Name/AKA: Philosoranter/Jeff
Age: 25
Location: Queens, New York
Gender: Male
Favorite AKB48 Member: Kitahara Rie
Favorite Team: B!
Favorite Graduated AKB48 Member: Cindy
Favorite AKB48 Group/Subgroup: Not Yet
Absolute Favorite AKB48 Song [ONE ONLY]: Heavy Rotation
When/how did you become an AKB48 fan: I downloaded Sakura no Hanabiratachi the month it was released; I remember reading entertainment news articles about its formation (ever since Mari left Morning Musume, I've been checking the entertainment news every day. I never want to be that surprised again...). It sat benignly on my hard drive after a few listens. Later I downloaded Virgin Love because I heard about the racy lyrics. This made me pay a little more attention to the group, but I still was focused on Hello!-oriented pursuits. In 2008, I helped out at an event in Atlanta, and met someone who said her "little sister's classmate is an idol"; this turned out to be Nakata Chisato. I probably would have become a fan sooner if Chiichan were ever in the news, but this at least brought me a step closer. By 2008-09, it became pretty impossible to ignore them and still watch J-TV, so I became more and more knowledgeable without necessarily becoming a fan. It was downloading a pack of Akimoto Sayaka's radio appearances that got me hooked - I'm a fan of idols that can talk. From that I started listening to All Night Nippon, which made me look up all the members on Wikipedia - and discover Sashihara Rino, the H!P wota. I think Sashiko made me a permanent fan, especially after listening to ZenJan. But what ZenJan and the Fall Karaoke festival revealed was that KitaRie was fun fun fun as well, not to mention entirely visually cute, and ALSO a H!P fan. So now I have a half-dozen 2-oshi's, but I spend the most time staring at KitaRie.
Reason why you like AKB48: AKB48 is like a box of chocolates. Consuming too much makes you hyper and rots your teeth.