Ahhh, did not know that. Okay, so while official rivals, it's still the same
company. It's like pro-wrestling. :)

Okay, now the story makes sense, so while being near impossible, it's
technically possible to get forced from AKB to Nogizaka as it's the same
"boss".

Thanks.

-----Original Message-----
From: 'CuSO4' Yung [mailto:cuso4@cuso4.com] 
Sent: Friday, 7 September 2012 1:13 PM
To: seiyuu@usagi.org
Cc: usagi@usagi.org
Subject: [seiyuu:27170] Re: ABK0048 songs

2012/9/7 Michael Studte <izumi@iinet.net.au>:
> Started watching Saba Doru, live action drama with the AKB48 subgroup 
> whose name I can never remember... Main character is Watanabe Mayu. 
> So, are AKB48 and Nogizaka 46 in any way related? This series seems to 
> imply that a person from one group can be "traded" to the other...

Both group are under the same parent production house headed by Akimoto
Yasushi, the person behind many idol units such as Onyanko Club, Shoujo-tai,
Suitei Shoujo, etc.

AKB48 and Nogizaka 46 are "official rival" idol groups.

As for trading members with other groups, 2 from AKB48 were re-assigned to
JKT48 based in Jakarta, and another 2 were re-assigned to SNH48 based in
Shanghai.

--
'CuSO4' Yung