Sayaka Akimoto (?? ?? Akimoto Sayaka, born July 26, 1988 in Matsudo, Chiba), is a Filipino–Japanese actress and singer who was a member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48, where she had served as the captain of Team K and the AKB48 sub-unit Diva.

Minami Takahashi (?? ??? Takahashi Minami, born 8 April 1991 (age 27) in Tokyo, Japan) is a former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48 under Team A. She became the first General Director (??? s?kantoku) of AKB48 and its sister groups. In an interview with Nippon Television in June 2010, AKB48 producer Yasushi Akimoto described her as the "eldest daughter of the 48 sisters". She is commonly part of the main lineup for the AKB48 singles. She is a member of the AKB48 sub-group NO3B, along with AKB48 member Minami Minegishi and ex-member Haruna Kojima.

In August 2005, Takahashi become one of the 30th HoriPro Talent Contest's 15 final candidates, but she did not win the competition's Grand-Prix prize. In October 2005, she participated in the first AKB48 audition and beat 7,924 other applicants to be chosen as one of the 24 founding members of the group. According to Tomonobu Togasaki, the manager of the AKB48 Theater, she had two unofficial advantages going for her, in that both her birthday (April 8; 1991-04-08) and her height (148 cm) contain the number "48". She debuted with Team A on December 8, 2005.

In 2008, NO3B members, including Takahashi, appeared in the TV Tokyo drama Men Dol. She starred as Nami/Kai in this television series.

On 23 August 2009, Takahashi was officially announced as the captain of AKB48's Team A.

Three years later, on 24 August 2012, with Mariko Shinoda replacing her as the captain of Team A, Minami Takahashi was promoted to be the General Director of the entire AKB48 enterprise, including all sister groups.

Takahashi appears regularly in the AKB48 singles as one of the group's key singers. In addition, Minami frequently represents AKB48 on TV programs such as Music Station, and in other of the group's publicity events. She was also scheduled to take part in the AKB48's 3-day live concert event titled "Takamina ni tsuite ikimasu" (????????????, lit. "We will follow Takamina"), which was to have been held on 25–27 March 2011 at the Yokohama Arena but was cancelled due to the 2011 T?hoku earthquake and tsunami.


Minami Takahashi at the opening ceremony for the 4th annual Tokyo Detention House Exhibition, October 2015.
On August 25, 2012, the second day of AKB48 Tokyo Dome Concert, it was announced by Max Hole that Takahashi would make her solo debut with the company, through its Nayutawave Records label. The single, titled "Jane Doe", was released on April 3, 2013. It is the opening theme song for the Fuji Television TV drama Saki, which stars Yukie Nakama.

On December 8, 2014, the 9th Anniversary of AKB48 Theater, it was confirmed by Takahashi herself that she would officially leave AKB48 exactly one year later, or December 8, 2015, the 10th Anniversary of the AKB48 Theater. Yui Yokoyama will then succeed her job as the General Director of AKB48.

On October 25, 2015, during the handshake and autograph event at Pacific Yokohama had announced the details of AKB48's 42nd Single and Request Hour 2016. The 42nd Single will be released on December 9, 2015. She will be the Center which will be her final appearance on an AKB48 single.[

On March 26 to 27, 2016, her graduation concert titled "Congratulation Takahashi Minami Graduation "148.5cm Have Seen a Dream" in Yokohama Stadium" was held at Yokohama Stadium, with her last theater performance on April 8, 2016.

Urakawa Minori (??????) is a 12th Gen Member AKB48 exclusive to the AKB49: Ren'ai Kinshi Jourei Manga and Stage. "Her" real identity is actually a boy named Urayama Minoru (????), who accidentally got selected when he tried to help Yoshinaga Hiroko on her audition. S/He was portrayed by Miyazawa Sae in the AKB48 Group Stage and Furuhata Nao in the SKE48 Stage.

Mariko Shinoda (?? ??? Shinoda Mariko, born March 11, 1986 in Fukuoka) is a Japanese singer, actress, fashion model, and former member of the Japanese idol group AKB48, in which she was the captain of Team A.

