With the recent news of AKB48‘s 2nd General Manager, Yokoyama Yui, and MNL48‘s General Captain, Alice, collaborating, fans can’t help but get excited as this will be the first of it’s kind. Though it is not a stage performance, 48G fans can’t help but look forward to what they had prepared.
This was also a good opportunity for both fans of AKB48 and MNL48 to get to know both girls, having an interest in each girl respectively. While some of us are fans of both groups, there are some who are not familiar with AKB48 as well as MNL48 though they are sister groups. However, there is a momentum build in fans of the respective group into knowing the sister groups.
With this, an idea came into mind, in which I would like to introduce shows of the 48G Family that helped me to know each and one of them. Here are my recommended 48G shows:
AKBingo! Main Cast: AKB48 Started in 2008, this is the longest-running show of AKB48 with a total of 560 episodes. Unfortunately, the show ended last September 24, 2019.
This was the very show that got me hook into liking the 48G, this also gave me the opportunity to get to know the members of not just AKB48 but also the sister groups within Japan. While the main cast of the show are the members of AKB48, there were episodes in which the girls from the sister groups visit and play. Guests such as Nogizaka46 and many comedians also graced the show for added comedy. The birth of Yukirin’s reaction queen character.
This show also birthed to a lot of characters that we came to love and live by such as Kashiwagi Yuki being the reaction queen and black-hearted which was the reference of her role in Majisuka Gakuen series, Okada Nana‘s majime (serious) character, Takahashi Minami‘s fail-queen character and many more. Matsui Rena’s A-in
The show also helped boost some members’ popularity such as Matsui Rena, who would have thought that the simple hypnotization experiment would bring the always on the side girl in the front? Another example would be Ohori Megumi, she was on the brink of graduating but that epic technical malfunction made her into her solo debut. Get hit and unreasonable task awaits you.
Speaking of Meetan‘s (Ohori Megumi) solo debut, the segments in the show would help you get to know more of the girls. Some of my most favorite segments would be Muchaburi Dodgeball in which the girls’ competitiveness could be seen. Who would have thought that the very girly Itano Tomomi would ace this game? Another segment I love is the Danso special, ever wonder how would Sashihara Rino look like when dress-up as a boy? This segment would help that imagination come into reality. Here are other notable segments you can expect from this show:
– Fat-suit Competition Though there is only one episode for this, it is my favorite episode! – Shoujiki Shougi (Honesty Chest) The Watanabe Mayu vs Kojima Haruna battle is probably one of the most epic ones as Mayuyu’s question side punches Yuko, Takamina and KojiHaru herself. – AKVEGAS A segment in which the girls would guess who among the players would win a certain game. This was the very game that made Mayuyu cry. – Lucky Girl Ranking An opportunity for all the sister groups to gather and find their luck through palm reading.
– Fashion Clothes Battle How do they look like in casual clothes, here’s my beloved 9th Gen’s not so fashionable clothes (Paruru don’t kill me please). – More Danso episodes I just can’t get enough of them like I want to marry all of them! OG Ikemen King Sae with cutie boy MayuPrincess of Nagoya Rena-sama turned into a very handsome archer.Of Course! Danso Prince Mogi
AKBINGO is the centerpiece of AKB’s entire media onslaught. This show is the very core of all their shows. No wonder why a lot of them got into joining the group because of this show.
Related shows: SKEBingo, HKTBingo, STUBingo, NogiBingo, and all other 48/46 groups show with bingo in it.
SKE48 Ebi Series Main Cast: SKE48+Kenin Members You might be wondering why my recommended show for SKE48 is this and not SKEBINGO, in all honesty, the bingo increments for SKE48 is a bit different from the mother show, AKBINGO. I wouldn’t say it is not fun but it lacks the humor I knew SKE48 for. SKEBINGO focuses on an “acting theme” which I feel like hinders them into showcasing their real skills in variety.
Ebi series, on the other hand, showcases the variety skills of SKE48. The 3 season series (Ebi-Friday Night, Ebi-Sho, and Ebi Calcio) unleashes the sleeping humor of each and every member. Though the series had almost a fixed line-up, they did not fail the audience into making them laugh. This show also helped me to remember the members’ older generation of SKE48.
WMatsui was also a fixed cast in AKBINGO for some time but having them together with their base group really brought out the humor in them. I didn’t even know that Jurina likes to make puns and Rena had this hidden talent in variety shows. What’s more surprising is we can Jurina acting her age than the usual tough image she had shown in AKBINGO. Yes, Jurina acts like a baby in this series. WMatsui in Ebi-Calcio’s opening credits.
I’m also used to seeing Oba Mina into variety but this show I would say really shape Minarun’s comedic skills. Her fatty character and the toughness of Rena to her weight helped her gain popularity.
