10240 replies to this topic

[Tony Oguri]

You guys are pretty deep thinkers.

Was going to post something else. But maybe it'd be better in a blog and more generic. But one thing for sure, AKB48 is functioning as it should and it's reason for existence is not to be "pedo-bait".

[finch]

FWIW, over half of AKB48 is 18 or older.
12 of the 20 team A members, and 7 of the 16 team K members.

[Tony Oguri]

FWIW, 12 of the 20 team A members are 18 or older, as are 7 of the 16 team K members.

You seem to know what's going on. Wrote a PM to you but decides not to send it. Everything is pretty cool.

And Hey! You got a Birthday coming up soon! Who do you want? Atsuko? Hitomi? Or maybe Haruna? **just kidding**

[gaijin_mmlove]

The Rose and Lily team things need to speed up with the progress~! AKB48 is a lot more interesting than I thought before, especially with the messages behind their songs.
@eye2: (quoting myself)

The last two videos I saw by AKB48 were pretty gritty--they get right down to the horrors of teenagers lives and high school and what not so I suppose high school girls are a target as well and plenty of them go to the daily shows

Sorry if you were offended by the sales comment, but I do know that they're a very commercialized group and even without CD sales, they have plenty of high selling indie singles, anime endings and not to mention the daily shows under their belt. Like H!P artists, they appeal to more than just a musical crowd.

[Tony Oguri]

One thing for sure is that it's great to see an AKB48 thread here. It's been a long time in coming. It's so obvious I thought it was verboten. NO AKB48 on the H!P / H!O website.

99% of the folks that like Morning Musume will dig AKB48 too.

[Nessy]

OMG. I just keep getting shocked....more suggestiveness
oh wow.....
Those aren't from their photobooks, but I'm pretty sure they're real...

The first one looks real to me...the second one...not so much...but I wouldn't be too surprised if it was.

Part of the reason why I love Morning Musume more than AKB48 is that Momusu grabs at my heart strings and appeals to me emotionally, as a set of best friends who just happen to actually live in Japan and just happen to actually be national idols that I don't actually know personally. AKB48 is more a source of fascination. I kind of just want to study them. (Well, and listen to their awesome songs.) (Also, my mother said something to the same effect--"those girls you showed me last night looked so angry! The Morning Mitsumi [I don't get how she can possibly still think that they're called that, I say the word "Musume" at least fifty times a day, half of the time just to correct her] girls always have such a nice and friendly feel! They look happy to perform! Those other ones looked bored!" "Ma, I think it was just the tone they were going for for that particular song..." "Well, whatever! Morning Mitsumi makes me happy! Those girls didn't make me anything!" [PS--she changed her tune upon hearing Aitakatta & promptly asked me to burn it on a CD for her. Whoo!])

Anyway...I think it is because I am not actually sexually attracted to girls and don't get really shocked or anything by almost any kind of sexiness (even when it's presented by small girls--I dunno--as a still comparitively small girl myself, it just doesn't bother me) that I just find this type of somewhat pervese--I mean, it's basically lolicon--sexuality intensely and endlessly fascinating. Especially when it's socially accepted. It's really appealing to me, kind of in the same way a particularly nicely drawn triangle is appealing to someone who's really into geometry. I don't know if their sole purpose is to be "pedo-bait" or not, and I don't really care, because that doesn't affect my deep and intense interest in how they're presented. The why doesn't really concern me. The how (as in, how the public reacts) does. Morning Musume occasionally fascinates me in a similar way, but...hardly to the extent that AKB48 does. Just as AKB48 can appeal to me emotionally...just...not nearly as much as Momusu does. So while I do love Morning Musume more...I am more intellectually interested in AKB48.


(Reading over that again, there's something embarassing about how many times I used the word "fascinates" or "fascinated" u_u; )

[Mimi_girl]

NEW SINGLE PV

Finally some of the quiet girls are singing =). The song is okay, but I wish they quit wearing the school uniforms in ever PV.

