55 replies to this topic

[MrMojo]

Hello!

Just thinking...

I recently started listening to AKB48 because I happened to find "Majisuka Gakuen" and thought the series was weird yet funny.
I did not know who the girls were but noticed that the songs were sung by the group, AKB48, and did more research and found out more about them, hence how I found this forum.

I'm >30 so I guess I'm an "older" yet newer fan of the group
Guess I found out a little late but that's OK!
I like the songs and the girls and actually bought some of their CDs!

I'm staying with the group esp. since my faves are Mariko Shinoda and Yuko Oshima
Sad to think that they'll probably graduate soon considering their age but let's all hope fans keep voting for them so they'll stay longer!

BTW... I also follow Scandal and Yui

If you don't mind me asking...
How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans?
How did you start listening to AKB48?
How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band?
Do you like other Jpop bands/artists?

For now, let's all enjoy the music and the girls

[hidey246]

well for a starr, Im in mid 20s,
and Im starting to like akb bout 1 years ago.
Basically, akb were the only one japanese song I listen to, now.
yes, I used to like jpop back in the days, with HP as the main ingredients.

But Im not really into music anymore.
I just listen to akb and some folk and ballad songs from Europe.

And Ill follow akb to the point that their song were enjoyable. I dont mind the member change, altho I have one or two girls that I fond of.

[Masuku]

MrMojo, you ended up to an Hello! Project based forum, so do you like Morning Musume? Or is there other big idol groups that you like alongside akb48? Or are you compeletely new to j-pop?

However, welcome to the forums! Even though, I would suggest you to take a look at stage48.com as they are AKB48 based forum and have their own wiki page and lots and lots of information and pictures of the group shared on the forums.
I like hello! online forums a lot and i've spent already few years here but I became an akb48 fan during last summer and i'm now spending time on the stage48 aswell, even if i'm super glad that h!o has a akb48 section. Just that people are not THAT active over here.

Oshima Yuko is also my number one of the group! so, high5 !!
Btw, which CDs did you purchase ?

And don't consider yourself as an oldie fan I think majority of the fans over here and in japan too are in your age. i would say that 18yo girl (like me...) is more weird case. Akb48 is enough popular though that they have plenty of female fans, unlike MM (am i right?).
Besides I think we have an 60+ dude around the forums who worships Sayumi Michishige (though i saw his posts in the thread like 2years ago so idk if he is still around lol)

[hidey246]

MrMojo, you ended up to an Hello! Project based forum, so do you like Morning Musume? Or is there other big idol groups that you like alongside akb48? Or are you compeletely new to j-pop?

However, welcome to the forums! Even though, I would suggest you to take a look at stage48.com as they are AKB48 based forum and have their own wiki page and lots and lots of information and pictures of the group shared on the forums.
I like hello! online forums a lot and i've spent already few years here but I became an akb48 fan during last summer and i'm now spending time on the stage48 aswell, even if i'm super glad that h!o has a akb48 section. Just that people are not THAT active over here.

Oshima Yuko is also my number one of the group! so, high5 !!
Btw, which CDs did you purchase ?

And don't consider yourself as an oldie fan I think majority of the fans over here and in japan too are in your age. i would say that 18yo girl (like me...) is more weird case. Akb48 is enough popular though that they have plenty of female fans, unlike MM (am i right?).
Besides I think we have an 60+ dude around the forums who worships Sayumi Michishige (though i saw his posts in the thread like 2years ago so idk if he is still around lol)

you dont answer his question lass

And I feel that lot of idol fans, not only HP fans, "ended" up in here, seeing how the tracker's going.
And I reckon that, when one's googling "AKB48 [insert specific title here]", 90% youll ended up here

[Azul]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans? I was seventeen in May past
How did you start listening to AKB48? A friend showed me the Aitakatta and BINGO! PVs in 2007. I have listened to them casually ever since but it's only this year I've been really properly taking an interest in the girls etc.
How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band? As long as they keep releasing singles and stages I enjoy, I guess
Do you like other Jpop bands/artists? I do indeed. I love H!P (of course), singer-songwriters like Hikki, Yui, Angela Aki, pop like Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki, a huuge ton of j-rock and j-Tek as well

[Danseryu]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans?
I be's in mid 20's.

How did you start listening to AKB48?
It was the exposure from the bashing on them on forums, I decided to see what's so bad about them. I officially started to see the charm of them when they did a live on CDTV year end special (I was mainly watching cause EXILE hosted it, and totally saw one of the members turn Wota.)

