AKB48 5th Janken Tournament: Matchup Highlights to Watch For

| Idol | Posted by TokyoGirls'Update on Aug.16.2014

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The bracket for AKB48’s 5th Senbatsu Janken Tournament was announced this past weekend. One of the interesting things about this event is that it leaves the lineup for an upcoming single entirely up to chance and gives lesser-known members a taste of the spotlight. On top of that, it seems pretty amazing to use the Nippon Budokan, which was built for the martial arts events for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, as a venue for a rock-paper-scissors tournament. While it would be extremely difficult to analyze every individual matchup, there were a few that stood out as particularly significant.

Minami Takahashi (AKB48) vs. Sayaka Yamamoto (NMB48/AKB48)

This is probably the most high profile of all the matches. The leader and center of NMB48 (and now also in AKB48), Sayaka Yamamoto versus the general manager of AKB48, Minami Takahashi! This one is hard to call because in all the years that NMB48 has participated in the janken senbatsu, Sayanee has never even gotten out of the preliminary tournament to get to the main tournament. Takamina has never gotten past the third round, and that was with the advantage of being seeded high enough to skip the first round in 2012 and 2013. Sayanee will defeat Takamina, but will probably lose in the next round anyway.

Jurina Matsui (SKE48/AKB48) vs. Yui Yokoyama (AKB48)

Given that Jurina Matsui won it all last year, odds would have to be in her favor, but none over her opponents were Yui Yokoyama. Yui got into the semi-finals in 2012 before being defeated by that year’s winner Haruka Shimazaki. The winner of the previous year’s tournament has never advanced past the third round the following year but Jurina did rank higher than Yui in the 2014 “Lucky Girl Ranking”. It could go either way, but Yui advances due to Jurina being exhausted.

Haruna Kojima (AKB48) vs. Rina Ikoma (Nogizaka 46/AKB48)

Those who regularly watch Ariyoshi AKB Kyouwakoku, the weekly show that Haruna Kojima co-hosts, should be familiar with how far she will go to do well in the janken tournament. In the past Kojiharu enlisted the advice of fortune tellers or other experts in order to get any sort of advantage over her opponents. While it is likely that she will unknowingly go against that advice in later rounds, her experience will be hard to overcome. If Rina Ikoma’s confused look when she ranked in the election was any indication of her unfamiliarity of events that have become tradition for AKB48, her chances do not look good, especially when up against a veteran like Kojima. Easy win for Kojiharu with a microscopic chance of Ikoma pulling off the upset.

Mayumi Uchida (AKB48) vs. Miyu Takeuchi (AKB48)

Mayumi Uchida may have taken it all at the first janken senbatsu tournament, but aside from a return to the semi-finals in 2012; she’s been rather inconsistent. She was defeated in the first round last year by Rina Izuta and in the second round by Rino Sashihara in 2011. Coincidentally, Miyu Takeuchi was her opponent in the 2012 semi-finals. Aside from that one impressive showing, Takeuchi has not gone past the second round in any of the other years that she was in the tournament. It would be a safe bet to say Uchida wins this one.

While it may be possible to apply some strategy in order to win at janken, in the end it’s mostly up to chance. Any wandering thought could cause someone to hesitate and lose. On top of the pressure of being the center of a single, there is the addition of a solo debut or concert attached. Will that be too much to think about for the more than 100 participants? All we can do is wait and see.

AKB48 official website : http://www.akb48.co.jp/

written by おっくん

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