[GENERAL] The AKB48 Thread

Looking at the 2-shot photos in Thailand feels a bit strange indeed. Hope this virus goes away quickly

 

Coverage of AKB48 liveshow at Thai Japan Expo 2020 from Thai Hyper! web with lots of awesome photos..
https://www.thaich.net/news/20200203at.htm

 

Moving this from another thread; in your opinion, is it likely we'll see SSK this year?

 

Yes please, that’s the best part of being a 48 fan.
Like what’s the point of 48 without it, so boring.

 

It all depend on what you are looking for though.
2019 for sure was boring and kinda felt nothing but graduations and cancellations happened. Because when the management anounced there would be no sousenkyo this year, they had no backup plan.
for me, the sousenkyo isn't everything. and I'm looking forward on the upcoming event. The Tokyo dôme city hall festival was a good start, in term of "traditional" stuff, and it looks they are aiming for different things with the upcoming unit matsuri. I hope they will come up with some interesting / inovative ideas through the year. though this time I wish more than ever, either new stages need to happen or something like "so and so" produce stages with rarely performed songs. Something which puts more the teams into the light to reinforce them, and catch up on Team 8 as exemple.

 

Quick HS update is that SKE, NMB and STU events for next weekend are all now postponed. SKE is saying that the current lack of sanitary products such as masks and disinfectants in Japan is a factor in the postponement of that group's event.

 

My wallet would prefer there be no SSK this year.

 

I would mind if SSK is back this year (actually I wonder if Inapooh guy will throw 50k votes again to... nevermind). But, judged with recent coronavirus outbreak and upcoming Tokyo 2020, now I doubt if we will get SSK this year

 

Hey, I see sometimes a certain idea of a "Golden Era of AKB" being talked about on the webz.

Any dinosaurs here know to specify roughly when this started/ended?

Also, 1st gen members are going but who is here that is still a representative of the golden era? I assume Kashiwagi is an obvious one, but is she the only one? Including sister groups' members.

 

I think it's around 2010-2013/2014 i'm not sure since they held Tokyo dome concert and a Dome tour during that time. Member from "golden era" are still in the group I think not only Yukirin but Myao and Yuihan should be count. Myao was quite popular then, she even got into senbatsu in SSK.

 

I would say it's between 2009 and 2013. 2009 because that was when AKB was rising, they hit really big in 2010, then continue being extremely popular in 2011, 2012, and then 2013 as well, since it had KFC. For the members who are still here and represent that era, I would say Yukirin and Yuihan. Yukirin has always been here and she was/is pretty much a kami member since 2011, and Yuihan got her big push around 2011 which is also the time when they were at the top, and she was in senbatsu, dramas etc. with those "legendary" members. So I would say these two.

 

I would classify Jurina as a remaining member from the golden era. My vote is then Yukirin and Jurina.

 

I think the question was for members who are not graduating, or else both Miichan and Jurina would obviously count. Jurina announced graduation today btw...

 

I didn't know when i wrote the post that Jurina had announced her graduation. In this case then only Yukirin counts. Yuihans era starts during the later part of the golden era.

 

idk... Yuihan was in a subunit with Yuko, Sasshi and Kitarie. She was in senbatsu starting 2011. She ranked in senbatsu in elections for Flying Get. She was in Majisuka Gakuen 2 with all original characters of the drama. I remember even at the start of 2011 she already subbed for Sakura no Ki ni Narou in music shows. She was like the big push starting 2011 and that's in the middle of AKB's golden era, so I would say even though she's from a younger gen, she is very much part of the golden era and she was active with all the old gens. Just like Jurina is from SKE but since she was with AKB during their rise and her push in AKB happened in 2009, she's considered part of the golden era.

Maybe Yuihan isn't part of it as much as all the other girls from golden era because it's true that she wasn't present in 2009 and 2010 but she was kinda everywhere with them after that, and since I think the golden era ended around 2013, she was present (and very included in activities) for at least half of it.

 

It could be argued that the agency based units were effectively stop-gaps while AKS geared up to exploit the idol boom by launching NMB and HKT and fully exploiting SKE. During 2013-16 the 48-group as a whole was a juggernaut.

 

AKB's Golden Era... isn't that 2021-2024?

I guess it depends how strict you're being with the criteria--single sales were better in 2018 than they were in the Takamina-Mayuyu era, but the group's presence in media (and CM deals) peaked in 2010-2012, declining sharply with the departure of most of the Kami Seven in 2013 and only seeing small recoveries with KFC and 365-nichi. I consider KFC to be separate from the "Golden Era", as the nature of its viral popularity was quite different.

 

The group started going up since the first SSK (Iiwake Maybe) and their first #1 (RIVER), but it wasn't until Heavy Rotation that their popularity exploded.
Basically, everything they touched from then until the release of KFC and the 5 Dome Tour turned to gold.

So... I'd say Summer '10 - Summer '13 was their obvious peak.

From then on they basically just kept repeating everything trying not to f*ck it up and I'm sure they probably would have continued to do so (as it was working) had the NGT mess not happened.

 

I would also say Yuihan should count. Even the AKB0048 anime goes out of its way to highlight her the way golden era members typically get highlighted. There's a conversation between the trainees in it about a Yuihan who was an old Center Nova. I don't think they'd do that if Yuihan hadn't earned that legendary idol type status the golden era members are usually totted as having in the eyes of AKB's management. It's a moment that stood out to me in something AKB related that told me that at least from management's point of view Yuihan is as big a deal as many of the golden girls from the group's best years. And I am of the belief that a good chunk of people would probably see things similarly given her track record of activity during the golden era years. Even before the push itself she was pretty obviously a popular choice with people seeking to get to know members who were still relatively unknown which ultimately helped her rise quickly and not fall back down.