is a sub-unit of all-female Japanese pop group AKB48

AKB48

AKB48 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto.The group has achieved enormous popularity in Japan. Its ten latest consecutive singles topped the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart...

, produced by Yasushi Akimoto

Yasushi Akimoto

is a Japanese television writer, lyricist, record producer, professor and vice president at Kyoto University of Art and Design. He also created some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise.- Career :...

.

History

It was announced on June 28, 2010 by Kashiwagi that French Kiss would be formed and debuted with a single , at AKB48 Team-B's stage performance. "Zutto mae kara" was used as the ending theme song for anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 "Major

Major (manga)

Major is a sports manga series by Takuya Mitsuda. It has been serialized in Shōnen Sunday and has been collected in 78 tankōbon volumes...

 sixth season", broadcast on NHK Educational TV

NHK Educational TV

is the second television service of NHK . It is a sister service of NHK General TV, showing programs of a more educational, cultural or intellectual nature, periodically also showing anime...

. The catchphrase of the group is .

After 4 months from release of the 1st single on September 8, 2010, they released 2nd single "If" on January 19, 2011, which was ranked 2nd after Tomohisa Yamashita

Tomohisa Yamashita

, also widely known as Yamapi, is a Japanese idol, actor, and singer.Yamashita joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates in 1996 at the age of 11 and made his official CD debut with NEWS in 2004. He debuted as a solo artist in 2006 with the hit single "Daite Senorita". His first solo...

's single on Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

 Weekly Chart, and 1st on Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Japan Hot 100

Japan Hot 100

The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com ....

 ranking dated on January 31, bounced up from 73rd on prior week's ranking. The 4th single"Saisho no mail"(最初のメール) was sole on November 22, 2011.

Singles

Release	Title	Notes	Chart positions			Album
			Oricon Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...  Singles Charts	Billboard Japan Hot 100 Japan Hot 100 The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com ....	RIAJ RIAJ Digital Track Chart The is chart ranks the best selling digital singles in Japan, provided by the Recording Industry Association of Japan since April 2009. The chart measures cellphone downloads .... digital tracks*
2010			5	5	91	TBA
2011	"If"		2	1	22
			2	3	26
			1	49	24

*RIAJ Digital Tracks established April 2009.