#ske48 kenkyuusei

[jyurineko]

SKE48′s 10th gen kenkyuusei members made their first appearances at the theater today and introduced themselves!

Their profiles were also added to SKE48′s official website.

[hatsukoi-butterfly]

[tokyo-akb48]

[oogoe-diamond]

[nantenezumi]

SKE48 x ESCA Member Poster (9)

[chan-hii48-blog]

SKE48 KKS New Stage Performance: “Seishun Girls”

Announced during the research students’ Party ga Hajimaru Yo Kōen (March 5, 2017), Seishun Girls will be their new stage by April.

Seishun Girls is originally Team K’s 2nd Stage. It is also Team N’s 2nd Stage.

[hkt48g]

Jitoue Nene (Kenkyuusei), Inoue Ruka (SKE48 Team S)

[girlgroup-confessions-blog]

group: NGT48

[jyurineko]

Here is today’s Sakae Chinchikochin, with Kimie and Aaya!

[hatsukoi-butterfly]

Happy 12th birthday to 48Group youngest member, Kurashima Ami!

[tokyo-akb48]

[nantenezumi]

SKE48 x ESCA Member Poster (8)

[akbbirthdays]

Birthdays for November 29, 2018

Takayanagi Akane (SKE48 Team KII) turns 27.

Abe Maria (AKB48 Team TP) and Sugai Yuuka (Kanji Keyakizaka46) both turn 23.

Hagiri Runa (NGT48 Kenkyuusei) turns 19.

Takaoka Kaoru (AKB48 Team 8 & AKB48 Team 4) turns 18.

[marx48]

On SKE48 request Hour 2018 today, 6 of 7 kenkyuusei members were promoted to the teams:

Ishiguro Yuzuki to Team S, Otani Yuuki to Team S, Nakano Airi to Team KII, Fukai Negai to Team E, Nishi Marina to Team E, Hirata Shiina to Team E.

Only Morihira Riko wasn't promoted and still part of kenkyuusei Team.

[akanemachurida-blog]

My top five members in terms of recent rise in interest (over the past eight months)

I’m not really a fan of rankings since they always change and people usually care about where their favourite members are and get angry if they are near the bottom. I thought I’d rank the top five members who have impressed me the most since I’ve been attending events and say why. The members here aren’t my top five members, but they are all members I like a lot.

Let me start off by saying that Takayanagi Akane has kept on impressing me thanks to her enthusiasm and fun events, but I had already been used to such a high standard that she doesn’t really fit here, since I wasn’t very emotionally invested in these other members before coming.

If Shibata Aya were still a member she’d make it in. Although I only had about thirty seconds to talk to her back in November it was one of the best (if not the best) experiences I had talking with a (ex)member.

5

Fukushi Nao / Sato Kaho

I don’t have much to say for either member, but ever since I have been going to Team E stages I’ve started to like these two members quite a bit. They’ve been in every performance I attended and I found that they really add to the atmosphere of the stage. I look forward to their MCs so much that I can’t imagine the stage without them.

Donchan makes me laugh so much each stage that I always vote for her as my MC MVP. I appreciate her as the vice-captain of the team, as I think she handles the role well and is pretty sincere in her role. You can tell she means what she says. She also always says bye to me, so that has to count for something!

As for Satokaho, I was not a big fan initially. She just isn’t my type of idol; I tend to not follow the gravure or flirty types. I’ve discovered that I really like her as a part of Team E. Her sense of humour fits well with the team and she clearly meshes well with the members. Like Donchan she always greets me, so that’s always going to get some bonus points.

4

Furuhata Nao

Being a fan of KII I always thought of Nao as being one of the best performers in the group.  After having attended several KII theatres and concerts I now know that she is the best. Her facial expressions, body language, gestures, and mannerisms are the [insert positive superlative]. I hadn’t realized the extent of how good she is at performing until I could see her in the theatre, contrasting her to the other girls, and noticing how easily she puts me in a trance. It’s remarkable how quickly she switches out of this goddess-performer mode when the MCs kick in. I had the pleasure of hearing her sing live during the Laguna concert, which was quite an experience. She isn’t on the level as someone we’d consider to be a truly great singer, but having been accustomed to terrible live singing, having someone sing well is a welcome change to say the least, and only served to deepen my respect for her. Of course all of this is obvious to a casual observer who didn’t have the chance to go to theatres such as myself, but seeing her live is a wholly different experience.

