Senbatsu
1. Oshima Yuko
2. Watanabe Mayu
3. Kashiwagi Yuki
4. Sashihara Rino
5. Shinoda Mariko
6. Takahashi Minami
7. Kojima Haruna
8. Itano Tomomi
9. Matsui Jurina
10. Matsui Rena
11. Miyazawa Sae
12. Kasai Tomomi
13. Kitahara Rie
14. Minegashi Minami
15. Yokoyama Yui
16. Umeda Ayaka
Under Girls
17. Takajo Aki
18. Yamamoto Sayaka
19. Watanabe Miyuki
20. Akimoto Sayaka
21. Sato Amina
22. Kuramochi Asuka
23. Shimazaki Haruka
24. Takayanagi Akane
25. Hata Sawako
26. Masuda Yuka
27. Oya Masana
28. Yagami Kumi
29. Suda Akari
30. Furukawa Airi
31. Kizaki Yuria
32. Ogiso Shiori
So today was the day of the results show for AKB48’s 4th Senbatsu Election, in which 16 senbatsu members are chosen through votes to participate in active roles in AKB’s next single, with the winner taking the coveted center position. In essence, it’s a popularity contest, however the higher you rank, the more jobs you’ll be offered outside of being part of an AKB team to further your career, and so it’s considered an important event for all the idols. It’s also been called a brilliant marketing scheme, since to get a vote in the first place, you have to buy a copy of their latest single. The more you buy, the more votes you get – the producer Aki-P is a fucking genius.
Anyway, my thoughts on the results. I’m not too familiar with the Undergirls, but there were lots of shifts here and there – Akicha barely missed out on senbatsu, while Yui-han made it in after jumping up from 19th last year (: It’s sad to see Sayaka move down a few more places, though she did get more votes than last year. SKE48 dominated a whole streak of places in undergirls, but I hardly know any of them lol xD There were kenkyuusei’s floating around in the lower ranks too – it’s good to see that kick-start in popularity especially as they’re still trainees.
There were a few pleasant surprises in senbatsu as well. Jurina beat Rena (!) and Mariko-sama went down a place, though Sasshi/Sashiko really moved in for the kill. I wish Sae-chan and Tomochin could have moved up rather than stayed, but at least Takamina’s steadily climbing up. Go for 5th next year!
The announcer guy cutting all the results with scissors really knew how to raise suspense, and the 3rd + 2nd place results were full of it. Obviously with Acchan not here this year all her wotas will vote for others, which was why it was so hard to predict this year’s placings. My oshimen is Mayuyu, so I wanted her to do well but realistically, I actually thought she would lose to Yukirin so when I heard “Kashiwagi Yuki” for 3rd I was like: OMG O_O mouth falls open
I daresay I actually did think that Mayuyu could possibly beat Yuko (and I think she did for a moment there too) but with such a huge vote difference (108K vs 72K) it won’t be happening any time soon. The CG revolution is on its way though, I never thought she would do as well as 2nd. And of course, congratulations to Yuko, who definitely deserves her well-earned center spot. Who else could do it but her? (And Acchan, who very sincerely congratulated her)
I spent the entire of my morning and most of my afternoon watching this, but I regret nothing xDD Overall, it was good! It was really fun watching it live, and the extra unpredictability made it all the better.
TL;DR – There was a lot of crying.
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