Members you hated, but now love (or vice versa)

Like > Neutral
Mayuyu - I loved her back in her cyborg days, by I just can't be bothered to follow her now that she's changed her character to a "typical orthodox idol girl"
Yukirin - I loved her during the time she was Team B's leader, but after that it just looked like she didn't care about AKB itself and treated it as just a job (which it is of course, but I would like for them to actually look like they care about the job they do). Also, her not doing anything in NMB is kinda irritating.

Dislike > Like
Sasshi - I found her annoying back in 2012 but after seeing her grow and bring HKT with her made me respect her more, now she's one of my favorite girls!
Paruru - I didn't like the fact that people were pinning her as "2ND ACCHAN!" because Acchan is my eternal oshi so it irked me a lot, but after seeing how great paruru really is I came to love her and now she's my current 2nd favorite 48G girl and 1st favorite AKB girl xD

Neutral > Dislike
Suda - This kinda stemmed from her being put into AKB senbatsu when Milky got taken out, but since then just seeing her kinda rubs me the wrong way. She's one of those "if you see them less you'll like them more" type of people for me. If they take her out of AKB senbatsu and put Milky (or Miru) in AKB senbatsu then I would probably like her more

 

Loved > Neutral/respect
Watanabe Mayu (mayuyu) - I only known about Akb48 thanks to a random mayuyu video on youtube. Honesty, I really liked her at the time when she was young, playful and innocent, but now... Its more like I respect her current self than actually liking her. Its confusing...

Neutral > Like > Love/hate > LOVE
Kashiwagi Yuki (Yukirin) - I did not take much notice of Yukirin at first but I later started to like her after watching her funny reactions in AKBingo and after knowing her caring mama-rin side towards mayu. She can sing and dance really well too! However, even as a Yukirin fan and I love her, I still have times where I can find her unlikable- her black hearted personality hidden under a layer of an angel's skin clearly hints at a calculative and selfish persona...but this somehow made her realistic and more interesting as a person. Overall, she is my favorite member!

Dislike > Neutral/ respect
Rino Sashihara (Sasshi) - I did not take a single notice of her or liked her at the beginning and when I found out that she was one of these top ranking members in ssk I was very surprised and shocked? With my curiosity in finding out why she was popular and high ranked...Well, curiosity killed the cat. I find her annoying and her scandal didn't help either, I could not find a single thing to like about her and this led me to dislike her. Lately, I don't dislike her. I starting to find her actions somewhat funny and entertaining to watch. For what other people see in her and why she in ranked so high...I guess I am just beginning to see why but its more that I respect her than like her.

Neutral > like
Matsui Rena - I am starting to realise that I am noticing her a bit more and I quite like her personality and style in general... I hardly cared before.

 

Like > Neutral
Mayuyu, i like her when she still a cute idol with vocaloid-like voice, i like her hikaru monotachi so much. i starting to realise that i dont really like her anymore after she become center of AKB, i dont know, it doesnt mean i hate her being center. i like to see her as center, but if there is someone other who can be center rather than her, i chose that person. for me, a center is someone who her act are always suitable to the song, bring soul to the song, and i always doesnt like mayu if she centering some cool song like Uza or beginner.

neutral > dislike
Tomonaga Mio, she is like a little sister for me back then. but after she did so much gravure, i don't really like her anymore. i still think that she is too young to did that much gravure :/ and the fact that she cant sing and acting well and get push to be center making me doesnt like her. im sorry for mio fans.

dislike > like
Tashima Meru, dislike her because she took center tittle from Haruppi on first HKT song debut, but knowing she has much talent like she can sing well, i started to like her.

 

Sasshi. Couldn't stand her originally. But she is just crazy hot and on a different level than all in as far as her sexy vibe. A woman among girls.

 

I agree with this. She seemed a lot different as a person when she was just young and "cyborg", not talking about aiming for the top much.

 

There are very few members I ever actively disliked, but one of them was Kasai Tomomi. She just rubbed me the wrong way and never quite seemed to fit in. But after she graduated I have completely changed my mind! She's delightful. (Not sure if she has changed or me!)
There are several girls who I have been very ho-hum about until they suddenly made me a fan: Kizaki Yuria is a case in point. For a long time she struck me as dull. But lately I can't get enough of her... I guess I just needed time to discover the gap between her image and her personality. Shibata Aya is another... I just couldn't understand what the fuss was about. Then I saw her on some non AKB variety programs and I fell instantly in love with her.

