'48 project'
 

Hi guys,

I desperately need a true fan of all this 48 groups because there are way too much groups and I don't get it at all.
Although I really like SDN48 I haven't understood more than that there is AKB48 and SDN48 (and SKE48?) and that SDN48 is more mature and an adult show.
Please tell me how much groups of this 48 thing are out there and what about their subgroups? And what is this theater thing, kind of a concert every week? And are AKB48 and SKE48 kind of one group or what? You see, I'm really confused... xD
(Oh my, and I thought Morning Musume with all the subgroups were confusing... lol)

If there is a already a thread like this, I'm sorry, but the search doesn't work for me... -.-

AKB48 is the original 48 group produced by Akimoto Yasushi (a famous record producer I guess...although I never heard of him prior to akb lol). They started out as an idol group of like 20 or something. Basically, just one team, Team A. They had shows like every day or something at their own theater in Akihabara (hence the "Idols you can meet" concept is brought to life). They were kind of a flop at first. I heard like 8 people showed up to their first show or something. Anyway, they added Team K at some point and then Team B. Each Team had a "Stage" they performed, or like a setlist of songs specific to the team (even though Team K debuted with Team A's first stage...hmm wonder how that worked). So that's basically what this "theater thing" is all about. They just have shows at the AKB48 theater every day.

SDN48 is a sister group of AKB48 that debuted with a more adult image. They were supposed to only perform on Saturday Nights at the AKB theater (thus the name Saturday Night 48) but I guess they outgrew that. Like SKE48 before them, they also got their own CD debut and all that jazz.

SKE48 and AKB48 are two completely separate (although similar) groups. They have their own AKB48 style theater in Nagoya. Anyway, they're supposed to be more young and energetic but they're basically the same. You probably got confused cause Akimoto basically used the Matsui's Jurina and Rena to promote AKB48 singles.

Then recently, a group of even younger girls (LOL) was formed with their own theater based in Namba. NMB48 just got their first CD debut, not unlike SKE48 and SDN48 before them.

Finally, there's a Hakata group, HKT48 that we pretty much know very little about at this point. I think they just finished selecting members or something.

Of course, the theater thing is the original concept. Meet your idols. Today of course, we're probably more familiar with these groups as being CD selling machines.

^Thank you! That was very helpful!^.^

Do you also know what it has to do with Undergirls A and Undergirls B by SDN48?
And am I right that AKB48 has subgroups? I think I heard of Not yet. And if they have subgroups, have the other 48 groups subgroups as well?

I'm not an expert but I've been a fan of all the '48' world since the end of 2010 so I'll help you but in order to know more stuff about them you should check Stage48.net. That website also has a wiki page with a lot of info which will be useful

AKB48 has some subgroups with the most popular members:
- Not Yet
- French Kiss
- No3b aka No Sleeves
- Watarirouka Hashiritai
- DiVA

There are other subgroups, for example MINT, which songs have been included in some singles or albums but they don't release their own CDs.

Undergirls is how they name the less popular girl of each group (I'm not sure if it's the same in SDN48 because I don't know too much about them). The popular ones are known as Senbatsu members. AKB48 have had 3 senbatsu elections (2009,2010,2011) in which fans could vote for their favourites using a coupon included in some singles. If you are interested in this I can search for a video with english subs that contains a great explanation on the subject.

If you have any other doubts feel free to ask ;)

^Thanks a lot!!! ^____^

Stage48.net is very helpfull, love the wiki, because on wikipedia you can't find a lot of info.

Would be wonderful if you have time to search for the video with english subs.!

The Undergirls groups consist of members that were not selected to be in the main track of the single (the senbatsu group). How members are selected depends. Once a year, AKB48 has this huge election (well, huge starting in 2010 I guess as they were not that popular before). The top 21 members I believe become part of the "senbatsu". Members ranked 22-40 get to be on the B-side of the single. They are the Undergirls. Anyway, it's a brutal process IMO. Here's some footage of the election:



Some girls get quite emotional. When there is no election, they are just picked by Akimoto.

SDN is kind of different. SDN48 has only had one election where the top 12 members got to perform the A-side track on their debut single, GAGAGA. The other members' ranks were not revealed. They just sort of got separated into Undergirls A and B. This continued for the next 2 singles except there was no election. Members were just picked by Akimoto I suppose (there's a heart-wrenching video of this happening for SDN's second single). Why they do this is beyond me. Personally, I think they should just start releasing double/triple A-side singles because the Undergirl songs are so good.

Other than that, there are various subunits within the AKB48 family (so far, no SKE or SDN subunits yet). They usually consist of popular groups along with some not so popular groups from the same agency. Each subunit has a specific sound. For example, no3b is more traditional idol-pop and DiVA is more vocal/dance.

I don't know how to insert a video so here's the link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdp...nbatsu-ele_fun

The video is from a 2010 TV show, before the 2nd senbatsu election was held so the footage you can see it's from the 1st senbatsu election. As I said before there have been 3 of them: 2009 for Iiwake Maybe, 2010 for Heavy Rotation and 2011 for the upcoming single Flying Get.

It's interesting to read the posts in this thread, I've been interested with AKB48 since the end of 2010, and I have no idea with the other groups/sub, so thanks! :yes

Thanks a lot guys! The videos are really interesting and now I think I understood this whole 48 thing. So really thank you!!!!!!! :heart

I have ever heard about group of 48s with old mature male and young male. 1 of them are OJS48, are they also from the same producer?

Naked Boyz was a ripoff of the 48 concept. OJS48 was a joke.