On September 18th, AKB48 held a press conference after the “Janken Tournament”, which determined the senbatsu members for their 29th single. All senbatsu members who weren’t minors were present, including the overall champion Shimazaki Haruka. Shimazaki commented about becoming the center stating, “I’ll work hard so that people don’t call me a ‘ ponkotsu’.”
Shimazaki battled it out to take home the trophy, “I wasn’t nervous surprisingly during the tournament. I won because I continued using scissors. As a ‘ponkotsu’, I will try my personal best and I hope that I can grow to have a conversation properly.”
Shimazaki was asked about what she thinks the new song’s title should be and she responded, “Maybe ‘Shita kara Paruru’ (Paruru from the Bottom)? But it’s common for Akimoto Yasushi-sensei to call me ‘Ponkotsu’, so I want it to be called ‘Ponkotsu’, causing those around her to call back, “No way!”
Shinoda Mariko also commented on Shimazaki’s first time as center with the comment, “What she just said made me anxious, but I guess that’s part of her cuteness? This is also Paruru (Shimazaki)’s luck, so I’m sure she will grow more from this.”
During the tournament Shinoda could really feel how her juniors have grown, “I got goosebumps feeling the power from my juniors. I want to see Paruru become a good center and I want all of you to see it too.” Shinoda was the previous Janken queen and she continued advancing throughout this year’s tournament more so than she expected. Shinoda revealed, “As soon as I began to worry, ‘Wouldn’t it be annoying if I won again?’, I lost.”
[TL Note: ‘ponkotsu’ is an endearing term for Shimazaki in the AKB fandom. It is similar to Sashihara Rino being called ‘hetare’ (failure). ‘Ponkotsu’ can technically mean “clumsy/useless”, but it is not seen as a negative term. It is part of Shimazaki’s ‘character’. ]
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Source: Cinema Today
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