 

Liked-Dislike
is not to put hate on her but i liked her when she was just for hkt, since her kennin management gave her like a super big push for centerin and for majisuka4, there are many more members in akb that deserve a big push or wcentering like kojimako, miki, naachan or mion and naanya

 

Kasai - hard to know her that much, but always got the feeling she ove-rated herself and thought herself short-changed. Her 10 thousand yen cop-out made me realise she was a fake. Then again ... hard to know these girls from afar, and by what is projected.

Reflecting again, Sasshi with Akicha at the early stages thought she was just ok background kind of figure. Then saw her do a singing and dancing routine in one of those AKB related shows..and it was beyond awful. OK so I realized she was just the comedian type character of AKB. The with her scandal and big push instead of punishment when others had to leave, she came to represent (and still does) all that is ethically and morally wrong with the way AKB is. A girl with less than zero talent gets pushed heavily over others....I pretty much despise her and cannot bear to watch anything AKB if she is front and center anywhere to be seen. even though that is the AKB business of course...choose what will make the most dollars.

Sometimes it isn't good to see how a sausage is made. Sometime not to good to look too closely at idols.

 

Dislike - Like:
All of HKT.
I just didn't see the point.
But then I saw Wink wa Sankai, been in love ever since.

 

Management has been kind to Sasshihara up to a point (although the HKT transfer was far from a reward... many people didn't even know about HKT at the time), but that will only take her so far. Plenty of other members have been pushed heavily by management to no avail. People genuinely like Sasshi. She may have zero talent as a singer, but as a comedic tarento she is immensely gifted and she has had a major role in bringing HKT48 into the limelight. Best of all, despite her own undeniable popularity and status she relentlessly promotes the younger girls in HKT, often willingly stepping into the background for their benefit.

ps. I'm not exactly sure what you mean in this context by "ethically and morally wrong"...?

 

@Aisansan The Sasshi push was actually before the scandal tho, its because of her popularity thats why she is up in the front now.

 

There is no greater "hate to love" in my book than Sasshi. She has star appeal. She's mysterious and simply has in droves what virtually none of the group have...a sexy nature. She may very well look back and be grateful for her scandal, that has elevated her to a level the group could never have done for her.

Can you imagine AKB Shirabe with any other host? Who would watch? Who could possibly host that show and get higher ratings? Mayuyu....c'mon. Can you see her talking about the group's sexiest oppai, ashi? Like her or not, Sasshi has star appeal and a personality that is unmatched. Who else in the AKB48 Group is bigger than the group on her own?

 

No argument from me! Though I never hated to love her (or loved to hate her from that matter). I just loved to love her from the moment I discovered her.
I'll never understand how anyone could hate someone so delightfully amusing.

 

I think the only member I can honestly say I hate is the fresh lemon girl and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. I know that's not the point of this thread, but I can't really think of any members whom I've had any drastic changes of opinion on so far.

 

Neutral -> Love
- Milky : When i first watched Romancee Kenju last year, i wasn't much impressed with her seductiveness and found her no pretty at all. I even doubted why she was at first line because she seriously didn't appeal to me at all. GOD! But now i'm obsessed with her, and she's 2nd in my oshi list. Literally everything about her is perfect.

- Naachan : I found her appearance weird at first with her big ears and skinny figure. She's been growing on me though. Now i'm always attracted to her because her aura is so strong on the stage. She can sing, she can dance and she will definitely be one of the front girls in AKB senbatsu.

Like -> Neutral / Dislike :
- Takamina : She was really interesting to me when i just got into the fandom since in my country's fanpage, everyone absolutely adores her and all and she's always the hot topic, especially when she's with other girls... After a while, she's just become "errr" for me. It's not really her personality that turns me off, how people keep portraying her as the absolute manager of AKB is the problem. Leave the girl some rest duh. AKB can go on without her, stop relying the group's survival on her. Moreover, recently, i can only remember seeing her in tears kinda makes me feel tired to watch her sometimes.

- Miorin : Really fresh and cute to me at the beginning. Her on-going "Fresh Lemon ni naritai yo" has started to get boring since she brings that up everytime she appears.

- Murashige : Same as Miorin, but with her Mentaiko joke.