[gaijin_mmlove]

Ack! That video was sad!
Anyways, I agree with you completely Nessy. I know a lot about Morning Musume and I love their music and their appeal. I was skeptical about AKB48 at first because--being the Morning fan I am--thought they were just a rip-off but that's not the case. AKB48 are completely different, and are more.....I don't know....mysterious than MM? It's a bit confusing, but even after I found that photoshoot I was still super interested in AKB, if not more than I was before. I don't feel any kind of emotional attachment to them (maybe that'll come later?) like I feel with MM. I feel like their just really entertaining and keep you on your toes.
I'm not sexually attracted to girls, but when I came into JPop culture, I was surprised by the 'gravure idols', sometimes 12 and younger. It shocked me and still does but I guess that's just something about the culture I'll have to get used to.

[xyish]

Finally an AKB thread!
Time to spam! o_O

Do you know where I can find more of their videos (maybe subtitled?) I'm kinda new to the AKB48 scene.

Try Stage6.
I actually have an AKB channel there and have tonnes (okay, I exaggerate) of videos to upload.
Just search for AKB48.
Also, Youtube recently has seen quite a great increase in AKB videos.

I like them (bought their single Aitakatta).

But it's not the same as Morning Musume. I still don't understand the thing with Team A - K and why they're only 20 and not 48. It's some more difficult to overview than in H!P. And they're not as cute as the girls in H!P; i just can't help myself. They make very good music but i cannot see them as idols as i see the girls in H!P. Maybe this will change someday, let's be sursprised. Someone knows about their rules compared to H!P (smoking, drinking, boyfriend)?

Maybe someone could update the 1st post with release info, etc.?

20? Currently there are 16 in Team A and Team K each, while Team B was recently announced in Playboy weekly. The new team includes 3 members originally from Team A.

I could do the release info and news stuff, but there's a lot of cleaning up to do. I can't just copy-paste my posts from other forums.

OMG. I just keep getting shocked....more suggestiveness
oh wow.....
Those aren't from their photobooks, but I'm pretty sure they're real...

The first one looks real to me...the second one...not so much...but I wouldn't be too surprised if it was.

The second one?
I can assure you, that's absolutely real. It's a bonus sent in with the photobooks, and there are a few variations.
Seems like that one is one of the more highly-sought after ones... for obvious reasons.
There are two pics in the photobook similar to this, but Takahashi Minami is also inside that... shirt.
The most ridiculous thing here is that on the second pic, Maeda is written as Maeno (前野).

[Sev]

Who do you want? Atsuko? Hitomi? Or maybe Haruna? **just kidding**

HARUNA IS MINE!!!1

The song is okay, but I wish they quit wearing the school uniforms in ever PV.

I strongly disagree, the song is great and I love the seifuku's. That is actually one of the bestest things with AKB. Anytime you wanna see seifuku's and especially Haruna in one, it's as simple as putting on any AKB PV of choice.

[xyish]

Who do you want? Atsuko? Hitomi? Or maybe Haruna? **just kidding**

HARUNA IS MINE!!!1

AND MAEDA IS MIIINNNEEEEE!!!1!!eleven!!!

...Ain't got much of a choice left, do we? xDDD

Seifuku's for 4 PVs in a row is a little too much. I wanna see other outfits.
Not as if they haven't nice ones for their theater performaces,

[Sev]

Nah, I can live with seifuku's in 4pv's in a row.

Their theater performances are awsome. But I was like when they performed Skirt Hirari in t-shirts and jeans. That was weird.

[xyish]

Nah, I can live with seifuku's in 4pv's in a row.

Their theater performances are awsome. But I was like when they performed Skirt Hirari in t-shirts and jeans. That was weird.

Haha, that's only for encore!
But the jean skirts are pretty short too



Here are scans of Weekly Playboy... with TEAM B:


Ono, are those by any chance chopsticks?

OMG the ever-changing nicknames!

