Give Me Five!

"Give Me Five!" is the 25th single by the Japanese girl idol group AKB48.[1] It is also AKB48's fifth sakura-themed single, and their first single of 2012.[1] This single was released in Japan on February 15, 2012.[2]

"Give Me Five!"
Single by AKB48
from the album 1830m
B-side
  • "Sweet & Bitter"
  • "New Ship" (Type A)
  • "Hitsujikai no Tabi" (Type B)
  • "Yungu ya Furoito no Baai" (Theater Version)
ReleasedFebruary 15, 2012 (2012-02-15) (Japan)
Recorded2012
GenreJ-pop, Rock music
LabelYou, Be Cool! / King
Songwriter(s)Yasushi Akimoto (lyrics)
Producer(s)Yasushi Akimoto
AKB48 singles chronology
"Ue kara Mariko"
(2011)		 "Give Me Five!"
(2012)		 "Manatsu no Sounds Good!"
(2012)
Music videos
Give Me Five! on YouTube
Sweet & Bitter (preview) on YouTube

Give Me Five! is AKB48's fifth sakura-themed single.[3] However, unlike the previous ones, this single's title doesn't contain the word sakura.[3]

The music video for the song Give Me Five! is a 34-minute Japanese television drama-like style video.[4] This video was directed by Shigemichi Sugita, and it stars AKB48 members Atsuko Maeda, Yuko Oshima, Yuki Kashiwagi, Minami Takahashi.[4] Actor Takanori Jinnai also stars in the music video.[4]

Give Me Five sold approximately 967,000 copies on its debut day, thus making it AKB48's 12th single to achieve No.1 on the Oricon charts.[2]

Production

Give Me Five!

Give Me Five! was sung by a band called Baby Blossom comprising 18 selected members from AKB48 and its sister groups SKE48 and NMB48.[5] The band is led by Atsuko Maeda, who is playing the rhythm guitar, and Yuko Oshima, who is playing a bass guitar.[5] Other members of the band include Minami Takahashi, who is playing the lead guitar, Yuki Kashiwagi, who is in charge of the drums, Mayu Watanabe, who is playing the keyboard, Haruna Kojima, who is on the synthesizer, Rino Sashihara and Minami Minegishi, who are playing the trombones, Rena Matsui and Yui Yokoyama, who are playing the trumpets, Jurina Matsui, who is playing the standing drums, Mariko Shinoda, who plays the tambourine, and Tomomi Itano, who is playing the shaker.[5] Sae Miyazawa, Rie Kitahara, Aki Takajō, Tomomi Kasai and Sayaka Yamamoto are the band's chorus.[5]

This band was formed in secret by AKB48's producer Yasushi Akimoto on 28 August 2011.[5] During the five months prior to the official revelation of the band, the 18 members trained in secret in between their performance schedules.[5] Members of the rock band Gacharic Spin were some of their coaches.[6][7] Out of the 18 band members, only three had previously played the musical instrument they are playing this time (some of them have played other instruments).[8] They are Yuko Oshima, who played the bass guitar during her high school days, Rena Matsui and Rino Sashihara, who had previously played the trumpet and trombone respectively.[8] Baby Blossom was officially revealed to the public during the 4th and last day of concert AKB48 Request Hour Set List Best 100 2012, held on January 22, 2012.[9] At the event, the members performed the song Give Me Five! for the first time.[9]

Music video

The music video was directed by director Shigemichi Sugita.[4] The music video stars AKB48 members Atsuko Maeda, Yuko Oshima, Yuki Kashiwagi, Minami Takahashi and actor Takanori Jinnai.[4] The filming of this music video took place in a high school located in Saitama Prefecture during end-November 2011.[4]

This music video tells the story of four students, all of whom comes from troubled backgrounds.[4] Atsuko Maeda plays the role of Atsuko Ogata, a girl whose parents divorced and subsequently went to Tokyo.[4] Yuko Oshima plays Yuko Osawa, a girl who secretly works at a brothel to cover household expenses.[4] Yuki Kashiwagi stars as Yuki Kobayashi, a girl who is mentally troubled after being bullied at school.[4] Minami Takahashi plays the role of Minami Ichikawa, a quick-tempered girl who can never stay in one job for long.[4] Takanori Jinnai stars as the quartet's homeroom teacher.[4] The four of them, on the suggestion of their teacher, formed a music band named Baby Blossom.[4] Together, they mature and gradually become self-confident.Ryosuke Miura as Ankh and Shu Watanabe as Eji Hino from Kamen Rider OOO made a cameo.[4]

The music video is included in both the Type-A and Type-B versions of this single.[10][11] It was made available for viewing on the group's official YouTube channel on May 22 .

