After Acchan leaves we can no longer see scenes like this? This expression, smoothly stretched legs, perfect posing….we miss you so much..
As people are talking about who is the best for the next center of AKB, I watched AKB’s videos on Youtube again and again to see how they dance and sing. I also found famous choreographers comment on Acchan’s dance , said

“She has a stable axis which makes all the movement and posing photogenic. Her dance style can be described “Compact”, but it’s a compactness in which all the necessary elements are condensed. Normally idols who are in center position of their group dance with eye-catching moves. But she dance compact even though she is a center of this outstandingly popular group. Sure she looks not full of vigor (or saving energy) but it’s rather a compliment to her that she looks less vigorous in a really impressive way. I don’t think she is intentionally doing this but is just a genius.

AKB has usually 3 top in their performance. When Acchan is in center, we often see Takamina and Yuko in her back, while when Yuko is in center (Heavy Rotation), Acchan and Mariko are in the back. (in typical cases)
I think Takamina & Yuko are paired just because they are at a same height, while Acchan & Mariko are paired because they have definitely similar dance style. But Mariko is not as a good singer as Acchan(though she isn’t the best), and she is too tall in this group…. which makes AKB with Mariko as a center difficult. I think you can understand what I mean when you watch Uekara Mariko. She is a very attractive center in this song, but stands out too much that makes all other members performance ‘background’.

I’m also surprised Yuko’s dance skill is not highly evaluated. Most choreographers say she is very organized, but from their eyes, her dance has a lot of extra movements, which I think I can understand. By the way to my eyes, Jurina’s dance style is similar to Yuko. Both move very dynamic, which is good for some songs but not for other songs.

If Acchan is an ideal center, then center position of AKB must be able to be the focal point, which makes whole group performance, in which each member has more or less a different dance style, balanced and easy to focus on performance as a whole as well as as an individual.

When look at SKE, Rena and Jurina are rarely playing a solo center but most of the case they perform as 2-top. Rena, of course, is not as a good dancer as Jurina, but Jurina also dances too quick and dynamic for some songs (and when she dance compact, she is not as spicy as Acchan). But when they form 2-top, Rena’s perfect appeal to audience (her face expression is always perfect) and Jurina’s power move and quick motion are, I think, a best combination isn’t it. SKE is said to have many skilled dancers but because the gap between skilled and inexperienced is huge, they don’t make the best of these members so far, according to some SKE fans who closely follow the group.

As for NMB, of course Saya-Nee is almost always a solo center, since most of NMB members have a background of dancing before joining NMB, they can stack up to the glamour of Saya-Nee, who is said to be No.1 dancer in all AKB groups. Partly because Saya-Nee knows how to look harmonized while standing out as a center, and partly because other members can dance well enough not to be erased by Sayaka‘s outstanding performance, many people say NMB‘s performance looks most professional among all AKB groups.


By the way some people (only few) pointed out that Acchan’s dance style and body-shape looks alike to Paruru the most, and I totally agree with this except I think she’d better show better face expression in the shows(and surely she’s getting better) and don’t know much about her voice. Among team 4, I think Renacchi have really unique style and a photogenic body. I don’t think she is already a good dancer since sometimes her small moves are off rhythm, Maybe she hasn’t practiced choreo enough yet, but when expression part, where she moves slowly, she looks so unique, kinda reminiscent of Acchan’s early days.

So who can stack up to Acchan? So far no one. But there are some members who may have their own unique edge similar to her.

Current sensation Sashiko has an unique and distinctive style, which can simply described ‘shake and hop’. Compared to Miichan, she definitely moves more, sometimes overly dancing, but since her move is always incorporated with her own shaking or spring pop, I don’t know how I describe this, but it looks perfectly synchronized while standing out. What she lacks compared to Acchan is ….. elegance? In small and quick moves, she sometimes looks noisy while Acchan do it so naturally and girly in subtle manner, and most importantly Acchan is almost always flawless.

In this sense Yukirin is most similar to Acchan. She also doesn’t dance like professional compared to really nice dancers such as NattsumiChuri, Umechan or Yukko, but she dances perfectly with almost no flaw, and her dance has a captivating charm of idol, which can be seen in her winks, gazes or making a face with cute gestures. But she is nowhere near Acchan’s elegant way of hands moving and posing (Kojiharu is as cute and elegant as Acchan in this point)…. and though Yukirin also can move quick, I don’t know why, but her dance looks much slower than Acchan.

I also checked Mayuyu, and found while she obviously seems to have practiced a lot and dances flawlessly, I don’t find anything special from her dance and performance in general  in terms of being a successor of Acchan.

So maybe my conclusion for who have the highest  potential to be Acchan’s successor is/are… Jurina and Paruru, but this is nothing more than a result that they are only members left after eliminated unlikely members. But you must not forget one rising star hailing from Namba. These days Milky of NMB48 is often named along with these two and Mayuyu as a next center, not just because she is on type-B’s jacket of Manatsu, but because she also got her own unique style of dancing, and most importantly, she has an charismatic aura.

Suzuran and Paruru

Acchan and Haruu

It’s almost written in a book that Yuko will be a center for next single. But if it’s not a collective will of fans she may not be willing to play the center for other songs after Election single. For a while probably we are going to see various faces play a center role during the process of experiment to find out how they look in an actual stage.

But…. I’m not gonna tell a lie, I really want to see Yuko and Milky as a 2 Center Forward!!

1:00~SKE48 Banzai Venus  3:05~ NMB48 Zettai Kurokami Shojo 5:52~ SKE48 1!2!3!4!Yoroshiku! 7 7:48~ AKB48(Team4) Heavy Rotation 10:20~ AKB48 Ponytail to Chuchu 12:50~ AKB48 Everyday Kachuusha