Sakamichi Series

 refers to a Japanese idol group franchise that began with Nogizaka46, an "official" rival group of AKB48. Based on AKB48's "idols you can meet" concept, it currently consists of four groups.
History.
The first group, Nogizaka46, was formed on August 22, 2011 and released their debut single "Guruguru Curtain" on February 22, 2012.
The second group, and Nogizaka46's first sister group, Keyakizaka46, was created on August 21, 2015. It was initially named Toriizaka46 before it was changed. They released their first single "Silent Majority" on April 6, 2016. A sub group known as "Hiragana Keyakizaka46" was created shortly after. On July 16, 2020, it was announced that Keyakizaka46 would change the group's name and rebrand, with the new name being Sakurazaka46. The change came into effect on October 14.
On February 21, 2018, Yoshimotozaka46 was created as the third group in the franchise. It is a much different group than the other three in that it contains both male and female members of various ages, and most members are Japanese entertainers. Unlike the other groups, Yoshimotozaka46 is named after the company that manages many Japanese comedians, the 48 group NMB48 and Produce 101 Japan group JO1 and is based in Osaka. They released their first single, "Nakasete Kure yo", on December 26, 2018.
On February 11, 2019, Hiragana Keyakizaka46, the sub-group of Sakurazaka46 (still named Keyakizaka46 at the time), became independent and changed its name to Hinatazaka46, thus becoming the fourth group in the franchise. They released their debut single, "Kyun", on March 27, 2019.
In the summer of 2018, a joint Sakamichi Audition was held and 36 of those that auditioned were accepted. Of the 36, 21 were immediately accepted into one of Nogizaka46 (11), Keyakizaka46 (9), and Hinatazaka46 (1). The other 15 were grouped as Sakamichi Kenshusei in 2019. On February 16, 2020, 14 of the trainees were finally assigned to the three groups, with five going to Nogizaka46, six going to Sakurazaka46, and three going to Hinatazaka46. The remaining member dropped out at some point.
In 2021, members of Nogizaka46, Sakurazaka46, and Hinatazaka46 co-starred in the mystery television drama "Borderless", based on by Tetsuya Honda. It would be their first collaboration in a television drama.