There are countless TV episodes and performances and random clips everywhere, but which ones shall I watch? Please recommend your favourite episodes or other videos!
It depends on what type of shows you like and if you understand the Japanese language: If you like funny variety shows and don't understand Japanese, AKBingo has subtitles at Nihongogo. AKBingo has over 100 episodes, counting its 0ji and 1ji predecessors. The 1st and 2nd Cosplay Battles (June 2 and June 9, 2008 episodes) are really funny but if the theme is not to your liking, I highly recommend the 2nd acting skills battle (May 12, 2008), 1st Surprise Psychology Test (May 19, 2008) and the 1st AKB vs Idoling!!! Tarinai Battle (January 8, 2009) episodes. If you understand Japanese or are content with watching the girls have fun, I recommend the old episodes of AKB48+10! (24 episodes) and the new SKE Gakuen (monthly show that started Oct. 2009), but if your avatar and sig contains your oshis, they are not there. Shuukan AKB and Nemousu TV are pretty good too, but Nemousu is more challenge focused. Your oshis do appear there in many of the episodes. If you want dramas, I recommend the 12 episode series Mendoll (subtitled also at Nihongogo), but if you want something with your oshis, I recommend Majisuka Gakuen (subbed also at gogo), also 12 episodes. If you want stages (theater performances), I recommend Team B's 3rd Stage, but none of your oshis are there, so I'd recommend Himawari-Gumi 1st Stage, which have them. If you want concerts, I recommend the JCB Hall December 2008 (Toshiwasure Kanshasai) concert and the 3 concert Budokan August 2009 concert series (AKB104 Senbatsu Member Sokaku Matsuri). If you want music videos / promotional videos / PV's, I recommend the videos of Iiwake Maybe, 10nen Zakura, Bingo!, and Oogoe Diamond, just for starters. I've also frequently enjoyed the "making-ofs" of various videos. I could recommend much, much more, but these are good starting points, just let me know if you want more. [cool] Hope this helps.
Off-hand, what I would suggest (the ones that brought me into the fandom): AKB48 + 10 Re-Up (or something) episode. It's the first one of the series, and introduces the theater and some Chocolove events and has parts of Kawasaki Nozomi's 2007 birthday. It has a ton of Natsuki, so I guess I'm biased. AKB 48 Minutes. It was subbed, and should be availible somewhere. It has Team A and Team K doing a fan event. It's adorable. (This one features Miichan, Takamina, and Natsuki as commentators... seriously, what happened to those days?) Infinity. It's singing, it's acting, it's dancing. It's wonderful. And you can learn to appreciate the least popular girls in AKB this way, too. As for performances, just watch them all. There is a ton of great material from AKB, and you don't want to miss anything. Try watching a Shibuya AX Top 100 concert, and going from there. As a checklist, these are all of the performances I can think of off-hand... Stages: A1, A2, A3, A4, K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, B1, B2, B3, B4, H1, H2 Concerts: -First Concert Aitakatta (Normal ver.) -First Concert Aitakatta (Shuffle ver.) -First Spring Tour -Shibuya AX 2008 -Natsumatsuri Hibiyayaon -NHK 2008 -JCB 2008 -Shibuya AX 2009 -NHK 2009 (3 concerts) -Budokon Tour (A, K, B, + 3 concerts) -DVD Magazine 2 (?) at Sound Conifer -DVD Magazine 3 (?) at New York City Webster Hall -Shibuya AX 2010 -Yokohama Arena (3 concerts) (available soon) Also, just search AKB on YouTube and see whatever pops up.
