59 Member Group, AKB48!

I'm not sure why I'm just discovering this group now, but here it is. This Japanese female idol group is called AKB48. It currently holds the Guinness World Record for largest "pop group." There are currently four teams: Team A (16), Team K(16), Team B (16) and Team 4 (11) for a total of 59 members. The team names seem to be named without any rhyme or reason...wouldn't you think it would be Team A, B, C etcetera? The group was created in 2005 by Yasushi Akimoto, all around entertainment producer badass. He also went to create other groups SKE48, SDN48 and NMB48. How do I characterize this group? They are very...Japanese...

AKB48 is named after an area in Tokyo called Akihabara (or Akiba for short) where they have their own performance theatre. I don't know about you, but when I say their name I think about some sort of machine gun...Their concept is to create a theatre-based group that you can see live daily. They still perform there but it has become so popular that you can only get tickets through a lottery system! Of course, all the members are very "kawaii" and young looking. I believe the oldest is maybe 23??? Anyways, all their performances and music videos seem to involve school uniforms and some form of bikini. Kekekekeke! I have pulled some of the more memorable videos for you to oggle at. So far I have not been able to determine if there is a leader, but I have seen one girl featured a lot. I can't imagine the competition these girls must go through just to be noticed in such a huge group.

Now I also have to set something straight. I truly and sincerely want to cheer these girls on. These girls are doing their best with all their talent! Achieving the dream of idol is not an easy road to take; especially in a world and industry where it's "sex sells." Rehearsing, dieting, pressure...it takes a special kind of person to endure all that training and still manage to shine on stage. I admire the strength of will most artists and idols go through...at the same time, I find it utterly ridiculous to see the need to constantly show these girls in bikinis and underwear; there are just too many perverts out there!

"Heavy Rotation"
Right off the bat, this video took me by surprise. Very NSFW, people at the office might look at you weird or think you have a really bad case of cute Japanese girl fetish. There is sexy lingerie, girl-on-girl kissing and over the top cutsey Asian poses. Beware. You have been warned...




"Everyday, Kachusha"
Okay, girls in school uniforms riding bikes around, eating ice cream and then dancing at the beach with bikini's on. Lol. Japanese girls really like to wear their hair or place a bow/flower to the side of their head...a lot...



"Surprise Tears"
More school uniforms, I'll say about 80% of their music videos they are in school uniform. I have no problem with school uniforms, I actually like them. I'm guessing it's easier to dress all 40+ if they all just have the same uniform. Haha! It's to my understanding that only 20 members are in the music video and the rest are AKB48 backup dancers.