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.