AKB48 24th Single Janken Tournament - Winner

And the winner of the AKB48 24th Single Senbatsu Janken Tournament is 

SHINODA MARIKO!!!

Interestingly, the winning hand for the tournament was rock, just like last year!

Congratulations Mariko-sama! Center position for the next 24th Single. Although she is a prominent regular senbatsu member and has the highest mixi ranking, this is the first time she took the center role in a Single. She is the only AKB48 member not to be selected properly through the AKB48 Auditions.

Mariko is 25 years old, currently the oldest member in AKB48. For 3 years now, fans have been speculating that she would graduate from AKB48 to go full time as an actress, model or tarento. Her appearance in Team A stage performances is quite rare due to her work outside on TV and modeling, producing her ow TV show and own magazine. I can't remember the last time Mariko appeared on AKB48's own TV shows! And 25 years old is quite old for idols in general, who are mostly aged between 14 to 21.

Now that she has won the Janken Tournament, will she go off with a bang? or will she stay and frustrate all those speculators? SDN48 is an option too. They could use a big popularity boost.

Actually I think it would have been more interesting if Reinyan was the center member, I would have much more to type here too.

So once again, the senbatsu members of AKB48's 24th Single

Team A: Shinoda Mariko, Oya Shizuka, Maeda Ami, Kojima Haruna
Team K: Fujie Reina, Minegeshi Minami, Akimoto Sayaka, Umeda Ayaka
Team B: Sato Sumire, Kasai Tomomi,, Kitahara Rie
Team 4: Yamauchi Suzuran
AKB Kenkyuusei: Kobayashi Marina
SKE48: Kuwabara Mizuki
NMB48: Hikawa Ayame, Yamaguchi Yuuki

New to AKB Senbatsu (not counting DefStar releases): 
Oya Shizuka, Umeda Ayaka, Yamauchi Suzuran, Kobayashi Marina, Kuwabara Mizuki, Hikawa Ayame, Yamaguchi Yuuki


Congratulations Mariko-sama in getting the center position for the Janken single!

*images from various websites, see hyperlink for source.