NGT48

NGT48 (pronounced "N.G.T. Forty-eight") is a Japanese girl group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. NGT48 is named after Niigata City of Niigata Prefecture, where the group is based. The group performs at the NGT48 Theater which is located in the fourth floor of the LoveLa2 shopping mall in Niigata City.

After then-member Maho Yamaguchi's assault in December 2018, after which she had claimed that the management had done nothing to address other NGT48 members allegedly involved in assisting her attackers, in April 2019, the NGT48 management dissolved the team system, with all current members unified according to generations.

History

2015–2018: Debut

The creation of the group was announced on January 25, 2015 on the final, fifth day of a traditional series of AKB48 concerts entitled AKB48 Request Hour Setlist Best 1035 2015. In October 2015, the Niigata-based company Kuriyama Beika Co., Ltd. appointed NGT48 a "bakauke PR ambassador", a PR ambassador for its product named bakauke. As of December 2015, NGT48 is collaborating with McDonald's on a 48-piece bucket of Chicken McNuggets sold in Japan. Each bucket features photos of NGT48 and comes with a collectible card with a photo of a random member of the group. NGT48's own theater opened in Niigata on January 10, 2016.

The group's members are part of the cast of an anime adaptation of Higurashi When They Cry, which was premiered from May 20 on BS Sky PerfecTV!. The group also recorded the theme song for the series titled "Kimi wa Doko ni Iru?" and is included on the Theater Edition of the 44th single by AKB48, "Tsubasa wa Iranai", which was released on June 1, 2016.