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Hajimemashite minna san....welcome to my site on my fave Japanese Pop Culture likes such as dramas, movies, magazine scans, promo events etc. Mainly concentrate on my faves...Risa Watanabe... Kyoko Saito... Yui Kobayashi....Miyuki Watanabe.... Nene Shida.... if you're a fan at all of any of them then you've come to the right place(!) but many others are featured here besides them. Do mainly quick reviews on things I've watched, try to make the reviews brief, quick to read through with not too many spoilers, just whether they're good or bad and why I thought so plus whether you may find them enjoyable. Many, many screenshots are included from everything I've watched plus any video trailers if they're available. Hope you find something that interests you, don't hesitate to comment, arigato gozaimasu!

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Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Nao Kanzaki: The October.... 'Happy Birthday' post, the return of an old series?.... part two....

 


 Not sure when this will be published(much earlier than expected!), started it on October 1st and it may be finished the day after(it was).... then again it could also be a week later as I'm currently not too inspired. Which has sadly become a very common state for me when it comes to blogging as my mind is in a place where many of you reading this can understand. When I'm writing a post up very often wish I was doing something else and vice versa for when I'm doing that something else wish I was writing a post up! It's not a case of moaning about things but am hoping for some burst of inspiration to come down the road which hasn't happened often as of late and very unsure where I was going with any of that.... There aren't nearly as many birthdays in November and December so will combine those two months and do that post whenever....



 In September revived this oldish series as yet again I was stuck with having nothing to post about and don't now why I stopped this series. It's a simple enough post where I talk about those who have a birthday taking place that month and just try to feature those who won't be having a post.... these days it's almost everyone! As far as birthdays go October may have more of my faves than any other month but out of a dozen think at the most will be able to do three posts for a birthday. Of course one will not be for Maki who on the sixth hits the age of 36, that's a name I may only mention once a year and what an ultra massive fave she was of mine at one point, many viewers shared that opinion too. But Maki got married eight years ago, the following year she didn't retire permanently but hasn't worked since and seeing as she has two younger children guess we may not hear from her for another decade..... or longer!


 Let's get to everyone else but won't be having a mini section for all. Juri Takahashi on October 3rd will hit the age of 27 and right around 2018 thought she may end up being my all time #1 AKB member! She has my top photobook for the group, did a solid job in two dramas plus her alluringness was off the charts! But in early 2019 she announced her graduation in order to move to South Korea to join the pop group Rocket Punch and for the most part very little has been heard of her since. I don't follow K-Pop at all as I think the music is horrible but have heard of some of the more popular groups and Rocket Punch was never one of them. This May Juri left the group after five years and have no clue what she is up to but this is another of those endless..... what could have been women, have another further down and perhaps a post should be dedicated to them.






 Mio Kudo is another in the endless line of women who have seemed to disappear. For certain activities that is for she does appear in many dramas though rarely with large roles and she is someone who is very liked around here by you viewers. But Mio hasn't had a gravure spread or book since the end of 2022 and she's not the only woman I enjoy posting for that it's happened to as the gravure industry seems to be getting a bit too young for my tastes and birthday #25 takes place on October 8th.






 Will admit I share much of the blame for the lack of Suzy posts over the last three years. One reason for zero posts is that she wasn't busy for a very long stretch which in turn led me to completely forgetting about her and will confess to not knowing what she's been up to the past year or so. Now that she's back in my mind will try to have something for Suzy who on the 10th hits the age of thirty(!) and she is by far the most popular Korean actress I post about.






 The following day Rika will be hitting the age of 36 and is the oldest woman who I post about on a regular basis. But those posts have slowed down this but not going to make this segment long as I will try to have a birthday post for Rika and think only one other has had more posts than her over the last six years.






 Here's yet another in the long line of J-Pop Idols who have slightly disappeared from the scene after a graduation. Miru is one of the all time most popular Idols here but since leaving NMB a little over three years ago her career has been a bit stagnant. Like most others she was a bit busy after graduating but I have noticed time and time again how when the initial burst of activities wears off we seldom hear from that woman. Which sadly has been the case for Miru who hasn't done much of anything for over a year now. Twice she's tried to join a K-Pop group and twice has failed, has had two singles which were flops but does have a YT channel though is keeping that updated her only activity this year?






 At the top briefly said how I should do some sort of post for what could have been women. What I mean by that term is there is a group of maybe 10-12 women who I like immensely and have for a long time. However none will ever get many posts so rarely qualify for the yearly faves list or many other lists. What I thought about is what a thin line it must be in the entertainment industry for those who become popular and those that don't. Just because you've become a 'star' doesn't mean that woman has a lot of talent or is all that attractive, she could have an agency promoting her heavily or just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Of course have many other thoughts about that which is why having a post or two to rank those possible women and to discuss this more could be an idea but what kind of title could I give to a post or series such as that?

 The reason for those thoughts above is that probably being #1 on that list is Sarii Ikegami 😍 who in all honesty would be one of my all time top five five women if things had worked out better! She is someone I have adored for about seven years and on October 19th she will be hitting the age of 29. For so long she was busy as an actress and has some of my top ever gravure spreads but seems about four years ago things began to dry up for her and as said above it takes more than talent to be a success. Sarii was in one drama and movie this year but that's been it and neither was a large role, there's been no gravure spreads for a while and in my eyes not many women if any have topped her photos 😍.... whew!!!! Won't discuss anything about them now but will be thinking of some sort of posts or series that would be interesting and explain things better for those kinds of women that get so few posts yet I adore more than ones who do.... sound confusing? Off the top of my head a few names that would appear on that list or series of posts would be Haruka Kodama, Yuria Haga, Kang Ha-Na and especially Nana Yamada.









 For a while my top Keya second generation member was Hono Tamura and I really like her looks which aren't as alluring as other Idols and that's a plus to me looking a bit plainer. Her first photobook was so tremendous though soon after her activities seemed to really decrease and she hasn't had a solo post here for well over a year. So though Hono has her second book coming out(for her graduation?) and the pics below are promoting it I will never do another post for her and perhaps never again for a current Keya member, birthday #26 takes place on October 21st.






 Won't discuss the reasons for perhaps no more Keya posts as they were explained in Yui's last post and her graduation just took the life out of me as far as following the '46' groups go. On the 23rd she will be hitting the age of 25 so no need to talk about Yui today and save any thoughts or happenings for a post that will be done around that date. Not much has been taking place but in that last post did also explain why she's moved into the top spot as far as who my #1 woman of all time is!






 On October 30th Mizuki will be turning 28 and though she had a fair amount of posts for a while there haven't been all that many for her over the last four years.... six perhaps? So she just may be a name that may appear on that oddish list I talked about a couple of women above this. It's been about ten months since Mizuki graduated from Morning Musume and as expected not much has been heard from her which is a shame for she's the most popular Hello Project member I have posted about.






 Will end off with the third woman who should be having a post this month but that's not many considering how many birthdays there are in October. Akari's 33rd birthday will be taking place on Halloween, she won't be repeating as my Queen this year but I don't need all five fingers on a hand to count how many women in history I like better than her. She had such a nice stretch of superb posts but they petered out in May but will still finish high on the yearly faves list. Will do a post for Akari a bit before her birthday and then a week later as she has a fan club party on November 2nd.