There are dozens of pretty girls in AKB, as recognised by almost 70% of guys surveyed and 60% of girls. Most of them are not in senbatsu though, perhaps explaining the intransigent remainder. Spoiler If I were to start giving examples, Annin would not be my first choice.
pretty girls are in nogi. while most in akb bare cute girls as far as i can distuingish pretty and cute but then 3rd gen nogi mostly cute.
^ I generally prefer pretty/beautiful but there was always something sterile about most first gen nogis. 2nd gen has some good girls though. Anyway.
Nogi are a stereotypical type of pretty though, mostly sort of bland and wallflower-y, which is why the phrase Stepford Waifu's always comes to mind when I see them.
In AKB, I feel like Mayuyu, Annin, Rena, Megu are the best looking according to conventional standards (on the taller side, pale skin, symmetrical face, sharp features etc.) Nogi, on the other hand is filled with members who fit that beauty standard. I can't think of a senbatsu member in Nogi for this single that doesn't. Even so, I don't think AKB lacks visuals at all. There are just members who look good in different ways (e.g. KojiMako/Juri aren't necessarily fashion-model type beauties, but they're still cute).
I guess prettiness is pretty subjective hehehehe But even in the subjectiveness of beauty, there is the standard ones. The ones that are generally cute, the ones who a generally sexy and the ones who are generally not so good looking. Also, it's undeniable the a nice shot, makeup and aging helps a lot. If you check Renacchi when she started and now, there is a massive difference. She wasnt as good looking as she is today. I'd put more or less like: General cute: Mayuyu General sexy type: NyanNyan General not for everyone's taste: Dasu
I guess when they refer to pretty they mean, girls who the majority find pretty, so for example Mayu (i never hear anyone say she's not attractive, the vast majority think she's good looking), or Kojiharu (same with her). I find girls like Mion, Tano, and Naachan pretty, but others wont because they're not conventional faces (or, the beauty standard). So the article isn't saying everyone in AKB other than Mayu, Annin and Renacchi is ugly, they're just saying there aren't many "beauties" that fit the standard of japan looool. A western example, it can be argued whether Kylie Jenner is beautiful or not, but most people would say Angelina Jolie is beautiful because she has "the" look.
Although I think that if we compare it with Nogi, basically Nogi has bigger percentage of pretty members compared to AKB, but that doesn't mean AKB doesn't have enough pretty members, especially for 48G senbatsu (thus including SG). One of the problem that I see is the presentation. When you see that new HKT nogi-ish coupling song, people commented that they look pretty which didn't happen in other song. Also sometimes success can alter some people views about whether a person is pretty or not. I've seen people commenting that Sasshi is pretty, which that comment probably didn't appear in her early days. Not just Sasshi, but celebrity in general. Unless the celebrity is really not good looking, most people view celebrities as good looking even if they only have you're average next girl door look. I think it got to do with self confidence since when someone is successful, they usually become more confident and celebrity aura is showing making them look prettier.
The survey said "かわいい子", not "美人" or anything similar. So all this talk about AKB having cute members rather than "beautiful" ones (they have both) doesn't explain the survey results. That said it's really hard to gather anything from this without knowing more about the survey. I'm inclined to think the relatively high "there are none" results come from the portion of the Japanese populace who either miss old AKB and haven't given new AKB a chance, or who are tired of the whole thing. Or people who are only familiar with the most well-known members, most of whom are getting up there in age.
I think it was the reverse of the survey result. Around 30% of guys and 40% of girls don't think they are cute enough or something. So the rest shouldn't have a problem with AKB cuteness. Also according to https://twitter.com/s_egg/status/831911648881356800 on ANN next week will be a special announcement with I think member from each group present. 「来週のANNは各グループからメンバーが登場し、何かを発表するスペシャル」 I'm guessing it is probably about the group song for the 47th single, but I'm not really sure. So I just post this in the general thread first.