Getting into AKB48 - the world's biggest idol group, and currently Japan's most popular - literally means that you will spend more money than you can afford. I don't buy everything, actually far from it. And I'm always trying to cut down and think what I actually need and don't before buying. I still try to buy at least one version of most of the CDs, since I don't like downloading music. To give you an idea of what it means to be a fan of AKB48, I put together the photos of stuff I got in my first year, from April 9, 2010, to April 9, 2011. I didn't take photos of all the stuff I got through the year, but most of it.
My very first AKB48 item was the second album Kamikyoku-tachi, meaning "the godly songs." Was happy to get Mayuyu bonus picture! Unfortunately I missed out on the external bonus from CDJapan, because I asked to them to conceal the package in an envelope. That usually lowers the risk of the package getting stuck in customs, but the downside is that CDJapan can't add any external bonuses. A mistake I will never do again.
Started to frame some of my pictures and get other types of goods.
These were all included in the Kamikyoku-tachi album, but as it had no DVD with the music videos, I decided to get the ones that I missed. Japanese CD singles usually always come with a DVD containing the music video, or as they say in Japanese - MV or PV (promotional video).
Official book to one of the most awesome variety TV shows ever.
16th single - Ponytail to Shushu. You might wonder why there is so much for just one single. At the bottom left is one of each type of the CD, type A and B. Each type has two songs plus one unique song. Above that is the obi (帯 - spinecard) for the CDs.
In the upper right corner is two handshake tickets (握手会イベント参加券). If you bring these tickets to the event, you get to shake the hands of one or two members. The event itself is free for anyone to go to, and they perform about three songs and talk abit. There are also two voting tickets for the yearly election, where the top members are decided by votes of the fans. Top 1-21 gets to be in the next single, and 22-40 gets to be in the coupling song. Top 1-12 will also appear in media promoting the single and represent AKB48.
Finally, at the bottom right corner is a bonus picture, one for each CD. Different stores have different bonus pictures, so if you don't want doubles you should order each type from a different store. Or you can just trade one with your friends.
Getting into AKB48 made me want to return to Japan sooner than ever, so I booked my flight and went. On the second day I bought Watarirouka Hashiratai's single Seishun no Flag. They are a sub-unit of AKB48. They also held an event at Tokyo Dome City Laqua on the same day.
The poster that I got with the Seishun no Flag single.
I like SKE48 as well - their sister group residing in Nagoya, Sakae.
Majisuka Gakuen was the thing that got me hooked on AKB48. Even before Majisuka Gakuen, I had a liking to yankee (delinquent youth) themed dramas, which is why I picked this drama up. With cute girls everywhere and songs that I liked, I just had to know more about this big group of idols.
Got Akicha's student notebook as the bonus for buying it from the official store.
Trio2 in Nakano is a dangerous place. They sell second-hand 生写真 (namashashin - pictures) which just about every fan of AKB48 collects. Most people only collect pics of their favorite members, and trade away all the others that they don't want. As these pictures go out of sale in the official shop as soon as they're released, Trio2 is a convenient but expensive place where you can easily browse pics sorted by member. Some pics only come with first press editions of CDs and DVDs.
There are plenty of different goods to get. Here, towels, chewing gum, plastic bag (from 7 Eleven filled with candy), photobook, DVD, trading card and pictures.
Concert loot from the Yoyogi live - Surprise wa Arimasen (July 10th & 11th, 2010). The best concert I've ever been to.
Nito Moeno (仁藤萌乃) has been one of my favorite members since the start. So I just had to have this glowstick with her name inprinted on it. Other favorites are Kojima Haruna (Kojiharu), and Takayanagi Akane (Churi) of SKE48. And of course the captain of AKB48, Takahashi Minami (Takamina), but I don't collect her pics. Heck, I like most of the girls (as you can probably tell). Just a handfull of them that I'm not very fond of, but they still tend to charm me from time to time.
After the concert they handed out a newspaper-like article about the big surprise. There are always surprises at their concerts.
More pictures from Trio2. In the bottom right corner are pics from the Yoyogi live.
Re-release of their first album and music video collection of their first songs. Kinda useless now as a blu-ray edition of all the music videos up until now is coming out soon.
Studio recordings of B4th and K5th stages, and scrunchies. Yep, they even have scrunchies! To go with the theme of their 16th single - Ponytail to Shushu (shushu means scrunchie).
Bought an iPod Nano from the Apple Store Japan, with free engraving. アイドルの夜明け (Aidoru no Yoake) is my favorite stage.
A temporary team, Team Dragon, was formed to make the new theme song for Dragonball Z Kai, a shortened version of Dragonball Z. Also SKE48's S2nd stage on DVD.
The jacket is the same model that Yukirin has in Majisuka Gakuen. They are called Yokosuka jumper, or sukajyan for short. Thinking that they only sold these in Yokosuka, I went to find a store and have one ordered. The other stuff I picked up at the Ponytail to Shushu events in Sendai and Sapporo.
I happened to be in Akihabara on the release day of these. Saw a long queue line outside Don Quijote, where the theater and official shop is. Asked what it was for, and they said AKB pics, so I joined the line. Had to wait two hours, and they only had Team K pics left when it was finally my turn. I took a picture of the ones I didn't want to keep, and put them up for sale.
Another bunch of pics and two studio recordings.
