Sleep-speaker

Like Akiyama Yuna and Yagi Azuki both, Arai Sae debuted as part of AKB48’s eighteenth generation, passing auditions in 2023 and finding herself thrust into the spotlight as AKS went all in the reality-TV-survival-dance show, OUT OF 48.



Perhaps no stranger to television cameras, having already appeared the year prior in the second season of another Akimoto Yasushi helmed reality show, Watashi ga Joyu ni Naru hi, or The Day I Become an Actress, it should not be a surprise that she navigated the waters of OUT OF 48 surprisingly well and ended up being selected as a member of UNLAME, joining Kubo Hinano, Sakagawa Hiyuka, Yamaguchi Yui, Kuranoo Narumi, and, of course, Sato Suzuka and Nakamura Yuka.

Whilst UNLAME only lasted a year, Saechan has been going from strength to strength with AKB, initially balancing her activities with the group with her debut in the theatre as part of the revival of Tadaima Renaichuu that began in 2023 and appearing on magazine covers throughout the following year with Akiyama and Yagi, building a reputation despite her absence from the senbatsu of the group’s singles, which maybe came as a blessing in disguise considering the work she would have been putting in with UNLAME at the time.

Yet despite this workload, she still was selected as centre for an Idol Nanka Janakattara B-side, Shittakaburi no Sono Shita ni, so it was clear that management were betting early on her becoming a prominent face in the group, something that I imagine led to her selection for the new single.

This last bit is something I’m really interested in, and I don’t want to disparage the passion of the fans who attend the theatre regularly, but with less public awareness of AKB’s members, there is a sense of both greater curation of the group yet also greater freedom in the manner in which the members express themselves. I don’t think we would have seen moments like the recent brief promotional video between Sato Airi and Hirata Yuki for the twenty-first generation auditions in another era. More than anything, I feel that girls are arriving at these auditions already with a number of triumphs under their belts, rather than with skills they hope to develop. Saechan herself has been studying classical ballet since the age of six, something that already sets her aside. It feels absurd to suggest that I feel this represents the idea of idol becoming mainstream, idol has always been mainstream, it is a genre designed to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, but I do think it represents the idea that making a career choice to be idol has become mainstream.

I digress.

A huge fan of musicals, of The Phantom of the Opera in particular, perhaps you have passed by Saechan as a member of the audience in the West End. Perhaps, with her proficiency in English, you may have exchanged words with her without ever knowing that in less than a few years, you will be looking back on the moment and recalling the time you met AKB48’s new centre.

Title: Ask For More
Universe: Kamen Rider
Character(s): Hongo Takeshi
Series: Beneath the Mask | Joint Struggle | And There Your Heart Will Be Also | Harlequinade | Through a Trance of Despondency | Tokyo Incidents | Exercises in Futility (1, 2, 3) | Vigil | Hatred Sticks to You | Fallow State | Alchemy in the Subyear | A Nation of Orugu (V, VI) | Damage Control | Kingdom Dolorous
Rating: U
Warnings: N/A
Summary: “For a brief time, Hongo used his powers to represent different brands. In the end, it never worked out because he never got the idea of using his powers for such frivolous deals.”
Length: 770 words
Author's Notes: One of the things I like most is compiling a list and then making it obsolete a week later. This is a terrible Black Saturn in joke. I bullied Rei into making this image in photoshop during a conversation that escalated quickly and took in such topics as Pepsi Convoy, whether Ishinomori Shotaro, creator of Kamen Rider, was sleeping with Saber supporting character, Sudo Mei, and other such spiralling matters. Suffice to say, everything got out of hand, and now we have this new stupid setting for which shadowhenshin and myself are sadly responsible in which every one of these silly toy gimmicks exists at the same time. I'm sorry. also: external link.



( Ask For More )

It is arguable that Hanada Mei was famous before she even joined AKB48. Not the kind of fame that I can understand, but with 10k followers on tiktok, it feels like Meimei was certainly not an unknown quantity.



I’m sidestepping my discomfort there, the same discomfort I feel whenever I hear about the debut of idol groups whose line-ups have been decided based on prior popularity and follower counts because I like to think everyone is equal once they join the group and should be treated accordingly, but I also think there’s no doubt that AKS saw those numbers and wondered how many of them they could convert into current AKB fans.

In 2024, alongside Ito Momoka, Meimei debuted as part of the nineteenth generation, first appearing on stage during a revival of Boku no Taiyo and then making her full theatre debut with a kenkyuusei revival of Team A’s fourth stage, Tadaima Renaichuu, appearing as centre for the song, Kikyou. Like Itomomo, in the short time in which she has been a member of AKB, it is clear she’s made an impact, appearing on a number of B sides from Koi Tsun Jatta onwards, not least of all Yumemite Gomen, the theme song to the live action adaptation of Hoshikuzu Telepath, but also the kenkyuusei anthem, Kimi to Boku no Polestar, and Skipping Stone, a B side from Masaka no Confession featuring Meimei as centre! I genuinely do not know how to talk about members who joined in 2024 and are already appearing as the centre of certain songs but I think it’s testament to both how much faith AKS has in the new members and how much of a following they have with Japanese fans who are able to attend the theatre regularly. More than at any time since the very early days of the group, it feels like the theatre is at the heart of what AKB does and how they engage with fans.

I can’t work out yet whether the announcement of the new single will set back the hard work that management has done by promoting members like Meimei and her peers or if it will add some kind of legitimacy to where we are, but... as much as I am the audience for returning members, I don’t think the kenkyuusei need to prove themselves to anyone, because, as I say, they’re already at the heart of the theatre. With the refurbishment of that space, the disbandment of the teams, and the new AKB1 stage, Koko Kara da, Meimei has been performing as Yamauchi Mizuki’s understudy for the song, Lollipop (I love this song!), but I think it’s really only a matter of time before Meimei starts appearing as a more focal point for the group and stops being the centre for B sides and starts being the centre for A sides! At the rate things are going with AKB now, I’d even bet on that happening before this time next year!

It’s difficult for me to write about these newer members as there’s so little information available to overseas fans without dedicating a lot of time to studying rips of Showroom streams and I feel a bit guilty that I won’t do that despite my love of the group, and that somehow this makes me less of a fan, but sooner or later, I genuinely believe there will no avoiding Meimei. Sooner or later, members like her and Itomomo will be the face of AKB48.