Yukirin intro Whether asleep or awake it's Yukirin world,
Yukirin intro I'll make you dazed♪
Yukirin intro I'm Kashiwagi Yuki also known as Yukirin
Today we'll be talking about AKB48 Senbatsu Sousenkyou!
I get a lot of questions on my comments section
But this thing called AKB48 Senbatsu Sousenkyo
is a huge event when we're talking about AKB48
So I thought that I'd share my thoughts about it
Things like how I felt on those days
Firstly, sousenkyo started in 2009
In total, we held it ten times
I participated in a total of eight times
Shall I state my rankings?
From the first one,
9th
8th
3rd
4th
3rd
2nd
5th
But look it's all one-digit rankings!
My fans are amazing~!
With that, I participated in those
but in the first sousenkyo,
we had a single called [Namida Surprise] as the voting tickets
then the members chosen with that gets to be in
[Iiwake Maybe], the next song we released
But back when they first said we were having a sousenkyo,
I think they announced it on some blog or something
and I didn't know that at all
I was like, "What's a sousenkyo?"
To be honest, I didn't understand it all that well
I didn't understand what kind of thing sousenkyo was
I did understand that it was some kind of popularity contest
but I didn't see how big and important it was
So on the day of the sousenkyo,
I was on a TBS show called [Hiruobi!]
I was doing a weather report there
Right beside TBS was the sousenkyo venue called [AkasakaBLITZ]
So I was on TBS reporting about the weather until noon
then I just crossed over to the next-door venue like it was nothing
I can even say that I went to sousenkyo all by myself
just like it was just some other normal event
But personally, getting 9th place exceeded my expectations
I felt grateful
Back then, I thought the although I was on the back row
I still got into senbatsu
and I felt happy about that
Things didn't change much for me after that
Even these days, there's something famously called Kami7
A lot of people say that I'm a part of Kami7 too
but for me,
I'm not part of Kami7...
It's sounds kinda sad hearing it from my own mouth
I'm not part of the original Kami7
If you ask me why,
being part of the Kami7 isn't because you placed high
It's because on both the first and the second sousenkyo,
the top 7 changed orders, but they are the same seven people
Even when we did it twice, they still all placed top 7
because of that, THESE seven are called KAMI (god)
Thus, the Kami7 became a thing
I placed 8th on the second one,
so I was almost part of the Kami7,
but it was because I couldn't get in
that we can say these seven people are definitely amazing!
In 2011, on the third sousenkyo,
There's a thing called "preliminary results" that always gets released
It's the results after the first day of CD sales
It's something like the results for the first day
And in that,
I somehow placed third!
Maeda-san,
Yuko-chan,
ME
I thought it was amazing!
Even the management told me,
"You placed third, it's great that your name is getting well-known, right!"
That's my preliminary results memory!
I thought the same of course, but then...
I really ended up in third place
To be honest, instead of feeling happy,
I thought "I overdid it..."
Seriously, to be really honest
I thought "This is overkill..." to be honest
That day ended with me thinking that this was bad
Then on the next day,
that morning,
In some morning news show on TV,
I heard "Kashiwagi Yuki" and that woke me up
I was like "this kid that came out of nowhere"
That really made me realize that a really unbelievable thing just happened
I'd say my life was changed after that
My life changed after joining AKB,
but placing third with that timing
has changed my life even further
I became a person that stands beside Maeda-san and Yuko-chan
It really raised my self-awareness of my place in AKB
The thing that made me think that "It's okay for me to stay in AKB."
was when I placed third
That's why I'm very grateful for that
but then, the problem was what it comes after that
I needed to maintain my ranking
I really had to make sure to at least not place lower
Instead of gunning for 1st or 2nd,
I was focusing more on not getting a lower rank
That was quite a struggle
but somehow, I also placed 3rd the next year
then 4th
I got more or less the same rank
iIn 2015, I stated "I want to be 1st place",
I said that I'm aiming for the 1st place
for the first time in 2015
That year, I got to double-center a single called [Green Flash]
Plus, in 2013, Sasshi won
In 2014, Mayuyu won
So in 2015, during Sasshi and Mayu's fight against each other
I thought that maybe putting my name into the mix
will make things a bit more interesting
Of course, a part of me also wanted to win
I thought that this was my only chance to do so
In the end, I placed 2nd
Sasshi was the definite 1st place
but that's not really suprising for anyone
Of course, I knew that
but it made me think that if I worked this hard,
I can get placed second!
