AKB48’s latest DVD “Manatsu no Dome Tour – Madamada, Yaranakya Ikenai Koto ga Aru” (We still have many things to do) was released on December 18th, 2013. The whole AKB family consisting of AKB48, SKE48, NMB48 and HKT48 participated in this summer event that took place in Tokyo, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Osaka from July 20th to August 25th 2013.
Popular girl group AKB48 created a new internet phenomenon with their hit single “Koisuru Fortune cookie” (Fortune Cookie in Love) which was released in August 2013. The song sold over one million copies on its release day.
Mayu Watanabe (渡辺麻友) also known by her nickname Mayuyu, was born on March 26th, 1994 in Saitama Prefecture. She is a member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48 (currently Team A). Furthermore she is a member of the AKB48 subgroups NO NAME, Watarirouka Hashiritai and Team Dragon. She is one of the most popular members of AKB48.
The sister groups of AKB48 are SKE48, HKT48 and NMB48 and they have their own theater photos which are worth talking about because of the modifications that were done. The distribution of HKT48 and some photos of SKE48, however, remains the same as the one for AKB48 since it has proven to work well.
Released bi-monthly, the SKE48 theater photos offer one set of random pictures just like the ones of AKB48 and the second set is based on orders. The SKE48 Random Photoset comes in packets of 5 and is sold for 1,000 yen. Each set has 3 pictures and they follow a similar format with a bar (they chose to use a white bar) with the member’s name, her team, and the date of the photo.
The photos feature the members in both theater and casual outfits. Unfortunately the quality is not as good as fans would want them to be especially for the earlier packs. Fans can buy the random set either from the SKE48 shop or by ordering them online. Buyers are only allowed to buy a maximum of 5 sets with every purchase. The demand for SKE48 random theater photos is amazingly high even if they cost more because of the fewer photos per set.
The theater photos of the AKB48 are series of collectible photograph sets that are most likely to take over the B.L.T. regular series. They were launched in 2009 by the AKS and were originally considered as an alternative source of photographs to B.L.T. Now it might be the most popular with the B.L.T. agreement not being renewed.
If you happen to be in the area of Akihabara, drop by the Don Quixote building or the home theater of AKB48. On the 5th floor, you will find the AKB48 shop where the theater photos are sold and new ones are released every 26th of each month. However, the photos are not available everyday because they tend to get sold out quickly. Thus, you will have to make sure to check on what days of the week, usually 5 days, the store is open. Also, the closer the date after the 26th, there is almost certainly going to be long queues.
The theater shots are studio shots so they have a similar resemblance to the kinds of photos released by the B.L.T. They also have a bar in the same area of the photograph which is at the bottom of the picture with the details such as name, team, and date the photo was printed. With the B.L.T. shots, the color of the bar was constant. With the AKB48 theater shots, the bar color changes monthly. The bar colors are coordinated to match the costume so it looks like it is part of the photograph instead of simply being an identification bar. In addition to the different bar color, the theater shots come in sets of 4 per girl as compared to the B.L.T.’s sets of 3. And instead of colored backgrounds, the theater shots are always with a white background and the girls are in different theater costumes in each monthly set.
As part of the second portion of our AKB48 photo guide, we focus on the special photos done by B.L.T. These are limited edition photographs and hard to find. They are also difficult to price since they have become coveted collector’s items for all AKB48 fans.
This is the set of rare Under 17 or U-17 B.L.T. pictures that feature members who fall under this age category. In the B.L.T. magazines which were published every quarter, the issues have the good quality photos on the front and back pages. These issues never hit the stands since they were only available for online sales. The advantage with the online sales is that it gave the buyer a chance to pick from among 48 celebrity photos or buy the U-17 AKB48 batch. The AKB48 U-17 was sold for 1,500 yen each with 3 random photos. B.L.T. did not enforce a limit on the number of photos a buyer could order for the U-17 batch.