The host is another reason why I love the show. We know that the 48G shows mostly involved comedians but the charm Okubo Kayoko heighten the comedy that this show has. Her constant saga with Matsumura Kaori was one of the most awaited parts of this show. Here’s one of my most favorite episode from this series:
HaKaTa Hyakkaten Main Cast: HKT48 After being transferred to HKT48, Sashihara Rino plays an important role in every HKT48 show there is. This enables her to fully redeemed herself and helped the group crawl to the top. As mentioned a while ago, 48G shows are usually hosted by a comedian but for HKT48 shows, it is mostly hosted by their queen mother, Sasshi, this show included.
I’m not sure if this was Sasshi’s first show after her transfer but she plays a key role in this show. Being a newly formed group, HaKaTa Hyakkaten gave an opportunity to the members to be known in public.
The show is pretty interesting as the girls of HKT48 will charm their guests with mostly AKB48 senpais (just that the 3rd season have comedians as their guests) to choose them as their oshimen. Rena-sama as their 1st guest for the 2nd Season.
The winner of each show would receive an oshimen badge from their guest and will have an opportunity to eat popular delicacies from Fukuoka. The chosen member can also then ask the guest various questions. Random segments were also present tailored fit to their guest’s character or personality.
Here’s my favorite episode where my NMB48 Oshimen, Watanabe Miyuki got to play with the girls of HKT48:
P/S: Some parts of the sub is not really that accurate as the subber decided to put a little humor into it.
NMB48 Geinin Main Cast: NMB48 There is this saying that you are expected to have a good sense of humor if you are from Osaka, home of the biggest company that houses many comedians in Japan. With Osaka being the base of NMB48, their shows are mostly centered in traditional Japanese comedy called Owarai.
The girls of NMB48 take their chance into a stand-up comedy act called Manzai. The show is set in a school where the girls act as middle and high school students who were part of the OwaraiClub. The setting of this show is a little different from the mentioned shows above. Yuihan and Sayanee combi doing Manzai.
Despite this show not set in the usual studio set-up, different segments were still present. Like the first two shows mentioned above, they also have a fixed line-up but other members were also there to take part as their guest. This show boasts a 3 season series with 2 movies referencing to it. Yuihan as a transfer student and legendary Owarai postcard writer.
If you are a SayaMilky shipper then this is the show for you. There are tons of moments between NMB48’s two-top, Yamamoto Sayaka and Watanabe Miyuki that you can make a lot of FMV from this show. Even the movie is centered on SayaMilky’s journey into joining a prestigious Manzai show. Of course, their resident old hag, Yamada Nana is there to third-wheel. You are kinda rude to your lover Milky!
HKT48 vs NGT48 SashiKita Gassen Main Cast: NGT48 and HKT48 It is a known fact that good friends and fellow 5th generation members, Sashihara Rino and Kitahara Rie have good variety skills and it seems like the two love to train their beloved kouhais the gift of being good in variety.
HKT48 vs NGT48 SashiKita Gassen is a show hosted by RieRino combi in which the girls of HKT48 and NGT48 goes head to head battle in various contest. Honed by various AKB48 programs, RieRino combi set-up segments that would unleash the hidden skills the young guns of their respective group. Look at these two looking all so soft with their kouhais.
Aside from the comedic relief the show has, the girls were also given the opportunity to showcase their talents. From Homma Hinata‘s graceful ballet skills to Motomura Aoi’s drum skills. Hinata doing ballet.
RieRino’s love for Japanese comedians can also be seen as their guests are mostly comedians. It is actually not surprising since it is a variety show. Though there are segments that are surprisingly uninteresting like that episode in which they guest ordinary people into guessing who is not an idol among them and whoever got chosen will face an unreasonable penalty of being pied.
However, despite some episodes being a little uninteresting, this show has a lot of good episodes such as the physical battle between the girls and the epic family computer challenge that made Kashiwagi Yuki buy here kouhais pretty expensive strawberries.
Another thing that I want to talk about is how much HKT’s finest member, Miyawaki Sakura has grown and instilled what she had learned from Sashhi back in 2012. There were several episodes in which Sakura had to sacrifice her idol image for laughs. Of course, a series of her epic unathletic skills were also shown.
Now that I’m writing about this, I’m just sad to know that NGT48 is almost flushed down the drain because of an issue their management can’t handle. Hinata is really carrying the group alone.
Shukan AKB Main Cast: AKB48 and SKE48 Shukan AKB is probably one of the most epic variety show that AKB48 had. Unlike AKBINGO, this show is mostly done outside the comfort of their studio to take on various challenges. With AKB48 and SKE48 being the only groups around that time, they sometimes put their body on the line to finish a certain challenge.
It is also the most taxing and challenging show they ever had. Some of the most epic episodes would be the Dokkiri Jyogakuen (Dokkiri Women’s Academy) in which they take on different tasks just to find out who’s the hetare queen. Another one is the episode in which the Gekikara Club, led by Kashiwagi Yuki, took on the challenge of eating the spiciest food in Japan. Here we could see the first time Matsui Rena ate chicken for the first time as she is a vegetarian.
