Have to thank Thunderduck for all the great posts of the September 21,2010 Jan Ken Pon tournament that was held at the Nippon Budokan.
On that day, cameramen (or women) were assigned to follow the girls who were taking place in the tournament (51 girls), and the result was between 10 to 15 minutes of tape on each girl that followed her from arriving at the venue, through to each round that each girl participated in, and then with followup interview at the end of the night.
The viewer actually learns a lot, in many cases, about the girl's personality while watching these tapes. The final round, to decide First Place (which would mean earning center position) was between Haruka Ishida and Mayumi Uchida, and that final contest was not only featured in Haruka and Mayumi's individual tape, but appeared in a lot of the other girls' tapes as well. Mayumi won, and the reaction of the other girls seem to indicate that Mayumi was heavily favored by the other girls, because they erupted with unmasked Joy when Mayumi won.
Mayumi, of course, was overwhelmed by winning, and there is a very poignant scene of her crying while being embraced by Takamina with Mayumi thanking Takamina for her support.
So the 16 top girls became Senbatsu, with the top 12 becoming Media Senbatsu, for the next single, AKB48's 19th single "チャンスの順番" (Chansu no Junban / The Order of Chance).
Here are the top 12 (Media Senbatsu): #1 Mayumi Uchida (Team K), #2 Haruka Ishida (Team B), #3 Haruna Kojima (Team A),
#4 Haruka Nakagawa (Team A), #5 Ami Maeda (Team A), #6 Sumire Sato (Team B), #7 Natsuki Sato (Team B),
#8 Aki Takajo (Team A), #9 Tomomi Nakatsuka (Team K),#10 Asuka Kuramochi (Team A), #11 Kana Kobayashi (Team B),
#12 Miku Tanabe (Team K).
Rounding out the top 16: #13 Tomomi Kasai (Team B), #14 Sakiko Matsui (Team K), #15 Atsuko Maeda (Team A), #16 Rina Chikano (Team B)
The mix was pretty good, with top girls such as Atsuko Maeda and Haruna Kojima, along with first timer Senbatsu appearances for Mayumi Uchida, Ami Maeda, Miku Tanabe, Tomomi Nakatsuka, Sakiko Matsui, Haruka Ishida, Sumire Sato, and Rina Chikano.
So after watching all those tapes of the girls who took part in the tournament, the song becomes more meaningful to me, with much thanks to Thunderduck. Chance no Junban was released on December 8, 2010. Enjoy!
【PV】チャンスの順番 / AKB48[公式] {Uploaded by AKB48 on 15 Feb 2011}