AKB101: A Newbie’s Guide to AKB – Part 1

AKB48 and its sister groups can be an intimidating part of the idol world to learn about. Sure, you may vaguely know about the group’s work, the general idea of their concept as ‘Idols you can meet’ and their top members, but with just that little bit of information it may seem really difficult to get into every nook and cranny of the idol world of groups with too many members to name in one breath.

That’s where this post comes in.  Right here, you will hopefully learn enough about AKB48 to understand the concept of the group, their history, and maybe a taste of their music–specifically some of their lesser-known gems.  Keep in mind this isn’t a pimp post. I’m not telling you that you should look into this group; this is just a guide-book to AKB48 for those of you who are willing to take the plunge.

Change is Good Part 4: AKB48

Long time no see, blog world!  Recently, with university and a few personal events I haven’t been blogging, but I still feel like I need a medium to get what I want to be said out there.  While I have forums and personal friends to tell about it, I think blogging is the easiest and most expressive way to get things out there, and I’ve recently found myself in an idol slump.

Don’t get me wrong; I really really love idols.  They are an endless source of entertainment for me and as I get better and better at Japanese I see myself watching things over again and finding them even more entertaining on the fourth or fifth watch.

While the world of idols might seem like the land of milk and honey, especially for fans of AKB48 and it’s sister groups like myself, I’ve actually found that as their popularity has gone up, I find myself more and more bored by their news and new releases.  I want some variety, and AKB just doesn’t seem to have that nowadays.  So, without further ado, here’s my first batch of opinion cookies for how I would fix AKB.

Why 2011 is turning into a good year

First off, I would like to say hello people who read this blog 8D  Thank you for reading it all through last year because i got over 4800 hits last year~ I hope to try and stay active as a blogger, but to be honest I haven’t been that inspired recently.  However, today I feel like just throwing a bunch of events and opinions into one post for today

In this post:

• 9th gen members
• Aichan graduation
• AKB48 stuff
• DANCEROiD

LET’S DANCING.

You may have heard of Aikawa Kozue.  If not, what is WRONG WITH YOU.  She’s an amazing dancer and she’s one of my favourite idols (she’s officially an idol now that she’s joined DANCEROiD lol)  She’s pretty famous in the youtube dance community for doing H!P dances, as well as other meme dances (and there used to be a cover of RIVER there too . . . it seems to have disappeared though =/ )

Well today, it seems that her career has taken an interesting turn.

More than Singles

Recently I have met more and more idol fans in person and learned about their likes and dislikes about their idols.  Meeting someone who was still very interested in Hello! Project brought back my waning interest in the veteran idol company, and as a result I’ve regained some of my opinions about the groups and sought out to listen to their music more than I had all summer.  While part of my fandom will die when JunJun graduates in December, I’ll try to keep my eye on Hello! Project and I’ll hold a candle for their 9th generation in support.

However, one thing that was surprising to me about these fans that I’ve met is their lack of knowledge about some of these group’s full discography.  I may follow groups differently, but when I get into a new group I try to listen to as much is available to me as possible, so I try to get their full discography and listen to songs that I think have interesting titles.  Over the years as a Hello! Project fan, I’ve listened to most of Morning Musume’s discography.  I’ve listened to almost all of their albums and picked some of my favourite songs from them.

Here’s a partial rant, but also a guideline about how to approach an idol group– they’re more than just singles and PVs, after all.

Seriously, Tsunku?!

Today I decided to go onto my computer to play some StarCraft II or something, to pass the time. Usually when I do this I check twitter before I do anything to see if there’s any news in the idol world. I check H!O, S48 and various other news sites. I never expected to log on and see one of the biggest bombshells that Hello! Project has dropped on fans and wota since the addition of two of the soon to be graduated members, JunJun and LinLin.  I’m in utter shock.  Graduations are always exciting, but I never imagined that my favourite Morning Musume member would be gone so soon.

Change is Good Pt 3: S/mileage and Soloists

I have already discussed what I would do if I was given control of Hello! Project, with changes to Morning Musume and the lineup of the Hello! Project Kids groups.  I mentioned giving Suzuki Airi and Natsuyaki Miyabi solo careers, along with already established soloist Mano Erina, but I never gave them any real direction.  What style music would they release on their own?  And what of S/mileage, Hello! Project’s newest unit consisting of four of the most popular of the long neglected H!P Eggs.  Here’s how I would handle them:

Change is Good Pt 2: H!P Kids

My overhaul of Hello! Project is not done with Morning Musume.  Who can forget our lovely H!P Kids?  They’ve been around about as long as the 5th generation members of Morning Musume (which is really hard to believe ._.) and they’ve been performing at concerts and in groups for almost as long.  While their groups seemed to be stable for a long time, especially after Maiha and Megumi graduated/withdrew, the rapid change in the lineup of C-ute has revealed some problems with both groups, and they need to be fixed.

Here’s what’s up:

Change is good pt 1: Morning Musume

In November 2008, I did a “Here’s how I would change H!P!!!!!” post in extremely hopeful speculation for what direction Hello! Project would take after the dead weight Elder Club was dropped from H!P graduated.  Back then, I was not 100% educated in the world of Idols (and I’m still not, but I know and understand a lot more now than I did a year and a half ago.)

So how would I change Hello! Project?

NEW Team B!

The last of the teams in AKB is kind of a cult favourite among wota–the members of the original Team B were moderately popular, but received next to no attention aside from Yukirin and Mayuyu.  The original Team B was very close and was featured with Shonichi as the number 1 song in Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2009 at Shibuya AX.

When they shuffled the Teams at the Budoukan last year, they put a mix of popular and less popular members into each team to keep them more balanced, and the pushed members of each team have been spread equally between the teams in recent stages and singles (Ponytail to ShuShu, for example, has 5 members from each team plus Jurina)

However, because Team B was so hidden from the public eye for so long, they were the most butchered.

Of the 14 members remaining in Team B at the time of the shuffle. only 3 stayed with Team B.  But now that 2 of the three teams have started their new stages with the new teams, there’s no turning back, so without further ado, here’s the new Team B!