or LOL 100 screencaps of the best Team A member ever… That’s Oshima Mai in case you didn’t know.

Back when this stage was premiered in november, everybody had super high expectations, since A4 was such an amazing stage. And sadly, people weren’t pleased with A5. The first big problem for most people was the fact that the Ogi trio was missing because they were shooting MenDol (Kojima Haruna, Minegishi Minami and Takahashi Minami) also, Shinoda Mariko was missing from the opening night (and has been missing for a whole chunk of A5 so far), this left the fans very disgruntled, especially after the recent 5 girls graduation. Kenkyuuseis were all over the place, and people weren’t even sure of who was going to be in any unit. Then, on December 16, the 3 missing girls returned and everybody seemed to love this stage…

1. Nagai Hikari (Long Light): 

This song is an uptempo ballad, and it starts beautifully with some solo lines by Takamina, the best singer of Team A. As a fun fact, she is the only one to get solo lines in this song.

These outfits are absolutely lovely. They look retro, but not dated because of the sparkly bright colors. I love their accessories too.

The choreography is quite fitting for the slow pace of the song, but it isn’t very entertaining to watch. It’s comprised of simple hand motions, and the most difficult it gets is when they kneel down for a bit. Kind of a turn off, because there are some great dancers in Team A.

As of tomorrow, Oshima Mai will no longer be an AKB48 member. She was always my second favorite. And it saddens me to no end to see her leave… I always remember the original opening day of A5 because Mai wasn’t absent, and I found this very weird, yet, she was giving her all and shining on stage as always… And I especially remember her in Nagai Hikari, because she was the reason why I instantly liked this sweet heart warming song

I don’t see where all the hatred for K5’s opening song comes from because they are “supposedly” the only team to start off with a ballad. I mean, Nagai Hikari is a really slow song, and in all fairness, it isn’t that memorable either…

2. Squall no Aida ni (After the Squall): 

This is the song everyone instantly fell in love with. It’s more upbeat, and has a catchy tune that you hum all day long after listening to it for the first time XD Hi Maimai!!!

The choreography is very bouncy and girly. Quite cute, which is a nice contrast to the somewhat grown up lyrics. What bothers me the most about it, though, is that it was completely changed by the time the Ogi girls returned… And I liked the original one better because Maimai was at the front more Well, its not like it matters now…

One of the biggest changes was that the umbrellas are now brought into the song about halfway through it. At first, girls rushed in with them earlier. I understand that it must’ve been dangerous to have more umbrellas (like before) and since the very beginning, but it was cool.

I think that the umbrellas are a great idea and make this song special. AKB didn’t use props that often before, but I’m glad that they’re creating a more theatrical show recently.

To sum it up, it’s a nice upbeat song. It’ll never be single material or anything great, but it’s very good at being an interesting concept and a catchy tune to pick up the pace from where Nagai Hikari left off.

The song ends with the girls acting like it just started to rain and running off stage looking for cover. Then, a few Kenkyuuseis appear in this shiny silver outfits and do a little dance off. I liked the B3 Kenkyuusei dance better, and regardless of how flashy these outfits are, I like them because they remind me of the rain. Nice bonus.

3. JK Nemurihime (High School Girl Sleeping Beauty)

Scary screencap… anyway, this song starts off with the girls dancing behind the blinds, and then of course, they come out XD The choreography for this song is really lame. I wish they had come up with something better… But I guess that it’s girly enough to match the music.

I hated this costumes the first time I saw them, I found them too puffy and big, but now I really like them. It’s like they gave the usual uniforms a twist and made them look different and sort of elegant in a way. It looks like something out of a shoujo manga.

Everyone is a huge fan of this song, except for me XD I think that it sounds generic and doesn’t catch my ear. I also don’t like the lyrics so much… Maybe it’s because I was in high school only until when I was 15 and I didn’t really enjoy it all that much so “Let’s be HS girls forever” doesn’t really appeal to me.

4. Kimi ni Au Tabi Koi o Suru (When I go to see you I fall in love with you)

Blurry screencap is blurry. I adore this little reject emo song! It sounds happy and mellow, but the lyrics are very sad, about loving someone who doesn’t love you back.

As usual with all songs I like from AKB, nobody likes this one. I have to admit that it’s musically forgettable, and similar in style to Nagai Hikari, but there’s something about the funky instrumental and the sad lyrics that gets me everytime, and makes me really like it.

My favorite part is the interlude, because it reminds me a lot of a song from Card Captor Sakura which I loved back when I was a kid (yeah, I know that none of you know Card Captor Sakura and I’m old but I just had to say it XD)

5. Kuroi Tenshi (Black Angel)

This sexy dark unit is Acchan’s first real step into the dark world (If you don’t count Seifuku’s PV…) It’s a very nice song, and one of the best choreographies of A5 (although there isn’t much contest there…)

The biggest feature of the choreography, is when takajo Aki and Fujie Reina push Acchan against the wall and pin her there, singing their lines and then pushing the microphone in Acchan’s face for her to sing those lines. You have to watch it to get it probably, but the subtle connotations of this part are key for the mood of the song and fit the lyrics perfectly.