Be@rbricks are collectible toys designed by a Japanese company, and often do collaborations with artists and designers. In the summer of 2010, 7 Eleven had a campaign where you could win one of these 48 Be@rbricks - one designed by each girl. If you bought items for more than 700 yen, you got to draw a lottery ticket. All I ever won was a can of coffee...
These pics came with the theater version of Ponytail to Shushu. Got them all from Trio2. They are designed just like the politicians election posters, but over 9000 times cuter. Each girl try to appeal to the fans with comments.
A shirt of Ucchi, who later became the center for the 19th single through a janken tournament (rock-scissor-paper).
A pic of what the Be@rbricks looks like unboxed.
More Be@rbricks and 生写真.
The last goods I got in Japan last year before heading back home. 17th single - Heavy Rotation, which made their popularity skyrocket even more. I also got Perfume's single Voice.
French Kiss is another sub-unit of AKB48. This was their first single Zutto Mae Kare, including a drama.
Thanks to a friend I could get some items that are not available for sale outside of Japan - even at web shops.
Most of these bonus pictures I got for free together with DVD, CD and book releases.
The CD collection before it started to quickly grow in size.
I usually don't do stuff like this. The original plan was that I would send this photo of the spicy food and Shii-chan (she's eating spicy food in the pic) together with a short letter to someone who was organizing a happy birthday project for her. I never got around to writing that letter... And I still haven't sent or given anything to a member as a birthday present.
I wanted to try to get as many of those election pics as I could. I was also collecting pics of Krisu at this time.
Pics for Chance no Junban and others that I bought through forums. The kimono ones are especially nice!
Pics for Beginner. There are usually two or three different themes of pics with each single. In this case, the above is the one for the senbatsu members, the middle row for undergirls, and the bottom row for the theater girls. Of course prices vary depending on were they are placed.
Some of the members are featured in other musicians music videos. They don't sing, they're just there. I felt that I was missing a Japanese hip-hop album in my music collection, so I got Pengin's album Family, which came with a poster of Sakippe. She appears in of their music videos.
CDs started to grow quickly as I started to get the sub-units CDs as well. They may look unopened, but I just put the plastic sleeve back on after ripping the music into iTunes, and putting the DVD in a folder. I did this because I prefered that the CDs would be displayed with their obi. I later threw away all the plastics and now I don't display them with their obi.
Close-up of the Be@rbricks and Pucho toys. I need to dust them off more often.
Another batch of goods from Japan. In the middle is a chocolate bar with deco art, from Watarirouka Hashiratai 7. I tried to make something with the extras that I got, but it didn't turn out too well.
Not yet's first single. Yet another sub-unit that formed recently. And a good one! Moeno was a birthday present. Thanks!
no3b's single Answer and SKE48's Banzai Venus, with bonus pics as usual. no3b (read No Sleeves) is my favorite sub-unit, and Answer one of my all time favorite songs.
The above photo was taken soon after April 9, 2011, showing a part of my showcase. This concludes my first year of AKB48 shopping. I'm trying not to think about how much I spent all together. And there are still far more crazier fans than me out there.
I've been rereading and panning through this blog entry for a few weeks now. Seeing someone else's collection so neat is a treat and a motivator. I just got into AKB awhile ago, its probably been just shy of a year now.
ReplyDeleteI'm very into it, so much so that I also began my own blog to catalog my collecting. I'm planning to lauch a youtube account as well. And while I make enough money to maintain purchasing of everything that comes out, I haven't really began to launch my collection seriously just yet. Almost feeling overwhelmed and not knowing what to buy first. So I've reduced my buying to newer items and pre-orders.
Seeing your collection makes me very envious to say the least. And motivates me as well. Its a bad motivation, because who wants to be motivated to spend more money than they should? lol, anyway.. I figured I'd finally comment here just because I've been re-reading this for weeks now, nearly daily.
I have never checked your blog, just this page that I found via google images. So I'm not sure if you're even active or will read this. But, I'm going to start following and reading you as soon as I'm done commenting here. lol
Thanks for the post, this was great and I hope we have a friendship or rivalry in the future lol. In over a year, I still haven't been able to acquire a single idol loving friend, so its a hobby I indulge alone, and its lonely as all hell.
MUCH LOVE
woaahh.. mother of God... how much did you spend for all this?? :O
ReplyDeleteDamn... this is "WanderingWota" who posted over a year ago above. I no longer blog under that name though. I've revisited this post because I'm working on a similar post in tribute to this post of yours. It was so motivational for me to waste my money lmao. I'm surprised because I still don't think I can hang with this; rather, you seem to just have better shit than I do!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that I still really like this post! We shared a few emails and I remember you were a pretty cool dude. Wonder if your oshi's still kojiharu. Btw, I caught you on TV a few times, good job making two shows (I didn't even realize it was you until a few months after those shows aired. Then i realized you're pretty known in the wota community in general). I was rootin' for you both times, always am.
Something I just noticed now was that your ipod engraving is idol no yoake... really strange because that's my favorite stage as well. It's honestly the only stage I care for and I've watched it hundreds of times. I always say "if I wasn't an AKB fan, I'd still be an Idol no Yoake fan".
Anyway, shit... hope you been well. if you're at all interested in my post inspired by this I'll link you when it's finished, but yeah... thanks for inspiring me to be a shopaholic bro... lmao. Take care.