3

Nomura Miyo

I first saw Miyomaru at SKE48’s ninth anniversary during some sales. I barely knew her at the time and I wasn’t interested at all. She was cute but I’m not into the younger members. A month later I got into my first theatre for the kenkyuusei. Several members impressed me a lot: Yokonyan, Miyo, and Izurin. While Yokonyan is the best performer in the eighth generation, I was surprised by Miyo’s power of expression. She performed very well, especially during Blue Rose. The other two I mentioned overshadowed her during this particular theatre, but I got to see her again in January when I went to Tokyo for a mini handshake event. She is probably the wittiest member I’ve talked to. She is funny, an extremely good talker, and teases you. She will come up with the topics and makes the conversation as natural as possible. I went back to handshake her in April (last month) and she was witty as always. I’m also a fan of her arrogant personality and I love how much of a bad loser she is. I’m not interested in supporting her like I do some other members, but I like her character and will keep going to her handshakes since I find they are worth the money. This might be heresy but some aspects of her remind me of Ayachan, which can only be a good thing.

2 

Kumazaki Haruka

I mentioned that Nao is the best member in terms of performance, but Kumachan is my favourite performer. She bears a lot of passion that resembles that of Nao’s, but hers is one that feels more humane and relatable when contrasted to the feeling I get when watching Nao, namely that of watching something so sacred it must be enjoyed from a distance. She is able to blend a mixture of passion and control, which results in a product that invites you to partake in the experience – in a different manner from the unbridled enthusiasm Akarin shows (or used to show). This is most noticeable when she performs Oteage Lullaby: she is able to express some of that serious side which Makiko brings out to its fullest, while retaining a degree of proximity to the crowd. You don’t feel like she is miles away on the stage; she brings you closer to it.

I’ve long thought of Takagi Yumana as being the member who exemplified warmth and kindness the most, but Kumachan has become close. Part of an idol’s job is to appeal to fans and many of them wave to fans and try to give their fans a form of personal interaction even when denied proximity, such as pointing to the fan during the performance or looking at them. Kumachan appeals to her fans maybe the most in Team E, taking small gaps between movements of some songs to do so. (Of course only during songs which permit this behaviour.)

One expects idols to go out of their way to appeal to fans (in the manner they choose), and you often hear people criticize idols for being fake. I probably won’t convince you, but I truly believe that Kumachan is one of those girls who is really doing what she does out of love. She might go out of her way to appeal and bring you happiness, but I can’t sense an ounce of fakeness or cynicism. She has always said bye to me at the end of each Team E theatre. I think most Team E members know my face by now. When I’m leaving the theatre Kuma is always the most vocal apart from Maya. Members like Kaho or Tani love to shout at me and say things in English, but there’s something about the way Kumachan says bye which is just so genuine. I haven’t been to a handshake with her yet, so I realize this is a rather small thing to analyze and make a claim about her.

1

Sugawara Maya

Unexpected, I know. I saw a poll the other day asking if it was more fun to be a DD or to support a single member. The results of the poll were quite heavily skewed towards the DD option. I can definitely see why that would be the case and some part of me wonders if I would be better off as one. I also don’t only support a single member, but my main reasoning for why I support Maya is that I feel that it is an intensely rewarding experience.

Of course, you can experience this while supporting multiple members. I have difficulty experiencing that however, since I have limited time to devote and find myself enjoying the experience if I fully dive in and support a member the hardest that I can. I’ve talked a lot about why I like Maya elsewhere, so I won’t go into detail here. I’ll just list the obvious things: her handshakes are a lot of fun, I have a lot of opportunities to see her at other events, it’s fun to see her improve on radio shows and theatre performances, and I’ve rediscovered a passion for the hobby through her. To sum it up I feel a connection whenever I see her, and every event adds to it. It sounds silly to say, but her waving at me at every event is nice, and she always mentioned some of my comments. Having that kind of interaction has really sold me on her. Things have been going very well for her ever since I became a fan, so it feels like I am part of a special moment, which feels good in its own way.

While I do feel some regret and guilt for Churi, I still support her in the same way I used to. The harsh truth is that I just have more fun at Maya’s events. It’s really frightening in a way how Maya has eclipsed everyone for me. I supported only Churi for about four years and never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined myself supporting another member while Churi was still in the group, not to mention one in another team altogether whom I didn’t know much about. But here I am! And what a ride it has been and will continue to be.