I think it deserve its own thread if international fans can also participate. If international fans can't participate, then I think talking about it here is enough.
I agree that Chapter 1 closed in 2011 but I would say the Golden Age is Iiwake Maybe to Kokoro no Placard (so the Golden Age sort of like overlaps between the two chapters). 2014 is where shit started with Ricchan getting attacked by a crazy, Milky tanking and getting ignored, Annin and Yuria being in senbatsu for absolutely no reason while goddess Renacchi still getting ignored, Sakura total domination, Fuuchan being replaced with Miru, Paruru and her lack of fks to give, AKS' unhealthy obsession with Takamina etc. I think Chapter 3 started in 2016 with Tsubasa wa Iranai where things started to pick up with Mion but it was still like an awkward experimental phase where Mayuyu just kept losing to Sasshi and everyone even new gen just kept leaving but I think we're back on track now with Nana making LGBTQDFSDGS history as center of AKB.
This: https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2104382/full/ Anounced during RH. To sum up: they are going to test the members (from Japan and oversea) knowledge about 48g Top 16 will form a new unit.
Chapter 1: 2005-2012 (Chapter 1 ended after Acchan Graduated) Chapter 2: 2012-2016 (Chapter 2 ended after Takamina Graduated) Chapter 3: 2016- Present (Chapter 3 will end when Yuihan Graduates) How I've always seen it.
Thoughts about AKB's draft results Overall, I think Team B picked fantastic members, and good for the Team B fans for branching out to not just members who picked B as their first choice. Ootake Hitomi and Oomori Maho were two of my favorites, and if NGT wasn't going to take them I'm really glad someone did. Kitagawa Yuri was also adorable, and I think Saito Haruna was a strong candidate as well. It's a shame they lost Moeka, but I think they've done fine without her. I also think K did pretty well. They got Moeka, sure, but Katsumata Shiori and Nagano Megumi were also strong picks. Kobayashi Ran is very cute too. Not sure if I personally would have gone with Okada Rina though. I'm not that excited about any of the Team A or Team 4 girls really. Maybe Tada Kyouka is a bit interesting. Too bad about losing Watanabe Akari to H.
Chapter 1: The Obscure Days (2006-2008) Chapter 2: The Growth (2008-2009) Chapter 3: The Golden Age (2010-2012) Chapter 4: The Scars Of Acchan's Departure (2013-2014) (Constantly trying to push members to fullfill the space acchan left without seeing the success they wanted to) Chapter 5: The Chaos (2015-2016) Chapter 6: The New AKB48 (2017-today)
^2013 was the year with the crazy five dome tour and when KFC came out, but I would still view the success of that year as riding the wave of all the success and public recognition they gained from the previous few years. The singles of that year outside of KFC had little impact and they moved from the classical sembatsu format towards the "sembatsu being for the aces of each sister group and some pushes" format I think in 2014 they really tried for an overhaul with that huge shuffle and with the "bringing the grads back" trick for the first time for Kibouteki Refrain. Honestly, I liked being a fan in that time because it seemed like mgmt was trying really hard to keep AKB relevant with unique concepts (I mean Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai, come on) but given how that failed to make AKB "cool" again, they gradually moved more to placating the more conventional idol fans who like cutesy young (normal) idol types, while concepts that catch general public's attention are going to Keyakizaka (lol TT) So given that, plus I find it boring to sum things ONLY up to OG sembatsu members graduating, I would divide the eras: 1) Early era: 2005-2008 AKB was still finding its way, there is a larger range in terms of the "genre" of idols that are casted, focus on the theatre and (amazing) theatre programs 2) Peak/Golden era: 2009-2012 All the iconic AKB songs are from this era, the classic sembatsu is more less associated with this era. 3) Reconstruction/chaos era 2013 - 2015 Honestly I think by this time AKB started relying more on making controversies to be relevant. Minegishi shaves her head, Sasshi wins (after coming back from her scandal), in 2014 they do a massive shuffle with a million kennins (think Oprah "YOU get a kennin! YOU get a kennin! and YOU get a-") that widely pisses a lot of people off but also makes for neat drama and some degree of regeneration; they bring back grads for Kibouteki Refrain and I think you could stretch it up until kimi wa melody when they tried to get public attention again with grads (technically early 2016 but yeah) but yeah. 3) Naachan becomes an LGBTQPIAAH2 icon: 2016- current I think self-explanatory, this is the era when feminists like Riripon and Naachan save AKB. Jokes aside idk, I think it's an actual regeneration coinciding with TKMN grad, basically all the OG sembatsu are gone now. New sister group started and more foreign groups announced, Aki-P even has the influence to make the concept for the next season of a popular MNET show whose thread is currently annoying the shit out of everyone- the franchise is doing fine.
I don't want to be a downer... but I feel like it might be a bit of wishful thinking to say that we are in a "regeneration" era. I kind of feel like it's still a bit "chaos". Like they're still throwing things at the wall to see what sticks in terms of member pushes with girls getting pushed to the front and then pretty much dropped completely, so many foreign "sister groups", this whole "fan vote" draft with the technology problems, consistently HUGE senbatsu for singles and pretty mediocre singles (I'm not sure I see any main group single from 2017 achieving "classic" status, maybe Sukinanda?), last year's sousenkyo disaster, etc... Also, I wouldn't divide the eras by years. Like, I'd say the "Golden Era" probably started with Oogoe Diamond (October 2008) and went until Acchan's graduation (August 2012)
^I would agree with Oogoe Diamond too, the year boundaries are a little more arbitrary and fluid in my mind in that just like KwM as an early 2016 release would fit into the I have of the "era" ending in 2015, Oogoe as a late 2008 release is actually in my mind a bit when I think of the "golden era" And I tried to use neutral factors for observing whether something is regenerating, like whether a larger proportion of sembatsu are "new" in terms of when they entered the group, and how much they are expanding (and successfully, NGT48) Just because, according to science, fans have a high likelihood of having a "feeling" that everything is crap and not up to expectations at that very moment (ofc that whole post was purely based on my perspective as well but u get the drift)
I agree with what you wrote about Team B and Team K. I haven't been that interested in Team B so far (my least fave of the 4 main teams), but the new members have a lot of potential, so I'm curious to see what they do with them! I do really like Honda Sora (chosen by Team A). Now, I don't know what her SR is like since I didn't watch it, or even her personality in general. But I like her looks and performance. I think she fits Team A's "beautiful" image well. Also, I think Team 4 got some cute girls, but I really don't know much more about them other than looks. But yeah, to be honest, I don't know what fans were thinking choosing Okada Rina for K and Kuramoto Miyu for 4 over some other girls. There were many girls with better visuals, and also better performance left. I don't hate these girls, I just think it's a shame to get those instead of someone better. But oh well, I didn't participate in the vote myself, so I can't complain. Maybe they saw something in the girls that I'm not seeing yet and they'll surprise me later or something.
They uploaded this in the official YT channel: I think it's a video that anounce the next election location will be choosed by fans if the video does not show watch the video here
Brilliant! "Conditions: Must have a venue that can fit tens of thousands of guests Must have transit and lodging which can cater for tens of thousands of guests Must have a roof "