Announcement

Some information on this single was announced on December 12, 2011.[3] However, the title of the single was not revealed in that announcement.[3] The title was later published at the King Records official site on January 2, 2012. On January 22, 2012, AKB48 performed the title song in concert for the first time, during the group's Request Hour Set List Best 100 2012 concert held at Tokyo Dome City Hall.[9] During that performance, it was unveiled that the title track of this single, Give Me Five!, will be performed by a specially-formed band named Baby Blossom.[9] The band comprises selected members who played different musical instruments.[5]

Release details

Give Me Five! was officially released in Japan on February 15, 2012.[2]

The single is available in 5 versions: Type-A Regular and Limited Editions, Type-B Regular and Limited, and Theater Edition.

All regular editions are CD+DVD. They come sealed and include a bonus: the limited editions have a randomly seeded ticket for 1 of 2 nationwide handshake events, and the regular editions have 1 randomly seeded photo of a member out of the 18-photo set created exclusively for the single.

The Theater Edition is CD only. It comes with a ticket for a large release event at AKB48 Theater. Plus, since the edition is intended for being sold at AKB48 Theater, the buyer can in person pick 1 member photo out of a large photoset created especially for the theater edition of the single.

In total, the single sold 967,000 copies on the first day of their release.[2]

Reception

Give Me Five! sold approximately 967,000 copies on its debut day.[2] This makes it the AKB48's third-highest selling single on its release day, behind singles Kaze wa Fuiteiru (which sold 1.046 million copies on its release day) and Flying Get (which sold 1.026 million copies on its release day).[2]

In total, Give Me Five! sold 1.287 million copies on its debut week.[12] This makes it AKB48's 12th single that topped the Oricon charts, and its 6th consecutive million-selling single.[12]

Track listing

Type A
CD
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Give Me Five!" (GIVE ME FIVE!)  
2."Sweet & Bitter" (スイート&ビター)Selection 6 
3."New Ship" (NEW SHIP)Special Girls A 
4."Give Me Five! (Off Vocal Ver.)" (GIVE ME FIVE! off vocal ver.)  
5."Sweet & Bitter (Off Vocal Ver.)" (スイート&ビター off vocal ver.)  
6."New Ship (Off Vocal Ver.)" (NEW SHIP off vocal ver.)  
DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Give Me Five! Music Video" (GIVE ME FIVE! Music Video) 
2."Sweet & Bitter Music Video" (スイート&ビター Music Video) 
3."New Ship Music Video" (NEW SHIP Music Video) 
4."Give Me Five! Making Zenpen" (GIVE ME FIVE! MAKING 前編) 
5."Utsukushī Mix Kōza" (美しいMIX講座) 

Type B
CD
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Give Me Five!" (GIVE ME FIVE!)  
2."Sweet & Bitter" (スイート&ビター)Selection 6 
3."Hitsujikai no Tabi" (羊飼いの旅)Special Girls B 
4."Give Me Five! (Off Vocal Ver.)" (GIVE ME FIVE! off vocal ver.)  
5."Sweet & Bitter (Off Vocal Ver.)" (スイート&ビター off vocal ver.)  
6."Hitsujikai no Tabi (Off Vocal Ver.)" (羊飼いの旅 off vocal ver.)  
DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Give Me Five! Music Video" (GIVE ME FIVE! Music Video) 
2."Sweet & Bitter Music Video" (スイート&ビター Music Video) 
3."Hitsujikai no Tabi Music Video" (羊飼いの旅 Music Video) 
4."Give Me Five! Making Kōhen" (GIVE ME FIVE! MAKING 後編) 
5."Utsukushī Overture & Encore Kōza" (美しいoverture&アンコール講座) 

