As a poor soul who was misled by Sankakucomplex

As a long time Sankakucomplex user, I constantly read about bad things regarding AKB48.

Because of that, I'm dismissive of the group, and never gave it attention... The only thing that I knew about AKB48 was that there's a ridiculously cute individual call Maeda Atsuko. (I only seen her once in an article of Sankaku, and I never forgot about her) *As a saving grace of the group?*

Fast forward a few years, and k-pop happens, I liked SNSD and other idol group, and thought they were amazing... Then I kept seeing comparison video of SNSD vs AKB48, and I really hated that, I didn't think it's fair to compare them. (Plastic vs Natural) *At the time, the only video I ever saw from AKB48 was Koisuru Fortune Cookie, I enjoyed it, though my biased against them still clouded my judgement of their characters*

After seeing so many Kpop fan put the group down, I decided to start "cheering for the underdog"... roughly 2 month ago, I start off by watching "River" which is a video considered by many AKB fans to be one of their all time greatest Music Video... To see if AKB48 actually have redeeming quality. I was amazed by the video, as well as the lyrics.

I start to question what I read on Sankaku, and do my own research.
I read about comments on Sashihara's win that's not on Sankaku, and was surprise by how overwhelmingly positive the reaction was, everyone talked about how hard she worked and how she earned her place, fighting against her tainted past.

I learn more about handshaking events, I look into Miichan's case, I start by learning about her personality via AKBINGO (I got very addicted to it and marathon more than I should, finished the 2 prequel and about 60 episodes in AKBINGO). She's a very hard worker, who really loved her job, why she shaved her head start to make sense.

I became a fan of Meetan during her stay, developed a softspot for Asuka because of her obsession with Pro-wrestling, Takamina also became one of my favorite after a certain guitar prank happened.

And... I watch the tokyo-dome, Acchan's graduation. I ask myself...

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HAVE I BEEN MISSING OUT ON THANKS TO WHAT I READ ON SANKAKUCOMPLEX!

I found this site, I learn about AKB48's achievement in Japanese music industry, I learn that the fans are not all pedophiles otaku with cumstained hands who buys 300 disc each, etc etc.

Then I watch the second documentary of AKB48, Show must go on...I simply cannot see AKB48 as anything negative anymore... And I created an account here.

Disgusted, I will never visit that turd-pit of a website again.

 

You've missed out on a great 10 year run now that AKB's turning to its second chapter.

Enjoy your stay and yeah forget about all them shitty clickbait sites.

 

A lesson I'm still learning even though I should probably know better; never simply take someone else's word for it. Good or bad.

Never too late to check out the world of 48G though!

 

LOL. Yah, I was a huge anime fan before, so I kinda visited that site on occasion to read all the Aya Hirano articles they kept posting there since I was a big TMOHS fan back then and pretty much every 48G article there is negative... especially the wota articles. And I remember making fun of how many members AKB48 had at an anime forum before... and I remember reading about the Miichan incident at Tokyohive when I became a Jdrama fan a bit later on and offhandedly thinking everybody at AKB48 must be crazy... so my introduction to 48G was not the ideal one either. LOL.

But then... not exactly sure if I'm remembering the order correctly (lol), but I think I watched the Sabadol jdrama starring Mayuyu... which got me interested in Mayuyu... which lead me to AKB48... which lead me to watch youtube clips of Mayuyu... which lead me to watch funny AKBingo clips on youtube... which led me to watch funny Yuko Oshima clips on youtube... which led me to want to learn more about AKB48. I guess looking back... Yuko Oshima was the gamechanger for me.

 

I've been in this otaku world for so long to say "Sankaku Complex is the worst yellow-noted news page there!"
Used it as a image source, but their articles are usually bullsh*t!!!

 

maybe you shouldn't let random sites on the internet form your opinions for you.

 

Well, welcome to the world of a wota! I'm glad you've seen how awesome groups like AKB can be, and I'm glad you've left behind those idiots at Sankakucomplex!

~Kokomi

 

Welcome to the fandom! Get to know the younger girls too; I promise they're as interesting (if not more) than the old guards!

 

Eww Sankaku....
I went there once or twice bc of something AKB related, like that alleged fake ass semen handshake rumor that wasn't AKB to begin with but another idol group.....I feel like my computer can catch virus just from the waifu hentai porn stuffs....

Ha~ same way I found out about AKB

 

I was one of those KPop fans that trash-talk AKB tbh. Look how far we've come...

 

^ IMO lots of (more legit looking, lol) places don't look favorably towards AKB48 though... not just there.

IMO it is different when you don't understand the language though... you tend to just read everything that gets translated and then try to determine what to believe and not believe later on.

 

Well, whenever something becomes so big or popular and is in your face/around you all the time, a big portion of people think it is "cool" to talk about it.
It happens in every country and with practically everything.

People used to talk so much sh*t about Microsoft. Now they talk sh*t about Apple. And I'm sure if (hypothetically) Samsung becomes the biggest tablet/smartphone seller in a few years and are literally everywhere, people will start to talk sh*t about them too, and of course start saying how great Apple was.

It goes on with anything/person/product/... in probably every single country. Because it is "cool".
The best way to find out is to look at that thing yourself in an unbiased way and make your own decisions.

And welcome to the fandom

 

Thankfully the internet still got a lot of their old content, so that was nice.

As for untranslated stuff, I'm glad I had 6+ years of anime watching experience paid off, as I can get 80% of the things they're saying, or at least a feel of what they're saying.

Oshimen = Yukirin (Though I got a feeling she'll never be a center, she don't seem hungry, and seemed content as long as she have lots of fans who loves her.)


Seeing how some of you were in the same boat as me, misled by some websites...

Makes me wonder if the biased website, while hurting AKB's potential fanbase, actually creates more hardcore fans.

 

Oh wait.. what?
If for Yukirin you mean Kashiwagi Yuki, she is one of the centers of the last single

 

I meant it as election center. The grand prize.

The Japanese recession is worrying me, I hope AKB can continue their million selling streak.

 

Hi! Welcome

I, too, was once clouded by the superstition that the girls in 48G are "cheap" girls whose main appeal is their fan-service bikini MVs (the stigma formed from watching heavy rotation and ponytail to shushu at that time).
But then, after I started to spend some time knowing more about the group, I grew to love them. Sure. Gravure is one of their activities. But it's only a very little portion of it. There's too much content in the 48G that I can never get bored of them! Besides the songs are just too upbeat and catchy. 48G materials serve as my remedy when I'm depressed. Can't be depressed when I see them girls smile like that

 

lol yes sankaku's journalism.. is even more questionable than the YoungTurks.

Comparing SNSD and AKB is ridiculous because they have differing aims.
AKB is about imperfection and intimacy; SNSD is about perfection and fantasy (hence, they recruited both in Korea + USA)
Under the performing arts branch, AKB is closest to theatre; SNSD is closest to music

Without a doubt, in some aspects, one group is superior to another.
But saying one group is superior to another overall is quite difficult to say.
Banana has more vitamin B than an orange, yet less vitamin C. How can I claim which fruit is inherently superior? I can say orange is superior for the people in the Arctic (lack of Vitamin C source). But these claims would have to be situational and focused. Therefore, general statement of superiority is hard to draw.

If I may give a recommendation, don't just avoid Sankaku. Try to avoid most journalism (Huffington, Onion, VICE, etc). Most journalists have no idea what they are talking about.
Though journalism from New York Times, Business Week, National Geographic are pretty nice.

 

LOL The Onion is not Journalism, and have never claimed to be. They are pure comedic satire.

 

Citation please because they sometimes fit the journalism mode fine