HKT48 Tonkotsu Mahou Shoujo Gakuin Main Cast: HKT48 Sasshi’s transfer is probably one of the best things that ever happened in HKT48. If you are wondering why HKT48 has a lot of shows that is primarily because of Sasshi. She is heavily involved in a lot of the group’s shows and activities both off and on cam.
This show features HKT48 in a wizarding school but not really learning magic and like a typical HKT48 show, they feature different comedians as their guests where they receive entertainment tips, talks with them, answer questions or teaches them gags. I can say that this show really honed HKT48’s skills into variety shows. After all, it is Sasshi’s strongest point. What’s fun about this show is you can see that the young girls of HKT48 back then are just like at home playing around. Putting their body sometimes for laughs is like a normal thing for them. I also love the fact that some of the members are starting to unleash their variety skills. One of them is Tanaka Natsumi or Boss. This girl that time was only around 13 years old but her sadistic character is really funny that even Sasshi herself was a victim of. Another notable member is Murashige Anna and Akiyoshi Yuka.
It’s hard to choose a favorite episode as all of them is my favorite but I guess the one that really left a mark on me is the episode with my favorite Japanese comedian Okubo Kayako:
AKB to XX Main Cast: AKB48 Group Paruru and Renacchi in Hirataka Park
Pronounced as AKB to Chome Chome!, this show features the girls of AKB48 and it’s sister groups in various task with of course a prank planted on it to show the real character of the member. There would be another member who would guess what would be the featured member’s reaction towards different situations.
Though that is the usual set-up of the show, there are episodes in which no guesser would be involved but a quiz between the members is still present. One of which is the episode in which Mayuyu went to visit the Takarakuza village. The show, however, enables the member to make her wish come true.
Mega Senpai Mayuyu with NMB48 Shibuya Nagisa and Kadowaki Kanako.
Overseas filming is also present in this show but I’m not sure which another country they visit other than Thailand as those are the only episodes I’ve seen so far (hahahaha). Nevertheless, that episode is one of my favorites as it features Milky goes fishing (yes, literal fishing), girls of SKE48 were her guesser during that episode (sad that I can’t find the streaming version of this episode).
Girls of SKE48 goes to Thailand.
Another beauty of this show is you got to see the sister groups interact with each other which is not common as they are often stuck within their respective groups.
Nemosu TV Main Cast: AKB48 Group Among all of the shows mentioned here, this is the only show that is still running till today. Aired back in 2008 and on its 25th season, the show features the girls of AKB48 Family group in various tasks which most of the time is filled with prank or dokkiri.
Like AKB to XX, the girls would also do overseas filming that sometimes features the overseas sister groups (so far, I’ve seen JKT48 and BNK48 being featured). The show does not have segments per episode unlike AKBINGO but it sticks to a certain theme in which allows them to focus on a certain member/s.
One of my most favorite themes of this show is the “No Sleeping Challenge” in which the girls would be in one room and would fight the temptation of falling asleep. It might sound easy but every minute there would be some exercise that would help them fall asleep.
The most notable episode however for me, is the time when Oshima Yuko, Akimoto Sayaka, Kitahara Rei, Takajo Aki, Miyazaki Miho, and Sashihara Rino went to climb the peak of Mt. Fuji in order to fulfill Yuko’s Seijin Shiki wish. This particular episode made me respect them more. Enough of the talking and let me show you what is it about:
AKB48 de Arubaito Main Cast: AKB48
Yukirin telling Mayuyu that they need to find a new member.
Working as a part-time idol sounds fun right? Well, this is the concept of AKB48 de Arubaito. The girls of AKB48 go around the town in search of a commoner to be a member of AKB48 for a day and carry on its duties (as if they lack members to do so).
I already forgot much of the other episodes from this show but it’s fun to see the members of AKB48 go undercover to look for a possible candidate. One of the most epic would be Mayuyu’s transformations. From a weird waitress to a college rapper, she did everything to go search for the perfect girl. It’s really fun to see Mayuyu scouting girls. AKB48 has a lot more shows but this would be my recommended variety shows as these shows really helped me to memorize their name and getting to know more of them.
Through these shows, it also enables me to see them grow and develop their talents and skills as if I am with them from the very beginning. My knowledge about them is not perfect but these show gave me a decent amount of information enough to answer new fans’ questions.
Writing this made me want to go back to the times when most of these show were still around and most of my favorite members were still active but these show helped them achieved their dreams and into realizing what they wanted to be after their idol activities.
Also, if you wanted to learn Japanese as a language, I highly suggest to watch variety shows as the conversation used aren’t scripted and usually use in their everyday lives.
I hope you like this entry and would give it a try! If you are already a fan, do let me know what your favorite variety show is in the comment section!
Started in 2008, this is the longest-running show of AKB48 with a total of 560 episodes. Unfortunately, the show ended last September 24, 2019. 
Here are other notable segments you can expect from this show:
Here’s one of my most favorite episode from this series:
My Aesthetic Insanity 