Theater Version
CD
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Give Me Five!" (GIVE ME FIVE!)  
2."Sweet & Bitter" (スイート&ビター)Selection 6 
3."Yungu ya Furoito no Baai" (ユングやフロイトの場合)Special Girls C 
4."Give Me Five! (Off Vocal Ver.)" (GIVE ME FIVE! off vocal ver.)  
5."Sweet & Bitter (Off Vocal Ver.)" (スイート&ビター off vocal ver.)  
6."Yungu ya Furoito no Baai (Off Vocal Ver.)" (ユングやフロイトの場合 off vocal ver.)  

Bonus

Types A, B
  • (Limited Edition) Random national handshake event ticket (sealed in, 2 kinds in total available)
  • (Regular Edition) Random photo of a member (sealed in, one per senbatsu member, i.e. 18 kinds in total, available)

Theater Edition
  • Large handshake event ticket
  • Photo of a member (selectable from a set, one kind per member available)

Members

"Give Me Five!"

Center: Atsuko Maeda

Note: The selected members are the same as on "Kaze wa Fuiteiru".

"Sweet & Bitter"

Sung by Selection 6 (セレクション6): Center: Minami Takahashi, Atsuko Maeda

"New Ship"

Sung by Special Girls A (スペシャルガールズA): Center: Jurina Matsui, Melody Nurramdhani Laksani

"Hitsujikai no Tabi"

Sung by Special Girls B (スペシャルガールズB): Center: Yuki Kashiwagi, Mayu Watanabe

"Yungu ya Furoito no Baai"

Sung by Special Girls C (スペシャルガールズC)

Charts
Chart (2012) Peak
position
Japan (Oricon Weekly Singles Chart)[2] 1
Japan (Japan Hot 100) 1
Japan (RIAJ Digital Track Chart)[13] 1
Taiwan G-music Combo[14] 19

Sales and certifications
Chart Amount
Oricon physical sales 1,436,519
RIAJ full-length cellphone downloads Gold (100,000+)
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References
  1. "AKB48、2012年第1弾シングルは恒例の桜ソング". Natasha, Inc. (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  2. "AKB48、初バンド曲が初日首位　初日売上は歴代3位の96.7万枚". Oricon (in Japanese). Oricon Inc. 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  3. "AKB48、新曲は恒例の桜ソング　2・15発売決定". Oricon (in Japanese). Oricon Inc. 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  4. "AKB新曲MVは34分超"ワケあり"衝撃作　杉田成道監督が描く人間ドラマ". Oricon (in Japanese). Oricon Inc. 2012-01-27. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  5. ""AKBバンド"が新曲ジャケ写解禁　前田＆大島の2トップ". Oricon (in Japanese). Oricon Inc. 2011-01-23. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  6. "Gacharic Spin Interview @ JPOP 2015". The-O Network. 2009-09-15. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
  7. "Japanese Pop/Rock Band Gacharic Spin Comes to U.S. for Special Concert". Anime News Network. 2015-07-28. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
  8. "AKB48 forms band for new single "Give Me Five!"". Sankei Sports, Sports Hochi. Tokyograph. 2011-01-22. Retrieved 2012-02-18. Translated from original articles by Sankei Sports and Sports Hochi
  9. "AKB48「リクエストアワー」最終日に新バンドお披露目". Natasha, Inc. (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2012-01-22. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  10. "ＧＩＶＥ　ＭＥ　ＦＩＶＥ！（通常盤／Ｔｙｐｅ－Ａ） on Oricon". Oricon (in Japanese). Oricon Inc. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  11. "ＧＩＶＥ　ＭＥ　ＦＩＶＥ！（数量限定生産盤／Ｔｙｐｅ－Ｂ） on Oricon". Oricon (in Japanese). Oricon Inc. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  12. "AKB48、女性歌手初の6作連続ミリオン　33年半ぶり新記録". Oricon (in Japanese). Oricon Inc. 2011-02-22. Retrieved 2012-02-23.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-12. Retrieved 2012-02-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "gmusic combo chart". Archived from the original on 2012-02-24.
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