After 12 weeks of competition, Produce 48 has finally found it’s debuting group, which will go by the name of IZONE. The group was selected today through a live fan vote, selecting 12 trainees from a pool of 20. The 12 final competitors have come a long way from when the show started with 96 entries. The live finale featured four performances from the 20 remaining contestants. Attending the event were Produce 101 alumni, with members of I.O.I. and all Wanna One members. Trainees who were eliminated previously on this season were also present in the crowd.

This article is part of an ongoing series covering MNet’s reality talent show, PRODUCE 48. Check out Jack’s recap of the semifinal episode here! 

Produce 48 Concludes After 12 Weeks Of Airing

The First Performance

The show opened up with a performance of the season’s soundtrack “Pick Me (Nekkoya).” The performance started with the 20 trainees, but later on was backed up by former contestants. The vote had started just before this performance began. After this song, the first group up to the stage was the group performing “We Together.”

“We Together” Performance

Before the performance, there were clips shown from the learning stages of this song. Kim Min-ju was slightly out of sync with her partners when learning the choreography but improved later on. Once they were assessed by the trainers, Bae Yoon Jung was only saying compliments. Lee Chae-yeon was selected as the center for this group. The performance was very good, with the highlight of it personally being the high note in the song.

Possible Voting Complications

With the live vote starting at the top of the hour on the program, this made me wonder if this gave people an advantage. Would the first group performing get more votes from people who weren’t willing to wait a while before voting? I also thought that maybe the performances on this episode didn’t matter at all since by now most people had made up their minds on who their favorites are.

“Are You Falling In Love” & “Whilst I’m Dreaming” Performance

The second performance was of the Japanese song “Are You Falling In Love.” Choi Ye-na was the center for this group. While the song wasn’t my cup of tea, the choreography was stellar. After this performance was a final one with everyone. Clips were shown from when the song was given to the trainees, and there were some tears shed. When this song was performed on stage there were tons of tears. Performers, ex-contestants in the crowd, fans, and more were seen crying. The song was very slow with no choreography involved. Once the song ended the voting period came to a close.

The Results Of The Vote, Unveiled

Later, after the votes were calculated, it was time to unveil who would debut in IZONE, a name which was presumably fan submitted. Similar to what they have done in the past rankings, they left the lowest spot until last. The 11th pick was the first announced and was Kim Min-ju from Urban Works. All of her fellow competitors supported her. After that was Han Cho-won from Cube Entertainment. Hitomi Honda was next, being the first Japanese contestant confirmed for the group.

The next four were Kwon Eun-bi making Woollim 2/2, Nako Yabuki from HKT48 and Ahn Yu-jin from Starship. Choi Ye-na was fourth, being the sole representative for Yuehua. Jo Yu-ri had a bronze medal finish for Stone Music, placing third. Sakura Miyawaki and Jang Won-young were battling for first place, with Won-young attaining first place and Sakura getting second. Won-young received 338,366 votes. The 12th place was revealed last, with it going to WM’s Lee Chae-yeon.

What Lies Ahead For IZONE

While there is no date known for IZONE’s first debut, one would assume they will be given some time to relax, though no one really knows with the limits some trainees are pushed to. Produce 48 has come to a close, and while I do not know the happenings of MNet backstage, I would assume they would love to do a fourth season similar to this next year. The interest is still there and the past two groups from the Produce 101 project have been very successful.

Credit of parts of this article goes to a Reddit Live thread done by /u/BrianQQ, who provided some translations for a program that has yet to have been fully translated so far.

The winners of Produce 48, and the full IZONE team.

Member	Company	EP 5 Rank	EP 8 Rank	EP 11 Rank	EP 12 Rank	Votes
Jang Won-young	Starship	3	1	7	1	338,366
Sakura Miyawaki	HKT48	4	7	1	2	316,105
Jo Yu-ri	Stone Music	19	10	18	3	294,734
Choi Ye-na	Yuehua	9	16	16	4	285,385
Ahn Yu-jin	Starship	2	4	10	5	280,487
Nako Yabuki	HKT48	7	2	9	6	261,788
Kwon Eun-bi	Woollim	5	5	12	7	250,212
Kang Hye-won	8D	25	3	4	8	248,432
Hitomi Honda	AKB48	12	12	11	9	240,418
Kim Chae-won	Woollim	28	15	19	10	238,192
Kim Min-ju	Urban Works	15	6	20	11	227,061
Lee Chae-yeon	WM	10	17	12	12	221,273

Members that did not make the cut:

Member	Company	EP 5 Rank	EP 8 Rank	EP 11 Rank	EP 12 Rank
Han Cho-won	Cube	47	9	13	13
Lee Ga-eun	Pledis	1	8	5	14
Miho Miyazaki	AKB48	21	27	2	15
Juri Takahashi	AKB48	18	20	17	16
Miyu Takeuchi	AKB48	11	30	6	17
Miu Shitao	AKB48	36	22	10	18
Park Hae-yoon	FNC	43	18	20	19
Miru Shiroma	NMB48	16	13	8	20

 

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