ぶっちゃけAKB48選抜総選挙ってどう思ってた？

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

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!