On January 21st, premiere screening for AKB48’s newest documentary film “DOCUMENTARY OF AKB48 NO FLOWER WITHOUT RAIN Shoujo tachi wa Namida no Ato ni Nani wo Miru?” was held at TOHO Cinemas Roppongi Hills in Tokyo. The 8 AKB48 members (Takahashi Minami, Oshima Yuko, Shinoda Mariko, Kojima Haruna, Itano Tomomi, Minegishi Minami, Kitahara Rie,Yokoyama Yui) and the director Takahashi Eiki made their appearances at the stage greeting for the documentary film that detailed covers AKB48’s activities in 2012.
The members greeted the audience, “I did not expect that this many people would come. I think it’s not so easy to go watch idol movies, but thank you for coming today. (Oshima)”, ”I cried many times watching this movie. I want every one of you to feel something through this as well. (Itano)”, “Since I forgot a lot of things recently, it was great that the movie reminded me about the year of 2012. (Kitahara)”
The director Takahashi also said, “2012 was the year that so many things happened for AKB48, so it was such an enormous work to summarize it into 2-hour movie. I’m relieved that it’s finished in time.”
Regarding their first live concert at the Tokyo Dome held back in last summer, which will also be shown in the film, Takahashi (Minami) commented, “Even now, it still feels like that might have been a dream. At first AKB’s official blog was titled as ‘Tokyo Dome made no Kiseki (lit. ‘The tracks to the Tokyo Dome’)', and we could not even fill up the seats at the theater in Akihabara, but after 7 years, we were able to stand on that stage. It is the treasure in our lives.” Shinoda, who was appointed as the new captain of team A during the first day of the Tokyo Dome concerts, said about the time, “I remember I doubted at first as I thought ‘It must be a joke. No way!’ I was always watching Minam by her side, and I had no dignity and responsibility as a captain, so I was full of uneasiness that night. Although it is working as a new team now, I am still faced with what it is to be the captain.”
About Maeda Atsuko’s graduation from the group, Kojima expressed her thought, with, “When Acchan was about to start talking (after the Saitama Super Arena live concert), I felt that she was going to announce her graduation, and I was wishing for her not to say that. I think even the audience had the similar atmosphere on that day, but Acchan’s face expression while making the announcement looked great.” She then continued, “It makes us so nervous when we stand in the center. Even the view looks different from usual, and you can’t just say a word. So, I still feel that Acchan is magnificent.” Oshima also shared her thought, “It is like Maeda Atsuko has her own position, while Oshima Yuko has her own position…and the spotlights happened to play on Oshima’s position, for example. I think that the center position itself is moving around, and the position where the spotlights are turned on by chance is the center, rather than that the center position exists in a certain spot.”
When Minegishi was asked about her tears she shed at the Maeda Atsuko’s graduation stage, she answered, “Even though I wrote ‘I will not cry’ on the first calligraphy of the year, I think I cried the most among all the members. The happiness to be able to come that far to the Tokyo Dome, the sadness that Acchan was graduating…it was the first time for me to shed tears with mixed feelings like that.”Yokoyama also said, “There were many types of tears in the film, like tears when you send people off, or tears you shed when you are disappointed. I felt that people shed tears in general for any kinds feelings.”
Regarding the several ways of graduations happened in 2012, Takahashi commented, “There were so many farewells during the year. Some were happy graduations, and there were also many regrettable things, but no matter what happens, there is always tomorrow. So after sending the graduated members off, we just have to hang in here.” In the end of the stage greeting Takahashi told the audience, “This time, the film features mainly the center position and the second chapter of AKB48. In 2012, we have shed many tears. After watching this film, I noticed that the view each member is looking things at is different, and there is also a difference in colors and in meanings for each of our tears. I’m not sure what we would see after shedding the tears, or if the decisions we make would be right. However, no matter what happens, tomorrow will always come. In order for us to be able to smile as many times as we shed tears, we will continue trying our best.”
It was announced that the theme song for the film is “After rain” in which 21 members from AKB48, SKE48, NMB48, HKT48, JKT48, and SNH48, participated. The 21 members are as follows: Itano Tomomi/Oshima Yuko/Kashiwagi Yuki/Kitahara Rie/Kojima Haruna/Shinoda Mariko/Shimazaki Haruka/Takahashi Minami/Minegishi Minami/Yokoyama Yui/Watanabe Mayu/Ishida Anna/Matsui Jurina/Kotani Riho/Watanabe Miyuki/Sashihara Rino/Ota Aika/Takajo Aki/Nakagawa Haruka/Suzuki Mariya/Miyazawa Sae
“DOCUMENTARY OF AKB48 NO FLOWER WITHOUT RAIN Shoujo tachi wa Namida no Ato ni Nani wo Miru?” will open in theaters on February 1st.
