In early 2018, a segment was hosted on "It's Showtime" by Anne Curtis, Billy Crawford, Karylle and Jhong Hilario which determined the members of the group's first generation. It is a segment of search for the ultimate all-female Filipino idol group whose name is derived from its based city of Manila. It conducted nationwide auditions for women aged 15–20 years old to become sought-after idols you can meet. Thousands of women took part of the audition, but only 200 of them succeeded to start the 13-week challenge rounds for them to test their singing & dancing skills. From Top 200, the aspirants were reduced to Top 75 in order to face public voting until General Election using MNL48-Plus App which was developed by Hallohallo Entertainment Inc. in partnership with ABS-CBN and one of the world's top multimedia, entertainment and IT agencies, AKS. From Top 75, only 48 women will become the official members of this group. From Top 48, There will be a ranking system that follows AKB48's Senbatsu Sousenkyo concept. Top 33-48 will be hailed as Next Girls, Top 17-32 will be hailed as the Under Girls & Top 16 will be hailed as Senbatsu members. From Top 16, 7 women will secure the Kami 7 slots which they will become the frontliners of the performance to join concerts with AKB48 & all of its sister groups worldwide, they will also be given international endorsement deals & an exclusive training program in AKS. And from Kami 7, the winner (as the Center Girl) of the general election will be the face of MNL48 worldwide.