Erika is in that bottom screenshot but I didn't notice her on the show, only segment she would have been in was when the Senbatsu members performed "Influencer". Miria took her place and wouldn't think it'll be too long until she gets promoted. Nogi has now hijacked this show about ten times, Keya has also made a recent appearance so why not have this kind of show with those two groups taking turns on it?
Sure someone could think of a nifty title combining the two group names, actually may be interesting having both groups appear on a show together. This episode aired on May 6th and bet of the ten appearances Nogi has made on 'The AKB48 Show' this may be most the fans least liked show. Main reason is that over half of the show was devoted to the third generation members and the Undergirls. The Undergirls segment was quite good and while many fans may not have liked their segment I thought it made for one of their best 'AKB Show' appearances.
As in every show it starts off with a short skit which turns into the group singing their current single. The skits always feature a pair, for this show the duo was Kazumi and Manatsu. They've been doing many things together over the last few months, think they've been together in five mag spreads and also have done a few interviews as a pair.
These skits are incredibly lame but there's something about them which brings a smirk to your face. Manatsu was asking Kazumi about their latest single "Influencer" and what the word meant. Kazumi explained the meaning to her and Manatsu admitted she's rather weak at English and Katakana. Kazumi though was the complete opposite and so much of her conversation was using English words and terms. Though at the end Manatsu threw Kazumi and us for a loop when she used a phrase even a scholar wouldn't know.
As in every skit to open a show when it comes to it's end the back doors open and the pair join the rest of the members in performing a song. Naturally the tune was "Influencer" which came out on March 22nd. It's about to be Nogi's first official million seller as of this week the total stands at 995,000 copies sold, probably two more weeks to hit seven figures.
I looked and looked but didn't see Erika in the performance. But did mention above that Miria was there and was taking her place. Bet she'll be doing that quite often in the future and it wouldn't shock me in the least if Miria moves from an Undergirl to a Senbatsu for the next single. No word on when the 18th one will be coming out but seeing as how for the last five years a single has come out in July that seems like a logical date then.
There was one more skit in the show which featured four Senbatsu members and was a bit long at seven minutes. The foursome consisted of Misa, Sayuri, Rina and it was nice to see Mai Shinuchi as the other Mai S. seems to get most of the Mai attention. However the Mai in this segment has been a huge fave of mine and did finish in the top ten on my fave members list. She's also a weekly host of the 'All Night Nippon' show which has become much more popular these last few months.
This is the second time this skit has been done and the title of it was 'Nogi Police: Arresting a vicious Burglar'. There was no vicious burglar for the rather airheaded foursome who were out on patrol a little after 11:00 pm. They stop a man coming home on his bike from a bakery where he had purchased some macarons.
The officers try to think of anything possible to arrest then man, why they wanted to was unknown to him and us viewers. Had it's humorous moments but all in all these kinds of skits are a bit lame, the best skit the members do is when they pretend to be maids at a doctor's office.
The segment went on and on with the gals trying to find reasons to arrest him. The bike wasn't stolen nor was he drunk, the man was truly doing nothing against the law. Finally it comes to an end when Misa discovers his box of macarons and the others dig in on them. they ask him to buy them drinks and that was his cue to make his escape which ended this so-so skit.
Rest of the show was devoted to music, most times the skits they do are quickly forgotten but when they do them right they're very funny watches. On the "Influencer' single the new third generation members had their first song which is titled "Sanbanme no Kaze". Think it's the first time I've seen the new members perform an entire song, did see a few clips of them from the fourth birthday shows that took place in February.
It's an okay song, have heard it at least five times already as it's on the current single but it was nice to see the members 'live'. It's much like a Nogi tune as it's catchy and very upbeat, would post a version of it here but didn't find it on YT. Very difficult to find songs there from Nogi or Keya as I've been searching hard these last few days with few results. Many videos are there at the Sony site but you can't watch them if you're not a resident of Japan or Taiwan.
Last eleven minutes of the show were devoted to the Undergirls and personally I was glad to see that as many of them deserve more attention. Of course Miria has been getting her share lately and may be the next member to get promoted. But the problem is there's only twelve Undergirls right now where as one time there were about seventeen or more of them, that means the current members have to make up for the loss of vocalists.
Then again a Miria promotion may been that there would be at least one demotion, you hate to see that happen to anyone especially seeing how hard they had to work to be a Senbatsu member. There was a segment titled 'Infiltration Series' and there's been a few others in these shows. What happens is that a '48' member comes to a show and interviews some of the members while also watching the girls perform and picking up tips.
The person doing the interviews was Yukina Yanagi from SKE, had never heard of her until this show but she's an eighth generation member. She's also a graduate student in Dentistry and turned 22 back in March. Yukina joined SKE last November and it seems she's a tad too old to be a new Idol but also have a feeling the '48' groups are trying to become a bit older as they had become way too young though SKE's members are mainly in their twenties.
She was at one of the Undergirls concerts that took place from April 20-22nd. There were a total of four shows which were held at the Tokyo Metro Gymnasium, it holds 10,000 fans and all four of the shows were sold out. The Undergirls really do put on a fun show, perhaps better than the Senbatsu members and they do sing live.
They perform their own B-sides along with their own versions of the hit singles. The group will do close to 25 songs and with only twelve members they must be truly tired after a show, on April 22nd they performed two shows with one being in the afternoon. But with that few members it's also an opportunity for them to be noticed, all of them had at least one turn at being the center of a song though Miria these days is the group's main center.
Guess what would make sense and could be in the works is having the third generation and Undergirls merge which would mean over twenty members. Bet the new members have been trained enough by now and having them in concert would really help the twelve gals out. Last segment on the show was another appearance by the Undergirls who sang their own tune from the last single which is titled "Fuusen wa Ikite Iru". Center for the tune was of course Miria, mentioned her quite often in this post but lately she's really been getting a huge push, not just in this show but she's also been appearing in quite a few mags recently.
These shows are far from must watches but guiltily do admit to enjoying them, what I really like is seeing more of the Undergirls which always happens in these shows. Least they're a bit better than the 'NOGIBINGO!' shows which have gone downhill the last few seasons. Many more screenshots here from the show and just searched YT to see if there any there. Didn't see any full shows but there are quite a few snippets from the shows there.
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