Shiho, where's your tie? And is that a man?
(actually it's Inoue Naru, but her hair is much shorter than before)




TEAM B

[Selected candidates]
Inoue Naru
Kashiwagi Yuki
Katayama Haruka
Kikuchi Ayaka
Matsuoka Yuki
Nakagawa Haruka
Nakaya Sayaka
Noguchi Reina
Ota Aika
Saotome Miki
Tanabe Miku
Watanabe Mayu
Yonezawa Rumi

["Migrated"]
Hirajima Natsumi
Urano Kazumi
Watanabe Shiho

[Those that didn't make the cut]
Fujishima Mariachika
Horie Mina
Iso Reina
Otsuka Aki
Sakata Ryo

Shiho about talked the shift in some of her MCs, and even cried. o_O

[Tony Oguri]

Question:

In the Team A Stage 2 concert disc of the Starter Kit, that's Atsuko in the yellow outfit singing the Cherry song, right? She's gotta be just about the prettiest girl in the world.

[xyish]

Question:

In the Team A Stage 2 concert disc of the Starter Kit, that's Atsuko in the yellow outfit singing the Cherry song, right? She's gotta be just about the prettiest girl in the world.

Yep, that's Maeda Atsuko. Prettiest girl in the world? I don't know about that but damn, she is prettay.
AND SHE'S MIINNNEEEE!!11!!!one!1!!

Anyways, here's news about a new film they're involved in..

「伝染歌」松竹サイト



SANSPO article on "Densen Uta"

Coming in August, and stars Matsuda Ryuhei...

Anyways, here are some screens I took:




Oshima Yuko / Kojima Haruna / Ono Erena / Noro Kayo / Minegishi Minami / Kasai Tomomi fans rejoice!
Though Yuko seems to be taking a bigger role considering she's doing the song "Boku no hana" for the film

Quoted myself from another board because I'm too lazy to retype.

[Tony Oguri]

but I wish they quit wearing the school uniforms in ever PV.

The school girl uniforms (with a little shorter skirt than it should be) are super cool. Sometimes the girls will where hip looking PVC outfits as if from the 60's. Other times they have on that nice looking AKB48 kimono. And yet other times they wear jeans and t-shirts. But the school girl outfits are the best along with the grey/red one piece dress. Oh... watching Bird right now and also reminds us that on occasion they will wear "costumes" to fit the particular song (like in Bird, the gold coin outfit, and the extra cool black leather gear).

[Kishimoto Erika]

I learned about AKB48 last September when I saw their Skirts, Hirai PV. (Or something like that. . .)

Ono Erena grew on me really quickly. I like them a lot, and the concept is a unique one, what with them being so similar to H!P, yet so different at the same time.

What I like most is the outfits in the PVs, I guess. They always look so cute. (Plus, their songs are really catchy.)

[xyish]

I learned about AKB48 last September when I saw their Skirts, Hirai PV. (Or something like that. . .)

Ono Erena grew on me really quickly. I like them a lot, and the concept is a unique one, what with them being so similar to H!P, yet so different at the same time.

What I like most is the outfits in the PVs, I guess. They always look so cute. (Plus, their songs are really catchy.)

Indeed, who can resist the cuteness that is Ono?

I would agree that they are very much unique and very different from H!P.
Yet I still see comments comparing them to MM or saying that they are the new rivals (well, if you consider more than a year new... though I'd have to agree that it's nothing compared to the 10 years of MM).

The outfits in the PV are nice, but I find I find their stage outfits more interesting. I'd like to see some of the less seifuku-ish outfits being used in singles PVs for once.

[Tony Oguri]

How cool~!
OMG. I just keep getting shocked....more suggestiveness
oh wow.....
Those aren't from their photobooks, but I'm pretty sure they're real...

The first one is from the Jump & Cry PhotoBook. The second picture is probably real. There's 2 similar pictures also in the Jump & Cry PB. I didn't get that one as the enclosed photo-card. But the photo-cards that come with the PB are very nice. If you like AKB48, the Jump & Cry PB is a must have.

[Sev]

I've concidered buying it on multiple occasions, but haven't got to it. One of the reasons is because I think the quality varies alot in it. I assume that comes from me being biased. I love the Haruna shots and especially the one posted recently with Haruna, Mai and the badminton racket. But there's a pretty big amount of shot's that I'm not that fond of. So buying a PB for a mere 10 shots doesn't really feel right.

I rather wait and see if they release a new Team A PB with Haruna , Mai, Maeda and the other girls. Or even better. One with Haruna, Mai, Maeda and Kobayashi specifically.