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AKB48’s 69th single (releasing February 24, 2027) will feature Momoka Ito as center for a third consecutive release. This marks the first time anyone has served as sole center for three straight singles since Maeda Atsuko did it roughly 16 years ago — and even her predecessor’s two-in-a-row streak was itself the first since Watanabe Mayu (“Mayuyu”) 14 years prior. Newcomers Narita Kahina and Morikawa Yu made their first-ever senbatsu (selected main-lineup) appearances. On the forum, many posts praised Ito’s individual momentum, while others pushed back, arguing “there’s no one drawing attention besides Ito” and “what’s even the point of being a group,” pointing to thin depth across the rest of the lineup. Reactions were split.
What people said
three in a row is just absurd
But no one except Ito gets any buzz, and nobody else has solo work, right?
That's a Hello! Project thing
Itomomo is like the Messi — a once-in-a-generation talent
Juice=Juice's strength is that even Arisawa Ichika gets solo work
She crushed it — cooking, everything
She does the typical AKB variety-show routine, but her performance skills are surprisingly solid
I mean, they've just only got one bullet left in the chamber
Feels like she's operating on a level above 'idol'
Still, she's fine for now
Isn't she really a talent/entertainer by nature? Or a model
Feels like she's stepping down into being an idol
But the original ace was Ikoma
✦⚜♥ 𝐀𝐊𝐁𝟒𝟖 𝟔𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 ♥⚜✦⋆
#AKB48_69thSingle
Releasing Wednesday, February 24, 2027.ᐟ.ᐟ
Center: Momoka Ito👸🏻🍑
Three straight "solo" centers —
the first since Maeda Atsuko
on 『Flying Get』,
about 16 years ago👑⋆.✶
First-time senbatsu members: Narita Kahina & Morikawa Yu𓆩♛𓆪
The thing is, how big the songs hit now is worlds apart from the Maeatsu era
Same as Ikuta Erina, who only ended up updating the 'oldest member' record
Nah, that'd be EBiDAN (a male idol talent collective)
Oguri Yui would be wasted on this — the role's beneath her
Right, lol
Something as small as AKB center is beneath Yuiyui, lol
Background and Key Points of Debate
Center positions in AKB48 typically rotate frequently based on general elections and single-by-single senbatsu (selected lineup) decisions, and only a handful of members — Watanabe Mayu and Maeda Atsuko among them — have ever held the sole center spot across consecutive releases. This latest three-in-a-row run is, as the thread notes, the first of its kind since Maeda Atsuko roughly 16 years ago, and the numbers bear out just how unusual this casting is by historical standards. Where opinion in the thread split was over whether to separate praise for Ito individually from an assessment of the group as a whole: posts noting “there’s no one besides Ito drawing attention” sat alongside counterarguments that “plenty of members are leveling up visually.” This taps into a long-running concern around AKB48’s tendency toward a “fixed senbatsu,” and it’s worth reading carefully so as not to conflate Ito’s individual talent with an evaluation of the group’s selection management.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “AKB’s Ito Momoka Lands Third Straight Center, Here It Comes (ﾟ∀ﾟ) ｰｰｰ!!.”
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