-Miki : She gives me headache with her overeacting character. Seriously, control your energy on the stage girl. You don't look like dancing at all with all the crazy swinging and jumping. And calm down a little bit on variety shows. Reaction is fun until you over-overdo it and it's annoying as hell...

-Mayu : I liked her during her time in Kashiwagi Team B. But since Acchan and Yuko's graduation, her on-going "i want to be no.1" is wearing me out. It's doesnt sound like she wants to protect AKB, to me it's more like she wants to conquer AKB. People call Paruru expressionless, i belive Paruru has made more expressions and Mayuyu ever did Like, on the stage, she only has that one kind of smile. When interviewed, still that smile... I do enjoy her on some shows like AKBingo or Renai Sousenkyo though.

 

Dislike -> Love
Takamina
When I first started AKB, I was on the hunt for my oshimen. For some reason I detested the idea of having Takamina as my oshimen. She isn't the prettiest girl in the group, she was too loud, she cries too much, her oversized ribbons are not cute, and she's extremely overrated. However I... don't know The next thing I knew I was always watching out for her and I was buying her first solo single. I find her hard working character refreshing especially since she doesn't have the conventional pretty face and exceptional talent. She tries hard LOL

Neutral -> Like
So after having identified Takamina as my oshimen, I was completely neutral about all the other members. I didn't really care for any of them. I looked at the world with my oshiGlasses on. I soon learned though that if Takamina loves AKB and I love Takamina = I love AKB too! How can I possibly not like these girls who are all trying so hard to make it? Surely when Takamina graduates from AKB, I will not be able to completely abandon the group.

 

Dislike -> Like
Milky : When I first know her, I didn't like her at all. In fact, I even hate her so much. I didn't like her 'tsurishi chara', and all. But then, I started to like her. I don't know why, but she appeals me just way too much. Now, I do think that she is so cute and also, if I ever make any rank for my favorite members, she would be at 5th (I have just way too much favorite member and literally like all members that I know).

 

Neutral->Like: Tashima Meru.
I realized she's not just a pretty kid who got big push (and took teh center spot away lol), she's also a cute, hard-working, energetic and kind girl who shines so much at center.

Dislike->Neutral: Paruru
Back then i felt liek she didnt even try tbh. Now she performs better and always has cute smile on her cute face (lovely lovely). WOnder if she can do cool songs well? lol.

 

Dislike --> Tolerate -->Like --> Dislike: Kojima Haruna
DISCLAIMER: No hard feelings, Kojima fans, I might be taking everything out of context and I may not understand Kojima Haruna that well since I have never been a fan so I don't follow her much.
This one is so hard because I'm all over the place about Kojima, especially since I was a Yuko oshi and Yuko really really adored her. Kojima's behavior has always struck me as that of a "mean girl" I know people say she's tsundere or whatever, but I've never really been able to get that image of her out of my mind tbh. The way she talks down to some members and hands out backhanded compliments is so passive aggressive, for example, what she wrote as a message for Yui when she was named the next soukantoku, which you can read here http://www.akblogs.net/article_translations/289-messages-from-members-to-yokoyama-yui-bomb
Ugh. First she starts by saying that back then Yui was slim and beautiful (implying she's not now, when she adds "even now she's a good girl" or whatever), then she makes a comment about how she has no interest in Yui's PB and says that Yui is bad at gravure. I mean sure, Yui is my oshi and it bothers me when people say bad things about her, but these backhanded compliments are stuff I've heard from Kojima before, like when she told Miichan she was busu kawaii or other instances I don't remember right now.
I've just always felt that there's something odd about her, like an air of superiority (which the members acknowledge and tease her for it, like when Sasshi and Miichan asked her why she wouldn't take pics with them for her instagram and she said it was because they aren't fashionable) which might be charming to some people but it totally puts me off.

 

I think we take for granted that these interviews have been translated from Japanese... because of the awkwardness of the translation process a lot of the original meaning can be lost or misunderstood. Like I noticed a lot of Mayu's 755 posts sound totally bitchy and dismissive when they are translated into English, but in Japanese they sound more normal and natural. A lot of nuance is lost! What Kojima is describing is her first impression of Yui like "wow I can't believe she's so perfect." Of course, as she got used to interacting with her more and more she started seeing her more as a real person, hence why the translator says "even now. I don't think she meant to be hurtful with these comments, that would be really weird as she gushes about how she loves her.