Confession: I hated AKB48

Eight years have passed since I've entered the Anime fandom. As a kid, I grew up watching Anime through the local channels during mornings and afternoons. When we had Animax, I became a self-proclaimed Anime enthusiast.

Five years later, I became a Shugo Chara fan. Aside from the story I enjoyed and the characters (except for the main one) I came to love, the opening songs were catchy and adorable. I found out from a classmate that the songs were sung by different sub-groups of Hello! Project. As a Buono fan, she asked me to watch Buono's music videos. Unfortunately, Buono's songs were the ones I liked the least. So, it was Guardians 4 which caught my attention. That's how I came to like H!P.

I would say that the time I became a Hello! Project fan was the group's lowest point. Selling 20,000 copies for a single was considered a success for Berryz Kobo. I spent my time as a fan seeing Morning Musume singles sold around 40,000 copies each. Kimagure Princess and Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai were my favorite Morning Musume songs.  The whole group wasn't really losing money but they were better way back and better right now.

Hello! Project's not necessarily good feedback bothered me. Then, I heard of the popular idol group named AKB48 which generated a lot of hate from Kpop and Jpop fans alike. These antis said AKB48 had no talent; they sucked at singing and their dances were not synchronized. The worst I heard was that they were called  "sluts."



I don't know if being a Hello! Project fan was a factor but like many people, I hated AKB48. I hated AKB48 to the point that I began researching on them to make me hate them more.

As I was doing research, I found a video wherein AKB48 and Hello! Project collaborated for a morning show and they sang songs from Studio Ghibli films.



With the strong vocals of Takahashi Ai and Kamei Eri, as well as the whole group's dancing skills, Hello! Project undoubtedly stole the show. This compensated for my shock when I found out that AKB48's Sakura ni Shiori beat the sales of Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai, one of my favorite Morning Musume singles by a whooping 10 times. You don't know how shocked I was when I found out that AKB48 singles, at that time, were already million-sellers.

But as I dug deeper, I saw a lot of adorable things about AKB48. It's hard not to like AKB48. Kojima Haruna, in the Shoujiki Shougi segment of AKBingo, admitted that it seems fun to join Morning Musume. As a H!P fan, this was a nice thing to hear. Because of this, she instantly became my oshi.

AKB48 has a lot of variety shows which showcased the personalities of the girls. Their music videos are also a lot more entertaining compared to Hello!Project. After some time, I came to like AKB48 more than my first love.

Right now, I still do like Hello!Project but not the same way as before. I stopped buying their releases and directed my money to AKB48 because their stuff are much more worth it, content-wise. They usually release more than one music videos plus some other bonus clips and they also include bonus photos, unlike H!P at the time when I became a fan.

I know many people who have similar stories as mine. I'd say that AKB48, so far, is successful in in both bringing in and sustaining fans. Although the number of girls discourages newbies, it's just a matter of giving something a chance. And I'm glad I did.

Until now, I can't believe that I'm starting a blog dedicated for idols, (for AKB48 specifically). I've only been in the fandom 3 years yet this shows that they (H!P and AKB48 idols) have truly inspired me that much.