History Music / AKB48

* 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.]]

---> Iitai koto ga arundayo (I have something to say)\\
Yappari [insert oshimen] ga kawaiiyo (Certainly [insert oshimen] is cute)\\

** The MV of "Sustainable" also revisit some of their older singles as well. There is scene that resembles "Aitakatta" complete with the uniform and ended with the scene of Akari Suda, Nana Okada, and Jurina Matsui opens a time capsule ten years into the future, reminiscing "10nen Zakura"

* NonAppearingTitle: For example, "Ponytail to Chouchou", "Honest Man". "Sustainable" doesn't appear in the lyrics, but is sang by backup singers in a prerecorded track. The title of ''Series/MajimuriGakuen'' theme song "Yuri wo Sakaseru ka" only appears in the second chorus, which is rarely performed.

* PassingTheTorch: Some aces of the group unofficially appointed their own successors before graduating, such as Mion Mukaichi to Yuko Oshima and Yui Oguri to Mayu Watanabe.
** For a few years, many newer members were pushed as successors to the original Kami 7 members, which many fans criticized since it drew unnecessary comparisons and made it that much harder for the members to stand on their own. In the anime ''Anime/AKB0048'', the original Kami 8's names even become a title that can be held by current members.
** General Manager Minami Takahashi also personally chose Yui Yokoyama to succeed her, and showed her the ropes for a year before she graduated. Yuihan later appointed Mion Mukaichi as her successor.

* NonAppearingTitle: For example, "Ponytail to Chouchou", "Honest Man", and "Sustainable". The title of ''Series/MajimuriGakuen'' theme song "Yuri wo Sakaseru ka" only appears in the second chorus, which is rarely performed.

* TheBusCameBack: The group's graduates occasionally appear in their newer music videos, such as "Kibouteki Refrain", "Kimi wa Melody", and "Hanareteite mo".

** ''[=CMG48=]'': Formed in 2019, based in Thailand. JKT's first sister group.

The franchise also spawns mobile games, frequent commercial collaborations and even three DatingSim games released for Sony consoles.

Based on the concept of "idols you can meet", '''[=AKB48=]''' is an [[IdolSinger idol group]] consisting of, you guessed it, 48 members. However, the group currently holds more than 48 members, with even more members scattered in its many sister groupsーNagoya-based {{Music/SKE48}}, Osaka-based {{Music/NMB48}}, Fukuoka-based {{Music/HKT48}}, Jakarta-based [=JKT48=] and Niigata-based Music/NGT48. Their newest sister group is {{Music/STU48}} that debuted in 2017 and will have its theater aboard a CoolShip cruising around the Setouchi region. Shanghai-based [=SNH48=] has [[StartMyOwn started its own franchise]] and has its own sister groups, all based in Chinese cities. Another sister group, [=SDN48=], used to perform in the [=AKB48=] Theater but was disbanded in 2012. There is also the Taipei-based [=TPE48=], which was announced in 2011 but was stuck in DevelopmentHell until their debut in 2017; the Bangkok-based [=BNK48=] and the Manila-based [=MNL48=], which were both announced in 2016, with the former debuting one year later and the latter two years later; and Music/{{Nogizaka46}}, an official rival group which eventually spawned its own sister groups. In 2019, they expanded to India with [=DEL48=] (New Delhi) and [=MUM48=] (Mumbai).

It has two main subunits: no3b (pronounced No Sleeves[[note]]"sureebu" sounds like "sleeves"[[/note]]) and Tentoumu Chu! Other sub-units that were active in the past but are now disbanded (mostly because of their members' graduation) are French Kiss, Not Yet, [=DiVA=] and Wataraouka Hashiritai.

Now has an [[Anime/AKB0048 anime]], which is set in the future & directed by Creator/ShojiKawamori, and a [[Manga/AKB49RenaiKinshiJourei manga]], set more or less in the present day. There's also the mystery manga series ''[=AKB48=] Satsujin Jiken'' (''[=AKB48=] Murder Mystery'') written by Gosho Aoyama of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' fame, which has been adapted into a 5-part live-action commercial series for Glico Fruit Ice.

Received an official RhythmGame for Android and [=iOS=] platforms on early 2014, that now features also all SKE, NMB and HKT members. And don't forget the DatingSim series for UsefulNotes/{{PSP}}, ''AKB 1/48'' and ''AKB 1/149''.

** "Teacher Teacher", about a high school girl HotForTeacher, is centered by Yui Oguri, one of the few AKB top members in 2018 who were actually still in high school (all the other front-line performers in the song choreography are adults). In fact, it's the first major song centered by a high school student since "Kimi wa Melody" in 2016.

