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Author Topic: Looking Back on 7.5 Years of Idol Fandom and 20.000 Posts  (Read 2443 times)

Offline SomethingWild

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Looking Back on 7.5 Years of Idol Fandom and 20.000 Posts
« on: April 04, 2014, 07:26:31 PM »
Instead of doing the typical milestone post where I talk about how awesome Matsui Rena is, I figured I'd do something a bit different and more substantial this time. I've been into J-pop since 2006 and into AKB48 since 2008. We're many years later, so I wanted to look back on how things have changed: the idol groups and the fandom.

First, let me talk about how my AKB48 fandom developed and how I experienced some of the different groups and major events in 48G history.

I discovered J-pop thanks to the movie Azumi, starring Ueto Aya who also released some songs I really liked. My first contact with idols came not much later in the form of Morning Musume (Ishikawa Rika especially) who also got me to join this community. Of course the first idol group you discover is special and I spent many hours watching their concerts, TV shows and whatnot. I actually did learn about AKB48 at the time, but I hated their music (Seifuku, Keibetsu era). However, things started to change slowly. My MM fandom peaked with Kanashimi Twillight, but things took a turn for the worse when they released Resonant Blue, entering what later would be referred to as the Platinum 9 era. I hated this style of music and it didn't really change for the next three years or so. That was the end of H!P for me for the time being.

Elsewhere in Japan, AKB48 was releasing a re-hashed version of their indies song Sakura no Hanabiratachi. I loved the sad yet hopeful tone of the song. There were guitars too which I hadn't heard in a MM song since Mikan. In addition, the PV was great. It was a small drama-themed PV, and little did we know it would be the first of many many more. Another key element in the rise of AKB48 was their weekly show. MM was reduced to HaroMoni which had turned into endless youtube clip episodes, whereas AKB48's show was edgy and fresh. The hosts (Bad Boys) and Takada Junji (dirty old man) provided a sense of comedy and openness I hadn't really seen before. It was great.



This was the time AKB48 started their immense rise to the top: Oogoe Diamond was released. It is still my favorite song in the 48G catalog, or at least the most meaningful one to me. This was also the time where the first major fandom drama started: an 11 year old girl from a different group took Acchan center position. Looking back we can safely say Jurina lived up to her hype as she is still a top member today. The sales started to increase rapidly with each single. I remember being ecstatic when 10Nen Sakura broke 100K total sales. It was something I never thought possible. Little did we know there would be 10 consecutive million sellers in the near future, haha. 2009 is definitely the key year in their success with River being their first #1 and it's the year of the first election. It was also the first big member shuffle. What a shock. It even lead to online fights (lol) over the new teams performing old Team B songs which was "wrong" because they wouldn't have the same meaning and whatnot. Such passion. This is interesting, because at this point the Teams still had their own identity, which is completely gone nowadays. More on that later.

It was during this time SKE48 started to get up and running. I don't think new HKT48 fans realize the amount of hate SKE48 had to endure. Not from me, I loved SKE48. These girls were fresh, super pretty and entertaining. Rena, Jurina, Kumi, Tsukina, Yuimin, Skinkai, Shiitan, etc, etc. S1 blew me away with super tight performances. SKE48 got their reputation from being good performers during this era (and early S2). It is what separated them from AKB48 at the time. I was lucky enough to see Rena and Kumi at the Japan Expo. It was the moment Rena became my #1 favorite and she still is.



Moving on, 2010, the year of Ponytails, Hebirote and Beginner. Holy crap what an awesome single line-up. Truly the golden year. Yuko beating Acchan in the election turned out to be a great thing. The pressure was no longer on Acchan who re-gained her spirit and became better than ever. Yuko leaded the group in what would become their biggest hit to date and Beginner showed they could pull off more than the typical idol songs. The group powered on and I feel their first peak was when Everyday, Kachuusha came out. This song was full of references to their previous singles so it felt like an ending of sorts. Acchan pwnd in the election again and I honestly thought it would end right then and there. What else was there to achieve? Looking back, the quality of the singles they released after this never quite made it to the 2010 level anymore.

Needless to say, after a peak comes a low. For me, 2011 had three. Firstly, NMB48. Note that I have nothing against them, but I didn't like how they were promoted. SKE48 had to fight for recognition every step of the way, whereas NMB48 backed by Yoshimoto started out with nine (!) regular TV shows right from the start. As a die hard SKE48 fan at the time, that was hard to watch considering SKE48 barely got any decent TV exposure (and they still don't!). Secondly, all these young girl in skimpy black outfits in the Zetsumetsu Kurokami Shoujo felt cheap. I know many people dig this single and I gotta give NMB48 props at least for having their own sound which was different from AKB48 and SKE48 at the time. Thirdly, in one of their documentaries last year they expressed their disappointment SKE48 made Kouhaku instead of them. As if they worked harder for it or somehow deserved it more. Not sure to what extent this was set up (considering they made Kouhaku a year later), but it sounded conceited and spoiled. I lost a lot of interest in them after this, despite getting more into them during the Geinin era.

The second low would be SDN48. I won't get into this too much, but I never got into them or saw their appeal. It was nice seeing Kohara Haruka having one last moment in the spotlight though.