Takajo Aki is one of my favorite Team A members, but I’d liked her better in a different type of song… She’s very sexy in her own way, but this screencap is proof that she looks kind of awkward doing this flowy complicated dance at times

Acchan totally nails this song, and it was kind of unexpected since she’s the prototype of “cute” and always did units to match that theme…

And last in the unit is Fujie Reina, the girl who was a RS and I used to hate XD But now I really love her, she’s very talented and has a great voice, and I’m extremely happy that she’s been able to show off her talent in a good song instead of some gimmicky cute unit.

Not exactly the most flattering Akicha screencap XD This song’s lyrics are about prostitution (again…) or something along those creepy lines…

I felt relieved at this point, because with the first 4 songs, I already thought that this would be a super happy stage, and I didn’t want that for the usually super happy Team A!

6. Heart Gata Virus (Heart Shaped Virus)

This.is.the.best.AKB.unit.EVER!

My dream of having Mai in a sexy unit never came true, but this song is SO amazing in a number of levels! It’s upbeat and poppy but has a rock feel to it, it has a fun choreography and nice line distribution, and plus TAMBOURINES!!! Take that Milky Way!

Kojiharu + Maimai + Nozofisu = WIN. This was such a great line up, and it’s ruined now with the graduations…

Such a playful song was the perfect unit for Maimai, who really does amazing in it!

The outfits are amazing too, they are a bit normal and girly, but somehow, have a homey touch. Very nice! (And I totally bought the same boots Amina/Nozomi wore here, they are amazing!)

And here comes the sad fact… After Maimai left, nobody is really sure of what’s going to happen to this song. Nozomi was replaced by Amina, but  even though Kitarie was the original stand in for Mai, this song has also been performed by Sato Sumire and a few other girls. I like Rie more in Tsundere, so I hope that they add a Kenkyuusei to Team A soon to fill in the gap…

And this is the main reason why I dislike A5, it looks so unpolished! I mean, choreographies change, line ups change, members are never around, there aren’t even 16 girls in Team A to make it a full team, even the outfits have changed for some songs!

Nozofisu in Heart Gata Virus… Good times…

7. Renai Kinshi Jourei (Rules Against Love)

The title track is a unit song… just like in B3. This one is an upbeat and dramatic number, featuring Double Minami and Myao

This song’s choreography gives Kuroi tenshi a good run for the money. It has some very interesting formations and hand movements, because it’s performed with headsets

Miichan looks absolutely stunning in this screencap! <3 I’m happy she got a song where she can show off her dance skills!!

I like their outfits a lot too, they look badass but are still kind of fashionable in a weird idol way XD

Aaand… *JAZZ HANDS*

8. Tsundere! (If you don’t know what a Tsundere is, google it now!)

I love the crazy lights and strobe effects at the beginning of this song!

And those costumes… XD Does it look like a rainbow puked on them? It was the coolest rainbow ever though. They might be a bit hard on the eyes at first sight, but concept wise, they are GENIUS

This “gyaru” unit is lead by no other than Shibuya fan and Cawaii model Tomochin! Great choice!

The music is very upbeat and almost cheeky in a way, this is a great song to dance to!

Oh hi there new favorite Team A member. Kitarie is so much love in this song! Sato Amina is also in this unit, and she’s great, I just didn’t catch any good screencap of her because she moves like crazy all the time XD

9. Manatsu no Christmas Rose (Midsummer’s Christmas Rose)

Good gracious this unit is so bad! I have nothing against the girls, Yukarin is one of my favorite members, and I love Chiichan. Mariko is always amazing to watch too, and nobody knows who the 4th member of this unit is…

But that’s one of the reasons why I hate it. If anything feels like an afterthought or something that wasn’t ready to be part of a stage, is this song. The 4th member is STILL unknown 6 months after the stage started, the outfits have changed at least twice (featuring now plaid skirts instead of horrible poofy pants and Mariko has a different dress to make sure everyone knows she’s the leader now) and the song is so uninspired and lame that I can’t believe they made this a unit. It’s like a filler song…

Oh yeah, and they have Kenkyuusei cheerleaders too, but that doesn’t change the fact that this was a half-assed creation. I feel bad for the girls, because they always smile and dance their little idol hearts out even though the song is… well, bad.

That’s Mariko’s dress BTW, from a different performance, because she’s almost never around anyway XD

“WTF Akimoto, you promised me that I would lead the flashiest unit in the next stage if I didn’t graduate and THIS is what you give me???”

10. Switch

Ahhh! Now is where I started to have hope again after the mess that is ManaKuri… This is a techno sounding sexy song, and although it relies on singing “love is a switch” x10000 times as a hook, it still sounds interesting!

Oh! That’s Uriya Akane! The only original Kenkyuusei who didn’t get promoted… She graduated today too D: Anyway, this choreography was very fitting for the song, the girls moved like mannequins during the verses, but danced in a sexy way during the chorus. It looks good.

