Takahashi Minami top make a solo debut!

On the second day of the Tokyo Dome concert yesterday, it was announced that Takahashi Minami will be making her solo debut - at last!! She has been working so hard for not only AKB48 but also the whole '48' family as the main leader. She totally deserves her solo debut. Details on when will it be wasn't announced yet.

AKB48's 2nd Big Reshuffle!

On the very first day of the AKB48's first ever Tokyo Dome concert, 'AKB48 in TOKYO DOME ~1830m no Yume~', TGSK (AKB48 Theater’s manager Togasaki Tomonobu) appeared with yet again a shocking news. (Every time he appears for a speech, the speech always got to be big issue huh.)

As title has said, AKB48 is going to have a big reshuffling of the members between the teams for the second time. (The first time was on August 2009)
Team 4 will be disbanded and the members will be added into Team A, K or B. Which means that Team 8, mentioned last time, will not be formed.

Leadership roles also changed where Takahashi Minami was appointed as the General Manager of the AKB48 groups, Shinoda Mariko takes over the Team A captain position, Oshima Yuko is now the captain of Team K and Umeda Ayaka - transferred to Team B - is now the captain of her new team.

All these are still just the icing by the way. What was more shocking is that with the 'Study Abroad Program' which was mentioned last month, Miyazawa Sae and Suzuki Mariya will be transferred to SNH48, while Takajo Aki and Nakagawa Haruka will be transferred to JKT48.

Akicha... JKT48... I couldn't take it any more yesterday and stayed away from the twitter feeds while suddenly the hash tag for Tokyo Dome was flooding with excited Indonesian tweets.
(No offence intended but seriously the twitter feeds just flows non stop regarding Akicha's and Harugon's transfer to JKT48 - where almost all of the tweets are in Indonesian. Wasn't upset about the the flood of Indonesian tweets but more of the transfer.) I would've felt much better if at least was transferred to SNH48 where she will learn Chinese and thus enable me to be able communicate with her with bits of Chinese if I get to meet her!

Anyways, here's the list of the whole reshuffling:

Takahashi Minami:　Team A captain→ AKB48 Groups’ General Manager

Shinoda Mariko: Team A→Team A Captain（Former Team A captain: Takahashi Minami）
Oshima Yuko: Team K→Team K Captain（Former Team K captain: Akimoto Sayaka）
Umeda Ayaka: Team K→Team B Captain（Former Team B captain: Kashiwagi Yuki）

Yokoyama Yui: Team K→Team A＆ NMB48
Kitahara Rie: Team B→Team K＆ SKE48
Ishida Anna: SKE Team KII→SKE48＆ Team B
Ota Aika: Team A→ HKT48
Miyazawa Sae:　Team K→SNH48
Suzuki Mariya: Team B→SNH48
Takajo Aki:　Team A→JKT48
Nakagawa Haruka: Team A→JKT48

Iwata Karen: Team 4→Team A
Abe Maria: Team 4→Team K
Watanabe Mayu: Team B→Team A
Kojima Haruna: Team A→Team B
Mutou Tomu: Kenkyuusei→Team K
Oba Mina: Team 4→Team B
Akimoto Sayaka: Team K（No transfer）
Nakamata Shiori: Team 4→Team A
Ichikawa Miori: Team 4→Team B
Kasai Tomomi: Team B→Team xA
Kato Rena: Team 4→Team B
Matsui Jurina: SKE48 Team S ＆ Team K（No transfer）
Nakamura Mariko: Team 4→Team B
Nakata Chisato: Team A→Team K
Nito Moeno: Team K→Team A
Oya Shizuka: Team A→Team B
Maeda Ami: Team A→Team K
Tano Yuuka: Team 4→Team A
Itano Tomomi: Team K（No transfer）
Iwasa Misaki: Team A→Team B
Kobayashi Mirina: Team A (promoted in June 2012)
Sato Amina: Team B→Team K
Shimazaki Haruka: Team 4→Team B
Sato Sumire: Team B→Team A
Ishida Haruka: Team B（No transfer）
Matsui Sakiko: Team K→Team A
Kuramochi Asuka: Team A→Team K
Katayama Haruka: Team A→Team B
Kotani Riho: NMB48→NMB48 ＆ Team A
Nakaya Sayaka: Team A→Team K
Yamauchi Suzuran: Team 4→Team B
Morikawa Ayaka: Team A (promoted in June 2012)
Uchida Mayumi: Team K（No transfer）
Fujie Reina: Team K→Team B
Kawaei Rina: Team 4→Team K
Izuta Rina: Team A (promoted in June 2012)
Mitsumune Kaoru: Kenkyuusei→Team K
Natori Wakana: Team B (promoted in June 2012)
Tanabe Miku: Team K→Team B
Sato Natsuki: Team B→Team A
Iriyama Anna: Team 4→Team A
Chikano Rina: Team B→Team K
Kashiwagi Yuki: Team B（No transfer）
Nagao Mariya: Team 4→Team K
Takeuchi Miyu: Team 4→Team B
Kikuchi Ayaka: Team K→Team A
Suzuki Shihori: Team B→Team K
Oshima Ryoka: Kenkyuusei→Team A
Fujita Nana: Team K (promoted in June 2012)
Kobayashi Kana: Team B→Team K
Minegishi Minami: Team K→Team B
Kojima Natsuki: Team B (promoted in June 2012)
Nakatsuka Tomomi: Team K→Team A
Shimada Haruka: Team 4→Team K
Watanabe Miyuki: NMB48 ＆ Team B (No transfer）
Masuda Yuka: Team B→Team K
Takahashi Juri: Team 4→Team A
Nonaka Misato: Team K→Team B
Miyazaki Miho: Team B→Team K
Matsubara Natsumi: Team A→Team K

