I first knew AKB48 in late 2009 (if I remember correctly, in September) when a friend of mine discovered and showed me this large group. At first, honestly, I didn't like them mostly because I was more (and still today) into Western music. I don't listen to Japanese songs often so it was kind of hard for them to grow in me. But I do remember every time we had a chat, he would talk about this group very often, playing their songs and showing me their videos. This somehow made the songs (and the group) slowly grew in me.
One day, I went over to his house, originally wanted to copy some Kamen Rider stuff but ended up enjoying AKB48 instead because he always showed me their stuff such as AKBingo! and some PVs. As a result, when I got home from my friend's, I often browsed their singles on the Internet and I started to like them. I believe that because of those visits, I became a fan of AKB48. I do remember that these singles
- Aitakatta
- Yūhi o Miteiru ka?
- Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008
- Baby! Baby! Baby!
- Oogoe Diamond
and all the 2009 singles were the first AKB48 songs that I like, with 言い訳Maybe (and its coupling song) being the ones that I liked most. Then, he further introduced me more songs of them that are called Stage Songs. I didn't like them all because there were so many songs. Only a few of them that I liked such as Bird, Mushi no Ballad, Shinkirou, Naki nagara hohoen de, End Roll, and Nagisa no Cherry. From this point onward, I started to like AKB48 more, not only enjoying / watching their stuff (AKBingo, live performances on the Internet and of course, the information & pictures of the members, especially Maeda Atsuko, Oshima Yuko, Takahashi Minami, and Kojima Haruna) but also keeping myself up with the latest news about them.
My interest in AKB48 was at its highest during early-to-mid 2010. Me joining this forum in April was mostly triggered by my immense interest in AKB48. Thanks to this forum, I got to know more about AKB48, especially the news and its members. Also this year, they released singles that instantly became my favorites. Sakura no Shiori, Ponytail to Shushu, and Heavy Rotation, all of which very easily grew in me and made me repeating those songs but unfortunately, all these things only lasted a while.
Around the middle of the year, I started to lose my fondness towards AKB48 due to my stronger interest in Western music. This further worsened when I listened to their 18th single, Beginner which I disliked. I just couldn't stand the sound of it. Consequently, I rarely browsed about AKB48 and in the end, completely lost my interest in them. Since then, I haven't listened to their music, watched their videos / TV shows, enjoyed their other stuff or heard any news about them for more than a year and a half. The only thing I heard during this period of time was the news about AKB48 sister group in my country, the JKT48 but I didn't take much notice to it.
It was not until late-May 2012 –when I browsed through the Internet and found a fact that Maeda Atsuko has decided to leave the group– that I began to again take a look at AKB48. The first thing I did was only searching the stuff of the members at a regular phase on the Internet, especially Oshima Yuko, whose cute pictures really made me into her madly. I searched some more about AKB48 and I found a video which features Maeda Atsuko. In it, she said that she would withdraw from the upcoming general election. After watching it, me, at the time being so into Oshima, wanted to see the election so badly because I knew she was going to win. I streamed the election via YouTube and as expected, Oshima won. The result of this huge event and my subsequent constant browsing of the group made me an AKB48 fan again after my so-called "a-year-and-a-half hiatus."
Until today, I still listen to their songs –although I'm not much of a real AKB48 fan– and occasionally watch some videos including live performances, Sousenkyo / Janken, funny videos and AKBingo!