In October 2005, she auditioned for AKB48's first generation roster but failed the audition. Shortly after her audition, Shinoda began working AKB48's theater café - then known as Akihabara 48 - as a café attendant serving customers and handing out promotional flyers on the street. Shinoda became quite popular among patrons who soon learned of her failing her audition. To show their support, patrons began submitting her name on hand-written ballots for the weekly performer polls. Yasushi Akimoto, general producer of AKB48, took notice of her popularity and gave her a chance to join AKB48 on the condition that she learn the group's 12 songs and dances in four days. She became AKB48's first non-generation, or "1.5 generation", member with her debut on Team A on January 22, 2006. Her first single as part of the main group was on "Aitakatta". On March 30, 2011, she began to host a show with her own name, Mariko-sama no Oriko-sama (???????????!) on NHK. She has appeared individually in television commercials and was cited as the "queen of TV commercials" for 2012 for having more contracts (a total of twenty) with companies to appear in their ads than any other female tarento (fellow AKB48 member Tomomi Itano was tied at 20).

In August 2012, AKB48 Theater’s manager Tomonobu Togasaki announced sweeping team changes that placed Shinoda as the new captain of Team A.

In 2013, Shinoda launched her clothing brand "ricori" which featured clothing that she had designed and produced. She stated that starting her own line of clothing had been a dream of hers before joining AKB48. In July 2014, ricori ceased operation and closed down its stores. Shinoda stated she was working as an adviser for the label only until 2013.

Shinoda placed fifth overall in the 2013 AKB48 General Election.[ On June 8, during the broadcast of the election results, Shinoda announced that she would be leaving the group. Her graduation ceremony was held on July 21 at the Fukuoka Yahoo Dome, and her final performance at the AKB48 theater was on July 22.

On January 24,2016, Shinoda appeared as the lead actress in Zico's 'It Was Love' music video.

Tomomi Itano (?? ?? Itano Tomomi, born July 3, 1991 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese actress and singer. She is a former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. Her talent agent is Horipro. In 2011 she debuted solo with a single titled "Dear J", which was followed the same year by "Fui ni" (number 1 in Japan), and later by "10nen Go no Kimi e" (2012) and "1%" (2013).

2005-2013: Early career beginnings and AKB48

In 2005, Itano joined the Japanese idol girl group AKB48 as part of the first team, Team A. She also modeled for the women's fashion magazine Cawaii!, and released her first photo book titled T.O.M.O.row in April 2009. In early 2010, she played Shibuya in AKB48's TV Tokyo drama Majisuka Gakuen. She had a recurring role on Kamen Rider W as Queen, alongside fellow AKB48 performer Tomomi Kasai, until the show ended in late 2010. Together, they made up the sub-unit Queen & Elizabeth. In AKB48's 2010 general election, she placed fourth overall.


Tomomi Itano performing at the Anime Expo AKB48 live in Los Angeles, 2010
Itano released her first single, "Dear J", on January 26, 2011. It reached number 1 on the Oricon daily ranking and number 2 on the Oricon weekly ranking, selling 204,981 copies. In April, she reprised her role as Shibuya in Majisuka Gakuen 2. Her first digital single "Wanna Be Now" reached number 2 on Recochoku's daily charts and number 6 on the weekly charts. She placed eighth overall in AKB48's 2011 general election held in June. Her second single, "Fui ni", was released on July 13 and sold 90,103 copies, and reached number one on the Oricon weekly chart.

In 2012, Itano was cited as the "Queen of TV commercials" for having more contracts with companies than any other female tarento (although her count of 20 was technically a tie with those of fellow AKB48 member Mariko Shinoda).

2013: Graduation from AKB48 and new beginnings
On February 1, 2013, during an AKB48 stage greeting, Itano announced she was leaving the group. She released her fourth solo single, "1%", on June 12. The title track was used in television commercials for Samantha Vega. The music video was shot in New York, and includes an appearance by the American actress and model Taylor Momsen. Itano had her farewell "graduation" ceremony at the Tokyo Dome on August 25, and a follow-up performance on August 27 at the AKB48 Theater; the performance was streamed live by Nico Nico Namahousou. Her graduation song is "Saigo no Door", which was released as a B-side on one of the editions of AKB48's single "Koisuru Fortune Cookie".

