On June 26th, AKB48's official blog announced the details on the group's upcoming '4th Janken Tournament' (September 13th at Nippon Budokan), which will determine the senbatsu members for their 34th single (title and release date undecided).
All 62 official members of AKB48 Team A, K, and B have unconditional rights to enter the main tournament. In addition, SKE48's Matsui Jurina and Furuhata Nao, NMB48's Watanabe Miyuki and Yagura Fuuko, HKT48's Kodama Haruka, and JKT48's Takajo Aki and Nozawa Rena, and SNH48's Suzuki Mariya will also participate in the main tournament.
The winner of this year's general election, Sashihara Rino, will once again start in the preliminary tournament. Last year, she lost to Anai Chihiro in the first round.
Graduating members Shinoda Mariko, Akimoto Sayaka, Itano Tomomi (AKB48), and Fukumoto Aina (NMB48) will not participate in the upcoming tournament. Members from overseas sister groups JKT48 and SNH48 will also not participate.
The preliminary round schedule can be seen below.
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AKB48 Research Student Preliminary Janken Tournament
Saturday, July 6th from 6:00 pm
Number of participants: 24
SKE48 Research Student Preliminary Janken Tournament
Tuesday, July 2nd from 6:00 pm
Number of participants: 22
SKE48 Preliminary Janken Tournament
Wednesday, July 3rd from 6:00 pm
Number of participants: 48 (44 official members + 4 research students)
NMB48 Research Student Preliminary Janken Tournament
Saturday, June 29th from 1:00 pm
Number of participants: 20
NMB48 Preliminary Janken Tournament
Thursday, July 4th from 6:30 pm
Number of participants: 46 (43 official members + 3 research students)
HKT48 Research Student Preliminary Janken Tournament and HKT48 Preliminary Tournament
Wednesday, July 10th from 6:00pm
Number of participants: Research Student Preliminary Janken Tournament - 24, Preliminary Tournament - 18 (14 official members + 4 research students)
Tokyohive
The source had Paruru's pic, but I decided to use the pic of the superior janken tournament winner