On September 20th, AKB48's Shinoda Mariko triumphed as the winner of the �2nd AKB48 Janken Tournament', and was quickly requested for an interview. As the new victor for this competition and one of the leading members of AKB48, Shinoda's confidence glowed as she talked about her group's upcoming single.

Shinoda, who is the oldest member of AKB48, asked her producer Akimoto Yasushi (55) to �receive a song that will make everyone glow,� thus requesting a wonderful song for their 24th single.

She also stated, �The AKB up until now had the image of a cute and energetic group, right? However, for this single�s Senbatsu members, tall members like Akimoto Sayaka (5�4.4�), Kojima Haruna (5�3.8�), and I (5�5.1�) will participate, so I believe this aspect will have an impact (laughs)."

Shinoda continued, "In addition to SKE48�s Kuwabara Mizuki, I think we will have a sporty kind of group. This will be an AKB group that you have never seen before."

Shinoda Mariko also revealed through the broadcast of her participating news program, �PON!�, that the upcoming single is set for release in December.

Stay tuned to tokyohive for more updates!

Source: Nikkan Sports
Images: Sponichi Annex