasa Moe, Iwata Karen, Iwatate Saho, Okada Nana, Oshima Ryoka, Kashiwagi Yuki, Katayama Haruka, Kitazawa Saki, Kojima Mako, Kodama Haruka, Sashihara Rino, Sato Sumire, Shinozaki Ayana, Takashima Yurina, Takahashi Juri, Tanaka Natsumi, Tano Yuka, Nishino Miki, Minegishi Minami, Murashige Anna

Summary: This week’s AKBingo was another fashion check episode that was shot on the same day as the one aired at the end of last year. The members taking part in the competition were younger ones again (Juri, Haruppi, Murashige, Ryoka, Kojimako, Miki, Saho) while the veterans and the competitors from last time remained as commentators. It also looks like they shot Shoujiki shogi episodes on the same day and one of those episodes will be aired next week.

Analysis: Just after I got to praise Murashige for finding balance in variety, she goes on and leaves me wondering whether she has made any real progress at all. Her insistence on using -shige endings everywhere was misplaced this week. The same can also be said of Kojimako and her “gag” – she blurts it out randomly and only concerns others with it. It is not cut because it looks adorable enough, but then again she could do pretty much anything else in its place and not much would change (in temrs of being adorable). Moe also has a problem she doesn’t seem to be aware of or doesn’t know how to fix: whenever she speaks, she doesn’t put enough energy into it and her comments fall flat. With a voice as low as hers, it feels out of place in Bingo’s atmosphere. Her lack of excitement could work for her benefit if she made the right comments for her style (like Tomochin), but she hasn’t really caught up on that yet.

We also got to see good Karen-Juri chemistry as Karen set up the stage for Juri and Juri responded back cleverly. Miichan yet again showed why she is so valued in variety: she can give attention to any member, ranging from her Haachan tease (that gave Haachan the attention she would have missed otherwise) to supporting the Team 4 girls with witty comments. For Haruppi, I think it was the first time she used her IKKO jokes on TV (as fans have often compared her to IKKO due to her hair style) and it was also funny to see her interact with the other HKT members.

Week 4 (2014)

In these weekly posts, I gather all the variety appearances of AKB members and briefly summarize what happened. After last week’s post I realized that posting only summaries doesn’t feel right so I added review parts to a few programs.

AKB48 no anta, dare?! (16.1)

Members: Takashima Yurina, Shinozaki Ayana, Murayama Yuiri, Mogi Shinobu

Summary: This week’s Andare upload featured Team 4 members who had not been on the show in a long while, but no Mariko (again) as it happened to be a Thursday episode. The four started by talking about what they have been doing since they appeared last time on the show and pondered whether they have made any development. At first they were made to clear various challenges: imitating Funassyi for 30 seconds, acting out Andare’s pervert writer’s moe line, pulling off 3 weird facial expression in a row, dancing UZA as energetically as they can, doing monoboke 3 times in a row and imitating Miichan for 30 seconds. In the following corner the members were challenged to talk alone for a minute and they ended up talking about each other. Ayanan revealed Yuiri to be perverted, Yuiri exposed Ayanan being a bit of a kusogaki while Yuurin claimed Mogi to be excessively negative and Mogi talked about how easily Yuurin feels down despite what she claims in her catchphrase. In the final corner the girls acted out moe situation and lines related to high school students (as all of them go to high school right now).

Review: In my opinion this Andare episode showed these girls at their very best. In fact, I don’t even remember seeing them do so well in variety shows until now. It is about time their revered talking skills from the theater performances can be seen in variety. All four of them were energetically involved in keeping the show running and clearly had fun as well. They were surprisingly amazing in what I would call “flow talk”: the sort of talk in which the members funnily force someone to do a task no one wants to do. They had various patterns for that and all of them worked very smoothly – even rivalling what Andare veterans usually do on the show. Their style clearly focused on the point that all the members kept talking without a stop. Even when one member was under the spotlight the others would loudly cheer on and comment from the background. That style has its pros and cons: it worked very well in this episode, but it can also be quite overbearing when done in the wrong situation. The most obvious winner this week was Mogi who introduced a new character that will surely turn into a fan favorite. Heck, she even went as far as to (briefly) imitate Hard Gay even without her new character.

 

Week 3 (2014)

In these weekly posts, I gather all the variety appearances of AKB members and briefly summarize what happened. After last week’s post I realized that posting only summaries doesn’t feel right so I added review parts to a few programs.

AKBingo (14.1)

Members: Aigasa Moe, Azuma Rion, Anai Chihiro, Iwata Karen, Iwatate Saho, Umeta Ayano, Oshima Ryoka, Ota Aika, Okada Nana, Kashiwagi Yuki, Kimoto Kanon, Kojima Mako, Kodama Haruka, Sashihara Rino, Jonishi Kei, Takahashi Juri, Takahashi Minami, Takayanagi Akane, Tanaka Natsumi, Tano Yuka, Nakanishi Chiyori, Nishino Miki, Furuhata Nao, Matsui Rena, Matsuoka Natsumi, Minegishi Minami, Miyawaki Sakura, Murashige Anna, Moriyasu Madoka, Yagura Fuuko, Yamada Nana, Yamamoto Sayaka, Watanabe Miyuki

Summary: Unlike past years, this time the Lucky Girl Ranking is divided to three episodes so we need to wait for next week to see the final result. Some of the jokes from last week were carried over (Sasshi bullying the palm reader Shimada and Mirukii butting without anything to say) while Tano and Nana competed over whose Takamina impersonation is better after Getters’ Iida claimed they would succeed as impersonators. In addition, Murashige was as energetic as usual and Karen provided a new manga reading performance.

