I have so much beef with this episode...
First of all, out of a 200+ girl group, why are there THREE of the same contenders as last time? I get why Wasamin should be involved as the reigning queen, but re-inviting Nakamura, Ranran and Miyu is very lame and pointless. It's not like they're known for their epic skills or anything.
Secondly, the battles.
Nakamura VS Umeda: What performances were those judges watching? I felt Nakamura had a much more solid performance. I find Umechan's singing voice is just a tad unpleasant. If I had to choose whose solo single I must listen to it would be Nakamura's. That aside, Umechan won by 0-3? No way.
Wakana VS Suzuran: Great to see Wakana. I always call her Kasai's successor, haha. She was incredibly nervous. Her voice was shaky and the tears came halfway through the song. It's her first AKBingo appearance and she has to sing solo in front of three judges. Poor girl, haha. Her opponent being a super confident Ranran made her doomed from the start. My main issue with this battle is that they have a ballad (with nervous girl) going up against super awesome upbeat song (with a super confident girl). Of course Ranran is going to blow Wanana away in this situation. I feel the whole show would be more interesting if they had similar songs in each direct battle. (maybe even the same songs, even though that would be slightly boring). So yeah, Ranran won by bringing a gun to a knife fight.
Nakayan VS Miyu: It's come to my attention that most seiyuu are good vocalists. Makes sense, as the control over their voice should be really good. Nakayan did very well. Good choice of song and she sounded great. I was a bit uncertain about Nakayan's vocals ever since that musical audition where she sounded like she was screaming rather than singing. However, this performance was very nice all around. She looked great too. Miyu improved a lot since last time! She sounded less nasally, which I think indicates a different (better?) singing technique. However, that cost her a bit during the higher notes were she struggled a bit. Good effort though.