Well I stuck around for so long because of Acchan and then Rabutan and, well, as long as new members catch my interest, AKB will still be AKB to me. I do imagine it'll feel empty to me when Acchan graduates though. Hopefully it'll be a while before that happens. I guess the answer to the OP's question will be different for everyone, depending on whether they're here for a single member like Ando is, or if they support a specific team, or AKB as a whole.
Interesting posts I read on here. I think we all stick to what is presented to us from the beginning. As the current AKB members are the solid foundation and original members of AKB. But the aspect of having each member have their own cult following will slowly downgrade the experience and If AKB as a hole has a sole leader it would be a draw back as people/fans will seem more attracted to that Idol. How they have Each team A, K, B and S allows more variety and popularity momentum shifts to keep things interesting. But it would definitively not be AKB if all the member graduated and were replaced by new ones.
I believe this is so true, but I have seen many girls go away but they are in a way still here and seem to come back when they are needed to perform, or do a DVD or a PB so I don't know if they will disapear totally, but if the producer should pass away then I don't know what would happen then.
I would still think they are AKB48 but of a newer generation of course, they would just have to carry the torch from the original members is all. No matter who the members are they will still have the heart and soul of the last generation so it will be like they never left.
My opinions have changed a bit since I last posted in this thread. With the exception of Rabutan (who I started to follow mostly on a whim), I wasn't really all that interested in any of the members who weren't there and in the spotlight from the start, but now that Suuchan is in a team and with a good talent agency, I guess I'll be sticking around for a lot longer after all. AKB48 will feel different without Acchan, but Aki-P will most likely elevate someone else to the position that she is currently in and as long as Sumire is still there, it won't feel "empty" to me at all and I'll continue following them. On second thoughts, maybe I'm not so much disagreeing with my last post as I am proving its point. So yeah, as long as new members interest me, I'll stick around. I like ryo48's way of looking at things, but I can't be so loyal to the "team" that I'll still follow them if the members don't interest me. My loyalty is to the individual girls and not the shifty men in suits who write their cheques.
I'm not the kind of person who would abandon a favourite group if my favourite member left. So I don't think I'd leave the fandom if Mayu left, though I'd be really sad. Anyways, I think AKB48 would stop being AKB48 if they stopped using their theatre. I mean, that's the whole point of the group (atleast, that's how I see it). If they end up closing their theatre and just do singles (and albums), they'll be like any idol group and lose their originality. I think if that happened, I would stop following them. That's when AKB48 stops being AKB48 for me. *several months late*
We know this thread is almost eight years old (to a time where I haven't even heard about AKB48 yet!), but ever since with more extensive applications of non-AKB in the senbatsu (Sasshi has since moved to HKT48, but has been on pretty much every AKB48 single recently, and her three-time senbatsu election #1 position, not to mention Matsui Jurina (SKE48) and Yamamoto Sayaka (NMB48) on recent senbatsus)...'AKB48' singles with significant non-AKB48 (and, I mean, Akihabara, Tokyo-based) members is already no longer AKB48. I just wish there was a single that contained ONLY AKB48 members and not SKE, NMB, HKT, NGT or 46 groups, but that's highly unlikely if it will ever make it...
I wish that too but it seems pretty impossible. And the situation can become only worst from this point of view, since the sister groups are still increasing and aks of course need "the push" that akb48 singles provide. LOL in a couple of years we can have something like ten non akb member on a 16 senbatsu.
That can happen only if sister group members are not forced to do AKB handshake events. It's clear sales would plummet if that were to happen. And re-reading this zombie thread, it's clear that people have proclaimed AKB's doom since at least 2009
Lol, at the contrary than now , some people complain that becoming so popular changed the group. But in 2009 akb48 wasn't almost at his peak? Or was just before..? But the argoment of this thread is still sensible looking at random comment on the forum. At the end for me this thread show one more time how akb48 is always changing. So the Acchan era was already considered the second chapter. And, I agree with the user who did the football paragon.
Yes this thread shows that some people always had claimed that AKB going downhill from the beginning. This tread is from before the first shuffle. The last post (before it's revival) is from december 2009.
The oldest "AKB is doomed!!1" kind of comment I can remember is from 2008 when Jurina became Oogoe Diamond's center.