* TranslatedCoverVersion: Though not officially released, the group did perform a [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish pretty good]] English version of "Oogoe Diamond" in New York.
** [=JKT48=] (sister group based in Jakarta, Indonesia) does AKB's songs translated into Indonesian. However, the music videos produced for each are significantly differentーcompare "Heavy Rotation" as done by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkHlnWFnA0c AKB48]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0SOevO2N68 JKT48]].
** [=JKT48=] has also done a cover of "Koisuru Fortune Cookie" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiSETvEXEj8 in English]] (good English, to boot). Currently, they have also done English covers of "Beginner", "Gingham Check", "Halloween Night", "Mae Shika Mukanee", "Manatsu no Sounds Good", "Kokoro no Placard", "Pareo wa Emerald", "Kibouteki Refrain", "Kaze wa Fuiteru", and "Love Trip".
** SNH sings AKB's songs but in Chinese.
* TakeThat: When the group won the prestigious Japan Records Awards' Grand Prix in 2011, many people criticized them, because a group who didn't play any instruments (even less an idol group!) couldn't become that important. The group's answer? ''GIVE ME FIVE!'', where all the [[DoItYourselfThemeTune senbatsu members played instruments]]. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer For real]]. Some of them already knew how to play their instrument (such as Yuko Oshima, who played the bass in high school), but others had to train for weeks before recording the single.

* {{Fanservice}}: Many music videos feature them dancing in bikinis. Members of the group appear in gravure photoshoots pretty much every ''week''. Although for what it's worth, members younger than 18 (16 before 2017; allegedly the age limit was raised to avoid criticism near the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games) are not allowed to appear in anything more revealing than tanktop and shorts and wear one-piece swimsuits when the older members wear bikinis.

* GenderBlenderName: Shinobu Mogi prefers to go on LastNameBasis because of this, and even her close friends call her Mogi-san. It becomes part of a series of pranks on her on her [=YouTube=] channel.

* LoopholeAbuse: While the group's controversial dating ban is well-known and well-enforced, quasi-romantic relationships between members are not frowned upon and often earn the fans' approval.

So more, believe in yourself.''

** While the English in the lyrics are almost unnoticeable, the intro to "Juujun na Slave is pretty well-pronounced.

** Yuki Kashiwagi's rendition of "[[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes]]" in the compilation album ''Thank You Disney'' is pretty good.

* 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), and has been Hiroshima's Lemon Ambassador since 2014. Saho Iwatate likes to eat insects. Nana Okada likes chocomint snacks (and adopted mint green as her unofficial image color). Yui Oguri likes Country Ma'am cookies and was invited to tour their factory and attend their 35th anniversary event.
* TrainingMontage: "Shonichi" is a training montage in lyrical form, describing the various hardships they endured before they could stand on the stage.

* TheTeetotaler: After announcing her graduation on December 2019, Minami Minegishi vowed to stay off alcohol until her graduation concert, and tweeted every day how many days she's been booze-free. As it turned out, the concert was delayed due to COVID-19, and as of January 2021 she's still going strong. She has also revealed that she was an alcoholic since 2017 until her graduation announcement.

%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ZettaiRyouiki: Naturally.

** They performed one of ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'''s openings (later the sub-unit Watarirouka Hashiritai performed another one), ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'' second opening and ''Anime/DragonBallKai'' second ending.

* EarnYourNickname: Yuiri Murayama puts performing in the Akihabara theater above all else and has had the most theater appearances for several years in a row, which earned her the title ''Theater no Megami'' (Theater Goddess, named after one of their songs).

* GenderBlenderName: Shinobu Mogi prefers to go on LastNameBasis because of this, even with her close friends. It becomes part of a series of pranks on her on her [=YouTube=] channel.

** The group's former management company AKS (now a holding company called Vernalossom, while AKB's management is handled by DH, one of its subsidiaries) was short for its three founders' names: '''A'''kimoto, '''Kubota''', '''S'''hiba.

* FunWithAcronyms: '''An'''na Iriyama, '''Ri'''na Kawaei and '''Re'''na Kato form the unit [=AnRiRe=].

* CallBack: the PV of "Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby" have a shot at lighthouse that was featured in "Aitakatta",their first major single.

** The coupling song "Monica, Yoake yo".

* GenderBlenderName: Shinobu Mogi prefers to go on LastNameBasis because of this, even with her close friends.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Yuki Kashiwagi's rendition of "[[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes]]" in the compilation album ''Thank You Disney'' is pretty good.

** 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. [[spoiler:By the way, the murderer is Mina Oba, captain of Team 4 who was suspended due a scandal in real life, which may or may not have to do with her being the culprit. She killed the aces of the other teams to give her own team an edge, and she also killed her own team member, Rena Kato, because she tried to stop this plan. Team 4 is then disbanded, [[RealLifeWritesThePlot which actually happened around the same time in real life]].]]
** The MV for "Soredemo Kanojo wa" has Yuiri Murayama, also in Sherlock Holmes costume, as one investigating a murder at a hotel with the other fifteen performers as suspects.

* NonAppearingTitle: For example, "Ponytail to Chouchou", "Honest Man", and "Sustainable". ''Series/MajimuriGakuen'' theme song "Yuri wo Sakaseru ka"'s title only appears in the second chorus, which is rarely performed.

* TheNotableNumeral: Kami 7, members who have reached the top 7 ranks in the elections. When talking about the original Kami 7, sometimes extended to Kami 8 to include Yuki Kashiwagi, who was #8 in the ''second'' election (the #8 in the first election, Amina Sato, dropped to #18 the next year) and has always been in the top 7 since the third one.