How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band?
I'll follow them as long as they're still fun, cause idols are meant to be fun. The moment they sorta turn "shallow" / conceited is the moment I'll be out though.

Do you like other Jpop bands/artists?
Some artists I like, I originally got into Jpop through Ayumi Hamasaki / CHEMISTRY / Mr.Children. After they both got bland, I found EXILE who were more versatile and highly entertaining, imo. I also like Nishino Kana, JAY'ED, LOVE (girl duo) & DREAM (6member girl group), Namie Amuro, and some JRock artists (Really into them back in 2000, such as Dir En Grey, Kagrra, Malice Mizer, Pierrot, Siam Shade.)

[Masuku]

you dont answer his question lass

I did answer in them within the context, BUT, more than that I wanted to give him a tiny guide u_u as he seemed like a new fan who might appreciate the info (at least i would have)

but here goes:

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans? I'm 18
How did you start listening to AKB48? I had kept on ignoring and ignoring them until Koharu was kicked out from MM and I got bored of my very favorite group. The huge sales of Ponytail to Shushu made me give them a chance, so i listened the song and actually liked it a lot. But not until I saw Heavy Rotation PV (which imo was super cute) I picked my oshimen of the group.
How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band? Until my favorite members are gone. At least that happend with MM.
Do you like other Jpop bands/artists? I do. It's another story and i'm too laxy to type. however, capsule, shiina ringo and koda kumi are my top favorites.

[greah]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans?
26

How did you start listening to AKB48?
my first track was 大声ダイヤモンド but to be honest I don't remember how or where I found link to this clip on YT
before that I heard this or that about them but since most of the info was from HP fans it was (mostly) "facts" like the're 14 y.o girls singin about suicide, incest, rape and some other weird sh*t

How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band?
I don't know. I was a big MoMusu fan for about 5 years but after KT everything started to becme more and more dull, cheesy and kitschy.
So maybe the anwer is - as long as they can surprise me.

Do you like other Jpop bands/artists?
Nope. I'm listening to japanese music but I don't like their pop and visual rock (and variations about it).

[Luigi ★]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans? Im 14, and i know that alot of fans in Japan are very young'(mostly teens) but as most groups they have fans at every age, atleast when they are as popular as akb is, so i say anything from 10-50? It hard to know~
How did you start listening to AKB48?
hm, i dont really remember, but i stumbled over the pv for "RIVER" and liked what i saw
How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band?
hmm, when they stop releasing good songs, probably.
Do you like other Jpop bands/artists? I like alot of jpop artists, but h!p, johnnys, Perfume & Utada Hikaru are the ones i listen to most right now ^^,

[Haruna Ogata (Real)]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans?
16, going on 17.

How did you start listening to AKB48?
Some day ago. Sakura no Shiori and Gyaruchin(Tomochin is it?) I like.

How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band?
Well, I just started. I really only felt strongly for the ones I listed.
I'll do keep checking updates and see if they'll release more good stuff, there's potential.

Do you like other Jpop bands/artists?
Sure, I like: Rurutia, Wakeshima Kanon, (love) Hello!Project, SPEED, Hinoi TEAM, m.o.v.e, capsule, Perfume, Pizzicato Five, Buffalo Daughter, YMCK, Sonicberry Flavour....
You get the general idea.
My taste in music is however generally more Daikanyama/Shibuya-centric than Akihabara or Harajuku.

[taskinist]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans? I'm 16.
How did you start listening to AKB48? I started following them around when Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka? came out in 2007.
How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band? HOPEFULLY FOREVER
Do you like other Jpop bands/artists? A lot. Perfume, capsule, H!P, I can hardly begin to list them all... AKB is my main fandom though.

[moletonttu]

I'm 23. The way I fell in love is pretty funny: I was just searching youtube one day for funny clips from japanese shows and ran across a couple of episodes of AKBingo. To my surprise I was able to understand much of the content although I had been studying japanese for only 3 years. I liked the show and loved the girls because they were so funny so I kept watching all the episodes, skipping all the song performances because the music sounded so fake and too happy for me. After watching a lot of episodes the songs were literally forced into my head and I realized they're not actually that bad. Then I found the best stage songs and there was no turning back.

Now I've imported every single and album they've released (even subgroups and spinoffs). Guess I fell victim to the marketing machine But I'm proud I did.

