1000 POSTS!!!!!!I've played around with the idea of doing a milestone on and off. It seems to be a thing here, so I decided I'd give it a try. I am not good at such things, so bear with me.
When I decided to really give it a try, I first had to choose who in the hell to do it over. I thought about my oshimen, some of the members I like above the crowd, and even some underdogs I like, but in the end, my first milestone needs to go to the entire group that started it all. The group were it not for, I wouldn't know
any of these girls or the spin-offs they have spawned. That's right, this milestone is hereby dedicated to, in its entirety...
AKB48Thanks to the miracle of computers, I can tell you exactly when I became aware of this group. On June 18th, 2006 A.D. at 12:49PM Central Standard Time, Skirt Hirari made its way onto my computer via jpopsuki. I had no clue what an "AKB" was. It was something I'd never seen before, so I downloaded the PV, as I usually do with names I don't recognize. When I watched it, I didn't really find myself floored by it. The song was a little bland and the PV looked insanely cheap, but I thought it was cute enough to keep, so into my PV folder it went. I didn't really give it much thought at all. I didn't even so much as Google their name. The action picked up four months later on October 8th, when this rolled in...
This catchy ass tune is what dragged me in to wanting to learn more about them. It's also what drew me to my original favorite, Sae. At the time, googling yielded close to no information in English. Amazingly, at the time I was watching Jonathan Ross's Japanorama program, and on one episode about Akihabara, the group was featured. The concept of this theater was intriguing, so I set out to learn whatever else I could. The only thing I found was a small forum in the middle of a sever hop and a new name, stage48. I hopped on there for for a while and learned a great deal about the group. I learned that DVD's of these stages were available, so knowing little more than Sae was in Team K, I bought the disc of their second stage. I was pretty surprised at how awesome it was. I guess you could say that's really when I became a major fan of this group. Beyond that, the rest of the story of those old times is very eventless and boring. Back in those days there was little more to do than wait for a new single or stage. You newer fans don't know how lucky you are.
Of course there were cool, albeit scarce, TV clips and other things like Chocolove that happened, and BINGO! was released which was a pretty epic song and had a great PV and making clip.
Still, things got pretty damn interesting in January 2008 when
AKB 1ji 59fun! (now known as
AKBINGO!) hit the late night NTV airwaves. I absolutely loved the show. It was so hilarious because it was a total torture chamber in the beginning. Trannies, live motorcycles ridden by some loud and moody yankii hosts(hard to believe those are even the same guys now), and of course, the fan favorite Kuro-chan! 2008 really was the big boom of AKB48 for international fans. TV shows ahoy, LoD's emerging, and pictures were flowing in.
Though mid year, my interest and fandom in AKB48 started to falter. AKBINGO! has started to be in a bit of a rut and wasn't as interesting anymore, the whole controversy with DefSTAR had just happened, and
Baby! Baby! Baby! was released, the only AKB48 song I truly despise despite the great visuals. Things might have come to an abrupt end were it not for...
...this noob. I hate to use the term "love at first sight" with an idol, but it is a pretty accurate way of describing it.
I had honestly ignored AKB48+10 for a while, but one day I started watching one and this recently inducted into Team B girl hopped on and declared herself the "+10 idol". She was so cute and her talking voice was so awesome, so I began to look at Team B as a whole more. I watched all the episodes I had ignored and wanted to smack myself for not watching them sooner. Haachan, Yonechan, Nakayan, and the new girl called "Sasshi"... holy shit this team is AWESOME! Then I saw Team B's 1st stage on DVD. That was it, the game was over, Team B officially owned my jpop world. Later that year, B's 3rd stage was revealed through the on demand files and if there was any doubt left, it was wiped, Team B was my favorite team by far. I'm sure my timeline might be a little messed up here, but basically 2008 was year of the B.
2009 was a year full of change, it seems like. The insanely epic AKB48+10 was ended much to my dismay. True, it paved the way for SKE48 Gakuen, but ... B was my team!
Further adding to the heartache was the announcement of the team shuffling. I'm not hugely against it and I wasn't then, but still, knowing that Team B will be dissolved is not a fun thing to think about. Still, it was a year of good concerts, great singles(RIVAAAAAAAAA), epic sales, and fun TV moments. It a little hard to write about 2009 because it all felt like one big mesh.
It was the first year where it seemed like there was
always something going on with them, and add SKE48 to the mix, it's hard to remember what was what.
It was a great year. 2010 is off to a kicking start. Sakura no Shiori was released and sold 309,000 copies and counting. That is HUGE. The awesome magazine shoots just keep getting better and better, too. A new Request Hour Best 100 concert is on its way. And of course, Majisuka Gakuen, an insanely awesome show that managed to live up to astronomical hype and excitement. I'm sure the money loving, surprise throwing Aki-P will have us all scratching our heads in December 2010 wondering how the hell they did so much yet again, and have all of us wanting more.
As for the future, who knows? I have high hopes for some of the new Team members like Maeda Ami, Sato Sumire, Iwasa Misaki, and so on... AKB48 then vs. now is starting to look very very different. It will be interesting to see what changes and such occur as AKB48 enters what feels like its second major generation.
Lastly, and sort of off topic, I want to kiss some ass. It is sincere, though.
I was forumless as far as AKB goes for quite a while. Jphip was really all I was on and even that was on and off. I posted in the AKB section a few times. One random day, some dude named BarrieV sent me a PM saying that they needed more people in the brand spankin' new AKBar section. I had a peek around and I dug what I saw, so I started coming a little more often. Eventually this place turned into a lively, fun place that it has been. And eventually we all started going into the ajax chat on the site and had even more fun. So, all in all, I just want to say thanks to everyone here, but there are some I talk to more than others. ichijoujirena, my friend on and off of this site, thanks for supporting me even when I managed to get myself buried in trouble.
We've had some interesting times relating to this group for sure.
BarrieV, aka Barriemin aka WasshoiB aka B-man, you are the man. I don't think there could be a better head for the AKB sections. You do a great job and you are an awesome guy to chat with. Our similarities in hobbies and taste often terrify me, and the only thing I have against you is that your brain is not in Mocchi's body.
I'm glad you invited me here and not to go all bromance on you, but I really do have a lot of respect for you.
Jafecha, thanks for ignoring your college classes so often and cutting up with me while I was supposed to be working. It's always fun.
Masamin, thanks for trying to pimp everything up. I'm glad you are around to try and electrify threads that tend to get lost in the mix.
maliciel, you are one patient dude helping me with MeGUI and whatever else I want to try to learn.
Thanks.
Blu, you're absolutely out of your mind but in a good way.
Mad props for the Shiichan pimpage.
Also, to Stryfe: I'm so sorry we pollute your Ajax Chat with our AKB crap.
Not really. LOLOLOLOLSo, there, milestone post get. Not too bad considering I really didn't have a plan for it. There are probably holes in my story and I did leave out some things, but screw it, this is too long already.
Now enough of this shit, I've got a Yukirin IV to watch.
Topic: (Group) The AKB48 Thread (Read 711993 times)