What do you think of solo debuts from graduated members?  I feel like a lot of members pursue theater or acting (with a few exceptions, of course), but not so many continue as singers. Or maybe I just don’t know enough?  Anyway, it’s just my idle thoughts! Please enjoy some AKB48 news summary.

Yamato Rina solo debut

Rina was a member of Nogizaka46’s first generation, and she “retired” from Nogizaka46 way back in December 2014. However, she was recently picked up by Bellwood Records for a solo debut “mini” album.

The album itself contains an original song, “Sakura” – and includes five other cover songs of the same name (from various artists).

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SKE48 tops song chorus ranking

Japanese love ranking things, and this is probably as unique as it gets: a ranking of musical artists whose song titles are used in the song’s chorus. Yeah.

As luck would have it, SKE48 tops the list, according to TV show, Downtown DX:

With 18 singles, every single has used the song title in the song’s chorus. I would have thought this would be more common, but it seems not!

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Itano Tomomi starts a new blog on LINE

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Nogizaka’s Ikoma Rina was in New York to attend a fashion show by Anna Sui

「アナスイ」のショーに乃木坂46の生駒里奈ちゃんが来ていました。NYでショーを見るのは初めてとのことで、とっても楽しんでいました。#annasui #乃木坂46 #生駒里奈 pic.twitter.com/PjwHFhjv34

— WWD JAPAN (@wwd_jp) February 18, 2016

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Anai Chihiro getting wasted at the HKT48

Okay, maybe not quite drunk, but here is she is with a jar of ONE CUP OZEKI sake:

Don’t worry, she just turned 20 years old (the legal alcoholic drinking age in Japan) a few weeks ago.

One Cup Ozeki is no stranger to HKT48 collaborations:

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Ichikawa Manami announces graduation…

… HA! Just kidding!

Manami begins by saying she has something new important to announce, which leads everyone to think, “Oh no, graduation!” And the she says nothing, and thanks Takamina for her great production skills.

Oh Takamina’s face!

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Minegishi Minami: pole dancing and plastic surgery

Miichan recently appeared on an episode of Downtown DX, where the topic of her recent body change came up (due to her collaboration with RIZAP).

Of course, she still has some crazy muscle:

But, lately she does does pole dancing too:

… which causes some bruising of her thighs, unfortunately:

The next part of the segment features Japanese comedian “Takashi” from manzai group, “Trendy Angels”, who is a self proclaimed idol wota:

He jokes about Miichan having plastic surgery, by showing some of her debut photos (where she looks really different):

It was a very funny segment!

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HKT photo books topping Amazon sales rank

As of today, February 19, 2016, number #1 is Tomonaga Mio’s first photo book, and #2 is Sashihara Rino’s next photo book:

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More Lake Bank CMs

Lake Bank seems to have a long-standing relationship with AKB members, as we’ve seen a log of their commercial previously. Here are some new ones, again featuring Muto Tomu, Yokoyama Yui, and Kizaki Yuiria:

A web-only commercial:

… and the next one titled, “Inside the Train”:

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Former SKE48 member Deguchi Aki’s debut mini album

Deguchi graduated from SKE48 way back in 2014, and she just recently a new mini album, via Twitter:

3月9日発売1stミニアルバム「Daybreak」より
「暁月夜」〜short ver〜
ミュージックビデオがYouTubeに公開されました！
観てね????https://t.co/HypB0DKaFj#拡散希望

— 出口陽(デグチアキ) (@akisun314) February 19, 2016

The first music video also has a short version and is named “Akatsuki tsukiyo”:

It goes on sale on March 9th, 2016.

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