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How to vote in 2014 AKB48’s 37th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo

  May 25, 2014
How to vote!

How’s everyone faring with the Sousenkyo preliminary result that was released last week?

Reactions from fans all over the world have been quite… mild? I’m not sure how to put this.

Compared to the prelim results last year when Sashihara came out of nowhere and took the top spot, fans are now more prepared for surprises like this, and even though some (fairly) nameless girls such as HKT48’s Moriyasu Madoka and SKE48’s Futamura Haruka (!) did so well by entering the Top 16, the reaction (that I feel) from the general public was not as extreme, specially compared to when Shibata Aya surfaced in 2013 and made everyone wonder who she was.

Of course, bitter antis will exist no matter what kind of results came out, such as this week’s featured Sashihara anti.

Let me stop myself from ranting more and get into the core of this article.

This might not be news for you, but I’ve been hearing that there are fans out there that are unable or not sure if they should participate in this wonderful annual event that is the Sousenkyo, simply because they have zero knowledge in Japanese – whether it’s reading and/or writing. ( FYI you don’t need to write anything to vote in the sousenkyo ) – and this lack of knowledge has somehow discouraged them to take part.

Well, I’m hoping with this article, I can show how easy it is to be a part of AKB48’s General Election, and thus encourage more people to participate and vote for the members they are rooting for!


How to vote in AKB48 Sousenkyo 2014

  • Step 1: Get your voting tickets out

    As pictured on the side, this are the voting tickets that you will get with every Labrador Retriever CD you purchase.

    Of course there are other ways of getting the voting tickets, but for this tutorial’s sake, let’s just say that you’ve purchased a copy of Labrador Retriever (or you can do so by going here) – when you open the packaging and take the Front cover booklet out, you should be able to find one of these inside.

  • Step 2: Visit the voting website

    The URL is visible on the ticket, or if you’re just plain lazy, here it is: http://akb48-sousenkyo2014.jp/

    Clicking the first button (labeled “1”) will take you to the member selection screen by name, which we are not going to cover here because it’s slightly harder if you’ve zero knowledge of reading Japanese characters, so we’ll give it a pass.

    Clicking the 2nd button (labeled “2”), however, is what we’re going to do in this tutorial. Also remember to keep your voting ticket close, since we’ll be needing that very soon.

    PS: The website is obviously built with the Japanese fans in mind, because it looks like total crap if you try to open it using a Desktop PC. You might get a better overall experience if you do this thru a mobile device ( smartphone / tablet ) – but just make sure that you have a decent connection, or else your vote might not get thru!

  • Step 3: Select the team your oshimen is in

    After clicking the 2nd button, you will be taken to the screen that looks just like this.

    You really should know which team that your oshimen is in (I can’t help you if you don’t…) – so choose that particular team. They’re nicely separated by their groups anyways, so you shouldn’t have any real problems here.

    FYI
    “チーム” means “Team”
    “研究生” means “Kenkyuusei / KKS / Research Student”

  • Step 4: Select your oshimen

    After selecting a Team, you’ll find yourself in this screen that contains a list of members that belong to the team you just selected.

    Now, this is probably the hardest step if you don’t know Japanese and you’ve no idea how your oshimen’s name is spelt.

    What I can suggest is to do a google search on your oshimen and include “site:http://stage48.net/wiki” at the end of your query.

    Most of the pages on the stage48 wiki should have the kanji characters of the members, so this should work to your advantage.

    For example’s sake, let’s choose Kodama Haruka as the member we’re going to vote. Her kanji characters are “兒玉遥” as we can see in the screenshot, so click on her name and we’ll be away to the final step!

  • Step 5: Cast your vote!

    If you’re still with me now, then congratulations, you’ll soon be a part of the annual AKB48 festive!

    On the 2 text fields (Labeled “1”) on the left, that’s where you input the serial number that is printed on your voting ticket. Type them in and double check that you got it right. As far as I know, there’s no kind of IP blocking implemented on the site, so you can try again even if you made a mistake when inputting the serial numbers, but why take the chance?

    After you’re done inputting the serial numbers, notice the little button at the very bottom there? (It should say “投票” / touhyou / vote)

    Click that button. ONCE.

  • Done! Haruppi loves you!

    ( but only if you voted for her, of course! )

So yeah, pretty straightforward eh?

I’ve also recorded a video of the step-to-step for your convenience.

What this means

This means that ANYONE with access to internet and with friends who have debit / credit card access ( with sufficient funds, of course ) should be able to participate in 2014’s Senbatsu Sousenkyo – NO EXCUSES.

If you know of anyone that is still sitting on the fence and procrastinate, heck, show them this article. Time is running out and it is irreversible.
Your inaction might mean that your oshimen won’t rank-in this June.

Let’s show everyone that foreign fans can not be taken lightly. We are here, and our passion and love for the 48G are no less -if not more- compared to our Japanese counterparts.

To close this off – we, the staffs at AKB48WrapUp wish everyone can enjoy this year’s sousenkyo no matter what kind of result comes out in June 7th!

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