Glossary

Teams
(Main article: Team)

Wota
Wotas are fans of idol groups.

Oshimen
The word Oshimen (推しメン) comes from "oshiteru member" ("The member you support"). It's the term used to describe a fan's favorite member. Even though oshimen generally refers to only one member, many fans have more than one oshimen per group (The favorite member among the oshimen is usually referred as Kami-oshi). Sometimes fans change their oshimen (Oshihen).

Oshi
The term Oshi (推し) applies to fans.

DD and MD
DD is short for "Daredemo Daisuki" ("I love anyone"). It's a term used for fans that like many members in a group.

MD is short for "Minna Daisuki" ("I love everyone"). It's a term used for fans that like all the members in a group.

Hako-oshi
Hako-oshi (箱推し) refers to a fan who supports an entire group rather than a single oshimen from that group.

Light Stick
Light Sticks (サイリウム Psyllium), also called Penlights are used by wota at concerts. They are short plastic rods that glow in the dark. Fans wave them during performances, sometimes in unison, in order to show support for the members.

Usually, a Team or Group's official color is also their light stick color. For example, supporters of Team A wave pink light sticks, since Team A's official color is pink.

All members have light stick color combinations usually being their image color (in Love Live!) and current team color. For example, if you support Kousaka Honoka, you would wave one orange and one pink light stick for her.

Captain/Leader
(Main article: Captain)

Captain or Leader describes a member that is the authority (and many times the representative) of a certain team or group. AKB48 currently doesn't have any official Captains.

Kenkyuusei and Understudy
Kenkyuusei are also known as Research Students (研究生). When girls enter the group, they work as a Kenkyuusei until they are promoted to a team. Kenkyuusei receive many of the same perks as promoted members do, but their appearances are usually limited. They usually only perform during the Kenkyuusei-only theater shows and as understudies for promoted members when need be.

Center
(Main article: Center)

Center (センター） describes a member that is on the center position in the formation of the members.

Graduation
(Main article: Graduation)

Graduation (卒業, Sotsugyou) refers to when a member that leaves their respective group.

Seitansai
Seitantai (聖誕祭) is a special Theater performance celebrating a member's birthday. While they can occur in the same date as the member's birthday, it's often delayed due to a number of reasons, leading the performance to happen a few days, weeks or even months after the member's actual birthday.

The member may get a better position or a smaller unit that day and she may also be the topic of MC segments were members share stories about her. The main celebration takes place during the encore, however, where members who are closest to the aging member hold a small party, including blowing a canddle atop of a cake, recieving a letter from friends (often members) or family and they might also recieve gifts.

Some members host their own Seitansai ceremony and some of the most popular members only appear in a Stage performance for their seitansai.

(See also: Birthday List)

Seiyuu
Seiyuu (声優, Seiyuu) is the Japanese word for 'voice actor/actress.' This is a very common aspiration among idols, especially as a seiyuu for anime. In contrast to this is haiyuu (俳優, haiyuu), the Japanese word for 'actor/actress.'

Stages
(Main article: Stage)

Akushukai
An Akushukai (握手会 - Handshake Event), are events sometimes held after stages where fans get to meet the members and shake hands with them.

The event started in August 30th 2010, after a problem with a equipment and later became a tradition from the group.

Request Hour
(Main article: Request Hour)