A History: Part Three

The release of RIVER during late October 2009 significantly changed how I felt about AKB48 at the time - from nothing more than a mere intrigue and passing interest, to an active period of exploration and excitement. Amidst the backdrop of a self that was firmly affixed to the otaku scene, there was the start of a shift in thinking and participation from one subculture to another.

Part 3: Evolution

2009-2010: Naivety 

RIVER was no ordinary bubblegum idol pop song. This clearly beat-driven, American pop cultural-esque style was remarkably different to all the previous AKB48 songs I had been exposed to, from which I formed my image of them. It was not girly sounding but one of assertive power and force. The MV only added to the impact: never in my experience with Japanese popular culture so far have I watched any idol group MV done in this manner - the tones and production values contributing to the American military-style theme that's implicitly hinted at by the music. In the grander scheme of things, RIVER marked the start of a new journey into an all new dimension of subculture and, ultimately, the fandom.

But it would be a slow, and oft-naive, journey. I was of the original impression that RIVER's couplings, Kimi no Koto ga Sukidakara was performed/sung by exactly the same girls as in RIVER (obviously, I had no idea what the word "Undergirls" meant). Or, using the same aforementioned song as an example, that they were all performed by 48 girls. At any one time. As per regarding sub-units, I still thought Watarirouka Hashiritai was unconnected, although the release of (No Sleeve's) Kiss no Ryuusei near the end of the year provided some minor clues, albeit I never really caught onto those links seriously. 

Yet my interest, fuelled by my curiosity, continued to grow. Sakura no Shiori, whilst being another unconventional (read: non-idol-y) song, was exactly what my curiosity needed.  Needless to say, I was amazed at the brevity of genre and style this AKB48 offered. At the same time, I was trying to piece together name with face. During this time, two members particularly struck out to me at first. The first was Minegishi Minami ("Miichan"), striking because of her puffy face, figure and slightly squinty little eyes. Now that might sound typically un-PC, but those unconventional looks was what made her stand out. Next was Miyazawa Sae. She appeared to be one of those boisterous, emotionally colourful characters. This innocuous video particularly stood out for me:

At this point, I wouldn't go so far as to say they were my first "oshimen" - remember, I was only just starting to identify members. That period came a fair while later, which I'll discuss shortly.

2010: Discovery

It was now firmly in 2010. There were three major factors during this time that continued to fuel my spurring interest in AKB48, one of which the impact wasn't felt until months (or even 1-2 years) later:

I must credit my father for influencing a part of my interest in AKB48 early in 2010, although he never actually knew it at the time. He was also curious at my new-found taste in mainstream J-pop, so one day he showed me this album that he found because he didn't what it was, who performed it and whether I knew about them. My first impression was, "Who is this? Some cheap ripoff group of AKB48?" I grabbed it off him; needless to say, I didn't pay too much attention and invest my time in listening to it, not when that was my opinion of the group. 

That was my first exposure to SKE48, and their Te wo Tsunaginagara (Team S 2nd Stage) studio album. It wouldn't be until several months later, with their release of 1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku (especially their PV) that things changed for the better, and in the case of Te wo Tsunaginagara, 1-2 years later.

2010 also saw AKB48 releasing a lot of albums; in particular, Kamikyokutachi (see left) and SET LIST ~Greatest Songs Kanzenban~. I'll talk about Kamikyokutachi first. This album helped to consolidate what I knew about AKB48's songs so far and, in fact, perhaps due to the availability of higher quality versions, revitalised my interest in a couple of songs I dismissed in the past (Baby! Baby! Baby! and Iiwake Maybe). Moreover, the album also introduced me to a few more members, starting from the ones on its cover art. From purely a looks perspective might I add, whilst some I dismissed - Watanabe Mayu ("Mayuyu"), in particular, I labelled as "plastic and generic looking" - there was one girl that immediately caught my attention: Takajo Aki ("Akicha"), up at the very far top left corner. Why her? Possibly because she resembled someone I was friends with (in real life) that I (used to) have a crush on. Funnily enough, as I soon discovered, the resemblance only got as far as this cover art suggested - other pics of Akicha on the internet deviated (sadly) from the resemblance. Regardless, she did catch my attention and that stuck for a while. After all, Akicha had (and still does have, in my opinion) the looks department covered.

