Sakura no Shiori

The new AKB48 single is due in a few weeks time on the 17th of February. Like any good fan, I’ve already pre-ordered it to complete my collection of AKB48 singles. This time the title is called Sakura no Shiori (Sakura Bookmark) and it will be their 17th single. What’s special is that apart from a Theater-exclusive version there will be 2 different normal versions of the single.

The two versions will both feature different covers and a different B-sides (and videos) sung by different subgroups. The first version, Type A (which is displayed in the title image) will feature the song Enkyori Poster by Team PB (Weekly Playboy) and the second version, Type B will contain Choose Me! by Team YJ (Young Jump). Depending on which of these versions sell better, the winning team will be featured in both the Weekly Playboy and Young Jump magazines.

The covers for this single are being taken by famous photographer and film director, Iwai Shunji. He will be directing their music video as well, so it’s bound to be impressive.

Type B cover.

It was quite a tough decision for me to decide which cover to buy since both teams don’t really feature members that I am particularly fond of. However, in the end I decided to go with the Type B since Kasai’s in Team YJ. The constant battle between both teams can be found at http://www.shueisha.co.jp/akb48-nb/.

Theater edition cover.

I’m guessing right now Type A will probably take the lead, no doubt because the cover features Aachan exclusively. Have you pre-ordered your copy of Sakura no Shiori? If so which version did you choose?