2014 - present: Solo Career Success
In an interview with Japanese entertainment website Nihongogo, Itano shared her thoughts on transitioning to a solo artist "In a group you perform as a unit with each member playing a certain character role, however as a solo artist you have to be able to play all the roles at once. You have to take on the roles of being cool, sexy, and cute and although it’s definitely a challenge, it’s something I have to strive for achieving."

In July 2014, Tomomi Itano made her U.S. performance debut at Union Square in San Francisco for J-POP Summit Festival 2014.

Tomomi Itano has been cast the lead role of a Japanese foreign student based in China alongside Taiwanese singer-actor Dino Lee in the Chinese romance movie Raincoat (??), as revealed in a press conference the duo appeared in on 29 September 2015. The projected 2-month filming period for the movie that takes in Shanghai and Tokyo is ongoing. The film is expected for a release in Spring 2016 in three countries.

Haruna Kojima (Kojima Haruna, born April 19, 1988 in Urawa-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture) is a Japanese actress, singer, and was a member of idol group AKB48 under Team A. She graduated from the group on April 19th, 2017.

Yuko Oshima (?shima Y?ko, born October 17, 1988 in Tochigi Prefecture) is a former member of Japanese idol girl group AKB48, of which she was the captain of Team K.[2] She is also a member of the AKB48 subunit Not Yet. In addition to the singles that involved the rock-paper-scissors tournaments, she sang on the title tracks for all of AKB48's singles since "Aitakatta" in October 2006. She placed among the top two of the annual AKB48 general elections from 2009 to 2013.

Rino Sashihara (Sashihara Rino, born November 21, 1992) is a member/manager of Japanese idol group HKT48's Team H, and a former member of AKB48, both produced by Yasushi Akimoto.

Rie Kitahara (Kitahara Rie, born June 24, 1991) is a Japanese singer and actress associated with the Japanese idol girl group NGT48 and former member of AKB48 and SKE48. She debuted in 2008 in Team A and was latter co-captain of Team K (2014). In March 2015, it was announced Kitahara would be transferred to NGT48 as captain of the group. She has sung on many of the groups' main singles, having been voted number 13, 16, 13, 13, 21, 19, 11 and 12 in AKB48's General Elections. In 2017, for her final participation, she was voted number 10 which is her best rank ever. Since 2011, Kitahara is also a member of the AKB48 subgroup Not Yet.

Having returned from "The great horse glue factory in the sky", Rie 'Kitarie' Kitahara is now back and twice as mean.

Mizuno Haruko is a 12th Gen Member AKB48 exclusive to the AKB49: Ren'ai Kinshi Jourei Manga and Stage. She was portrayed by Okada Nana in the AKB48 Group Stage and Azuma Rion in the SKE48 Stage.

Jurina Matsui (Matsui Jurina, born March 8, 1997, in Aichi Prefecture) is a Japanese actress and member of Japanese idol girl groups SKE48 and AKB48. In SKE48, she is a member of Team S, and in AKB48, she was a member of Team K. At age 11, she became the first member from an AKB48 sister group to perform on AKB48's main single and also perform as its center position. Matsui Jurina starring various Japanese drama, she also famous for being the other half of 'WMatsui' together with Matsui Rena (SKE48 ex member) that refers to the top duo member of SKE48. On 2017, together with Miyawaki Sakura from HKT48, the two next generation ace of the gigantic idol group or also known as Jurisaku pair, are chosen to be the WCenter (double centers) for AKB48 group 48th single "Negaigoto no Mochigusare"

Mayu Watanabe (Watanabe Mayu, born March 26, 1994) is a Japanese singer, actress, and former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48 under Team B. In the group's general elections, she had consistently ranked among the group's top members. She has released five solo singles, many of which have peaked in the top ten in the Oricon charts. She left the group on the last day of 2017.

Watanabe auditioned for AKB48's 3rd generation and was placed in the newly formed Team B. Her first appearance on an AKB48 single title track was on "Bingo!". She performed in all of the singles except when the lineups were determined by rock-paper-scissors tournaments, she has appeared on all the A-sides for the group's singles since then.