In addition to Akicha, there were three other members that caught my eye. If you watch any AKB48 album DVD, they have those dance tutorials, with one member acting as the centre (and chosen for those solo member video tutorials). I was trying to figure out who those three were and, digging around, managed to discover Sashihara Rino ("Sasshi"), Iwasa Misaki ("Wasamin") and Maeda Ami ("Aamin"), three members who, at the time, were relative unknowns. However, I only seemed to recognise Sasshi more going forward, possibly because she was used for the RIVER dance tutorial videos, which was the video I only cared about.

SET LIST ~Greatest Songs Kanzenban~ allowed me to gain a better understanding of all the top hits AKB48 have released thus far, and I was able to familiarise with notable songs from the past like Aitakatta or Skirt, Hirari. The new (at the time) Team A, K and B stage albums were also released around this time, giving me my very first look at the whole theater stage concept that AKB48 was born from.

Early 2010 also saw the release of AKB48's first drama series, Majisuka Gakuen. I would never have watched the series later on, and consequently most of AKB48's members for that matter, if it weren't for a special little coupling track on Ponytail to Shushu titled "Majijo Teppen Blues". Being the curious little bugger I usually am, I wanted to figure out who was speaking what (spoken) line and match them with its official accompanying PV. Thus I did, but I wanted more. So a few months later, I watched the series in full. It was your typical idol drama, but (as I haven't been exposed to these sorts of drama before) I didn't know nor care. It was fairly entertaining but more importantly, I became more familiar with members, the little references to AKB48 archetypes and the whole world of AKB48 in general. It was also near the time of the 2010 senbatsu election, too, which provided me an opportunity to learn about more new members I might have previously not known about (mainly AKB48 ones). Propelled by my new desire to learn more about the members, this was when I started following and watching AKBINGO! nearly every single week.

All these factors helped me to learn more about AKB48, its different relationships with sub-units (which soon hit home thanks to No Sleeves' releases - Lie, in particular - during this period) and so forth , the result of which got me slowly deeper into the fandom itself. The release of both Heavy Rotation and Beginner, both of which I extremely liked, pretty much locked me in for the long haul. But what about the rest of my other, non-48 interests? Unfortunately, Perfume's 2010 releases were rather weak in comparison, providing AKB48 an opportunity to grab more of my attention. It also affected my (anime) otaku time commitments, as I was gradually (but not completely) losing interest in the anime industry. My other music interests (Japanese or otherwise) were kept relatively intact though, given how interconnected AKB48 are with the rest of the Japanese music and entertainment industry.

2010: My First Oshimen; Manatsu's Stare

Despite having a particular interest in a few members - namely Miichan, Sae and Akicha, as previously mentioned - I did not think of them as my "oshimen". Soon enough, however, I managed to find one. But not immediately.

Now previously, I was being rather critical of Watarirouka Hashiritai's songs. Then Akkanbe Bashi came along. As you would have guessed, I'm a sucker for musical styles that are different from the norm, so it would be no surprise that I actually found Akkanbe Bashi to be an enjoyable release. The subsequent release of Seishun no Flag didn't change too much of my slowly shifting opinion. Gyu, on the other hand, changed my opinions of one member in particular.

As previously mentioned above, the first time I saw Mayuyu, I immediately wrote her off as "plastic" and derivative. Come Gyu, though, not only was I hooked with the cutesy vibe of the song proper, but it was (arguably) instrumental in helping me redefine how I perceived Mayuyu. To put it shortly and bluntly: she was adorably cute - especially (I must admit on public record) those bed scenes. Not only Mayuyu, but my perception of the whole group rose favorably (especially Nakagawa Haruka (i.e. "(ex-)Harugon") and Ota Aika ("Rabutan")). After discovering that she was an otaku too Mayuyu, in my mind, evolved from merely being written off as "plastic" to one embraced as a "cute CG". Thus she became my first official AKB48 "oshimen". Moreover, I soon found out about the so-called "MaYuki" pairings, motivated originally by this particular photo. Naturally, Kashiwagi Yuki ("Yukirin") also came into the picture and, after being "informed" of her black character (and relative age/DOB closeness), she gained my approval too. But below Mayuyu of course.

Towards the fourth quarter of 2010, SKE48 released their new single, 1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku!. I had never really cared for SKE48 beforehand (see above); Gomen ne, SUMMER never really changed that opinion. Once this was released though, I credit it for exposing me to the SKE48 that it really was (and is now): a dynamic, energetic and fun sister group to AKB48 - all that neatly demonstrated in 1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku!, both the song and PV. Although I must acknowledge part of that reason was due to me tinkering around with H.264 video encoding an MPEG-2 version of the MV, and this shot of Mukaida Manatsu staring curiously blankly at my face kept popping up. Another part of the reason came from one of its couplings: TWO ROSES. Its MV was strange, sometimes creepy but altogether fashionista quirky but alas, as it was mind-screwing material, it got me curiously hooked. 