Source: tokyohive/Oricon

Reshuffling might not sound to be a good thing just when AKB48 is peaking at it's popularity, but well, it's not that bad also. AKB48 still did very well after the first major reshuffle back in 2009. With Acchan graduating from the group and now the major reshuffle, it feels as if AKB48 is really 'reborned' and the new team compositions indeed do feel really fresh. Shall see how it goes as time past, just like last time!

Grabbed from somewhere in Facebook:

Credits to the person who created this for easier viewing.

UPDATE:

Akicha posted on her Google+ account yesterday after the concert that she was the one who chose to transfer to JKT48.

'皆さんこんばんは！

今日は東京ドームコンサート初日でした！
先輩たちがかかげてきた
東京ドームの舞台に立てたこと
嬉しくて感動したと同時に
いつも以上にすごく緊張しました。

これが目指してきた目標の重みなんだ。
と身をもって感じました。



そして今日はみなさんにお知らせがあります！

AKB48は組閣しました。
それに伴い
私、高城亜樹はJKT48に移籍します。


発表されたとき
舞台からはたくさんの表情が見えました。

移籍を知って泣くメンバー。
驚きを隠せないファンの方。
泣いている方もいました。

ビックリさせちゃってごめんなさい。

この移籍は自分の意思で決めた移籍です！

今私のAKB48での活動や、個人的な活動
すべてを考えてみると
私には、踏み出す勇気がなくて
まわりに流されるがまま
今この状況まで来た気がします。

でも、今のままでは
立ち止まってしまいます。
そしたら夢もそこで終わってしまいます。

自分で一歩踏み出して
何かに挑戦していかなければ
終わってしまう気がしたんです。


私は、将来の夢を叶えるために
AKB48に入りました。
たとえ夢にたどり着くまでに
長い時間かかっても私はいいと思っています。
今このAKB48という恵まれた環境で
夢にたどりつくまで
いろんな経験をしたいんです。

時間がかかってもいい。
私は私のペースで夢に近づいていきます。


だからファン皆さん！
私の夢が叶うまでどうか
見捨てないでください。


いつか夢がかなったとき
皆さんに恩返しがしたいです。'

From bits of translation by Bilingual48's tweets:

'I am sorry about the surprise. I requested for this transfer.
After thinking about where I am currently, I realized that I got here by going with the flow because I don't have the courage to make my own path. I am now at a standstill and my dreams won't come true if I am stuck.
I joined AKB48 because I want to make my dreams come true, even if it takes a long time.
I want to experience many different things in the gifted AKB48 environment until my dreams come true.
It's ok if it takes a long time. My dreams will come true at my own pace. Please do not abandon me at least until then.
When my dreams do come true, I will repay everyone.'

Well, if it's really her decision, I shall respect it and of course no matter what still continue to support her - like what a real loyal fan should do! All the best to her!

AKB48's First Tokyo Dome concert announced at Saitama Super Arena Concert!

Kicking start the concert at Saitama Super Arena earlier today, AKB48 announced that they will be holding their first concert at the Tokyo Dome! It brought such strong cheers from the crowd that even on live streaming through Youtube, I can also hear the crowd's cheers in the background while the announcement video clip played.

Date of the Tokyo Dome concert is not revealed yet.

1830 is actually the distance in meters between the Tokyo Dome and the AKB48 Theater

UPDATE (24th May):
It was revealed on Youtube by Takahashi Minami that the dates of the concert would be on the 24th to the 26th of August.

Extra Update (26th August):
Acchan's speech at the Tokyo Dome concert final day -

「私は小さいころから人見知りでした。誰かに話しかけられても、すぐにお母さんの後ろに隠れてしまうような子でした。そんな私でも、今、4万8000人の皆さんの前に立っているのがとても不思議で、幸せでいっぱいです。

正直、すごく寂しいです。ですが、自分で決めた道です。前に、ここから歩き出したいと思います。

こんな私を、AKB48のメンバーの一員として、ここまで応援してくださった皆さん、本当に、本当にありがとうございました。

（あっちゃんコールに約1分間、頭を下げ続ける）

これからも、AKB48のことを応援よろしくお願いします。こんなにたくさんの方に、背中を押していただけて、旅立つことができる私は、本当に幸せ者です。AKB48は、私の青春のすべてでした」

Source: Oricon

Translation from tokyohive:

“I was shy ever since I was small. Whenever someone talked to me, I would immediately hide behind my mom. It’s a mystery that a person like me can stand in front of 48,000 people right now. I’m full of happiness.

Honestly, I’m very sad. However, it’s the path I’ve decided for myself. I would like to take a step forward from here.

To everyone who has supported someone like me as a member of AKB48 until now, thank you very very much.

(Maeda keeps her head lowered during a minute of Acchan call.)

Please continue to support AKB48 in the future. I’m really a fortunate person to be able to start my journey with so much people supproting me from behind. AKB48 was my entire youth.“