New York Anime Festival was the Big Apple hub for thousands of anime, manga and J-music fans from Sept. 25 to 27. What musical act would have better fit the convention than one from Tokyo’s own pop culture district, Akihabara? AKB48 is a 65-member idol collective that takes the winning combination of cute girls in short skirts and gives it a modern, geek-friendly spin. These hardworking girls have become a hit among both idol fans and the Japanese public. Sixteen of the girls made their American debut at NYAF, performing a mini-live at the convention and a full concert at Webster Hall that won them American fans.

In the 1980’s, AKB48’s prolific producer Yasushi Akimoto helmed Onyanko Club, a legendary idol group whose sexualized innocence he recycled for AKB48. The 52-member act existed in a decade of shared popular culture, one in which Michael Jackson and Madonna became international superstars. Onyanko Club itself was famous throughout Japan and made household names of members such as Shizuka Kudo and a karaoke classic of the coy “Serafuku wo Nugasanaide.”

But modern technology has expanded our choices in entertainment, and audiences are more segmented than ever before. Stardom is obviously still common, but it’s not what it used to be. We may never see another performer with Jackson’s level of popularity again, but we do see many becoming cult stars through the Internet, cable TV and more.

So Akimoto went niche and 21st century for his new pop experiment. AKB48, which debuted in 2006, focuses on fostering ties with the otaku fandom in a concept called “Idols you can meet every day.” The group consists of three ‘teams’ of girls—A, K and B—who rotate performances in a theater in Akihabara, the inspiration for the letter portion of the group’s name. The teams release albums individually, but the lineups for singles draw from the entire pool of members. An AKB48 team show takes place nearly daily, so fans have frequent opportunities to see the girls live in a small venue and even meet them. (more…)