(i was meant to do this straight after the livestream ended, but it was 1am so i went to sleep instead)
(also done in style of my post last year about watanabe mayu)

In case many people do not know the amazing news, just less than a day ago Sashihara Rino ranked first for the second time in the AKB48 41st Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo with 194,049 votes (defeating 37th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo winner and former reigning queen Watanabe Mayu who had 165,789 votes (and ranked in third)). Sasshi has proven once again how strong her wota fanbase is, having almost 30,000 votes more than 2nd place Kashiwagi Yuki, and now it seems as if Sasshi and MaYuki may become the new Maeda-Oshima rivalry of the Sousenkyo. Congratulations Sasshi!

 

And before I go any further with other moments of the Sousenkyo, I will just leave this here (it's just too good to not have its own segment)

(edit: the video was taken down so here's the gifset)

Honestly if you didn't know Jiina beforehand, you'll know her and love her right now.

 

Other amazing (and hilarious) moments from the Sousenkyo include:

AKB48 Team A's Takahashi Minami ranking fourth overall, getting back into Kami7 and breaking Top 5.

Maeda Atsuko coming out to congratulate Takamina with flowers and tears.

AKB48 Team B's Kashiwagi Yuki breaking past third place for the first time, and even beating Mayuyu at the same time.

AKB48 Team A's Yokoyama Yui breaking past thirteenth place for the first time and ranking tenth.

SNH48 Team SII / SKE48 Team S' Miyazawa Sae ranking eighth.

HKT48 Team KIV / AKB48 Team A's Miyawaki Sakura breaking into Kami7 for the first time.

SKE48 Team KII's Takayanagi Akane and Matsumura Kaori, and AKB48 Team A's Muto Tomu breaking into Senbatsu for the first time.

NGT48's Kitahara Rie and NMB48 Team BII / AKB48 Team B's Watanabe Miyuki getting back into Senbatsu.

For once somebody got more hyperventilated than Yuihan (and of course, it's another Yui kekeke).

SKE48 Team E's Saito Makiko and Sato Sumire, HKT48 Team H's Anai Chihiro, and HKT48 Team H / AKB48 Team K's Kodama Haruka taking center position in Upcoming Girls, Future Girls, Next Girls, and Undergirls, respectively.

Suuchan re-entering the Sousenkyo after dropping from the rankings last year (and in an amazing fashion as well).

 

Personal Other Favourite Moments

Every single time a member of HKT48 was announced, every other member of the group freaked the freak out.

The domination of sister groups at this year's elections.

The SKE48 invasion of Senbatsu - Juritan #5, Kaotan #13, Churi #14, Aya #15.

AKB48 Team 4's Okada Nana doing what Tomonaga Mio did last year - totally skipping Next Girls and jumping straight into Undergirls.

And of course, Jiina's speech. Best. Speech. Ever.

 

Saddest Moments

AKB48 Team A's Shimazaki Haruka losing her place in Kami7 and slipping to 9th.

SKE48 Team E's Suda Akari slipping to 18th place, losing her place in Senbatsu and going straight to Undergirls.

Seeing AKB48 Team 4's Nishino Miki almost breaking into tears knowing that she didn't rank this year, but ranked last year.

That whole AtsuMina moment left me in tears (whether it was really sad or not, I don't know, but I'm putting it here anyway).

Members who ranked in Prelims or last year's Senbatsu Sousenkyo not ranking this year.

 

And since this not only angered me (it angered Nachu too), I'm gonna say it here: The Fuji TV coverage was absolute crap. I wanted to hear a lot of the Undergirls speeches, not watch a million adverts. But there was Kojiharu so that slightly made up for it (not much, but it did make it better somewhat).