AKB48 Team 8 Aim For the Top During First Tokyo Idol Festival Appearance!

| 48 / 46 Group | Posted by Kai Okudara on Aug.16.2016

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AKB48 Team 8 assembled in Odaiba to go meet their fans with 2 impressive performances at their very first appearance at Tokyo Idol Festival 2016!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the photos from their 10:00am – 10:30am performance at Smile Garden were deemed unusable. We apologize deeply.

August 5, 2016 – Hot Stage – 4:05pm – 4:35pm

When the lights rose after “Overture” at Zepp Diver City, the members of Team 8 were standing in a row at the front of the stage, Kurena Chou holding an acoustic guitar and strumming the intro for “Ponytail to Shushu”. Harmonizing their voices gently and clapping to keep the beat, it was as if they had transported the audience to a beachside campfire singalong.

Ikumi Nakano called out to the audience, asking them if they were ready to “have something to say” (The opening calls for one of their songs starts with “Iitai koto ga arundayo”,　言いたいことがあるんだよ, which means “I have something to say”), signaling that “47 no Suteki na Machi he”, Team 8’s debut song, would be next. Answering back with a wave of shouts, the audience jumped and shook as the members skipped and jumped across the stage with their hands held high over their heads.

Leaping up and forming a row across the stage, Team 8 went right into “Everyday, Kachusha” as the audience roared out a MIX during the opening instrumental. Rin Okabe received a surprise when it came to the part where the members lean on each other and found nothing but an empty space behind her. Taking a pause to greet the fans packed into Zepp Diver City, Team 8 received loud cheers when Nagisa Sakaguchi announced that they had come to see everyone. As each of the 16 members introduced themselves, each was welcomed with more cheering and applause.

Just as the members had taken up their pompoms and were about to continue on into the next song “Yume he no Route”, Yuri Yokomichi stomped across the stage, declaring that even with so many other idols performing, Team 8 would aim for the top! Shaking their pompoms and kicking up their feet like cheerleaders, Team 8 raised the spirits of the audience, who seemed to be cheering them back as they jumped and threw out kechas steadily.

Tossing aside their pompoms and blowing kisses, Team 8 kicked the excitement into the red zone with “Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara”, the floor area becoming overwhelmed with fans pogoing to the rhythm. The formation parted and tiny Narumi Kuranoo emerged at center stage to sing the opening verse of “Oogoe Diamond” as the air inside the venue continued to grow hotter. The mood was even wilder than that of the crowd at Smile Garden just a few hours earlier. Glistening with sweat, the members of Team 8 leapt and twirled to their second original song “Seifuku no Hane”.

Whipping out their towels to dab away the sweat on their foreheads, it was time for Team 8’s final song of the day “Hikoukigumo”, the members urging the audience to wave along with them. Despite an initial protest from Kotone Hitomi, Rin Okabe’s persistence got her within micrometers of landing a kiss on her cheek. With towels waving throughout Zepp Diver City, the heat began to dissipate like vapor trails vanishing in the sky. As the members thanked the crowd for the hot reception, Ikumi Nakano promised them that Team 8 would keep working hard to become considered the best of all the idols appearing over the weekend. Taking their time to wave to as many fans as they could, Team 8 left the Hot Stage as one of the definite highlights of the first day of Tokyo Idol Festival 2016.

Photos by Nathan Gey

Set List

00 Overture
01 Ponytail to Shushu
02 47 no Suteki na Machi he
03 Everyday, Kachusha
04 Yume he no Route
05 Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara
06 Oogoe Diamond
07 Seifuku no Hane
08 Hikoukigumo

Participating Members

Nagisa Sakaguchi (Hokkaido), Hijiri Tanikawa (Akita), Nanami Sato (Iwate), Rin Okabe (Ibaraki), Hitomi Honda (Tochigi), Nanase Yoshikawa (Chiba), Shiori Sato (Niigata), Yuri Yokomichi (Shizuoka), Kurena Chou (Fukui), Serika Nagano (Osaka), Nao Ota (Kyoto), Ikumi Nakano (Tottori), Kotone Hitomi (Okayama), Miu Shitao (Yamaguchi), Yurina Gyouten (Kagawa), Narumi Kuranoo (Kumamoto)

Related Link

AKB48 Team 8 Official site: http://toyota-team8.jp/