This is my third year of being into AKB48, and aside from a few glitches along the way it's been a VERY strong year for them as far as I'm concerned.
As for the good, I'm really happy to say that I love all of the singles released this year. This was most certainly not the case with 2008. This helped to restore a lot of my interest in AKB48 that had faded throughout 2008. Stages are great and all, but as an international fan that doesn't get participate in that except for when a DVD is released, I really need some encouragement from the singles to keep interest truly alive. The singles this year were fantastic, with even my least favorite one being very good. Also in the topic of the music, I also have enjoyed most of the stages and concerts that happened this year.
AKB48's TV shows were mostly top notch and awesomely entertaining this year. In late 2008, maybe even early 2009 AKBINGO got into a rut that I didn't really enjoy. They repeated bits way too often and it just didn't appeal to me much. As this year went on, they churned out some new bits I really enjoyed and the show got a lot more interesting as the cast seemed to rotate more than in the past. Then, Shukan AKB started in July and has constantly been a highly entertaining show, churning out super awesome bits such as the spicy food contest. I've loved most of the episodes a lot. Nemousu has also been great this year. Seasons 2 and 3 were filled with great stuff.
Another awesome thing that happened was SKE48 Team S.
I didn't pay a lot of attention to them until I stumbled accross Matsui Rena on AKBINGO!. She was so bizarre that I had to learn more. Turns out they are an awesome group of girls who have gotten their skills almost up to par with AKB48 in a pretty short amount of time. Also, Team S is the first team where I can understand why the front members are up front. Maybe I just found girls I like up front by chance, but I can see why Jurina and Rena headline the shows. They are AWESOME.
My complaints list of the year is pretty small. For one, we got hit with plenty of graduation shrapnel. My former AKB favorite, Oshima Mai, finally took off. Though expected it was kind of a bummer. Also, we lost a lot of great underappreciated members in Team B: Gussan, Matsuyuki, and Mikachii. Also, thanks to copyright issues us international fans are not able to easily buy concerts, which SUCKS.
I also don't really dig the humongous amount of money they charge for AKB's concerts even if they are long, but it would be nice to have easier access to buy them. Hopefully they can get that problem sorted out in 2010.
And of course, the sales this year were great, which is always good for us. Good sales means lasting TV shows, more appearances, more faptastic magazine shoots, and other great things for the girls. I hope 2009 was just the warm up for an amazing 2010 for AKB48. They deserve it.