” The secret to Sashihara’s 150,000 votes: Not due to crazy wotas but casual fans”
Sashihara Rino comes from Japan’s Oita prefecture and was appointed as its tourism ambassador last year. Prior to the elections, mayor Kugimiya Ban openly expressed his support for Sashihara on the city’s homepage. Him and the Oita residents’ votes for Sashihara could be the differentiating factor needed for her win, although he denied giving her the extra push in an interview later. He was seen celebrating with other locals on TV after the results were announced.
Author of “AKB48 History ~ A Research Student Guidebook” Shinomoto Musashi thinks that this isn’t due to a crazy fan’s power voting, but a result of cumulative votes from many casual fans. These fans probably discovered her when she got into a scandal last year, esp when she also appears as a regular on many TV programs. In their eyes, they probably think that she’s more of a popular TV talent rather than idol, so they voted her in thinking she’d make an interesting No.1.
Also, her win could be due to the fans of HKT48, who wanted to thank her for earning HKT48 a successful debut over the past year. To them, Sashihara is like the Takamina of AKB, or the Yamamoto Sayaka of NMB. If each of them had 5 votes for their oshimen, they would probably set aside 1 for Sashihara.”
“I might withdraw from next year’s elections” Sashihara Rino
Qn: Your thoughts now?
Ans: I haven’t had the chance to be in the center position yet, so i haven’t felt the weight of it.
Qn: What do you hope to achieve with AKB next?
Ans: I want to pave the way for my juniors, and make HKT48 a national group.
Qn: What are your thoughts about this year’s elections?
Ans: Mariko sama and Miyazawa Sae voiced their decisions in a positive manner. I can’t say the same about my win.
Qn: What are your ambitions for the next year?
Ans: This is my 5th elections, and i’ve improved each time. What should i do next year? Maybe i’ll withdraw from the elections.
“The moment when Sashiko won – ratings shot up to 32.7%”
The live broadcast on Fuji TV garnered average ratings of 20.3%. The peak was during Sashihara’s win at 9pm.
Last year, the average ratings was 18.7%, and the peak was also during Sashihara’s 4th place ranking(28%).
“Fans left in the midst of the event in shock”
Oshima Yuko fan: “I thought Sashihara would be 2nd or 3rd at beast, but getting No.1 was out of my expectations. I was shocked. On top of that, i couldn’t believe the difference in votes was as much as 20,000!
Man in his 40s: ” The people who left after Oshima’s rank was announced really stood out. This action reflects the real sentiments of some fans who cannot accept Sashihara’s rank. Afterall, we all want Mayuyu or Oshima to become No.1″
Check out 9:00min onwards below.
Mixed reactions to Sashihara as a center….Supporters: “Change is needed”
Results of a poll showed that among 1218 people, 709(58%) were supportive of Sashihara being the new center of AKB48, whilst 509 (42%) were not.
Reasons for supporting her include “she showed strength in her speech, which is needed for a center,” and ” the time for change is here”.
Reasons for opposing her include “i feel unsettled for many reasons” and “for a trump card, her presence is a shocker”.
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Selected quotes from 2ch (Japanese netizens’ favourite forum)
5： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:01:09.99 ID:d7lP4LMH0
- Surpassed Oshima via a scandal LOLOLOLOLOL
The times have now changed wherein the Western Bi+ch style of doing things can reign supreme LOLOLOLOL - 9： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:01:47.43 ID:OkJhJ7+t0
- Our National Idol group’s center is an ugly girl who’s full of scandals LOLOLOLOLOL
- 56： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:03:14.47 ID:C5sxot1c0
- That Chinese dude really did his best
- 62： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:03:25.53 ID:4EJMSfOJ0
- Nice going by Akimoto. This sort of development is pretty fresh.
- 72： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:03:40.90 ID:0ap4VF7U0
- Well, AKB’s popularity = power of money after all
- 79： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:03:51.64 ID:9y2tZ7B20
- Oshima, why don’t you graduate too?
- 91： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:04:08.58 ID:WZLtu31F0
- This girl who got first looks like a granny though
- 94： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:04:10.63 ID:3jVB81q90
- A comedian getting 1st LOLOLOL
- 209： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:06:30.25 ID:Y5pVni800
- An explosive death for the majority of the wotas LOLOLOL
- 234： 名無しさん＠恐縮です 2013/06/08(土) 21:07:09.13 ID:74pDU4ml0
- I see the plot, letting Akimoto’s favorite Sashihara take 1st and make her return to AKB, eh ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)Ahahahahaha
Full list of quotes here: Majide2ch@blogspot
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