I was very very grateful!
Then, in that next year,
it became a nomination system
so we a had a choice to run or not
I thought that I already placed second
so I think I've had my fill
My fans already worked hard
so I thought I wouldn't participate this time, this was 2016
but then,
That time I was also a part of NGT48,
the group from Niigata,
and the venue for 2016 was in Niigata!
So given that I was in NGT,
saying "I won't join this year's sousenkyo"
is something I couldn't do...
So I also participated in that one
I place 5th in that one
I got told a lot of things at that time
Things like "Last year, you were second"
"You fell so much!"
or "Your number of votes got lower"
I got told a lot of those
But then, considering that I've been in this group for a long time now
I think I'm already numb to those kinds of comments to be honest
I already get that this girl is better than me, or
this girl is definitely more popular than me
I already know those things
So even according to my expectations that year,
I place rightly at 5th place
If I really was doing bad, I thought that I'd fall a bit more
So to be honest, placing 5th was more of a win for me
From an outsider's point of view, I really fell behind
but I didn't really care about that!
I already knew that I would place around that area
so I was satisfied with that 5th place too
Then for the next two years,
I didn't participate, that was twice!
My biggest reason was
I thought that at around 2017,
The fact that my fans pay a lot of money for me
to support me and place me to the top of the rankings
is something that didn't really feel good for me
If that was the case,
On things like CDs, handshakes, concerts, goods, or tours
I'd rather have them place their money
on other things that will make them happy while supporting me
But still, not participating needs a lot of courage too
If I participate,
I get told that I "steal senbatsu places"
If I don't,
I get told "she ran away"
Seriously, people are tsundere
The number of senbatsu members aren't decided in the first place
If they say that, "You have to be in the top 16 to be in senbatsu!"
I'll completely understand the "steal senbatsu places" point
but the selected members even increased by two from the last year
So regardless of if I was there or not,
It wouldn't have mattered...
So just give me a pass already~
If I was told that we're having another one,
I'd seriously be troubled...
If it was something where one person can only vote once,
there won't be any burden (for fans),
I'd probably do it
If that happens,
to the people watching this video,
please place your precious vote to Kashiwagi Yuki!
Seriously, please
If it's a vote that won't cost money, please do
Did I say something that'll look like it'll get into headlines?
I wonder which one will get attention
but I didn't say anything too weird...
Maybe the part of "stealing senbatsu places"?
lol even if it isn't related to the senkyo
Forgive me!
If I say it like this, they'll say
[She used to be so neat and proper back then...]
[She wasn't loudspoken like this back then...]
Is it okay if I say one last thing?
If you participate in a handshake event before a new song releases
Things like, "Are there any plans to perform the new song?"
Or "When's the next one coming?"
I get asked things like that
If it's before the official announcement,
I won't say it to you
Of course, (the new song) is already finished
But for things that hasn't been announced
I won't say a thing!
Since it's a waste, please don't ask me that!
Things like "When's the next senbatsu concert?"
"What kind of a song is it?"
I won't say a thing!
So please, since it's a waste of handshake tickets
please don't ask me about that!
Please!
With that, we talked about sousenkyo--
Oh I talked a lot huh
I don't think there was anything shocking in anything I said
But if there's something else you want to hear about AKB,
I'll be happy if you'd comment it down below!
With that, this was Kashiwagi Yuki aka Yukirin
See you next time!