Just like Majisuka Gakuen did for me and AKB48's members, so too did Mousou Deka's broadcast for me and SKE48's members. Before, I only really knew of (Matsui) Jurina and Rena - I knew a few other members names/faces thanks to the 1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku! MV, however. Now, I could expand my understanding of the major SKE48 members beyond just the few that showed up directly on the 1! 2! 3! 4! MV. That, and SKE48's successive releases the following year also set me up for the long-run in following SKE48. 

2011-current: The Fandom, proper

2011 was a year of firsts for me in the fandom. It was the year that I made my very first (albeit AKB48-only) ranking. What did it look like? Just to give you the top 7 due to length:

1. Mayuyu 2. Yukirin 3. Sae 4. Akicha 5. Takahashi Minami ("Takamina") 6. Oshima Yuko 7. Miichan

(just for reference, compare the above with now - as of Oct. 2012:)

1. Mayuyu 2. Suda Akari ("Akarin") 3. Yukirin 4. Takamina 5. Yuko 6. Watanabe Miyuki ("Mirukii") 7. Rena

That ranking has evolved over the years, as you'd expect, with the additions and deletions of members from my top tiers. One thing that has stayed constant though: Mayuyu has always been #1, straight. 

Thanks to a Jetstar 2-for-1 Japan sale promotion, I was also fortunate enough to be able to visit Japan (a few months after 3/11). Unfortunately, I didn't know much about purchasing -48-related goods, visiting the theater and so forth. However, I happened to be "lurking" around at a particular AKB48 fan forum that time, since the latter half of 2010. Taking the brave step as I usually don't, I decided to register myself early in April 2011 and started posting, asking questions to more experienced forum members. That was the starting point for me actually getting into the fandom, and meeting like-minded (for the most part) fans along the way - both virtually and even in real life. 

From there, well, it's pretty much current history. Engaging with the entire AKB48 fandom has benefited me greatly in terms of knowledge and experience, something that still very much continues today as I'm writing this. Although I have effectively almost (but not completely - members like Mayuyu and Furukawa Airi will make sure of that) traded my identity (and time) as an anime otaku for an AKB48 "wota" one, I haven't given up on mainstream J-pop - I still highly regard Nakata Yasutaka (of Perfume, capsule fame) for example - and trance has not left my radar. 

Becoming an AKB48 fan was a long and eccentric journey, but here I am now for the long-haul. I have managed to come from my humble beginnings watching Toonami, all the way to learning Japanese just so I can express my gratitude and admiration to Akarin my oshimen (next year, I hope). Although Maeda Atsuko has left, I still have much left to do in the fandom before I can even call it quits.

Cheers for the future!

Addendum: The Story of the Fisher(wo)man

Some of the more seasoned readers, especially those who know me beyond the confines of this blog, will probably be left wondering: how the heck did I end up starting to have a feverish (some might say "shallow", but I will refute this 100%) liking and interest for my current #2, Suda Akari (Akairn)?

Let's start from the beginning when I was first introduced to this person - Mousou Deka, back in 2011. Presented as the slightly creepy perpetually smiling nun, I never admittedly caught on to her at first. After all, why bother when I have a "twin sister" in the form of Rena? The rankings show too: Akarin always laid in the #50s-#60s region, which was pretty much a "mild to no interest" at the time.

So why the sudden shift to the state now? Actually, it was only during the start of this year that I was (re-) introduced to her by a fellow "sweet-tasting legume's" fan's avatar. She looked cute, so I went to find out who this person was. Suddenly, I had the realisation and immediately became hooked: as much as it is slightly embarrassing to say this, she was, quite frankly, my (near-) perfect ideal of a girlfriend. Since childhood. And now I've (metaphorically-speaking of course, as it is always the case in idol fandom) found her. Yes, she's the biggest fisher (to be exact, 釣り) and cam-woman in the whole -48 family, but I don't really care. Not when she's this pretty, cute, energetic, perky, on the ball and normal. Thus began her meteoric rise from ~#60 to my current #2.

It must be made clear that no, she will not be replacing Mayuyu (at least I hope that doesn't happen over time). Nevertheless, she has a well deserved, special place in my -48 story.