The biggest low for me in 48Gs history is the formation of Team 4. It is important for a group to continue training and recruiting new members, but the way this went down was just painful in many ways. First of all, the endless and endless pushing. These girls took over every show. Remember those Nemousu seasons nobody liked? Guess who were on them. Same for AKBingo, Shukan AKB, etc. This isn't the girls fault, but they weren't really helping the problem either. By girls I particularly mean 9th and 10th generation. It's like a musician joining an already successful band. I felt they didn't appreciate what their seniors have done and they came across and spoiled and lazy. By grouping them together in one team it just enhanced that attitude. Not to mention the ridiculous leadership issues with Oba and Shimada. It's a miracle AKB48 survived this era. It made so much sense to disband them. If we look at how many of 9th and 10th gen are still relevant today, I think that proves my gut feeling wasn't too far off. The only ones who survived are Shimazaki (who was pushed like no one ever before), Nagao and Iriyama who get by with their hot bodies and Oba and Miori who were saved by the kennin system. Luckily 11th and 12th gen were much better with Kawaei being one of the naturals who will become very important for AKB48 in the next couple of years. The only explanation I have for their popularity is that AKB48 gained a lot of new fans during this era, let's say after Beginner came out. It was also around that time Team 4 started to gain ground, so it's natural those fans feel some sort of attachment to them. Please note that I didn't include this paragraph to hate on Team 4, but I feel this was an essential era in AKB48's history as well as my fandom experience.

--> For example.

Somehow, AKB48 managed to power on leading up to the next major event. Acchan's graduation at Tokyo Dome. From a marketing point of view, the whole 1830m theme was genius. The Tokyo Dome concerts were amazing. I know a lot of people didn't like the funeral vibe, but it was truly a sad occasion. Seeing the masses gather at Akihabara after Acchan last theater show was quite amazing as well. I like to think of this era as AKB48's second peak. Nothing will be the same anymore after this, it will become a different group.

After Acchan's grad, many of the big names followed her example. AKB48 continues to add and promote younger girls and the circle continues. You all know what happened the past year or so, so I won't go into details any further. I will mention that Sashihara Rino saved AKB48 from imminent collapsing. Her winning the election proves the fans are ready for a different kind of idol and a different kind of group. The KFC international fan video was a great moment, but honestly, it came too late. One thing I realized is that the overseas fan community is still really small considering its Japanese counterpart. 48G's management doesn't need us and they haven't done anything to make it easier for us to participate. Of course, they owe us nothing and they can do whatever they want since they're making millions anyway every year anyway. On the other hand, some of the streams with English dubs were a nice touch. At this point, we can only wait and see how 48G will develop further and when the idol boom will die out for real. Will Miki and the musketeers bring in a new era of greatness or will AKB48 be slowly reduced back to the theater. Time will tell.

My main issue with current 48G is that it has gotten too big to manage. 48G relies on shocking news, graduation announcements and wacky gimmicks to stay in the spotlight. They're succeeding at it, but it's impossible to keep this up forever.  Teams don't mean anything anymore because they are shuffled too many times and because we're not getting any new stages. The sister groups all sound exactly the same nowadays. Identity-wise, a lot of SKE48's best performers are gone. NMB48 relies too heavily on two or three popular members, they have no successors once the top graduates. HKT48 will grow up too. Being the youngest freshest team will only last so long, because a new group or team (8?) will blow them away eventually. It's all the same. My point is that some of the foundations of the groups are gone. There is no clear identity, direction or vision anymore for any of these groups.

I have gotten a lot out of my fandom. A LOT. I'm not just talking about online friends, but I got two free trips to Japan and I got to meet a lot of idols and celebrities. It stills feels unreal to me. This in combination with the Tokyo Dome era feels like my AKB48 fandom has peaked. I can't image how I will ever be able to top 2012 in terms of fandom participation.



So, what's left for me in this fandom then? Well, a lot! I was at a party recently and it was just miserable. People are unhappy with their daily lives so they do drugs and drink till they puke. I don't do any of that, but what do I get? A sore throat and loss of voice within 15 minutes. With that in mind I realized I enjoy being alone watching idol stuff. It's not a bad thing! On the other hand, I think I've been too deeply into this at certain times. Lately I've managed to step back just a little bit and spend more time on other hobbies such as my guitar stuff. The reason I spent so much online is because my social circle in real life is rather small. Is that a bad thing? Isn't having online friends the modern way? I honestly don't even know anymore. It's all about finding a nice balance I guess.



I was about to write a segment on how I enjoy Stardust / 3bjunior more than 48G lately, but then I realized Momoiro Clover Z also peaked in 2012. Mugen no Ai and Otome Sensou are some of the best idol songs ever. Actually, NMB48 also peaked in 2012 with Virginity and Kitagawa Kenji, the short-lived Yokoyama Yui-era of NMB48 we all loved. Perhaps the idol boom itself peaked in 2012. Of course the boom will have no clear ending, we won't know when it happened until after it happened. With sales still over a million it might be false to say it completely ended, but in my opinion it peaked in 2012, for pretty much all groups. Morning Musume got their new line-up ready for action just in time to make a fresh start with One Two Three.

Actually, I like to think of Amachan as the spiritual ending to the idol boom. It showed the world of idols from pretty much every perspective, the good and the bad. It felt like an ending, especially the big section during Kouhaku Utagassen at the end of the year.


(Massive thanks to these people for showing me an epic day in Shibuya)

Luckily we're not entirely done yet. Team Shachihoko still manages to deliver awesome concerts and we have BABYMETAL taking over the world as we speak. The boom might have ended, but one thing is for sure, idols will never die. To quote Amachan: as long as there are idols there will be people following them.

Tl/dr version:
2009: Start of the idol boom
2010: High quality releases and general excitement
2011: Dip due to over-expansion
2012: Peak: massive hype (1830m) and most groups at their best
2013: Faceless era, restoration (i.e. Sashihara) and the start of continuous graduations
2014: Decline in sales, more graduations, fans dropping out.


OK, Matsui Rena time!



Thanks everybody!

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