In 2009, she placed fourth overall in the group's first general election to determine the line-up for the group's 13th single. She placed fifth overall the next year for the group's 17th single.

She appeared on the cover of the December 2010 issue of UP to boy magazine together with Airi Suzuki from Cute. That was the first gravure collaboration between Hello! Project and AKB48.

On May 13, 2011 she released her photo book, Mayuyu. She commented that the book "is filled with a lot of expressions that I haven’t shown until now, it’s a book I’m really pleased with!” Regarding her cover picture, she said, “Despite being embarrassed, I did my best on the front cover, so I want a lot of people to look at it!” In an episode of the group's variety show AKBingo!, then fellow AKB48 member Haruka Shimazaki revealed that Watanabe's nickname, Mayuyu, and her own, Paruru, were both coined by former teammate Rumi Yonezawa. For AKB48's general election in 2011, Watanabe placed fifth overall.

In 2012, Watanabe got her first lead role in the Japanese TV drama Saba Doru, where she played a 38-year-old high school teacher who is hated by her pupils, whilst having a hidden life as the highly popular idol Mayu Watanabe, based on her real-life self. On February 29, Watanabe released her debut solo single, "Synchro Tokimeki", which is also the opening theme for the drama.

Watanabe participated as a voice actress in the anime series AKB0048. In the anime, she plays a main character Chieri Sono, and is part of the AKB48 subgroup NO NAME, which sings the opening and ending themes for the series. The series features a supporting character, Mayu Watanabe Mark 3, which is modeled after her likeness, and is voiced by Yukari Tamura. She reprised her role as Chieri Sono for the series' second season which aired in 2013.

Watanabe ranked second overall at the 2012 AKB48 general elections with 72,574 votes. On August 24, during the group's reorganization announcement at the AKB48's Tokyo Dome concert, she was moved from Team B to Team A.[

On July 25, she released her second solo single, "Otona Jellybeans". which reached number three on the Oricon weekly chart. Her third solo single "Hikaru Monotachi" was released on November 21, 2012, and reached number one in the Oricon singles chart. The single was released in five versions, including one that has an illustration book. Her B-side "Sayonara no Hashi" was the theme song to the anime film Nerawareta Gakuen for which she voiced one of the lead characters. In July 2013, she released her fourth solo single. "Rappa Rensh?ch?". A contest was held to determine the cover artwork for one of its editions.

Meanwhile, in AKB48, she received her first center position on the group's 30th single "So Long!", which was released on February 20, 2013. On April 19, she released her second photobook Seifuku Zukan Saigo no Seifuku. In the AKB48 election for the members for their 32nd major label single, she placed third overall with 101,210 votes.

In 2014, Watanabe become a regular on the television show Utage!, and semi-regular on the TV show Renai Sosenkyo. In AKB48, she was transferred from Team A to Team B in the "Daisokaku Matsuri". She performed an hour-long solo live concert at AKB48's Natsu matsuri. In the elections to determine the member line-up for AKB48's 37th major label single, she placed first, with 159,854 votes. Thus, she took centre position for the song "Kokoro no Placard".

In 2015, Watanabe received her first leading role in a prime-time TV drama, Tatakau! Shoten Girl, broadcast by Fuji TV and Kansai TV. This drama aired from April 2015, at 10 pm. The theme song for this drama, "Deai no Tsuzuki", was sung by Watanabe, and was also released as her fifth solo single on June 10, 2015. She held solo live concerts to support the single on September 19. In 2015, a web poll conducted by My Navi Student declared her the second Cutest Idol from both the men's choices and women's choices lists, behind Kanna Hashimoto of the idol group Rev. from DVL.

On October 26, 2016, Watanabe released her third photobook "Shiranaiuchini".

On June 17, 2017, Watanabe announced at the 9th General Election she will graduate from the group. On October 31, Watanabe had her graduation concert. Later she had her last handshake on November 18, 2017. She performed at the AKB48 theatre for the last time on December 26, 2017. She song and performed on the stage of the "68th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen" on December 31, 2017, it was her last activity as a member of AKB48.