It’s 1st May! Only 1 day before the day Sashiko, the last hope of Japan and the world, will make her solo debut (Soredemo Sukidayo) and Nogizaka46 will release their 2nd Single (Oideyo Shampoo).
According to Sponichi, it’s announced they will hold joint shake-hand event on 12th May at Makuhari-Messe, Chiba. But while we fans and media reporters and writers are heated up, our girls seem to be very friendly each other. Reika Sakurai said “Whenever we meet her (Sashiko), she is so nice to us. Because We’re not used to be in TV filming, during breaks of today’s filming, she gave us advises so kindly.” She continued to say “Thanks to her advises we managed to finish the filming without a big accident. She is our good mentor.” other members Rina Ikoma, Hana Nakada and Mai Shiraishi, who were beside her, nodded firmly, expressing their sympathy to her remark.
Though we’ve long seen Nogizaka46 as an official rival of AKB48, there’s been hardly any chance for them to really appeal their performance to large audience. They have to walk a long path to be a real rival of AKB48, and for now, they challenge one member of AKB48, Sashiko, with their collective power of all 33 members.
This 2th May battle is so far reported to be one-sided game for Sashiko, but as Nogizaka is humbly absorbing tips and spirits of idol, I hope they will have more chances to hold their own shows and hopefully joint concert with AKB!
Checkout collaboration commercial of Nogizaka46 and Sashiko!!