Janken Tournament

During the 3rd day of the Surprise wa Arimasen concert, it was announced by Togasaki Tomonobu that the Senbatsu Members for AKB48's 19th Single were going to be selected by a Janken Tournament (also known as Janken Taikai) (シングル選抜じゃんけん大会) to be held at Nippon Budoukan. All the 48 Members from AKB48 and 4 previously-selected Kenkyuusei were randomly shuffled during the concert to decide the order of the matches. The winner of the Tournament would become the center of the single.

JKT48 have their own Janken Tournament.

Members

• 19th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament - All promoted AKB48 members and 4 Kenkyuuseis
• 24th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament - All promoted AKB48 members, 4 Kenkyuuseis, 5 SKE48 members, 5 NMB48 members
• 29th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament - All promoted AKB48 members, 1 Kenkyuusei, 8 SKE48 members, 6 NMB48 members, 3 HKT48 members
• 34th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament - All promoted AKB48 members, 4 Kenkyuuseis, 8 SKE48 members, 8 NMB48 members, 3 HKT48 members
• 2014 Janken Tournament - All promoted AKB48 members, 1 Kenkyuusei, 3 AKB48 Team 8 members, 8 SKE48 members, 7 NMB48 members, 5 HKT48 members
• 2015 Janken Tournament - All promoted AKB48 members, 1 Kenkyuusei, 6 AKB48 Team 8 members, 7 SKE48 members, 7 NMB48 members, 5 HKT48 members, 1 NGT48 member
• 2016 Janken Tournament - All promoted AKB48 members, 1 Kenkyuusei, 7 AKB48 Team 8 members, 7 SKE48 members, 7 NMB48 members, 6 HKT48 members, 2 NGT48 members, 1 JKT48 member
• 2017 Janken Tournament - 48 units split between all AKB48 members, SKE48 members, NMB48 members, HKT48 members, NGT48 members, STU48 members

Results

• 19th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament (Top 16 would form Senbatsu for new AKB48 single with the winner being the center)
  • 52 members participating
  • Winner (Center for Chance no Junban): Uchida Mayumi
  • First senbatsu of Sato Sumire, Maeda Ami, Uchida Mayumi, Tanabe Miku, Nakatsuka Tomomi, Matsui Sakiko, Ishida Haruka and Chikano Rina
  • First senbatsu without Takahashi Minami and Itano Tomomi
• 24th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament (Top 16 would form Senbatsu for new AKB48 single with the winner being the center)
  • 68 members participating
  • Winner (Center for Ue Kara Mariko): Shinoda Mariko
  • First senbatsu of Oya Shizuka, Yamauchi Suzuran, Kobayashi Marina, Kuwabara Mizuki, Yamaguchi Yuuki and Hikawa Ayame
  • First senbatsu without Maeda Atsuko
• 29th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament (Top 16 would form Senbatsu for new AKB48 single with the winner being the center)
  • 86 members participating
  • Winner (Center for Eien Pressure): Shimazaki Haruka
  • First senbatsu of Nakata Chisato, Nakamura Mariko and Ueno Kasumi
  • First senbatsu without Kojima Haruna
• 34th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament (Top 16 would form Senbatsu for new AKB48 single with the winner being the center)
  • 86 members participating
  • Winner (Center for Kimi no Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru): Matsui Jurina
  • First senbatsu of Sasaki Yukari, Tano Yuka, Hirata Rina, Oba Mina, Natori Wakana, Tsuchiyasu Mizuki, Yumoto Ami, Furuhata Nao, Uno Mizuki and Kamieda Emika
• 2014 Janken Tournament (Winner would earn a solo debut with members ranked #2 through #16 appearing on the coupling song + MV.)
  • 113 members participating
  • Winner (Opportunity for a solo debut): Watanabe Miyuki
• 2015 Janken Tournament (Winner would earn a solo debut with members ranked #2 through #16 appearing on the coupling song + MV.)
  • 111 members participating
  • Winner (Opportunity for a solo debut): Fujita Nana
• 2016 Janken Tournament (Top 7 would form a new subunit with members ranked #8 through #14 appearing on the coupling song + MV.)
  • 97 members participating
  • Winner (Center for new unit): Tanabe Miku
  • Additional unit members: Komiyama Haruka, Shibuya Nagisa, Takeuchi Saki, Nozawa Rena, Fukuoka Seina, Yumoto Ami
• 2017 Janken Tournament

Costumes

For the costumes, the girls are permitted to wear whatever they want. This later became an important part of the event, with several TV shows and magazines specials focusing only on the costumes used on the events. This costumes vary from clothes used on theater performances to regular clothing and cosplay.

Mini-Live Concert

On 19th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament the mini-live concert was performed after the Tournament, with the first performance and PV exhibition of Beginner (and also 5 other songs from AKB48 and SDN48). This also happened on the 24th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament, this time before the beginning of the tournament, with the first performance of Kaze wa Fuiteiru. On the 29th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament UZA was performed for the first time. On the 34th Single Janken Senbatsu Tournament, Heart Ereki was performed for the first time.