Talk:List of former members of AKB48

How does one graduate from a pop group? Some explanation on that would be nice. Legate of Skai ([[User

Rewriting the article
While i strongly agree that the article should be kept, i also agree that the article is a) no eye-candy in its current form and b) lacks a proper lede and references. Several suggestions have been made to restructure the article:
 * According to fan-wiki "wiki48" |wiki48, which lists any former and current member based on their respective casting generation and gives the current status of each of them.
 * According to asian media wiki "generasia" |Generasia, which just gives a comprehensive list of former full and trainee members with graduation dates
 * According to JA wikipedia : A extremely detailed list of any member`s movement between teams and sister groups.
 * According to Tarazuka revue, a very basic list of names.

I am advocating the use of the format we are currently using for the current member roster (incl. Sousenkyo ranking) and would agree on a "generation"-based format as shown in wiki48. I am not supporting any separation of the article into "graduates" and "left for other reasons", as the current article does. I can see a table given for every generation containing a column "Status" with the possible entries being, "graduated at ... as member of Group X Team Y", "fully (!) transferred to sister group X" "left the band at ... as a member/or kyenkusei". Graduation usually involves a certain ceremony, which is notably covered by japanese mainstream media, so we should keep the information of "proper" graduations. However, the article does not need an additional section for sister group transfers if the member in question still remains a member of AKB48, as those members are already included in the main article. The introduction should shortly explain the structure of AKB and why the heck the process of leaving the band is called "graduation"^^. For references, i am not so sure what to use best. Any ideas? Rka001 (talk) 22:11, 20 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hey, that's a good idea about separating by Generation, considering as that nails down the join date and have lead paragraphs such as "Auditions for the Xth generation were held on DATE, and the kenkyusei were announced on DATE. On DATE, X members were promoted to the main teams. On DATE, the rest of the generation were promoted."   A separate category can be done for transfers from sister groups.

Back to categories, should we have more categories as to make the table sortable?
 * Name: Tomomi Itano
 * Kanji: 板野 友美
 * Romaji: Itano Tomomi
 * Birthdate: 1991-07-03references from official profile snapshot while in group or whatever articles post that stuff
 * Home Prefecture: Kanagawa
 * Date joined: 2005-xx-xxreference for joining AKB48, this helps folks figure out ages of members
 * General Electionsreferences from articles that show results: (chart columns)
 * Final Team: A
 * Date left: 2013-05-03
 * Reason for leaving: (Graduated, Transferred, Resigned, Fired)reference for reason for leaving
 * Notes and References: any particular explanations and references

Optional categories, not needed if separated by generation:
 * Generation: 1st, or Transferreference for joining AKB48, can be same as date joined

What do you think? -AngusWOOF (talk) 00:34, 27 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Also if individual generations are too many, then group by year created. -AngusWOOF (talk) 01:12, 27 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hey, thanks for the comment. How big would a table with that many columns? We could get rid of the home prefecture i guess.If anybody would be able to make a table like this, i can fill it with content. Please be aware, that many of the references could be japanese, especially for earlier events. Rka001 (talk) 16:38, 27 June 2013 (UTC)


 * The existing chart combines the first five entries. You can retain that. I can try to expand one of the entries so it looks more like this. -AngusWOOF (talk) 17:38, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I made some tables at, it's quite wide though, even with small tags placed all over to reduce space. I figure the join date and generation columns could also be removed to save space. Also with the newer generations they would not need gray spots for the older election ranks. -AngusWOOF (talk) 18:22, 27 June 2013 (UTC) -AngusWOOF (talk) 18:47, 27 June 2013 (UTC)


 * It looks like one of the sister group articles is adapting the generation structure: Members of JKT48, although the age column is confusing (not sure if it is current age or age when joined) and the duration of their membership does not need an ongoing count. I think it's still redundant when it has actives and generations with the same amount of detail. -AngusWOOF (talk) 22:26, 2 July 2013 (UTC)


 * The graduations have been occurring as two major events: the ceremony itself which is held at a major venue, and then the final graduation performance which is held at the AKB48 theater. So I have changed the recent graduates from July and August 2013 to reflect this. This makes researching the old graduations a bit complicated but doable. -AngusWOOF (talk) 02:04, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

table example
Before i continue, i would like to know if that is something we can agree on before we have to face a sudden AfD. This is what i think contains the most useful informations without overdoing it. The example shows THE super star, one of the big names, a big name with a very individual career, and a relatively unknown. I included references from semi-journalistic, but by all means, very reliable sources. We have to be aware that japanese references are required in some cases. Any more ideas? The article has to be renamed of course. Something like "membership history of AKB48" or sth. Rka001 (talk) 19:56, 27 June 2013 (UTC)


 * You could make a large single table or two large tables (current and former, my preference) or multiple tables per generation and transfers (only good if there's an extensive "class of X" history). If the list will take on current members then the main article can be shortened to just a list of the actives and the captains. The members article can then be split by current and former categories with full entries, or the short list of active names for Current, and the full entries for the Member history by generation and transfers. -AngusWOOF (talk) 19:04, 28 June 2013 (UTC)

Intro (rough sketch)
AKB48 is a japanese idol group with currently 90 members, split into three teams (A,K,B, and 4 (until disbanding in 2012)) and trainee members (Kyenkusei (hereby abbreviated KKS). This article gives a comprehensive overview on current and former members of the group. Please note, that groups of members that were casted during the same audition are referred to as "generations", whereas the term "graduation" describes a member`s departure. This reflects the school-like structure the group is using. In some cases, members have left the band without being graduated, usually because of conflicts with the management. The member lists include results of the general elections, which have been anually held since 2009. Grey boxes indicate that a given member did not participiate in that election year.

1st Generation
Announced October, 2005. The 21 members of this class formed the original Team A.(ref) Mariko Shinoda joined the band shortly thereafter and is included here for simplification (ref). (is this already fancruft?)

2nd Generation
Announced February, 2006. The 17 members of this class formed the original Team K.(ref)

a.s.o. Rka001 (talk) 20:21, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

where is Kikuchi Ayaka?
where is she in this article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.28.251.214 (talk) 15:53, 18 May 2014 (UTC)


 * ✅ added to team A graduates -AngusWOOF (talk) 14:49, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Reduction proposal
I propose to remove the sections that are uncited and contain no wiki links; samples:
 * List_of_former_members_of_AKB48
 * List_of_former_members_of_AKB48

In general, I believe that the names w/o links or citations should be removed per WP:V. Feedback? K.e.coffman (talk) 19:26, 11 November 2017 (UTC)


 * Keep the Kenkyusei section as members there have been listed with pictures on the AKB48 official website in previous iterations. AngusWOOF ( bark  •  sniff ) 20:23, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

This list needs to be scrubbed to some simpler lists per WP:ALUMNI. Not every single alum from the group is notable. AngusWOOF ( bark  •  sniff ) 20:40, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

I've simplified the list to the members who were part of the official roster, removed the team association, election and graduation results, and retained only the years active in the group. Kenkyusei are commented out for now as they don't quite meet WP:ALUMNI for notability, unless they have a Wikipedia article. Baito AKB48 were removed for the same reason; they would need some other means of notability to stay on the list. AngusWOOF ( bark  •  sniff ) 16:19, 1 July 2018 (UTC).