History Music / AKB48

* AudienceParticipationSong: Before any concert performance of "Koisuru Fortune Cookie", either a video will play or the members will teach the audience how to dance along the song.

** In the manga ''[=AKB48=] Satsujin Jiken'', written by none other than [[Manga/DetectiveConan Gosho Aoyama]], Atsuko Maeda becomes one after her graduation and is faced with a murder case during her last job with AKB. Her office is pretty much the Mouri Detective Agency and she wears the stereotypical Sherlock Holmes getup. The manga is later adapted into a commercial mini-series for Glico.

** ''Manga/AKB49RenaiKinshiJourei'' is an official example.

** General Manager Takahashi Minami also personally chose Yokoyama Yui to succeed her, and showed her the ropes for a year before she graduated. Yuihan later nominated Mukaichi Mion as her potential successor.
** In the MV for "Mata Aeru Hi Made", Minami Minegishi's graduation song, she literally lights the candles held by former Minegishi Team 4 members, and they in turn light countless other candles.
* ThePeepingTom: The MV for "Heavy Rotation" begins with a zoom in through a keyhole.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Perhaps unintentionally, the MV for "Shitsuren, Arigatou" released in March 2019, half of which depicts the performers hanging out in their own rooms, is somewhat reminiscent of the self-quarantine practiced by millions around the world at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are still the requisite group dancing scenes, though, and everybody was sprawling over each other on a huge mat at the end.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Perhaps unintentionally, the MV for "Shitsuren, Arigatou" released in March 2019, half of which depicts the performers hanging out in their own rooms, is somewhat reminiscent of the self-quarantine practiced by millions around the world at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
* TheRival: Music/Nogizaka46 is their official rival.

* SlutShaming: In January 2013, Minami Minegishi was caught leaving the house of Alan Shirahama, a member of the J-Pop boy-bands EXILE and Generations. Since the girls of [=AKB48=] are contractually forbidden from having romantic relationships in order to preserve the fans' fantasies,[[note]]Something that may technically be illegal.[[/note]] she was demoted to a trainee member status. Minami all-but [[TraumaticHaircut shaved her head]] - a symbol of contrition in Japanese culture - and uploaded a video of herself tearfully apologizing for her "thoughtless behavior" and begging for her fans' forgiveness. In August of 2013, she was reinstated as a full member and appointed the captain of Team 4.

** Minami Minegishi, after previously demoted to trainee status, was promoted to captain of the new Team 4, which members were all newly promoted trainees (technically including herself). Members who started out under her captaincy, which include Haruka Komiyama (Team K captain), Saho Iwatate (Team B captain), Yuiri Murayama (Team 4 captain), Nana Okada (AKB ace and former [=STU48=] captain), and Mion Mukaichi (third General Manager), are called the "Minegishi Children", or Mine-chil for short, and Naachan still calls her Mii-san, instead of Miichan, out of respect. Miichan's graduation song, "Mata Aeru Hi Made", is performed by her and the Mine-chil.[[labelnote:*]]Except for Kiara Sato, for some reason[[/labelnote]]

** Nana Okada brought along her sister, Rina (who is not an idol or public figure, and not to be confused with the Team K draftee of the same name), to cosplay with her as Ram and Rem from ''LightNovel/ReZero'' for the 2016 Janken. She also shows up occasionally in Naachan's Showroom sessions and they once did a session with SKE's Jurina Matsui.

* ArcWords: Idol work is tough, and Minami Takahashi's famous words, "Hard work will always be rewarded" (努力は必ず報われる, ''doryoku ha kanarazu mukuwareru''), is often quoted by members when their hard work bears fruit. A variant of the phrase, also by Takamina, is "We never know whether our hard work will be rewarded, but without hard work, nothing will ever happen."

* AfraidOfNeedles: Their annual vaccination day was made into a documentary and a few members were shown to be terrified of needles. In particular, Arizona-born Hirata Rina had to be held down by other members every year and one time Sashihara Rino hummed "The Star-Spangled Banner" to distract her from the needle. They call her "The Legend of Injection".
* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: The group's annual Senbatsu General Elections, which determines which members will participate in their mid-year single. The ballot comes with the previous single's CD and fans are encouraged to vote multiple times for their favorite members, so many of them acquire dozens of copies of that single just for the ballots and discard the [=CDs=], causing littering problems across Japan (there are other ways to vote, but this seems to be the most feasible method to cast multiple votes). More industrious fans have devised automatic CD case opening tools to speed up the process and others hold global fundraising campaigns to purchase the ballots. The results announcements are day-long events held in a different city every year, attended by thousands of fans and broadcasted live on national TV and online.