Review: I will write about the Lucky Girl Ranking episodes after all of them have been aired.

Week 52

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.

Week 51

In these weekly summaries, I go through the latest episodes of AKB48′s various shows.

AKBingo (17.12)

Members: Abe Maria, Iwata Karen, Iwatate Saho, Uchiyama Natsuki, Oshima Ryoka, Oya Shizuka, Okada Nana, Kojima Mako, Shinozaki Ayana, Takahashi Juri, Takeuchi Miyu, Tano Yuka, Nagao Mariya, Nishino Miki, Maeda Ami, Yamauchi Suzuran

This week’s episode was a bit of a disappointment: there was too much laziness with the hints as Abe even didn’t give one (is that the first time this has happened?). The hyped mic performance was one of the weakest so far, with both sides being only so-so and the whole thing had to be wrapped up by Sata and not the members themselves. Ranran still sticks with her awkward style: overreacting while coming across as lighthearted and fishy doesn’t quite work. It becomes even more obvious when she is in other kind of situations, like Kyowakoku’s radio episodes.

Week 49

Sorry for the delay this week. I thought I had published this last weekend, but WordPress screwed it up and I didn’t notice until now. In these weekly summaries, I go through the latest episodes of AKB48′s various shows. This week there was an hour-long special of Karen no fukkou calendar and Sakiko participated for the second time in Teppen‘s piano competition.

AKBingo (3.12)

Members: Abe Maria, Iwata Karen, Iwatate Saho, Uchiyama Natsuki, Oshima Ryoka, Oya Shizuka, Okada Nana, Kojima Mako, Takahashi Juri, Takeuchi Miyu, Tano Yuka, Shinozaki Ayana, Nagao Mariya, Nishino Miki, Maeda Ami, Yamauchi Suzuran

This prank project doesn’t give me much of a chance to write about the members themselves. I’m personally not that fond of the way the prank is presented: there’s too much explanation and repetition of ‘majime’ for the prank itself to have an impact. The editing raises expectations way too high and the constant explanation is a bit overbearing. I think it would work better if the prank was presented in a less dramatic and predictable way. At least the ending of this week’s episode was memorable so I’m hoping next week leaves the impact this prank should leave in the first place. As a side note, I love how the staff used Tano in this week’s episode – pure delight for the fans who like her cheeky personality.

Week 48

In these weekly summaries, I go through the latest episodes of AKB48′s various shows. This week saw AKB members making many solo appearances in non-AKB shows and I found the time to write about them, instead of just namedropping them.

AKBingo (26.11)

Members: Maria Abe, Karen Iwata, Natsuki Uchiyama, Ryoka Oshima, Nana Okada, Mako Kojima, Juri Takahashi, Miyu Takeuchi, Yuka Tano, Ayana Shinozaki, Mariya Nagao, Miki Nishino, Ami Maeda, Suzuran Yamauchi

This week’s AKBingo was the first part of a multi-episode Nana prank. The show is clearly hopping onto her serious character that has become one of the highlights of the show this year. This episode was quite different from AKBingo’s usual, with a heavy focus on a long VTR with various people from the management sharing stories of Nana’s personality and the first part of the prank which how scarily well Nana listens to pretty much anything that is said to her.

Week 47

In these weekly summaries, I go through the latest episodes of AKB48′s various shows. Kitarie appeared on Jinsei ga kawaru ippunkan no fukaii hanashi’s Ghibli special, but didn’t do much apart from revealing that she loves Princess Mononoke so much that she knows pretty much all the lines of the film and acted out one scene from the film. The episode itself was quite interesting for a Ghibli fan, but for an AKB fan it’s not a necessary view. Yuihan appeared on Konya kurabetemimashita as one of three female celebrities from Kyoto.

AKBingo (19.11)

Members: Maria Abe, Karen Iwata, Saho Iwatate, Natsuki Uchiyama, Ryoka Oshima, Shizuka Oya, Nana Okada, Mako Kojima, Ayana Shinozaki, Juri Takahashi, Miyu Takeuchi, Yuka Tano, Mariya Nagao, Miki Nishino, Ami Maeda, Suzuran Yamauchi

AKBingo made a refreshing return to the old Battle Burger Shop competition with mostly new members who have not taken part in it before. A few veterans were brought along to make sure it goes smoothly and the likes of Ami and Oya did their part and you could see the staff placed them in the most important spots to take advantage of their experience. However, Oya remained surprisingly quiet in overall, but there was no special need for her to butt in since the younger members did well by themselves.

Week 44

In these weekly summaries, I go through the latest episodes of AKB48′s various shows. Sasshi appeared on Konya ha kurabetemimashita, a popular talk show in which Miichan appeared earlier this year.

AKBingo (29.10)

Members: Karen Iwata, Saho Iwatate, Nana Okada, Ryoka Oshima, Yuko Oshima, Asuka Kuramochi, Mako Kojima, Ayana Shinozaki, Yurina Takashima, Juri Takahashi, Mariya Nagao, Miki Nishino, Ami Maeda, Minami Minegishi, Suzuran Yamauchi, Yui Yokoyama

This week’s AKBingo continued last week’s theme of competition between senbatsu members and young newcomers. This time it was a what’s-in-the-box reaction game and the staff had a group of old people who don’t know anything about AKB judge whose reaction is best. The ones who took part in the game were Kojimako, Yuko, Ayanan, Miki and Miichan. Ranran and Mariyagi appeared only in the short talk part before the episode.

As expected, the Yuko and Miichan delivered.