Give Me Five!

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. The band is led by Atsuko Maeda, who is playing the rhythm guitar, and Yuko Oshima, who is playing a bass guitar. 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. Sae Miyazawa, Rie Kitahara, Aki Takajō, Tomomi Kasai and Sayaka Yamamoto are the band's chorus.

This band was formed in secret by AKB48's producer Yasushi Akimoto on 28 August 2011. During the five months prior to the official revelation of the band, the 18 members trained in secret in between their performance schedules. Members of the rock band Gacharic Spin were some of their coaches. 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). 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. 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. At the event, the members performed the song Give Me Five! for the first time.

Music video

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

This music video tells the story of four students, all of whom comes from troubled backgrounds. Atsuko Maeda plays the role of Atsuko Ogata, a girl whose parents divorced and subsequently went to Tokyo. Yuko Oshima plays Yuko Osawa, a girl who secretly works at a brothel to cover household expenses. Yuki Kashiwagi stars as Yuki Kobayashi, a girl who is mentally troubled after being bullied at school. Minami Takahashi plays the role of Minami Ichikawa, a quick-tempered girl who can never stay in one job for long. Takanori Jinnai stars as the quartet's homeroom teacher. The four of them, on the suggestion of their teacher, formed a music band named Baby Blossom. 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.

The music video is included in both the Type-A and Type-B versions of this single. 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. However, the title of the single was not revealed in that announcement. 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. 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. The band comprises selected members who played different musical instruments.

Release details

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

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 specially for the theater edition of the single.

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

Reception

Give Me Five! sold approximately 967,000 copies on its debut day. 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).

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

Types A, B

Theater Edition

"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):

"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

"Yungu ya Furoito no Baai"

Sung by Special Girls C (スペシャルガールズC)