* AntiLoveSong: "Romance, Irane", though it's rather perky!
* ArtificialHuman: Aimi Eguchi, a CG idol created to promote Glico's Ice no Mi product. The fans found out she was created off the other members' [[http://cdn.thegloss.com/files/2011/06/eguchi-aimi.-r66-490x291.jpg looks.]]

* BadassBisexual: Okada Nana.

** The subunit [=AnRiRe=] were the feminine Rena Kato, highly educated Anna Iriyama, and sporty Rina Kawaei.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Mayu Watanabe is so obsessed with karaage that it became her Twitter handle (@karaage_mayu). Haruka Shimazaki, SKE's Rena Matsui and a few others used to be in the Melonpan Alliance. Miori Ichikawa loves lemons and wanted to become one. Saho Iwatate likes to eat insects. Nana Okada enjoys chocomint-flavored sweets (and favors mint-colored outfits).

** Minami Minegishi, after previously demoted to trainee status, was promoted to captain of the new Team 4, which members were all newly promoted trainees (technically including herself). Members who started out under her captaincy include Haruka Komiyama (Team K captain), Saho Iwatate (Team B captain), Yuiri Murayama (Team 4 captain), Nana Okada (AKB ace and former [=STU48=] captain), and Mion Mukaichi (third General Manager). The former Minegishi Team 4 members affectionately call themselves "Mine-children" and Naachan still calls her Mii-san, instead of Miichan, out of respect. Miichan's graduation song, "Mata Aeru Hi Made", is performed by her and the Mine-chil.[[labelnote:*]]Except for Kiara Sato, for some reason[[/labelnote]]

** Minami Minegishi, after previously demoted to trainee status, was promoted to captain of the new Team 4, which members were all newly promoted trainees (technically including herself). Members who started out under her captaincy include Haruka Komiyama (Team K captain), Saho Iwatate (Team B captain), Yuiri Murayama (Team 4 captain), Nana Okada (AKB ace and former [=STU48=] captain), and Mion Mukaichi (third General Manager). The former Minegishi Team 4 members affectionately call themselves "Mine-children" and Naachan still calls her Mii-san, instead of Miichan, out of respect. Miichan's graduation song, "Mata-aeru-hi-made", is performed by her and the Mine-chil.[[labelnote:*]]Except for Kiara Sato, for some reason[[/labelnote]]

** Minami Minegishi, after previously demoted to trainee status, was promoted to captain of the new Team 4, which members were all newly promoted trainees (technically including herself). Members who started out under her captaincy include Haruka Komiyama (Team K captain), Saho Iwatate (Team B captain), Yuiri Murayama (Team 4 captain), Nana Okada (AKB ace and former [=STU48=] captain), and Mion Mukaichi (third General Manager). The former Minegishi Team 4 members affectionately call themselves "Mine-children" and Naachan still calls her Mii-san, instead of Miichan, out of respect. Miichan's graduation song, "Mata-aeru-hi-masu", is performed by her and the Mine-chil.[[labelnote:*]]Except for Kiara Sato, for some reason[[/labelnote]]

** Minami Minegishi, after previously demoted to trainee status, was promoted to captain of the new Team 4, which members were all newly promoted trainees (technically including herself). Members who started out under her captaincy include Haruka Komiyama (Team K captain), Saho Iwatate (Team B captain), Yuiri Murayama (Team 4 captain), Nana Okada (AKB ace and former [=STU48=] captain), and Mion Mukaichi (third General Manager). The former Minegishi Team 4 members affectionately call themselves "Mine-children" and Naachan still calls her Mii-san, instead of Miichan, out of respect.

* FormerChildStar: Among others, Oshima Yuko, Mukaichi Mion, and Murayama Yuiri. All of them seem to have averted the pitfalls of this trope.

* GirlsWithGuns: The MV for the SurfRock-influenced ''Series/MajisukaGakuen 5'' theme song "Yankee Machine Gun" aptly features the performers wielding various small arms.

'''Iwatate Saho''': Sound check time! (Yahhoo!) You're too early! Tee-hee! ... Yahhoo! (Yahhoo!) Sahho! (Sahho!)\\

* {{Joshikousei}}: What the girls are in many of their [=PVs=].

** Nana Okada started having short hair in late 2015 or early 2016, which was later revealed to also be the time she suffered from stress and an eating disorder. She became a Senbatsu regular in 2016 and started to cultivate her ''[[{{Bifauxnen}} ikemen]]'' character which is well-received by both fellow members and fans.

** Minami Minegishi, after previously demoted to trainee status, was promoted to captain of the new Team 4, which members were all newly promoted trainees (technically including herself). Members who started out under her captaincy include Haruka Komiyama (Team K captain), Saho Iwatate (Team B captain), Yuiri Murayama (Team 4 captain), Nana Okada (former [=STU48=] captain), and Mion Mukaichi (General Manager). The former Minegishi Team 4 members affectionately call themselves "Mine-children" and Naachan still calls her Mii-san, instead of Miichan, out of respect.