This was Maimai’s song, hands down. She had lots of solo lines, and her dance was the sexiest out of all the members, no surprise there, though

I have to say that it was nice to hear something sexy out of Team A’s group songs, because they’d all been kind of generic so far.

I have a love/hate relationship with the outfits though. The gold/silver combination is a bit overdone with these, especially with the fluffy vests and red rag thingies. But, the short shorts and skirts are hot anyway.

11. 109 (Marukyuu - A store in Shibuya)

Objectively speaking, this might be the best A5 song, it’s a dramatic pop number sung with lots of emotion and with a very nice choreography to match, but it was a B side anyway, so no new factor here

Maimai looks pissed because the song’s lyrics are about a girl whose boyfriend cheats on and she finds him with the other girl. Pretty harsh!

Hello Kitarie! Those fluffy monstrosities of vests should be burnt…

Oh! The pain, sorrow and general emo-ness of teenage love…

I only included this screencap for the LOLz. Takamina starts crying and Tomochin and Miichan run to hug her and console  her for dating such a scum-bag

12. Hikoukigumo (Vapor Trail Cloud)

And now… we turn to the upbeat generic mood of the first half of the stage! u_u This happy sounding song is about a girl whose boyfriend is going away, so she’s basically saying good bye even though she loves him, or something like that

The gimmick is: The red rag twirling! Well, at least they took those off, they made the outfits look uglier than they were already…. Fans love this little dance, though, you can see them in the screencap waving red rags of their own that they probably bought at a concert for an obscene amount of money

This has become AKB’s concert anthem, which I hate, because I honestly don’t think that it’s that great of a song to begin with, especially because the verses are slow even though the chorus is really nice and uplifting.

13. Ano koro no Sneakers (The sneakers of that time)

The girls appear on stage again, and start talking to each other and hugging

And so, the mandatory stage ballad starts. And boy, is this a boring one!

I like the going back to simple jeans and t shirts, reminds me a bit of A1.

The lyrics are nostalgic and cute in a way, but I still think that this is probably AKB’s worst ballad, if it wasn’t for B3’s Boku no Sakura which is equally boring XD

14. AKB Sanjou!

But wait! Not all is lost! Here comes this stage’s saving grace (for the group songs only, of course)! With a heavy rock intro and the cool eerie image of the girls behind the blinds, illuminated by bright red lights and waving a blue flashlight

Maimai! This is a very powerful song, featuring some of the heaviest guitar riffs in AKB (and idol) history! I really like the dark stage and the effect the flashlights give!

More Maimai! I can’t help but feel that this should’ve been a Team K song. I understand that it was made for team A because they sort of created what we know as AKB now, so it should be their song, but they are a little lacking in the rock department, no offense XD

But I feel like it’s not Team A’s fault, but the choreographers, this should’ve been given something jumpy and aggressive looking, but instead, it’s a slow sequence of hand and arm motions that simply kill the mood at times.

48 BABY! How cool is this? Wow. I love this song too much.

15. Namida no Shinkokyuu

And we move into another cool song! Yay! BTW, I have to say that these are some of the best uniforms AKB has worn. They are stylish and flashy without overdoing it. And I love the boots!

Kitarie! My only complain about this song is that it’s sung by too many girls at the same time, which doesn’t sound as good as if there were individual girls or duos doing each line

More Maimai! So anyway, this is a very nice song, I’m glad that it’s upbeat but sounds serious at the same time.

16. Oogoe Diamond

I’m tired… You all know Oogoe Diamond, right? Well, Team A performs it as part of their setlist. Which I find LAME. Oogoe is a great song, ti might be my second favorite AKB single ever, but it was released as a single, and we’ve all heard it before. I think that an original song would’ve been so much better…

Conclusions: Well, I really don’t like A5. It has some VERY good songs, like KurTen, Virus, Tsundere and AKB Sanjou! but the rest of songs are either generic sounding or downright bad (ManaKuri… the worst part is that if it had been a group song, I would’ve found it charming, but it’s so frustrating as a unit. It lacks so much “oomph”).

The biggest key factor in my dislike of this stage is, like I said before, the messy feeling I get from it. Girls keep graduating, but no more kenkyuuseis are getting added to the Team so we just get a different line up in every performance… Team A has only 13 members right now, which is ridiculous. I don’t see why is it so hard to promote some hard working Kenkyuuseis, like Nonaka, Ishida or Ooya… Instead, we still have no idea of the lineup of ANY unit other than RenKin, and that is just crap. No idea of who’s going to show up in the DVD either, and I’m so NOT buying that one if it doesn’t include Maimai.

I’ve heard rumors that the girls are already rehearsing for A6, it’s just a rumor, but I’m clinging to that and to the other rumor that promotions will be announced at tomorrow’s concert… I want a new stage for Team A, and one that is at least as good as A4 was.

And I want to know who is going to be in this team too, I can’t believe it’s taken THIS long to fill the gaps, while Team K was full like a week after Kaorin’s graduation and Team B has been mostly filled already as well, except for one position.

Ok, this is the end of my huge whine fest But I hope you enjoy some of it because damn it’s getting harder and harder for me to write this long posts and screencap so much XD