AKB48 Team 4 Announced

Most game changing AKB48 news of the year?

In the single most controversial piece of AKB48 news since the mass shuffle in 2009, AKB48 have just made public during this evening’s Himawari H1 Revival Stage the formation of a brand new AKB48 team, bluntly titled Team 4. The Team will consists of the 10 previously promoted kenkyuusei.

9th Generation:
Oba Mina (大場美奈)
Shimazaki Haruka (島崎遥香)
Shimada Haruka (島田晴香)
Takeuchi Miyu (竹内美宥)
Nagao Mariya (永尾まりや)
Nakamura Mariko (中村麻里子)
Anna Mori (森杏奈)
Yamauchi Suzuran (山内鈴蘭)

10th Generation:
Nakamata Shiori (仲俣汐里)
Ichikawa Miorin (市川美織)

Theater Manager Mr Togasaki Tomonobu has been hinting the likelihood of such a decision on his blog since mass promoting the existing 9th generation kenkyuusei (Research Students) without a specified team last December. This was followed shortly by the promotion of Nakamata Shiori after her acceptance into Waseda University and more recently Ichikawa Miorin, who was just promoted on the 29th of May.

With the mainstream success of AKB48. Many young talents now see joining Japan’s top-selling musical artists as a viable career. As research students, this new generation of girls have featured far more prominently than members in the past. Appearing widely in all mass media representing AKB48. The management have expressed how impressed they were with the girls’ abilities and are now creating a new team specific for the new generation of members.

This is the first time any group in the extended 48 family has diverged from their original concept of retaining 48 members. But as AKB48′s popularity grows with each passing day, I applaud the management’s willingness to adapt to their new environment each time instead of stubbornly sticking to old formulas.

But what does this news mean to AKB48? Only time will tell how this most recent undertaking will play out.

Update: Mr Togasaki has also revealed that the remaining kenkyuusei up to the 12th generation will also be eligible for promotion into Team 4.

Update: Team 4 will also debut during AKB48′s upcoming Nationwide tour in August.

Update: Finally, the 9.5 generation members will be taking with them their previously established yellow color with them as the official color of Team 4. It is unknown what color the kenkyuusei will take on now.