** Minami Minegishi, after previously demoted to trainee status, was promoted to captain of the new Team 4, which members were all newly promoted trainees (technically including herself). Members who started out under her captaincy include Haruka Komiyama (Team K captain), Saho Iwatate (Team B captain), Yuiri Murayama (Team 4 captain), Nana Okada ([=STU48=] captain), and Mion Mukaichi (General Manager). Naachan still calls her Mii-san, instead of Miichan, out of respect, and Miichan in turn considers her one of her most successful "daughters".

* {{Mascot}}: Team 8's mascot is a bee named Eito-kun, created by that team's very own Rin Okabe. A PunnyName since "bee" (蜂) and "eight" (八) are both pronounced ''hachi''.

* {{Mascot}}: Team 8's mascot is a bee named Eito-kun, created by that team's very own Rin Okabe.

** Each group also has its own color: AKB is pink, SKE is yellow, HKT is black, NGT is white (the logo letters use red instead of the usual white), JKT is red, and STU is light blue with white horizontal stripes (they're planned to be the first ship-based group). NMB's color is... leopard print (but they go with dark brown when they have to color something). Former group SDN used silver.

-->''I don't know when it was\\

** Nana Okada brought along her sister, Rina (who is not an idol or public figure, and not to be confused with the Team K draftee of the same name), to cosplay with her as Ram and Rem from ''LightNovel/ReZero'' for the 2016 Janken. She also used to show up often in Naachan's Showroom sessions and they once did a session with SKE's Jurina Matsui.

** The group's 15th generation associate themselves with the strawberry, since in Japanese it's a homophone for "one-five".

** Rino Sashihara was sent off to Hakata, Fukuoka to help establish HKT as both member and theater manager, and arguably did quite a good job and won the Elections four times while at it.

* RedemptionQuest: If not outright forced to graduate or resign (i.e. leave without proper farewell to fans), members caught in a scandal are often given a challenging task to make up for their transgressions.

** Minami Minegishi, after previously demoted to trainee status, was promoted to captain of the new Team 4, which members were all newly promoted trainees (technically including herself). Members who started out under her captaincy include Haruka Komiyama (Team K captain), Yuiri Murayama (Team 4 captain), Nana Okada ([=STU48=] captain), and Mion Mukaichi (General Manager candidate).

** In an elaborate ''Mecha Iketeru'' prank, the scenario was that Minami Takahashi was caught in a scandal and will graduate from the group, and she reveals in the climax that she also shaved her head (actually she wore rubber scalp). Earlier, Tomu Muto also mentioned that she didn't want Takamina to do it, implying that it had become the expected thing to do. Minegishi is mildly offended at both.

* ExpositoryHairstyles: The original Kami 7 all had different hairstyles that fit their personalities, such as the [[GirlishPigtails twintailed]] orthodox idol Mayu Watanabe; the dyed and permed GyaruGirl Tomomi Itano; the [[BoyishShortHair bobbed]] and outspoken Mariko Shinoda; and Minami Takahashi who wore a [[HairDecorations bow]] to look both cuter and taller. You could basically tell them apart just from their silhouettes.

* ForeignExchangeStudent: The MV for "New Ship" is set at a school where JKT member Melody Nurramdhani Laksani arrives as one.

** There are also two Ayakas at present: Umeda and Morikawa. There used to be a third, Kikuchi, but she has graduated.
** There are also four Rinas at present: Izuta, Kawaei, Chikano, and Hirata. There are three others in the sister groups. The graduated Rinas from AKB comprise of Nakanishi, and Kozuka.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Mayu Watanabe is so obsessed with karaage that it became her Twitter handle (@karaage_mayu). Haruka Shimazaki, SKE's Rena Matsui and a few others used to be in the Melonpan Alliance. Miori Ichikawa loves lemons and wanted to become one. Saho Iwatate likes to eat insects. Nana Okada enjoys chocomint-flavored sweets and favor mint-colored outfits.

* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: The 14th generation's Three Musketeers were the girly Mako Kojima, serious Nana Okada, and energetic Miki Nishino.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Team A is pink, Team K is green, Team B is blue and Team 4 is yellow. Team 8 used grey for a bit, but now is officially dark blue.

** They have performed a number of collaborations and member exchanges with their official rival group, Music/Nogizaka46, and that group's Ikoma Rina even participated in the Senbatsu Elections in 2014 and got 14th place. AKB members often admit that they listen to Nogizaka's music and that their members are cute.

* GratuitousEnglish: [[Disney/WreckItRalph "S-U-G-A-R, jump into your racing car, say Sugar Rush! Say Sugar Rush!"]]