1’24” that Leads Me to AKB48

23 April 2015. It was past 10 pm and I knew I had to sleep soon. On weekdays I sleep at around 10 – 11 pm; I rarely sleep later than that for I don’t want to wake up tired on the next day. But at that particular night, instead of turning off lamp and ready to sleep, I was still scrolling through Twitter timeline when I found someone posted a link of AKB48 newest PV (promotional video). 

Since the beginning of this year I have changed my preference from K-pop to J-pop. Sica’s exit from SNSD last year more or less affected how I feel about K-pop. As I wrote here, I began to watch JKT48 in their theatre and started to like their songs and their concept (that is ‘idols you can meet’). Even so, that didn’t make me take interest in their sister group: AKB48; which is funny because AKB48 is the original 48 group and have more J-pop vibrant compared to JKT48. 

I had a terrible experience with AKB48’s PV before. Their first PV I watched was Heavy Rotation. I like the song because it’s cheerful and easy listening and such, but the PV actually hurt my brain. JKT48 covered the song in Bahasa but their PV is totally different with one AKB48 have. AKB48’s version of Heavy Rotation.. what can I say ..seems surreal for me. So it makes sense that I underestimated AKB48 newest PV even before I clicked the link. 

It took me less than 20 seconds to know that I was wrong. The PV is surprisingly amazing!

My very first reaction was, “IS THAT REALLY AKB? I don’t recognise anyone!”

Then followed by, “WOW THAT’S SUPER MEGA COOL PV!”

I have known AKB48 since 2011. Eventhough I didn’t know every member, I recognised some of popular ones. I mean, I was familiar with their face but I didn’t know their name. I knew AKB48 had the tall with short hair member (later I knew it was Shinoda Mariko), the long-haired beautiful member (Kojima Haruna), the stylish member (Itano Tomomi), the member with twintails (Watanabe Mayu), and the member who looked like a leader (Oshima Yuko and Takahasi Minami; I thought they are the same person). It was only Acchan the supreme ace whom I knew both name and face (I didn’t know her real name though; now I know it’s Maeda Atsuko).

That was AKB48 for me. But in this newest PV I had just watched, I didn’t find any of them. Later when I replayed the PV for nth times, I started to recognise Watanabe Mayu (she looked so different without twintails; it’s like she’s growing up), Takahasi Minami (with short hair), and Kojima Haruna.

When I knew the three senior members were there in PV, I kept wondering why they were not standing in front. The center of the PV was someone who looked like SNSD Yoona. She was between two other people whom I had no idea about. It’s like new AKB48 for me. And I find it quite lovely.

Quite lovely? I think it’s understatement. They are – in fact – super awesome in that PV.

The PV is only 1 minute and 24 seconds long. It was only the short version since the release would be on the following month.  I found out that the title was Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai (We Don’t Fight), which is rather debatable since the PV is mostly showing the girls fighting the bad men with pink lightsaber. I like everything about this PV. I like the song, the choreography, the fighting scenes.. I can tell you forever but let me just show you this PV.

After I watched this PV, I started googling the center of this PV. Her name is Shimazaki Haruka or better known as Paruru. That night I slept after I tweeted about Bokutachi wa Tatakawani and jokingly said it was SNSD Yoona who became the center.

On the next days, I updated news about AKB48 which lead me to ‘new’ (at least for me) rising stars of AKB48 like Matsui Jurina, Matsui Rena, Yokoyama Yui, Miyawaki Sakura, etc. I also found myself searching on YouTube for AKB48 after-Acchan-era songs that introduced me to Sashihara Rino (Sasshi) in Koisuru Fortune Cookie and Kashiwagi Yuki (Yukirin) in Kokoro no Placard.

Before I knew it, I started to watch their variety shows (AKBingo) and bought their CDs/DVDs. I watched their documentaries, I googled their scandals, I sang their songs in karaoke, I told my close friends about them, I tweeted too much about them…

It was then followed with my interest in their other sister group like SKE48 in which my oshi(s) are there, like Matsui Rena and Matsui Jurina. I put too much time in AKB48 and SKE48 that I began to forget about JKT48.

It only took 1 minute and 24 seconds for me to like AKB48. Bokutachi wa Tatakawani PV changed everything about AKB48 in my eyes. They’re no longer just a bunch of Asian girls singing and dancing cheerfully in colourful uniform. They were just a face to me, then a name, and the rest is history.

*written on 30 August 2015. Have I not watched the PV, I might not have feeling for AKB48. And maybe I don’t need to deal with a slightly broken heart right now at this very moment because of Matsui Rena’s graduation day today.