your fave deserves a leetol treat

Teasers and early performances for the sixty-sixth single, oh my pumpkin!, have been popping up all over the place, including the suggestion of a full Team SH version! I have no idea why a single released in summer and billed as an AKB anniversary project is so seemingly autumnal, but I also won't complain as I'm really excited for the song!

I started thinking about the two Shanghai groups again late last year, having mostly tried to ignore what was happening with SNH48 since they went rogue, and, whilst being a fan of Shen Ying from the successive Team SH, also trying my hardest not to get involved too much with the drama surrounding these groups. However, in order to properly talk about where we are now, we need to at least address some of that since the last time we really spoke of SNH48.



Gui ChuChu debuted as part of Team SH's second generation trainees in August 2019 and was promoted into the generation proper several months later in October with the full debut of her peers. As a group, Team SH was first hinted at in 2017 in a blog post following a year and a half of silence on the matter of SNH48's going rogue and their increasing popularity. In 2018, auditions were held for the first generation, and by December of that year, the first digital single was released, a cover of LOVE TRIP, its video featuring the members sight-seeing in Tokyo, standing outside famous locations, specifically standing outside the AKB theatre as a way of fostering the idea that they were not necessarily just a sister group but an extension of AKB48 itself. It's messy in its clear intent, its attempt to take back ownership of the idea of a mainland Chinese branch of the "AKB franchise" but it is not entirely without appeal. Because the girls being introduced to an audience who are already fans of AKB are framed in the same way as fans—looking up at idols and gathering strength from this—there is a sense that we are one and the same, that Team SH are us.

Into all this, ChuChu and the second generation debuted, Team SH having been sent back to Shanghai to tell everyone that they were "the real AKB sister group in China" whilst never once mentioning SNH48 or commenting on the activities of their predecessors, the promotion for which has grown increasingly risqué. By 2020, weathering the storm of covid, the group's fourth EP, the lead song being a cover of Kaze wa Fuiteiru, was released with ChuChu sharing a Wcentre alongside first generation member, Liu Nian, who, a year later, was suspended and demoted back to trainee status with all the flare of an NGT member, and eventually fired. I tried looking around for details for what happened here, with a lot of AKB sites reluctant to mention it, but apparently it was more to do with career ambitions than the usual business, which... I can understand. It's hard not to eventually become frustrated when your boss is in "another office."

From Kaze wa Fuiteiru, and despite regulations changing in China in terms of the kind of popularity contests that general elections represent, ChuChu has found herself regularly in the senbatsu for Team SH's singles, though her only other time at the forefront of the group until now was another Wcentre, a cover of Ponytail to Shushu alongside third generation member, Qiu DiEr, who debuted in 2020 with her peers. oh my pumpkin! changes that! Realistically, I feel that despite the hype of members of the sister groups being in the senbatsu for the new single, they will no doubt be mostly confined to the back rows, promotion built on the novelty of their inclusion despite only getting one line at best in the song. Not all is lost however! On the same day as the Japanese release debuts, both Team SH and Team TP are releasing versions of the song with their respective members as centre. More on Team TP soon, but it's worth noting that the B side for the SH release is a cover of the recently released NGT single, Otona Ressha, which I bought both versions of but, ah, haven't listened to yet as my CD player broke.

AKB48 Team SH have a weird history, not quite AKB but not entirely a sister group, and yet this latest move with ChuChu in the senbatsu for a proper AKB release seems designed at further building their fanbase in Japan and strengthening their ties. I hope that whatever happens next, we get to see many more of these collaborations!

This is the first time we’ve actually spoken about MNL48, save for a brief mention when discussing former SKE48 member Igarashi Hayaka and her circuitous route into joining that group.



Christine Joyce Dela Cruz, ‘CJ,’ to you and me, is a member of MNL48’s third generation, the mere suggestion of which being enough to throw me into a fit of confusion regarding the passing of time. A short history: MNL48 were announced in 2016 alongside BNK48 and what was then TPE48. By mid-October the following year, things had come together enough for auditions to be held, and in January 2018, those passed auditions went through it as part of reality TV show, It’s Showtime, a move most probably influenced by the rise in popularity of similar Korean shows at the time. In April, the winners were announced, and MNL’s first generation debuted, Hayaka not amongst them. In 2019, auditions took place for a second generation, and then, once again via It’s Showtime, the third generation were announced in March 2020... and promptly failed to debut in the same way due to covid. Nonetheless, votes were cast, the new generation was announced, CJ was amongst them, and now we’re up to date.

After a year as a trainee, CJ was transferred in early 2021 to Team Unknown where she stayed until February 2023 when the third generation were a little codified. Reading around, I was a little bewildered by this as I have been conditioned by former AKB events to see any assignment of members to Team Unknown as the impending declaration of a new team, but MNL did not operate in this way, instead inheriting the post-NGT generation system apparently.

Despite the turmoil of joining during covid and the long period of time before her generation officially debuted, CJ is apparently already winning hearts and minds in Manila, ranking #48 during the group’s third general election in 2021 despite being relatively new.

In 2024, the group’s first original single, the delightfully synth heavy Summertime, debuted with a senbatsu line up comprised solely of undergirls from the second and third generations, ten members which CJ numbered amongst. Like the recent debut of BNK’s Sad Cupid unit, the production and songwriting here feels like a concerted effort to capture the attention of a more international audience, an audience brought up on K-Pop trends; I can’t work out what throws me more, the fact that the song is in English or the fact that it’s such a streamlined evocation of style found in the pop music of both the 1980s and 1990s despite never really committing to being a homage to one specific type of sound. Behind the scenes, there seemed to be a lot going on, with this single being some kind of award for the previous election’s undergirls who never got a B side on the prior release, and the music video not being released due to the group changing management.

Whatever happened though, it’s all behind them now and both MNL48 and CJ are looking forward. With AKB’s sixty-sixth single next month, it will be exciting to see MNL build on that international appeal!