Life is really going down the shitter for me, again, through no fault of my own, and I made this yesterday before things got all shitty once more. So, I’m not feeling my best. Be gentle with my snark. My snark loves you. Most of all, keep in mind that none of this is aimed at you! :D I’d still very much like to go enjoy about four bottles of Asahi right now, if you’re paying! Let’s go get drunk, Pink Wota readers!
A-K-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-48 EDITION!! (plus something about Socko’s Modern Life)
Whatchu want me to talk about on Wotas Gonna Wot, Pink Wota Readers? I know all twelve of you must have something that begs my commentary. I’ll try. I promise I’ll try to promise to try.
I’m too 1) lazy and 2) busy to complete this Year in Review the way I wanted to. I realize that I just don’t have as much to say as I thought I did. Therefore, considering that this week marks the release of THIS:
SHIT JUST GOT REAL.
…I’ve decided to throw my format out the window (like a professional, responsible journalist) and just count down my Top Ten Asian Artists of 2009 like every other regular jackoff. *shrugs* Eh, come for the eyecandy, stay for the snark. There may be snark. WARNING: THERE MAY ALSO BE SOME BILE-SPITTING. Just getting that out there.
Who wins? Who loses…well, let’s see. This is a list of the artists whose songs I’ve liked most in 2009. This is not a countdown of which Asian artists have, all history spoken, made the most impact on me. I think everyone can guess on those. 2009 was a strange year for me, musically. I didn’t quite know what to think of what my tried-and-true favorites were doing. Things were changing, not always for the better. Sometimes simply for the mediocre, other times for the WTF. Nonetheless, I was up and down and all over the place during 2009. Very few artists retained the same status they did from 2008, whether it be moving up in my ranks or slipping down, down, down.
Posted by Vee | AKB48 | Tuesday 13 October 2009 3:47 pm
I’ve been a casual listener of AKB48 for abut two years or so – I started with ‘Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru’ (which casual listeners didn’t??) and quickly found other favorites in ‘BINGO!’, ‘Aitakatta!’, and ‘Skirt, Hirari’ (like everyone else). I liked ‘Baby Baby Baby’ and the recent ‘Namida Surprise’ and ‘Iiwake Maybe’, but I’ve just never loved AKB48 enough to make a major effort, you know? I knew I liked Kojima Haruna, Sae Miyazawa, Yuko Oshima, and Atsuko Maeda, but I’ll admit that I based my conclusions (aside from Maeda, who is actually an awesome vocalist and the first one I ever noticed in that capacity) on Hello!Island’s eyecandy posts and lots and lots of bikini shot “research”. Having said such, there are two major reasons I love Yuko. OK. Moving on.
I just never really thought I had the wherewithal to memorize girls, teams, and all the information required to be a proper AKB fan. So I’ve been content to just kind of sit back and say “yeah, this song is good! THEY ARE ALSO VERY VERY HOT.” I followed the SDN48 transition (in which another of my favored idols, Megumi Ohori, was shafted from AKB48 proper), and the 2009 group re-arrangements with blinking confusion. I thought “how can I possibly keep up with all this, much less jump in NOW and then sort it all out?”
I fail to remember, at times like these, that I did the exact same thing with Hello!Project. When I became a fan, the Gokkies were in their prime and the Rokkies were just entering the game. OH THAT FUJIMOTO MIKI. OH THAT TANAKA REINA. But I did my research, and it was a loooooong uphill battle before I was able to recognize without fail every short-lived girl (much less come to love some of them dearly, like Sayaka Ichii), an even longer battle before I could recognize voices. But I did. If I could do it with H!P, I can certainly do with with AKB48, right?
And why this sudden urge to do so?
THIS SONG.
Maybe it’s the Winter of My H!P Discontent taking hold (though I am thoroughly and completely in love with Berryz’ new song and c/w, and Buono! continues to win), but the injection of pure idol joy I got from the first minute of AKB48’s ‘RIVER’ PV filled me more than any other J-Pop release this year. I know that feeling. It’s the feeling that makes me want to get up and DO stuff, ACCOMPLISH things, be awesome! It’s been lacking in Morning Musume singles, though I felt it in a slightly insincere way from ‘3.2.1.Breakin’ Out!’. I just haven’t FELT it for too long. Buono! gave it to me for 2008, but for 2009 I’ve been searching, trying to find my footing in K-Pop, with SNSD and others. I never really got my legs in K-Pop. Though I love the groups, the whole scene is still too foreign to me. When AKB48 begin singing and dancing to ‘RIVER’, I take a deep breath and think “this is what I love about J-Pop.”
AKB48 have helped me get my Idol Groove Back. I will now be embarking upon the Great Adventure of going beyond the role of casual fan, listener, and thigh admirer. I will become a new AKB wota. *adds necessary category to Pink Wota archive* Thank you, AKB48, and may you continue to look smoking hot in bikinis.
At least AKB48 doesn't fuck around when it comes to bikini shots, you know. MOMUSU, I'M LOOKING AT YOU. And JunJun.