That was during the beginning of 2009 so it's really been a joy to watch their rise to success (even though I'm pretty sure I'll never get to see them now). I don't know what it'll take to stop me from following them, I guess even if Takamina graduated I'd still keep following. The worst scenario would be that they fall in to the same patterns and become predictable, then it'll become boring to be a fan.

Also: if I had searched for funny japanese clips a couple of weeks later, the akbingo episodes would have been already taken down because of copyrighting issues and I probably would have never even taken a look at AKB. Scary

[Blu-Cherri]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans? I am 19
How did you start listening to AKB48?I saw aitakatta from music station on the tracker and slowly looked into them. Was a proper fan at around seifuku and then dropped interest around babyx3 and refound it when they came to japan expo in paris<3
How long do you think you'll continue to follow the group? For the foreseeable future
Do you like other Jpop bands/artists? yeas, Momoiro Clover and some H!P groups(mainly buono and I do like MM but I don't really like their recent releases and the group direction worries me)


@wendychi, I thought you were like my age

[taskinist]

^ OH THANKS 8DD I get that pretty often I guess. Or well, on the internet. I get mistaken for a 12-year-old in real life =____=

[Max the Man]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans? I'm 18

How did you start listening to AKB48? I think I heard about them around the same time as Wendy, so late 2007. Watched the PV for Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru sometime in late 2007

How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band? As long as possible I won't let the possibility of my oshimen graduating change my stance on the group, so i'll follow them for as long as they're around

Do you like other Jpop bands/artists? I listen to H!P obv (that's why i'm here =/) but I also listen to MomoClo, capsule, Perfume, Ikimono Gakari, Otsuka Ai, Koda Kumi, Wakeshima Kanon, assorted Kpop groups and pretty much anything else you can think of lol.even though I'm a 'wota' for AKB, i don't let that limit what i listen to. AKB is definitely my main interest at this point though.

[mayuyued]

my first exposure to this grp was aitakatta was searching randomly on websites for jpop songs... then i kinda refound my love for this group after iiwake maybe! so probably a real fan from iiwake maybe.
currently 16 y-o.
and i will love and support this group all the way till its end. hopefully my oshimen graduating will leave me wanting more of akb48 and ske48

haha other than
AKB48 i like SKE48 as well i kinda listen to Mano erina as well (real sweet voice) and yui aragaki. Another group i listen to would be the gazette (V-kei) and recently rhythmic

[Tyzer]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans?
13 going on 14 next February, I'm pretty young

How did you start listening to AKB48?
I started in April or May this year. I listened to Oogoe Diamond and Aitakatta. Then became a fan just about 2 weeks ago

How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band?
I have no idea, depends if they keep on releasing singles that appeal to me.

Do you like other Jpop bands/artists?
H!P (of course), Ayumi Hamasaki, Perfume, Hinouchi Emi, NEWS, FUDANJUKU and some others I can't remember.

[itsmiina]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans?
I am 17, going on 18 in November.

How did you start listening to AKB48?
I started listening to their songs since 'Baby! Baby! Baby!' but I never really got into the group/knew any of the members until late last year.
I ventured into the AKB section (thread at that time) and Krusha gave me a couple of links so I could learn more about the girls. I think it's been about a year since then.

How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band?
... who knows? If my oshimen, Takamina, were to graduate (knocks on wood, knocks on wood, knocks on wood), I would probably focus a lot less on AKB but I wouldn't completely stop following the group.

Do you like other Jpop bands/artists?
I like idols. So... pretty much all of H!P and JE (avid Johnnys fan). I also like artists like Nishino Kana, Utada Hikaru, Hamasaki Ayumi, Amuro Namie, Fukuyama Masaharu, ayaka, Nakashima Mika, & YUI and other groups like AAA, ORANGE RANGE, GreeeeN, D-51, & perfume.

[Tukiwuki]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans? <20
How did you start listening to AKB48? I saw Aitakatta on youtube and started watching more videos
How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band? Until they get boring
Do you like other Jpop bands/artists? Kana Nishino, Perfume, others... lol

[digitalclone]

How old are some forum members/AKB48 fans? I'm 27 years old.
How did you start listening to AKB48? I found out about them through Kokoro no Hane from Dragon Ball Kai.
How long do you think you'll continue to follow the band? As long as I can find someone interesting to focus on.
Do you like other Jpop bands/artists? Yes. I like Morning musume, Move, and Tommy February6.